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Installing a BYOL Conductor-managed Router in AWS

This guide describes the process for deploying a BYOL Session Smart Conductor and a BYOL Session Smart Router (SSR) in AWS.

The installation and deployment process consists of the following steps:

Proceed to the next section Selecting the AMI.

Selecting the AMI​

The Bring Your Own License (BYOL) AMI allows you to install your own licensed copy of the SSR software on an AWS VM. Artifactory credentials are required to authenticate access to the installation repositories. Refer to the Session Smart Networking Platform (BYOL) offering.

Once you have selected the AMI for your deployment, proceed to the section Session Smart Conductor Deployment to deploy a Session Smart Conductor, or proceed to the section Session Smart Conductor Managed Router Deployment to deploy a Session Smart Conductor Managed Router.

Session Smart Conductor Deployment​

Use the following information to deploy a BYOL Session Smart Conductor in AWS.

Requirements​

The following infrastructure must exist in your AWS account:

  • A VPC where the Conductor will be deployed.
  • The existing VPC is segmented with at least one subnet.
    • The subnet is reachable for SSH and HTTPs access for administration purposes.
    • The Session Smart Routers managed by this Conductor must be able to reach the IP address of the Conductor in this subnet.

Deployment​

A Conductor can be deployed manually via the AWS Console or in an automated fashion using AWS CLI commands. This section describes both methods. Choose the method that better suits your needs.

When deploying the Session Smart Conductor using the templates referenced in this section, the following infrastructure elements are created automatically to assist with the deployment process:

  • EC2 instance using a Session Smart image available in the marketplace.
  • The Conductor is deployed with a single network interface identified as the control interface.
  • There is a network security group associated with the control interface.
  • The control interface has a unique and static public IP address.

The following image shows the infrastructure elements deployed:

Conductor deployment

Using the AWS Console​

To deploy the Session Smart Networking software via the AWS Console:

  1. Click the Session Smart Networking Platform BYOL offering.
  2. Click Continue to Subscribe and accept the terms and conditions.
  3. Click Continue to Configuration.
  4. In the Fulfillment Option drop down select the CloudFormation Template, then select the Juniper Session Smart Counductor template, and select the desired region.
  5. Click Continue to Launch.
  6. In the Choose Action box, select Launch CloudFormation and click Launch. The CloudFormation Template appears.

CloudFormation Template

  1. Answer the following questions to launch the deployment of an SSR. For a description of the parameters of the template, please refer to Launch the Conductor Template.
  • What name do you want to give the instance?
    • Provide it in the Stack name field (for example: Conductor).
  • What version of SSR software do you want to install?
  • Where do you want to deploy it?
    • Select the VPC in the region.
    • Select the subnet within the VPC.
  • What are the artifactory credentials used to install the software?
  • Who is going to be the administrator?
    • Select the IAM user key.
  1. Click Next.
  2. Click Create stack to launch the deployment.

Plans

Once the deployment completes, information is provided in the Outputs tab, and the BYOL installation process begins. After the VM is deployed it will take an addditional 10-15 minutes for the desired SSR version to be installed.

To login to the instance via SSH, use t128 as the username and the SSH public key of the IAM user provided in the template.

Using the AWS CLI​

To deploy the Session Smart Networking software via the AWS CLI:

  1. Click the Session Smart Networking Platform BYOL offering.
  2. Click Continue to Subscribe and accept the terms and conditions.
  3. Click Continue to Configuration.
  4. In the Fulfillment Option drop down box select CloudFormation Template, then select the Juniper Session Smart Conductor template and select the desired region.
  5. Click Continue to Launch.
  6. In the Choose Action box, select Launch CloudFormation and select Launch.
  7. Copy the URL of the template in the Amazon S3 URL field.

Launch the deployment with the corresponding AWS CLI commands making use of the S3 URL of the template identified previously. For a description of the parameters of the template, please refer to Launch the Conductor Template.

Cloud-init Onboarding​

When launching an AWS EC2 instance using automation the following user-data section can be leveraged to setup the onboarding data for the instance. Additionally, this method can be used to further customize the conductor onboarding configuration.

#cloud-config
write_files:
  - path: /etc/128T-hardware-bootstrapper/onboarding-config.json
    content: |
        {
            "name": "<conductor-name>",
            "ssr-version": "<version>",
            "mode": "conductor",
            "artifactory-user": "<username>",
            "artifactory-password": "<password>",
            "node-name": "node0"
        }
OptionMeaning
nameThe name of the router. By default, the instance name is used.
ssr-versionThe SSR software version to be installed on the instance. (BYOL only)
artifactory-userUser portion of the artifactory credentials.
artifactory-passwordPassword portion of the artifactory credentials.
node-nameThe name of the node being provisioned. For a standalone conductor, this is node0.

