Quick Start Guide: TPN Sinefa Probe VNF

Prerequisites

This Quick Start Guide assumes the following:

• You have registered for a Sinefa account (if not, go to http://www.sinefa.com/ and click on the "Free Trial" button to register)
• You have a Telstra Programmable Network (TPN) account

Overview

Sinefa probes deployed in TPN are transparent, in-path virtual network functions (VNFs). They require Internet access in order to connect to Sinefa's cloud servers for reporting and configuration.

The following steps show a simple, in-path VNF deployment. For assistance with more complex deployments, please contact us.

Step 1: Deploy the Sinefa probe VNF
Step 2: Configure the probe
Step 3: Register and Subscribe the probe

Step 1: Deploy the Sinefa probe VNF

In the TPN portal, go to the TPN Marketplace Directory and locate "Sinefa". Select the latest version of the Sinefa probe VNF and "favourite" it. This will make the VNF available for you to add to a topology.

Next, open a topology and decide where the Sinefa probe VNF is going to be deployed.

In this example we are going to deploy the Sinefa probe VNF between the Next IP endpoint and the Internet firewall.

Click on "+ Add Items" and go to the Marketplace. The Sinefa probe VNF can be found under the "Analytics" section. Once selected, click "Add VNF" and pick an appropriate VNF size based on the amount of Internet bandwidth you have provisioned and deploy it to your topology.

By default, the Sinefa probe VNF is deployed with 1 virtual NIC. For this in-path deployment, we need 2. To add an interface, go to the VNF settings (the "i" icon), click on the "Interfaces" tab and select "Create New".

Next, connect the Next IP endpoint to the Sinefa probe VNF and also connect the Sinefa probe VNF to the firewall.

The Sinefa probe VNF is now deployed. Proceed immediately to the next step to allow traffic to flow through the probe.

Step 2: Configure the probe

Click on the Sinefa probe VNF cog icon to open the virtual console. Login to the virtual console using the "admin" user (no password is set by default).

The first step is to bridge the 2 virtual NICs so traffic can flow through the VNF. Select the "Networking" menu item. There should be 2 interfaces displayed.

Select "Configure Bridges" and then "Add Bridge". Select both "eth0" and "eth1" from the list of interfaces to bridge together. Call the bridge "br0" then proceed to add it. Once created, select "Configure IP Address" to either enable DHCP or set a static IP.

In this example, DHCP was available so the Sinefa probe VNF has obtained an IP address automatically.

Step 3: Register and Subscribe the probe

Login to your Sinefa account and go to Settings -> Probes -> Add Probe. Locate your account's registration key.

On the Sinefa probe VNF virtual console, go back to the main menu then select "Registration". Enter your account's registration key to complete the registration process.

This probe should now appear in your Sinefa account under Settings -> Probes.

Locate your new Sinefa probe VNF and click on the 'Subscribe' button. Follow the prompts to add a Subscription to the probe. 

NOTE: No charges will apply in Trial mode. If you are not the Administrator then please notify the Administrator to complete this step.

Still need some help?

You can:

1. Chat to our engineers directly in the Sinefa App (select Live Chat)
2. Send an email to support@sinefa.com or click Submit a request above
3. We’ve also got some easy-to-follow video tutorials at www.sinefa.com/training

See Also

Probe Networking Set-up Guide
Probe Registration or Re-Registration