Local Collector

• 1: Requirements
• 2: Deployment
• 3: Local Collector Details

1 - Requirements

What you need to get started

• Access to the SamurAI Portal and your specific tenant.
• A supported deployment platform for the Local Collector. Supported hypervisors and cloud platforms are listed below.
• A virtual machine that meets the minimum virtual machine requirements.
• The required network changes to meet the Collector connectivity requirements.
• A static IP address for the Collector and DNS server IP addresses, unless you use DHCP.
• Access to the products where you need to make the changes described in the relevant integration guide.

Supported hypervisors

Supported cloud platforms

Minimum virtual machine requirements

Connectivity required for the Collector

The Collector requires connectivity to the resources listed below. Update security controls, such as firewall rules, proxy settings, and DNS configuration, as needed to allow the required communications.

What’s next?

You now understand the supported deployment platforms, minimum virtual machine requirements, and required connectivity. Proceed to Deployment.

2 - Deployment

The need for a Local Collector depends on the product being integrated with the SamurAI platform. This is indicated in the relevant Product Integration Guide.

Create, configure and download a Collector

1. Log in to the SamurAI Portal, select Telemetry, and then select Collectors from the main menu.
2. Select Create Collector.
3. Select Local Collector.
4. Complete the fields as required.

5. Select Create Collector.
6. Select the Collector by clicking the name provided in step 4.
7. Select Download.

The files you download depend on the deployment platform.

• Configuration

  • ISO — Collector-specific configuration file.
  • Required for all virtual-machine deployments. Mount this ISO when the Collector starts for the first time so that it can configure and register with the SamurAI platform.

• Cloud init

  • AWS — Cloud-init data for an AWS instance.
  • Azure — Cloud-init data for an Azure virtual machine.
  • SDPF — Cloud-init data for an NTT Smart Data Platform (SDPF) instance.

• Virtual machine

  • OVA — Virtual appliance package for VMware vSphere and Proxmox VE.
    • Includes the virtual disk image and virtual-machine configuration.
  • VMDK — Virtual disk image for VMware vSphere.
    • For manual deployment; it requires manual virtual-machine configuration.
  • VHDX — Virtual hard-disk image for Microsoft Hyper-V.
  • KVM bundle — Virtual-machine package for KVM-based environments.
    • The bundle contains the files required to deploy the Local Collector on a KVM platform.

8. Download the Collector configuration ISO file and the file required for your selected deployment platform.

Install a Collector

Select the section relevant to your deployment platform:

• VMware vSphere
• Microsoft Hyper-V
• Proxmox VE
• KVM-based environments
• Amazon EC2
• Azure Virtual Machine
• NTT Smart Data Platform (SDPF)

VMware vSphere

Follow the VMware documentation:

• Deploy a Virtual Machine from an OVF or OVA File in the VMware Host Client

1. When prompted for a virtual-machine name, use a meaningful name, for example samurai-nttsh-collector.
2. Select the Local Collector OVA file downloaded from the SamurAI Portal.
3. Ensure the virtual machine is configured to use UEFI firmware.
4. Configure CPU, memory, storage, and networking in accordance with the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.

After deployment, configure the virtual machine to use the Local Collector configuration ISO file. Refer to VMware documentation:

• Configure a Datastore ISO File for the CD/DVD Drive

1. Select the Collector configuration ISO file downloaded from the SamurAI Portal when prompted to select an ISO file.
2. Ensure that the CD/DVD drive is connected when the virtual machine starts.
3. Power on the virtual machine.

Microsoft Hyper-V

Follow Microsoft documentation:

• Create a virtual machine in Hyper-V

1. When prompted for a virtual-machine name, use a meaningful name, for example samurai-nttsh-collector.
2. Configure the virtual machine to use UEFI firmware.
3. Configure memory and networking in accordance with the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.
4. When prompted to connect a virtual hard disk, select the VHDX file downloaded from the SamurAI Portal.
5. Attach the Collector configuration ISO file to the virtual DVD drive and ensure that the drive is connected at startup.
6. Start the virtual machine.

Proxmox Virtual Environment

Follow the Proxmox documentation:

• Import Wizard

1. Create or select storage to use as the import source.
2. Use the OVA/OVF import workflow to import the Local Collector OVA file downloaded from the SamurAI Portal.
3. Ensure that the imported virtual machine is configured to use UEFI firmware.
4. Configure CPU, memory, storage, and networking in accordance with the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.

Import the Local Collector configuration ISO file to Proxmox:

1. Navigate to Datacenter and select Storage.
2. Select the storage location where you want to store the ISO file.
3. Select ISO Images.

4. Select Upload.
5. Select the Local Collector configuration ISO file and upload it using the default settings.

Configure the Local Collector virtual machine to use the configuration ISO file:

1. Select the Local Collector virtual machine, select Hardware, and then select Add.

2. Select CD/DVD Drive.

3. Select Use CD/DVD disk image file (ISO), locate the Local Collector configuration ISO file, and then select Add.

4. Confirm that the network interface is available as Network Device (net0).
5. Start the virtual machine.

KVM-based environments

This section applies to KVM environments, including platforms that use libvirt, QEMU/KVM, or another KVM management interface. Because KVM implementations and management interfaces differ, follow the documentation provided by your KVM platform for the virtual-machine creation and import workflow.

