AWS

This guide covers importing the CloudShark Enterprise OVA into Amazon AWS, including best practices for initial setup, upgrades, and migration from existing EC2 instances.

Overview

CloudShark Enterprise can be run on AWS by:

The process uses AWS’s VM Import/Export service to convert our OVA into an AMI. Once imported, the AMI provides a consistent way to launch and upgrade CloudShark instances while maintaining your data on a separate EBS volume.

Importing the OVA

AWS provides detailed documentation on importing VMs as images. The basic steps are:

  • Upload the CloudShark OVA to an S3 bucket
  • Use the AWS CLI to import the OVA as an AMI

Here’s a simplified example using AWS CloudShell:

Create a file named containers.json that specifies the location of your CloudShark OVA in S3:

[
  {
    "Description": "CloudShark Enterprise",
    "Format": "ova",
    "UserBucket": {
        "S3Bucket": "<S3 Bucket Name>",
        "S3Key": "<OVA Filename>"
    }
  }
]

Run the following command to begin importing the OVA as a new AMI:

aws ec2 import-image --description "CloudShark Enterprise" --disk-containers "file://containers.json"

You can monitor the import progress using:

aws ec2 describe-import-image-tasks --import-task-ids <task-id>

Launch EC2 Instance

When the import completes successfully, you’ll have an AMI with two EBS volumes:

  • A 40 GB root volume containing the operating system and CloudShark application
  • A 500 GB data volume that will store all capture files, configuration, and database data

Before launching an EC2 instance:

  • Create an Elastic Network Interface (ENI)

    • Using an ENI ensures your license remains valid when upgrading instances

  • Launch an EC2 instance from the AMI with this ENI attached

  • Install your license

    • Use the MAC address of the ENI when requesting your license

Upgrading CloudShark

One of the benefits of running CloudShark on AWS is simplified upgrades. When a new version is released:

  • Import the new CloudShark OVA as an AMI following the steps above
  • Launch a new EC2 instance from this AMI
  • Move the data disk and ENI from the old EC2 instance to the new one

Your CloudShark installation will be upgraded while maintaining all existing data, configuration, and licenses.

Migrating EC2 Instance

If you’re running CloudShark on an existing EC2 instance, you can migrate to our OVA-based distribution:

  • Import the CloudShark OVA as an AMI following the steps above Follow our migration guide with these AWS-specific steps:
    • Attach the new EC2 instances data disk to your existing instance
    • Copy your data following the migration guide
    • Move the data disk to the new EC2 instance based on the OVA

Remember to use an Elastic Network Interface when setting up your new instance to ensure consistent licensing across upgrades.