Skip to main content

 

Cisco Meraki Documentation

Remote Setup and Deployment

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF

Remote Target Setup and Deployment 

Automation Remote provides a secure connection between cloud-hosted workflows and resources in your private network that do not have direct internet access. Deploy an Automation Remote as an OVA or with Docker Compose, then assign it to a target that your workflows use. For more information, see Automation Remote.. 

 

 

To configure a new remote target, do the following:

# Step Details  More Information
1. Prepare your VMware environment. For an OVA deployment, ensure your team has the required privileges and familiarity with deploying and configuring an OVA in your virtual environment. For Docker Compose, use a Linux x86_64 (AMD64) host with Docker installed and running, and an account with root or sudo access  
2. Create a remote in your automation tenant. Log in to your Automation dashboard and create a new remote. Create a New Remote.
3.  Download and deploy the Automation Remote.
  1. Generate the configuration file from the Automation Dashboard 
  2. Download remotePackage.zip. For more information, see Download the Remote Configuration File.

  3. On the Remote targets page, select Download appliance and choose the package that matches the Remote type:

    • Remote appliance OVA

    • Docker Compose package (Linux amd64)

  4. Deploy the selected package:
    • For an OVA deployment, use the remoteconfig text file from remotePackage.zip when prompted during appliance setup.
    • For a Docker Compose deployment, follow Deploy a Docker Compose Remote.

After deployment, allow up to 10 minutes for the Remote Target to complete its registration with the cloud.

Configure and Deploy an OVA Remote . 

Deploy a Docker Compose Remote
4.  Configure targets to use the newly created remote target. After the Remote Target is deployed and operational, configure your on-premises targets to route their automation workflows through this newly established Remote Target. Configure Target to use the Remote Target.

Create a New Remote 

 Setting up the Automation Remote virtual appliance requires advanced understanding of how to create and manage resources in VMware. If you encounter issues within the vSphere client, contact an administrator in your organization or VMware support.

To configure a new Automation Remote virtual appliance, you must first create the Remote in your Automation tenant. You can then download the appliance and deploy it using VMware vSphere. After you deploy the Remote from VMware, configure targets to use the Remote.

Automation Remote supports the following target types:

  • HTTP Endpoint
  • Terminal Endpoint
  • Unix/Linux Endpoint

The maximum number of Remotes you're allowed to create is 20.

Perform the following steps to create a new Remote on your Automation tenant:

In some cases, the default subnets may sometimes collide with your existing network. In such a scenario, you may need to override the default values with whatever subnet you have available. However, any changes you make to the default subnets are permanent and cannot be reversed without installing a new appliance.

  1. On the Automation > Targets page, under the Remote Targets tab, click the New remote button.

  2. Enter a meaningful Display Name and optional Description.

  3. In the Remote Details section, click the DHCP or Static IP radio button to set your DNS type.

    If you are using a Static IP, provide the following information:

    • IP address in CIDR notation (for example: 192.168.1.100/24)
    • List of DNS servers (for example: 192.168.1.1,192.168.1.2)
    • Default gateway (for example: 192.168.1.1)

  4. If a proxy is required for the Remote to access the internet, click the Requires Proxy toggle and enter the Proxy Address (only SOCKS5 proxies are supported).

  5. If you want to override the default subnets and provide private subnets to start the Remote, click the Show advanced options toggle and enter the Remote Cluster Subnet and Remote Service Subnet that you want to use instead of the defaults.

  6. Click Save.

    The new Remote will be displayed in the list with a status of Not Connected.

Download the Remote Configuration File 

Configuration information is unique to each Remote. After you create a Remote in Automation, generate and download its configuration file.

  1. On the Automation > Targets page, under the Remote Targets tab, locate the newly created Remote, then click the ellipsis (. . .) in the Actions column to open the drop-down menu.

  2. Choose Connect from the Actions drop-down menu.

  3. In the Connect Remote dialog box, click Generate Package.

Keep the configuration package for deployment. For an OVA deployment, extract the ZIP file and use the remoteconfig text file during appliance customization. For a Docker Compose deployment, keep the ZIP file intact and provide it to the register-remote tool.

Configure and Deploy an OVA Remote

After you create a Remote and download its configuration file, you will download the virtual appliance OVA and use VMware vSphere to deploy it and apply the configuration.

The current OVA includes support for Catalyst Center, Catalyst SD-WAN, Cisco ISE, Cisco FMC, and NetBox. 

1. On the Remotes page, select Download Appliance > Remote appliance OVA button to download the newest version of the Remote appliance to your computer.

Download_Remote_appliance_nov19.png

 

2. Verify that the OVA download is complete.

3. In your VMware vSphere client, right click on the folder you want to deploy the Remote in, and select Deploy OVF Template.

4. Click the Local file radio button, and click Choose Files. Navigate to the Remote OVA you downloaded, and select it.

5. Click Next.

6. Give the virtual appliance a unique name, confirm the location for the virtual machine, and click Next.

ova_deploy2.png

7. Click the compute resource where the virtual appliance will be deployed, and click Next.

ova_deploy3.png

8. Review the details of the deployment, and click Next.

9. In the list of datastores, choose the datastore you want to use for the virtual appliance, and click Next.

We recommend a minimum of 30 GB of available disk space for an Automation Remote.

ova_deploy5.png

10. For each Source Network, click the Destination Network drop-down, choose the network where you want to deploy the virtual appliance, and click Next.

ova_deploy6.png

11. On the Customize Template or Customize vApp properties screen, provide the following information:

  • Unique ID and hostname for the virtual appliance.

      ova_deploy7.png

  • (Optional) SSH public key for SSH access to the appliance (see Generate an SSH Key Pair below).