Additional Conductor configuration options can be found in Initialize Your Device - Advanced Workflows.

Manual Onboarding​

If a user does not supply the onboarding configuration before launching the instance, the onboarding steps can be manually executed.

  1. Log into the instance using the default AWS username ec2-user and the key pair provided when launching.
  2. Run /usr/libexec/hardwareBootstrapper128t config-generator
  3. Follow the prompts to generate and apply the onboarding configuration.
  4. Upon completion, the instance will reboot once.

Launch the Conductor Template​

This section describes the parameters to complete the template to deploy an SSR conductor.

CloudFormation Template

A description of the parameters of the template are listed in the following table:

ParameterDescription
Stack nameThe Instance Name field provides a name to the VM for the device.
VPC IDID of the existing VPC where the device is going to be deployed.
Public Subnet IDID of the management subnet within the VPC.
Public Subnet Allowed CIDRThe IP CIDR range of the endpoints allowed to originate traffic to the Conductor's management interface in the management subnet.
Artifactory UsernameUser portion of the artifactory credentials used to install the SSR software.
Artifactory TokenToken for the artifactory credentials used to install the SSR software.
VersionSSR software version installed on the instance.
Instance sizeSize of the EC2 instance.
Key NameIAM user key (SSH public key) to login to the EC2 instance (Linux) via SSH.

AWS Console​

  1. Go to the Session Smart Networking Platform BYOL offering following the steps described in the section Selecting the AMI.
  2. Click Continue to Subscribe and accept the terms and conditions.
  3. Click Continue to Configuration.
  4. In the Fulfillment Option drop down box select CloudFormation Template, select the template Juniper Session Smart Conductor and select the desired region.
  5. Click Continue to Launch.
  6. In the Choose Action box, select Launch CloudFormation and select Launch.
  7. Click the Next button.
  8. Fill out the template. Review the section above to understand the parameters of the template.
  9. Continue by clicking Next.
  10. Click Create Stack to start the deployment.

Once the deployment of the template is complete, information about the new router deployment is provided in the Output tab.

The information listed in the Outputs tab is the following:

  • Instance ID of the Router EC2 instance.
  • Public IP address of the public interface for administration purposes.
  • SSH command to login to the Linux VM.

AWS CLI​

Alternatively, it is possible to launch the template programmatically. Please adjust the content of the JSON file below to match the input of each template.

Create the parameters file conductor.parameters.json with the following command:

vi conductor.parameters.json

Paste the following JSON content. Please adjust the values to your specific environment:

{
  "StackName": "<instance name>",
  "VpcId": "<ID of the VPC>",
  "ManagementSubnet": "<ID of the management subnet within the VPC>",
  "ManagementSubnetAllowedCidr": "0.0.0.0/0",
  "ArtifactoryUsername": "<username>",
  "ArtifactoryUsername": "<password>",
  "SSRVersion": "<ssr-version>",
  "InstanceType": "c5.xlarge",
  "KeyName": "<username>"
}
  1. Go to the Session Smart Networking Platform BYOL offering following the steps described in the section Selecting the AMI.
  2. Click Continue to Subscribe and accept the terms and conditions.
  3. Click Continue to Configuration.
  4. In the Fulfillment Option drop down box select CloudFormation Template, select the template Juniper Session Smart Conductor and select the desired region.
  5. Click Continue to Launch.
  6. In the Choose Action box, select Launch CloudFormation and select Launch.
  7. Copy the URL of the template in the Amazon S3 URL field.

Launch the template running the following command:

aws ec2 create-launch-template \
  --launch-template-name <template-file> \
  --launch-template-data file://conductor.parameters.json

Deploying a Conductor without Templates​

  1. Launch a web browser and navigate to https://aws.amazon.com/

  2. Login to AWS with your account.

    note

    If you do not have an account, click Create an AWS Account to register.

  3. Click EC2 Dashboard and select your deployment region from the drop down list.

  4. Click Launch Instance.

  5. On the Step 1: Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) page, select the Amazon Marketplace tab and enter Session Smart Networking in the search bar.

  6. Locate the SSR image and click Select.

  7. On the Step 2: Choose an Instance Type page, choose an instance type.

  8. On the Step 3: Configure Instance Details page, click Subnet and select the desired subnet and retain the default values for the other fields.

    note

    If the desired subnet is not listed, click Create New Subnet to create one.

