TPVM (Guest OS) instance on a Bare-Metal SLX device, can now be deployed using the config tpvm mode.
Earlier, the only way you could deploy a TPVM instance is to manually create it using various Exec Mode commands, and then deploy using the TPVM deploy command. This method had a drawback, being that the TPVM configuration would be lost and needed to be reconfigured when the TPVM was upgraded or during a SLX device RMA instance.
With the introduction of the TPVM Configuration Persistence feature, all TPVM related configurations can be persisted in the SLX database and then applied when required. You can also choose to create a snapshot of the existing TPVM instance which can be used to restore a failed upgrade or other such failures.
TPVM configurations are persisted in the SLX database and become a part of the SLX running-configuration. These persisted configuration values are then used while upgrading the installed TPVM or while RMA of the SLX device. The persisted TPVM configurations are not applied when the TPVM reboots due to reboot or power-cycle of the SLX-OS. Since these configurations are a part of the saved running configuration, they are automatically applied for the above events.
TPVM's Snapshot feature allows you to take a snapshot of the existing TPVM instance when the TPVM instance is not running (it is said to be in the STOP state). Only one snapshot can be taken at any point of time. This snapshot can be used later to recover from a failure in installing TPVM or to reinstall an older version of TPVM. The snapshot image is stored on the SLX device in the folder /support/snapshots/TPVM/auto.
When upgrading an existing TPVM instance, the new TPVM image is first downloaded and installed. If TPVM configuration is persisted, it is applied on the installed TPVM. As a backup measure, a snapshot of the previous TPVM installation is taken and stored on the SLX device. The new TPVM image (debian package file) is downloaded from the following local folder /tftpboot/SWBD2900.
For TPVM Configuration Persistence, these configurations must be applied before executing the config deploy command, as these are applied to the TPVM before it is deployed.
auto-boot - The auto-boot configuration enables the TPVM to be auto-booted when the SLX device is power-cycled or rebooted for any reason.
password - The password configuration updates the password of default userid 'extreme' at TPVM instance, which has a SUDO role also. By default the value is password.
interface management - The interface management configuration updates the network interface eth0 at TPVM instance used for management purposes. By default it is set to dhcp.