Deploying Morpheus with the HPE Installer (Recommended)¶

The HPE Morpheus Manager Installer is a graphical wizard that deploys Morpheus Enterprise or VM Essentials to an HPE HVM host in minutes. It handles the entire deployment process including image upload, VM creation, network configuration, and post-deployment verification.

The installer is available on the HVM ISO file in two versions:

• macOS: Morpheus_Manager_Installer-x64-<version>.dmg

• Windows: Morpheus_Manager_Installer-x64-<version>.zip

Prerequisites and Assumptions¶

Before using the installer, ensure the following:

• Each HVM host has an IP address, netmask, and gateway already configured

• You have SSH access (port 22) to the target HVM host from your workstation

• You have HTTPS access (port 443) to the HVM host for post-deployment verification

• The SSH user has sudo privileges to run virsh, hvmcli, and manage HVM resources

• You have the HPE VM Essentials QCOW2 image ready (available on the HVM ISO or as an HTTP URL)

• You know the network configuration details for the Morpheus VM. The Netmask value must use dotted-decimal notation (for example, 255.255.224.0), not a CIDR prefix or address such as /19 or 172.16.32.0/19

Starting the Installer¶

1. Mount or extract the HVM ISO file on your workstation

2. Locate the installer for your platform:

   • macOS: Open the .dmg file and launch the HPE Morpheus Manager Installer application

   • Windows: Extract the .zip file and run the installer executable

3. The installer opens with the Prerequisites screen

Step 1: Prerequisites¶

The Welcome screen provides an overview of how the deployment works:

1. Configure — Enter SSH credentials, network settings, and VM configuration through the wizard

2. Upload & Deploy — The installer uploads the QCOW2 image and runs hvmcli to create and configure the VM

3. Verify & Access — Cloud-init configures the VM, and the installer verifies the application is ready

Before continuing, confirm each prerequisite in the Before You Start checklist:

• SSH access to the HVM host — Ensure you can reach the target host over SSH (port 22) from this machine

• HTTPS access to the HVM host — The host must be reachable over HTTPS (port 443) for post-deploy verification

• User has sudo privileges — The SSH user must have sudo access to run virsh, hvmcli, and manage HVM resources

• QCOW2 image available — Have the HPE VM Essentials QCOW2 image ready — either a local file or an HTTP URL

• Network configuration details — Know the IP address, netmask, gateway, and DNS for the virtual machine

Once all items are confirmed, click Next.

Step 2: SSH Connection¶

Configure the SSH connection to the target HVM hypervisor host where the Morpheus VM will be deployed.

• Host — The IP address or hostname of the HVM host

• Port — SSH port (default: 22)

• Username — SSH user (e.g., ubuntu)

• Password — Enter the password for the SSH user

Click Test Connection to verify connectivity. The installer will:

1. Establish an SSH connection to the host

2. Verify the host-key fingerprint (you must accept it on first connection)

3. Detect the existing management virtSwitch on the host

Once connected and the host identity is verified, click Next.

Step 3: VM Network¶

Configure the static network settings for the Morpheus appliance VM. This is the IP address that will be assigned to the Morpheus VM itself.

• IP Address — Static IP address for the Morpheus VM

• Netmask — Subnet mask in dotted-decimal notation (for example, 255.255.252.0). Do not enter CIDR notation (for example, /22 or 192.168.0.0/22)

• Gateway — Default gateway for the VM

• DNS Servers — One or more DNS servers (click the x to remove entries, or add more as needed)

• Appliance URL (optional) — Custom URL for accessing the Morpheus appliance (e.g., https://morpheus.example.com)

Click Next to proceed.

Step 4: Host Network¶

Configure the host management uplink. A management virtSwitch is created on the host before deployment (or reused if one already exists).

• Management virtSwitch — Displays the detected management virtSwitch (e.g., vs0 already exists on this host and will be reused)

Optional settings:

• Use Compute VLAN — Enable if you want the Morpheus appliance VM to be deployed on a specific VLAN. When a VLAN ID is provided, the Morpheus appliance will be deployed using this VLAN for its network connectivity. When checked:

  • Compute Interface — Select the host interface for the compute network bridge

  • Compute VLAN Tag — The VLAN ID to use for the Morpheus appliance network

• Use HTTP Proxy — Enable if the environment requires an HTTP proxy. When checked:

  • Proxy URL — The proxy server URL (e.g., http://proxy:8080)

  • No Proxy — Comma-separated list of hosts to bypass the proxy (e.g., localhost,127.0.0.1)

Click Next to proceed.

Step 5: VM Configuration¶

Configure the Morpheus appliance virtual machine settings.