  9. Click Next: Add Storage.

    note

    The You have changed your network setting window may appear.

    Select Yes, I want to continue with this change and click Next.

  10. On the Step 4: Add Storage page, ensure the size is 128 GB (default value).

  11. Click Next: Add Tags. See Interface Tagging for additional tag configuration information.

  12. On the the Step 5: Add Tags page, click Add Tags.

  13. Click inside the Key column and select Name. Under the Value column enter the name for your instance.

  14. Click Next: Configure Security Group.

  15. On the Step 6: Configure Security Group page, click select an existing security group and choose one from the list.

    note

    If the desired security group is not listed you can create your own by selecting Create a new security group and following the prompts.

  16. Expand the Advanced Details and scroll down to the User data section. To onboard the router to the desired Conductor, you can add cloud-init user-data using the steps in the Cloud-init Onboarding section.

  17. Select Review and Launch.

  18. In the Boot from General Purpose window, select Continue and click Next.

  19. On the Step 7: Review Instance Launch page, click Launch to finalize the instance.

  20. In the Select an existing key pair or create a new key pair dialog box, select Choose an existing key pair and select the desired key pair from the list.

    note

    If the desired key pair is not listed click Create a new key pair, enter a name in the Key pair name field and click Download Key Pair.

  21. Place a check the acknowledgment check box and click Launch Instances.

  22. If an onboarding configuration was not provided in step 16, follow the steps in the Manual Onboarding section.

Session Smart Conductor Managed Router Deployment​

Use the following guide to deploy a BYOL Session Smart Conductor Managed Router in AWS.

Requirements​

The following infrastructure must exist in your AWS account:

  • A VPC where the Session Smart Router will be deployed.
  • The existing VPC is segmented with at least the following three subnets:
    • Public Subnet: This subnet must provide connectivity to enable communication with external/remote SSR peers.
    • Private Subnet: This subnet must provide connectivity to internal workloads within the cloud.
    • Management Subnet: This subnet is used for conductor-managed deployments, and has the following requirements:
      • The subnet is reachable for SSH for administration purposes.
      • The interface of the Conductor that manages this router must be reachable from this subnet.
  • Enable enhanced network with ENA for maximum throughput performance. For SSR routers, execute the following command from your local computer:
aws ec2 modify-instance-attribute --instance-id instance_id --ena-support

Deployment​

A Session Smart Router can be deployed manually via the AWS Console or in an automated fashion using AWS CLI commands. This section describes both methods. Choose the method that better suits your needs.

When deploying the Session Smart Router using the templates referenced in this section, the following infrastructure elements are created automatically to assist with the deployment process:

  • EC2 instance using a Session Smart image available in the marketplace.
  • The router is deployed with appropriate network interfaces as described here
  • Each network interface has a network security group associated. The network security groups are configured in accordance with the requirements to deploy a fabric with Session Smart Networking software.
  • The public and management interfaces have a unique and static public IP address associated.

The following image shows the infrastructure elements deployed:

Router deployment

Using the AWS Console​

To deploy the Session Smart Networking software via the AWS Console:

  1. Click Session Smart Networking Platform BYOL.
  2. Click Continue to Subscribe and accept the terms and conditions.
  3. Click Continue to Configuration.
  4. In the Fulfillment Option drop down box select CloudFormation Template, select the Juniper Session Smart Conductor Managed Router template and select the desired region.
  5. Click Continue to Launch.
  6. In the Choose Action box, select Launch CloudFormation and click Launch.

CloudFormation Template

  1. Answer the following questions to launch the deployment of an SSR. For a description of the parameters of the template, please refer to Launch the Conductor Managed Template.
  • What name do you want to give the instance?
    • Provide it in the Stack name field (for example: SSR_1_Router).
  • What version of SSR software do you want to install?
  • Where do you want to deploy it?
    • Select the VPC in the region.
    • Select the public, private, and management subnets within the VPC.
  • What are the artifactory credentials used to install the software?
  • What is the control IP address of the Conductor used to manage it?
  • Optional What is the secondary control IP address of the Conductor used to manage it?
  • Who is going to be the administrator?
    • Select the IAM user key.
  1. Click Next.
  2. Click Create stack to launch the deployment.

Plans

Once the deployment completes, information is provided in the Outputs tab, and the BYOL installation process begins. After the VM is deployed it will take an addditional 10-15 minutes for the desired SSR version to be installed.

