Calm (cloud application lifecycle manager) was and still is a function within the Prism Central management plane. However, as customers needs grow and there is a push towards consuming more SaaS (software-as-a-service) solutions Nutanix now allows us to run Calm as a SaaS product. This will provide continuous upgrades and availability to the Calm management plane to now decouple hybrid cloud application deployments, scaling, and management from the underlying HCI infrastructure. This also opens up the ability to fractionally consume Calm as a per month license based on consumption of managed machines within the applications.
For a quick overview of Calm see the video below.
Part 1: Accessing Calm SaaS
In Part 1 we walk through how to access Calm SaaS through your my.nutanix account.
1. Calm SaaS is accessed through your my.nutanix.com page. Go to my.nutanix.com and login to get started.
2. Scroll down to Cloud Services and click Get Started
3. If you already purchased Calm SaaS you can enter your activation number. If you are trying it out click Request your 14 day free trial
Part 2: Create Calm Tunnel Image (AHV)
In Part 2 we create the tunnel VM to allow Calm SaaS to connect to your on premise infrastructure.
1 .Login to your Prism Central VM. Go to Virtual Infrastructure –> Images.
2. Click Add Image
3. Go to THIS PAGE and copy the link address highlighted below. This will depend on your hypervisor
4. Back in Prism Central, select the URL option and paste the URL copied from Step 3 above then click Upload File. Supply your desired VM name and a description.
5. Next select the cluster(s) you want the image to be placed on and click Save
6. Let the task complete and move on to Part 3
Part 3: Deploy Calm Tunnel VM (AHV)
In Part 3 we will deploy the Calm Tunnel VM on which in this example will be on the Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV).
1. In Prism Central go to Virtual Infrastructure –> VMs then click Create VM
2. Fill out the VM details using the configuration provided above.
3. To add the Calm Tunnel VM image click + Add New Disk and clone from image service as Operation then select your Calm Tunnel VM image and click Add
4. Click Save to create then right-click the VM and Power On
Part 4: Configure Calm Tunnel VM (AHV)
In Part 4 we will configure the Calm Tunnel so that the tunnel VM will provide access from Calm SaaS to the on premise Nutanix management network.
1. With the Calm SaaS Tunnel VM powered on, go to the private network address in your browser.
2. Provide username calm and password keepcalm …. change your password and then login with your newly supplied password.
3. If you see the following screen, click the gear icon and select Reset Tunnel
4. Back in your Calm SaaS interface go to Settings –> API Keys (this is so we have an API key to login to Calm SaaS
5. In Calm SaaS in Settings –> Tunnels create a new tunnel with a unique name (this will be used to establish a tunnel connection to your Tunnel VM in the next step.
6. Back in your Calm SaaS Tunnel VM gui enter your API Key and Tunnel information to establish the connectivity to Calm SaaS then click Connect
7. Wait a few minutes until your Calm SaaS Tunnel VM shows healthy
Part 5: Finalizing Connectivity to Calm SaaS
In Part 5 we add the on premise account. In this example we are connecting to a Nutanix account by connecting to the on premise Prism Central managing the clusters we will use for Calm application automation and lifecycle management.
1. In Calm SaaS go to Settings –> Accounts
2. Enter the following
- Name
- Provider
- PC IP
- PC Port (leave 9440 if default)
- Username
- Password
- Sync Setting (1 minute by default)
- Tunnel (tunnel created above)
3. Click Save – You should very quickly see your cluster names (under management by Prism Central) pop up and available to apply quota policies to each cluster
