Issues Installing Latest HPE VM Essentials Manager in Offline (Intranet) PoC Environment

[gmt_1]

Hello Community,

I have been working with HPE VM Essentials (Morpheus) for some time and have successfully installed and used versions 8.0.3 and 8.0.4 in my lab environment without issues.

I am now trying to install the latest HPE VM Essentials Manager version as part of a PoC and I am facing problems during deployment.

Environment Overview

• Network: Completely offline / no internet access (intranet only, due to security restrictions)

• HPE VM Essentials: Latest version (Ver 8.0.11) [https://myenterpriselicense.hpe.com/cwp-ui/product-download-info/HPE_VME_EVAL/-/sw360_eval_customer?&]

• NICs: 3 physical NICs

• DNS: Internal DNS (hostname and IP manually added)

Steps Performed

1. Downloaded the latest HVM ISO bundle (offline installer).

2. Installed HVM on the physical server successfully.

3. Opened the VME console.

4. Placed the VME ISO in the correct/expected path.

5. Started the VME Manager installation.

6. Configured networking using 3 physical NICs.

7. Entered the hostname and IP address and added them to the internal DNS.

8. Proceeded with the installation.

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Issues Observed

• Sometimes the installation:

  • Gets stuck at 99% for a long time, or

  • Completes at 100%.

• From the console, (ssh by the other nic) I can clearly see that:

  • The VM Essentials Manager VM is created

  • The VM is running properly

    However:

    • I cannot access the VME dashboard from the browser

    • The UI never becomes reachable, even after waiting

• This behavior is inconsistent and does not occur in the same lab setup even with the old and new versions.

---

Key Questions

1. Are there additional requirements or known issues when installing the latest VME version in a fully offline (air-gapped) environment?

2. Does the latest version require:

   • External repositories?

   • Certificate validation?

   • Time/NTP synchronization?

   • Specific DNS or hostname resolution checks during install?

3. Are there any mandatory post-install steps for offline deployments that could prevent the dashboard from becoming accessible?

4. Which logs should be checked first?

[PeterTzvetanov]

Hi gmt_1,

your observations are right. The VME 8.0.11 takes a lot longer time compared to prev. editions, especially if we compare it with 8.0.9 or older. I would normally recommend as soon as the VME is pingable to login via SSH as the user that you defined, run an "sudo -i" and then a "tail -f /var/log/cloud-init-output.log" to monitor the status of the current reconfiguration run and once that is finished the usual "tail -f /var/log/morpheus/morpheus-ui/current". In some cases especially in slow systems, the VME might not display anyting in the current log, but only if it is finished with the cloud-init-output.log, I run an "morpheus-ctl reconfigure" and monitor again the current log. The 100% completed in the blue installer will only popup, if the cloud-init-output.log reached the point of the nginx reconfigure. That will take also very loong, especially the first time and in the OAthe2 and the first setups.

With regards