To login to the instance via SSH, use t128 as the username and the SSH public key of the IAM user provided in the template.

Using the AWS CLI​

To deploy the Session Smart Networking software via the AWS CLI:

  1. Click Session Smart Networking Platform BYOL.
  2. Click Continue to Subscribe and accept the terms and conditions.
  3. Click Continue to Configuration.
  4. In the Fulfillment Option drop down, select CloudFormation Template, select the Juniper Session Smart Conductor Managed Router template and select the desired region.
  5. Click Continue to Launch.
  6. In the Choose Action box, select Launch CloudFormation and click Launch.
  7. Copy the URL of the template in the Amazon S3 URL field.

Launch the deployment with the corresponding AWS CLI commands making use of the S3 URL of the template identified previously. For a description of the parameters of the template, please refer to Launch the Conductor Managed Template.

Cloud-init Onboarding​

When launching an AWS EC2 instance using automation, the following user-data section can be leveraged to setup the onboarding data for the instance. Additionally, this method can be used to further customize the conductor onboarding configuration.

#cloud-config
write_files:
  - path: /etc/128T-hardware-bootstrapper/onboarding-config.json
    content: |
        { 
            "name": "<conductor-name>",
            "ssr-version": "<version>",
            “mode”: "conductor-managed", 
            “conductor-hosts”: ["<conductor-host>"] 
        }
OptionMeaning
nameThe name of the Conductor.
ssr-versionThe SSR software version to be installed on the instance. (BYOL only)
artifactory-userUser portion of the artifactory credentials.
artifactory-passwordPassword portion of the artifactory credentials.
conductor-hostsThe list of Conductor control IPs used to manage the router.

Manual Onboarding​

If a user does not supply the onboarding configuration before launching the instance, the onboarding steps can be manually executed.

  1. Log into the instance using the default AWS username ec2-user and the key pair provided when launching.
  2. Run /usr/libexec/hardwareBootstrapper128t config-generator
  3. Follow the prompts to generate and apply the onboarding configuration.

Network Interfaces Layout​

The Session Smart Router Template deploys an EC2 instance for the SSR with two network interfaces. The template attaches the network interfaces to the EC2 instance in the following order: Public, and Private. The network interfaces to be used are as follows:

Network Interface nameSubnetPCI Address
ge-0-0Management0000:00:05.0
ge-0-1Public0000:00:06.0
ge-0-2Private0000:00:07.0

Launch the Conductor Managed Template​

This section describes the parameters to complete the template to deploy a conductor-managed SSR, as well as how to launch it using the portal or programmatically.

CloudFormation Template

A description of the parameters of the template are listed in the following table:

ParameterDescription
Stack nameFill out the Instance Name field to provide a name to the VM for the conductor-managed router.
VPC IDID of the existing VPC where the conductor-managed router is going to be deployed.
Public Subnet IDID of the public subnet within the VPC.
Public Subnet Allowed CIDRThe IP CIDR range of the endpoints allowed to originate traffic to the Router's public interface in the public subnet.
Private Subnet IDID of the private subnet within the VPC.
Private Subnet Allowed CIDRThe IP CIDR range of the endpoints allowed to originate traffic to the Router's private interface in the private subnet.
Management Subnet IDID of the management subnet within the VPC.
Management Allowed CIDRThe IP CIDR range of the endpoints allowed to SSH to the EC2 instance as well as login to the Router's GUI.
Artifactory UsernameUser portion of the artifactory credentials used to install the SSR software.
Artifactory TokenToken for the artifactory credentials used to install the SSR software.
Primary Control IPThe primary IP address of the Conductor
Secondary Control IPThe secondary IP address of the Conductor
VersionSSR software version installed on the instance.
Instance sizeSize of the EC2 instance.
Key NameIAM user key (SSH public key) to login to the EC2 instance (Linux) via SSH.

Using the AWS Console​

  1. Click the Session Smart Networking Platform BYOL offering.
  2. Click Continue to Subscribe and accept the terms and conditions.
  3. Click Continue to Configuration.
  4. In the Fulfillment Option drop down select the CloudFormation Template, then select the Juniper Session Smart Counductor template, and select the desired region.
  5. Click Continue to Launch.
  6. In the Choose Action box, select Launch CloudFormation and click Launch. The CloudFormation Template appears.
  7. Click Next.
  8. Fill out the template using the table above to understand the parameters of the template.
  9. Click Next.
  10. Click Create Stack to start the deployment.

