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Introduction

About This Guide​

This guide covers the installation, configuration, and administration of the Forward Enterprise Virtual Appliance. The appliance is installed on one or more virtual machines from a delivered image and requires a separate license file for activation.

Overview​

The Forward Appliance is a self-contained environment for running Forward Enterprise on premises. It consists of:

  • Forward Cluster -- an execution environment that can be clustered for scalability and availability
  • Forward Enterprise -- the network modeling and verification application
  • Forward Collector -- the module responsible for collecting network device data

The appliance periodically collects and normalizes configuration and state data from enterprise network devices and cloud accounts, updates the Forward Network model, and provides user access to the modeled data.

All node and cluster configuration and management is performed through a Text User Interface (TUI) accessible via SSH or VM console. For details on navigating the TUI, see the TUI Reference.

Node Roles​

  • Primary nodes: The first three deployed nodes run the cluster control plane in addition to performing modeling.
  • Worker nodes: Additional nodes added to the cluster solely for scaling modeling capacity in large environments.

For small environments and testing, Forward Cluster can be deployed on a single node. For production, multi-node deployment is recommended.

Cluster Networking​

The cluster uses a dedicated intra-cluster network for pod-to-pod communication. You do not need to manage it directly, but you must allocate IP address space for it. See Connectivity Requirements for details.

Collector​

By default, the Forward Collector module runs within the same cluster. Remote collector configurations are also supported. For collector setup, refer to the Remote Collector documentation.

Application Access​

Forward Enterprise is accessible on any cluster node's external IP address. For multi-node deployments, a load balancer with a single virtual IP (VIP) should be configured for availability. See Set up load balancing for configuration details.

Shell Access​

The TUI includes an option to exit to a bash shell for advanced troubleshooting (Troubleshooting > Exit to Shell). This is currently available without additional authorization. In a future release, shell access will require one-time authorization from Forward Networks Support.

Support and Documentation​

  • Application documentation: Application Docs