VM DevOps & Orka

The IP Plan document contains the necessary information for setting up basic CI with VMware.

Note: The IP Plan is located in the files section of the MacStadium Customer Portal.

Note: The specific software versions denoted in the following guide are intended as representative examples. Please ensure that the versions selected and installed are compatible with your specific tech stack.

Process:

1. Setup access to Mac Cloud (VPN) ( ~10 min )
2. Login to VMware's vCenter ( ~5 min )
3. Create a Virtual Machine ( ~10 min )
4. Install macOS on VM ( ~30 min )
5. Install VMware Guest Tools ( ~15 min )
6. Install OSX Build Tools ( ~10 min)

Step 1 Setup Access to Mac Cloud with a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Before accessing the MacStadium VMware private cloud, configure the firewall. For the sake of security, MacStadium initially blocks all access by default. Most MacStadium customers access the VMware private cloud via a Remote Access VPN.

VPN Client
MacStadium recommends using the Cisco AnyConnect client. See this page.

Alternately, use the open-source openconnect (most macOS users can run "brew install openconnect").

Step 2 Login to VMware's vCenter

Once connected via VPN, securely connect to the vCenter instance. Use the information in the IP Plan available via the files section in MacStadium Portal to find the address of the vCenter web client and the login credentials.

Users of vSphere 6.5+ can access the HTML5 version by appending “/ui” to your login url, e.g., https://xx.xx.xxx.xx/ui This is the recommended method if possible.

Note: Chrome often disallows access to the vCenter web client due to a self signed cert; if this occurs use a non chromium based browser such as Safari or Firefox, or type 'thisisunsafe' anywhere in the browser window.

Note: Because this view is being served from the private cloud, a warning in your web browser about the absence of SSL protection may appear. It is safe to ignore this and proceed.

Step 3 Create a Virtual Machine

After logging into the vCenter instance, build the first VM. There is a set number of physical hosts in the computing cluster at sign-up, but those can be adjust at any time, depending on the needs.

It will be within one of these host machines that we will create our first VM.

Step 4 Install macOS on VM

As you create subsequent VMs, include macOS in the VM template. MacStadium recommends following this guide for installing macOS initially.

Step 5 Install VMware Guest Tools

VMware has a set of tools that must be installed on macOS. These get mounted via a virtual CD drive. Follow the guide below to install or upgrade tools.

Step 6 Install OSX Build Tools

Finally, to make this environment into a viable build env, install several OSX build tools.