Prerequisites:

1. Download the Collector configuration ISO file for the Collector you created.
2. Download the Local Collector KVM bundle from the SamurAI Portal.
3. Extract the KVM bundle.

Use your KVM platform documentation to create or import a virtual machine using the extracted Local Collector image.

When creating or configuring the Local Collector virtual machine:

1. Configure the virtual machine to use UEFI firmware.
2. Configure CPU, memory, storage, and networking in accordance with the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.
3. Attach the Local Collector configuration ISO file as a virtual CD/DVD drive.
4. Ensure the virtual CD/DVD drive is connected when the virtual machine starts for the first time.
5. Start the virtual machine.

For guidance on KVM virtual-machine configuration, refer to the documentation for your management platform. Examples include:

• libvirt domain XML format
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux: Managing virtual devices

Amazon EC2

Prerequisite steps:

1. Download the AWS cloud-init.yaml file from Create, configure and download a Collector. You will use this file during EC2 instance deployment.

Follow Amazon documentation to launch an EC2 instance:

• Launch an instance

Apply the following adjustments while following the Amazon documentation:

1. Select Ubuntu as the AMI.
2. Select the latest supported Ubuntu AMI.
3. Select an instance type that meets the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.
4. Configure the key pair and network settings according to your organisation’s policies. Ensure network settings fulfil the Connectivity required for the Collector.
5. In Configure storage:
   • Set the root volume to at least 64 GiB.
   • Add a secondary volume of at least 500 GiB, sized in accordance with the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.

6. In Advanced details, paste the contents of the AWS cloud-init.yaml file into User data. Do not select User data has already been base64 encoded.
7. Complete the remaining instance configuration according to your organisation’s requirements and the Amazon documentation.

Azure Virtual Machine

Prerequisite steps:

1. Download the Azure cloud-init.yaml file from Create, configure and download a Collector. You will use this file during Azure virtual-machine deployment.

Follow Microsoft documentation to create an Azure virtual machine:

• Create a virtual machine

Apply the following adjustments while following the Microsoft documentation:

1. Under the Basics tab, select Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS as the image.
2. Under the Basics tab, select a suitable size that meets the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.
3. Under the Disks tab, add one data disk of at least 500 GiB, sized in accordance with the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.

4. Under the Advanced tab, paste the contents of cloud-init.yaml into the Custom data field.

NTT Smart Data Platform (SDPF)

Prerequisite steps:

1. Download the SDPF cloud-init.yaml file from Create, configure and download a Collector. You will use this file during instance creation.

Follow NTT documentation to create a server instance:

• Create an instance

Apply the following adjustments while following the NTT documentation:

1. When selecting the image, select the latest Ubuntu 24.04 official image.
2. When selecting compute series and size, select a suitable specification that meets the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.
3. Add a separate data disk of at least 500 GB, sized in accordance with the Minimum Virtual Machine Requirements.

4. When selecting the logical network, ensure that it fulfils the Connectivity required for the Collector. This typically requires an Internet Gateway, logical network, subnet, and potentially firewall rules that allow the Collector’s required outbound connectivity.
5. In the Post-install script field, select Direct Input and paste the contents of the cloud-init.yaml file.

Deleting a Collector

To delete a Local Collector:

1. In the SamurAI Portal, select Telemetry and then Collectors.
2. Select the relevant Collector.
3. On the right side of the relevant Collector, select More Options () and then select Delete Collector.
4. Review the warning. To confirm the destructive action, enter DELETE and select Delete Collector.

Replacing a Collector

If a Local Collector virtual machine is lost because of corruption or damage, such as a major storage failure, delete the existing Collector in the SamurAI Portal, discard the old virtual-machine image, and create a new Collector by following the installation process.

What’s next?

You have now deployed and configured your Local Collector.

Refer to Local Collector Details for information about validating Collector status and additional configuration.

3 - Local Collector Details

Validate Collector Status

1. Click Telemetry and select Collectors from the main menu

2. Select the relevant Collector from the presented list

3. View Status

After you provision a Collector VM and start it, it will go through a process of installing updates and modules specified in the configuration ISO file which you downloaded. The time taken for this process is dependent on factors like the speed of the hardware you are running the Collector on and connectivity to the repositories that it downloads updates from. In some cases this process can take around 30 minutes.

If you have any problems, please submit a ticket via the SamurAI Portal.

Collector Email Notifications

By default email notifications are enabled. The SamurAI platform sends email notifications to registered users when a Collector is reported as Critical (e.g. the SamurAI platform cannot communicate to the Collector) however this is customizable by users for any Collector status.

Enable or Disable Email Notifications

1. Click on More Options () to the right of the table
2. Select Notifications
3. Toggle the setting to enable or disable by selecting the bell icon. Alternatively you can select the default setting
4. Click Save

You can also achieve this per individual Collector by:

1. Click on More Options () to the left of the Collector
2. Select Notifications
3. Toggle the setting to enable or disable by selecting the bell icon. Alternatively you can select the default setting (send notification).
4. Click Save

What’s next?

The next step is to start configuring integrations which will allow the SamurAI platform to start receiving your telemetry data.

Select Integrations Overview for more information on integrations and where to start.

If you require high availability for your collector, this can be achieved using the capabilities of your virtualization platform.