  • Set Encoded user-data to the contents of remoteconfig.txt (from the remotePackage.zip configuration file above).

  • Set a Default user’s password for access to the virtual appliance console (username: ubuntu).

    To avoid a setup failure, your password must be at least 14 characters long and must:

    Contain at least:

  • 1 uppercase letter
  • 1 lowercase letter
  • 1 number
  • 1 special character

      Not contain:

  • More than 3 identical characters in a row (i.e., 'aaa')
  • More than 3 sequential characters (i.e., '123', 'abc')
  • Your username
  • Common dictionary words

        ova_deploy8.png

12. Click Next.

13. Review all of the virtual appliance details, and click Finish.

14. After the virtual appliance deployment completes, click Power On to start the appliance.
When the appliance is online, the Status of the Remote should change from Not Connected to Connected on the Remotes page.

A newly deployed Remote Target may take up to 10 minutes to show as connected.

Deploy a Docker Compose Remote

Use the Docker Compose package to deploy an Automation Remote on a Linux host.

Before you begin

  • Use a Linux x86_64 (AMD64) host with Docker installed and running. Run docker info to verify that Docker is available.
  • Use an account with sudo or root access.
  • From Automation > Targets > Remote targets, select Download appliance and download Docker Compose package (Linux amd64).
  • Generate and download the Remote configuration package for the Remote.
  • Confirm that the host can reach the regional endpoint on TCP port 5671.

Register and start the Remote

  1. Copy the Docker Compose archive and generated Remote configuration ZIP file to the Linux host.

  2. Extract the archive and change to the extracted directory.

    tar -xzf <remote-appliance-package>.tar.gz
cd <extracted-directory>

  3. Register the Remote with the configuration package.

    sudo ./register-remote -i /path/to/remotePackage.zip

    To use the interactive flow instead, run sudo ./register-remote and select the configuration ZIP file when prompted.

  4. Start the containers.

    sudo docker compose up -d

  5. Return to Remote targets and confirm that the Remote status changes to Connected. A newly deployed Remote can take up to 10 minutes to connect.

Registration tool options

Option Description
-i, --input-file <file> Registers the Remote using a configuration package file.
-b, --base64 <string> Registers the Remote using a base64-encoded configuration package.
-d, --deregister Deregisters the current Remote deployment and removes its containers, certificates, and environment files.
-s, --status Shows registration status, including container and health information.
-y, --yes Answers yes to confirmation prompts.
-n, --no Answers no to confirmation prompts.
--log <file> Writes command output to a log file.
--debug Enables detailed diagnostic output. Use this option with --log.
-v, --version Shows the registration tool version.

The -i and -b options cannot be used together. The -y and -n options cannot be used together.

Docker Compose deployment issues

Issue Action
docker: command not found Install Docker, or add the Docker binary to the host’s PATH.
Unable to execute Docker Start the Docker service. For example: sudo systemctl start docker.
The program must be run as root Run the command with sudo, or use a root account.
Registration did not complete Run sudo ./register-remote -d to remove partial state, then register the Remote again.

For detailed diagnostics, run the registration command with --log <log-file> --debug and provide the resulting log file to support.


Define NTP Servers (Optional) 

After the deployment, you can configure the Remote Target to use custom NTP servers using these steps:

For Docker Compose deployments, configure time synchronization on the Docker host operating system.

If you are unsure of the settings to use, contact your network administrator.

  1. Sign in to your Remote Target using one of the following methods:

    • Open a console to the Remote Target in vSphere and sign in with your password.
    • SSH to the Remote Target using the key pair you created during setup.

  2. Open the /etc/chrony/chrony.conf file and change the NTP servers to your preferred servers.

  3. Save and close the file.

  4. Run the following command to restart the NTP service and verify that the time is correct:

    systemctl restart chronyd ; watch chronyc tracking

Generate an SSH Key Pair 

If you want to use SSH to access your Remote Target, you must generate a key pair for authentication. You can use any key pair that is valid for a standard Ubuntu authorized_hosts file (for example, RSA or ED25519).

Use the following examples to generate a default RSA key pair.

Linux/MacOS 

  1. Open a terminal and execute the following command:

    ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -f /path/to/output/keypair` (for a 4096-bit RSA key)

  2. If you want to use a passphrase, enter the passphrase and confirm it. If not, press Enter twice.

    A public and private key will be generated at the path you provided:

    • keypair will contain the private key
    • keypair.pub will contain the public key

Windows 

Use the PuTTygen utility to generate a keypair:

  1. Download PuTTygen. Use the file puttygen.exe located under Alternative binary files.
  2. Run puttygen.exe.
  3. To use a passphrase for your key pair, enter it in the Key passphrase and Confirm passphrase fields.
  4. Select the type of key and key length at the bottom of the window (we recommend a minimum 2048-bit RSA key).
  5. Click Generate.
  6. Use the Save public key and Save private key buttons to export the keys.

Configure Target to Use the Remote Target

Configure your on-premises targets to use the Remote Target.

  1. Choose Automation > Targets in the navigation menu.

  2. Select the target you want to add a remote to (or create a new target).

  3. Under the Remotes section, click the Remote Keys drop-down list, and choose the Remote Target you want to use with this target.

  4. Click Submit. 

 
  1. Back to top
  • Was this article helpful?

Recommended articles

  1. Article type
    Reference
  2. Tags
    This page has no tags.