Once the deployment of the template is complete, information about the new router deployment is provided in the Output tab.

The information listed in the Outputs tab is the following:

  • Instance ID of the Router EC2 instance.
  • Public IP address of the public interface for administration purposes.
  • SSH command to login to the Linux VM.

AWS CLI​

Alternatively, it is possible to launch the template programmatically. Please adjust the content of the JSON file below to match the input of each template.

Create the parameters file router.parameters.json with the following command:

vi router.parameters.json

Paste the following JSON content. Please adjust the values to your specific environment:

{
  "StackName": "<instance name>",
  "VpcId": "<ID of the VPC>",
  "PublicSubnet": "<ID of the public subnet within the VPC>",
  "PublicSubnetAllowedCidr": "0.0.0.0/0",
  "PrivateSubnet": "<ID of the public subnet within the VPC>",
  "PrivateSubnetAllowedCidr": "0.0.0.0/0",
  "AdminAllowedCidr": "0.0.0.0/0",
  "conductorPrimaryControlIP": "<control-ip>",
  "conductorSecondaryControlIP": "<control-ip>",
  "ArtifactoryUsername": "<username>",
  "ArtifactoryUsername": "<password>",
  "SSRVersion": "<ssr-version>",
  "InstanceType": "c5.xlarge",
  "KeyName": "<username>"
}
  1. Click the Session Smart Networking Platform BYOL offering.
  2. Click Continue to Subscribe and accept the terms and conditions.
  3. Click Continue to Configuration.
  4. In the Fulfillment Option drop down select the CloudFormation Template, then select the Juniper Session Smart Counductor template, and select the desired region.
  5. Click Continue to Launch.
  6. In the Choose Action box, select Launch CloudFormation and click Launch. The CloudFormation Template appears.
  7. Copy the URL of the template in the Amazon S3 URL field.

Run the following command to launch the template:

aws ec2 create-launch-template \
  --launch-template-name <template-file> \
  --launch-template-data file://router.parameters.json

Deploying a Router without Templates​

  1. Launch a web browser and navigate to https://aws.amazon.com/

  2. Login to AWS with your account.

    note

    If you do not have an account, click Create an AWS Account to register.

  3. Click EC2 Dashboard and select your deployment region from the drop down list.

  4. Click Launch Instance.

  5. On the Step 1: Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) page, select the Amazon Marketplace tab and enter Session Smart Networking in the search bar.

  6. Locate the SSR image and click Select.

  7. On the Step 2: Choose and Instance Type page, choose an instance type.

  8. On the Step 3: Configure Instance Details page, click Subnet and select the desired subnet and retain the default values for the other fields.

    note

    If the desired subnet is not listed, click Create New Subnet to create one.

  9. Click Next: Add Storage.

    note

    The You have changed your network setting window may appear.

    Select Yes, I want to continue with this change and click Next.

  10. On the Step 4: Add Storage page, ensure the size is 128 GB (default value).

  11. Click Next: Add Tags. See Interface Tagging for additional tag configuration information.

  12. On the the Step 5: Add Tags page, click Add Tags.

  13. Click inside the Key column and select Name. Under the Value column enter the name for your instance.

  14. Click Next: Configure Security Group.

  15. On the Step 6: Configure Security Group page, click select an existing security group and choose one from the list.

    note

    If the desired security group is not listed you can create your own by selecting Create a new security group and following the prompts.

  16. Expand the Advanced Details and scroll down to the User data section. To initialize the Conductor, you can add cloud-init user-data using the steps in the Cloud-init Onboarding section.

  17. Select Review and Launch.

  18. In the Boot from General Purpose window, select Continue and click Next.

  19. On the Step 7: Review Instance Launch page, click Launch to finalize the instance.

  20. In the Select an existing key pair or create a new key pair dialog box, select Choose an existing key pair and select the desired key pair from the list.

    note

    If the desired key pair is not listed click Create a new key pair, enter a name in the Key pair name field and click Download Key Pair.

  21. Check the acknowledgment check box and click Launch Instances.

  22. If an onboarding configuration was not provided in step 16, follow the steps in the Manual Onboarding section.

Interface Tagging​

In addition to using the cloud formation template, the admin can tag the interface with the key SSR-ROLE. The possible values are as follows:

Tag ValueMeaning
WANInterface is marked as WAN for onboarding purposes.
LANInterface is marked as LAN and is assumed to be used as a private network for internal workflows.
note

The EC2 instance must be assigned the IAM role containing the ec2_describeNetwork permission to leverage the interface tagging.