VM Settings:

• Hostname — The hostname for the Morpheus VM (e.g., morpheus-app)

• VM Size — Select a VM sizing profile:

  • Small (12 GB RAM, 2 vCPUs)

  • Medium

  • Large

Choose a profile based on the expected managed hosts, VMs, total objects, enabled integrations, and workload. The profiles do not establish a fixed number of HVM clusters that a Manager can manage. For published limits and guidance on values that are not published, see HPE VM Essentials Maximums. Contact HPE for a workload-specific sizing review before committing to a large deployment.

• QCOW2 Image — Path to the HPE VM Essentials QCOW2 image. Use the Browse button to locate the file on the ISO volume (e.g., hpe-vm-essentials-9.0.0-1.qcow2.gz), or enter an HTTP URL

• Expected SHA256 Checksum (optional) — If provided, the local image file’s SHA256 will be verified before upload

For a local path, the workstation remains in the image-transfer path until upload completes. For a URL, the target host must be able to resolve and reach the source. URL use can avoid a slow workstation or VPN path, but it does not guarantee a shorter transfer. Use a trusted source and provide the publisher’s SHA256 checksum when available.

Appliance First-Boot Configuration:

These fields configure the initial setup of the Morpheus appliance after deployment:

• Appliance Name — Name of the Morpheus appliance (e.g., Morpheus)

• Initial Tenant Name — Name of the initial tenant (e.g., Master Tenant)

• Admin Username — Administrator username (e.g., admin)

• Admin Password — Password for the administrator account

• Admin Email — Email address for the administrator

• First Name / Last Name — Administrator’s name

Click Next to proceed to the review step.

Step 6: Review & Preflight Check¶

The final step before deployment. The installer runs preflight checks to validate your configuration and displays a summary.

Preflight Checks:

• SSH connection to host

• hvmcli present + passwordless sudo

• IP address format valid

• Hostname format valid

• Image path specified

• Management uplink set

All checks must pass (shown in green) before you can deploy. If any check fails, click Re-run to retry or go back to correct the configuration.

Configuration Summary:

Review the full configuration summary including SSH target, VM IP, netmask/gateway, DNS, hostname, VM size, image path, admin user, management uplink, compute interface, and proxy settings.

When satisfied, click Deploy to start the deployment.

Deployment Progress¶

Once deployment begins, the installer displays a real-time progress view showing each step:

The deployment steps include:

1. Preparing host virtSwitch

2. Validating deployment parameters

3. Running pre-flight checks

4. Preparing KVM hypervisor

5. Configuring management network

6. Configuring compute network

7. Creating local storage pool

8. Downloading QCOW2 image

9. Building cloud-init configuration

10. Defining virtual machine

11. Starting virtual machine

12. Waiting for Morpheus services to start

13. Running post-deploy health checks

14. Cleaning up temporary files

A Cancel Deployment button is available if you need to abort the process.

Troubleshooting a Failed Deployment¶

If the deployment encounters an error, the installer clearly indicates which step failed and provides troubleshooting options.

Click What went wrong (or Hide details) to expand error details showing the specific error message.

What to try:

• Check the deployment logs for more details

• Try restarting the deployment from scratch

• If the issue persists, collect logs and contact support

Available actions:

• View Logs — Opens the local log directory containing main.log with detailed deployment trace

• Export Report — Exports a deployment report for support purposes

• Retry Deployment — Retry the deployment from the beginning

• Back to Configuration — Return to the configuration wizard to adjust settings

Large Image Uploads and Timeout¶

The installer UI has a 60-minute timeout for the image upload step. For very large QCOW2 images or slow network connections, the upload may exceed this limit.

Pre-staging the image manually:

If you anticipate the upload will take longer than 60 minutes, you can manually transfer the QCOW2 image to the host beforehand. The installer uploads images to:

/var/lib/libvirt/images/

To have the installer skip the upload and discover a pre-existing image on the host, place the file at:

/var/lib/libvirt/images/<filename>.qcow2

The installer checks the file size using stat -c '%s' /var/lib/libvirt/images/<filename> — if the file exists and has the same size as the local source file, the upload step is skipped automatically.

Example — manually uploading via SCP:

scp hpe-vm-essentials-9.1.0-1.qcow2 ubuntu@<hvm-host>:/var/lib/libvirt/images/

Installer Data Locations¶

The HPE Morpheus Manager Installer stores configuration, logs, and state data locally on the workstation. If you need to start fresh (e.g., clear saved settings, reset SSH trust, or troubleshoot a corrupted state), you can delete these files.

macOS:

Windows:

Stored Files:

Resetting the Installer:

To completely reset the installer to a clean state:

macOS:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Morpheus\ Manager\ Installer/
rm -rf ~/Library/Logs/Morpheus\ Manager\ Installer/

Windows (PowerShell):

Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$env:APPDATA\Morpheus Manager Installer"