Deploying Branch Session Manager on ASP R6.0.x (KVM on RHEL 8.10) using KVM Cockpit

Last Updated : Jun 10, 2026 |

About this task

Branch Session Manager requires two network interfaces.

Branch Session Manager has 2 different profiles, Profile 1 supports/recommended to deploy on S8300E card and Profile 2 supports/recommended to deploy on Dell R640 and R660xs Servers.

Branch Session Manager provides OVA that contains bsm.qcow2 file.

Note:

Solution Deployment Manager and Solution Deployment Manager Client does not support KVM on RHEL 8.10 images for a virtualized environment.

Before you begin

Always follow A1SC output for deployment of applications on the host(s). There should never be more than one instance of a specific application on the same host.

Deployment of applications MUST be performed one at a time and artifacts cleaned up/removed prior to deploying then next application.

  • Install ASP R6.0.x (KVM on RHEL 8.10).

    For more information, see Installing the Avaya Solutions Platform 130 Series at https://support.avaya.com/css/public/documents/101091802.

  • Download the BSM KVM image from PLDS to your computer.

  • Log in to the ASP R6.0.x CLI with custadm credentials.

  • Ensure that the staging folder exists: /var/lib/libvirt/staging.

    sudo ls -ld /var/lib/libvirt/images

    Ensure to remove the older images from the staging folder.

    Ensure sufficient space is available in the staging folder to copy the KVM image.

    If the staging folder does not exist, create it using the following commands:

  • sudo mkdir /var/lib/libvirt/staging

    sudo chown custadm:wheel /var/lib/libvirt/staging

  • Verify file permissions. The above sudo chown custadm:wheel /var/lib/libvirt/stagingcommand enables the custadm to write into this directory with sudo. The permissions must appear as seen below:

    drwxr-x---. 2 custadm wheel 6 Oct 23 14:32 /var/lib/libvirt/staging

  • Copy the Branch Session Manager KVM image to the ASP R6.0.x host in /var/lib/libvirt/staging using winscp and custadm credentials.

  • If not still in the CLI, login again to the ASP R6.0.x CLI with custadm credentials.

Important:

Preface the following commands with sudo.

  • Run the following command to verify the Branch Session Manager KVM image available in the staging folder: sudo ls -lr /var/lib/libvirt/staging

  • Go to /var/lib/libvirt/staging folder, and run the following command to extract the ova file: Sudo tar -xvf SM-x.x.x.x.x-kvm-0x.ova

    The command extracts the following files:

    • BSM.ovf

    • BSM.mf

    • BSM.qcow2

  • The extracted qcow2 images are in thin provision format. The qcow2 images must be converted to thick provision. Ensure you are in the /var/lib/libvirt/staging directory before the next steps. When running the commands to convert to thick provision, a unique identifier can be added to the new qcow2 image. Avaya recommends to use VM name as a unique identifier. For example:

    BSMx.x[unique identifier]-system.qcow2

    The examples in this document will simply use the following:

    BSMx.x-system.qcow2

  • Convert BSM.qcow2 (thin) to BSMx.x-system.qcow2 (thick)

    sudo qemu-img convert -O qcow2 -o preallocation=full BSM.qcow2

    BSMx.x-system.qcow2

To verify that the conversion is successful and to verify the disk size, run the following commands:

  • sudo qemu-img info BSMx.x-system.qcow2

    Disk size must be displayed based on the profile. 50GB

Copy BSMx.x-system.qcow2, to the /var/lib/libvirt/images directory. Ensure you are in the /var/lib/libvirt/staging directory before performing these steps.

  • sudo cp BSMx.x-system.qcow2 /var/lib/libvirt/images

  • Verify the images are present in the /var/lib/libvirt/images directory.

  • cd /var/lib/libvirt/images

  • sudo ls -lrt

From the /var/lib/libvirt/images directory, run the following commands to change the owner and permissions to 640 on the files:

  • sudo chown qemu:qemu BSMx.x-system.qcow2

    sudo chmod 640 BSMx.x-system.qcow2

Go to /var/lib/libvirt/staging directory and remove all the extracted images and converted images. This is important to ensure that there is sufficient space for future deployments of KVM images. Do NOT remove files from the images directory.

  • cd /var/lib/libvirt/staging

    sudo ls -lr

    sudo rm *BSM*

Procedure

  1. Log in to the KVM Cockpit web console as custadm in the following format: https://<IP address or FQDN of KVM host>:9090.
  2. For administration actions, on the top-right of the window, click on the Limited access button.
    Figure : 1. Limited access button




    Note:

    You require administrator access in order to view virtual machines. Administrator access is like root access. Ensure that you take care making updates.

  3. In the Switch to administrative access window, enter the password for custadm.
    Figure : 2. Switch to administrative access




    The Limited access button on the top-right of the window changes to Administrative access.

    Figure : 3. Administrative access button




  4. Navigate to System > Virtual Machines > Import VM.
  5. In the Import a virtual machine window, do the following:
    1. In the Name field, enter a name for the Session Manager virtual machine.
    2. In the Disk Image field, select the BSMx.x- system.qcow2 image of the Session Manager on the KVM Cockpit host under /var/lib/libvirt/images/ directory.
    3. In the Operating System field, select RHEL 8 version.
    4. In the Memory field, select the required memory in MiB format.
      Note:

      Based on the required footprint, enter a value in the Memory field.

      For more information on footprints, see Supported footprints of Branch Session Manager on ASP R6.0.x (KVM on RHEL 8.10).

    5. Click Import and edit.

      Virtual Machine details page appears.

      Under the Disks section, verify the BSMx.x- system.qcow2 image disk image size is correctly displayed in the Capacity field. By default, virtio is selected under the Bus field, and this needs to be modified.

  6. Under the Disks section, click Edit.
  7. In the Edit <attributes name> window, do the following:
    1. in the Bus field, select scsi.
    2. In the Cache field, select directsync.
    3. click Save.

      In the Disks section, ensure that scsi appears under the Bus field and directsync appears under the Additional Cache field.

  8. In the Overview section, in the Firmware field, select UEFI and click Save.
  9. In the Overview section, in the CPU field, click edit.

    CPU Details window opens.

  10. In the CPU details window, based on the required footprint, enter a value in the vCPU Maximum and vCPU Count fields.

    For more information on footprints, see Supported footprints of Branch Session Manager on ASP R6.0.x (KVM on RHEL 8.10).

  11. Select the default IvyBridge-IBRS mode. Do not change this value.
  12. Click Apply.
  13. In the Network interfaces section, click Edit and select the Network Bridge, and click Save.
    Session Manager requires two NICs

    • NIC1 is for the Management IP

    • NIC2 is for the Asset IP

  14. To add more network interfaces, under the Network interfaces section, click Add network interface and do the following:
    1. In the Interface type field, select Bridge to LAN.
    2. From the Source field, select the required network bridge.
    3. Click Add.
  15. On the virtual machine, click Run to start the Session Manager virtual machine.

Next Steps

On first boot of the Session Manager configure the virtual machine, network properties and follow the Session Manager deployment guide.