Create an NVIDIA Minerva Simulation in DSX Air

NVIDIA DSX Air is a cloud-hosted, data center simulation platform that behaves like a real-world production environment. Follow these steps to create an NVIDIA Minerva simulation using DSX Air.

Prerequisites

To access DSX Air, you need an NGC account and organization. See the NVIDIA DSX Air user guide.

Create a Switch Topology in Air

1. Navigate to https://dsx-air.nvidia.com/simulations.

2. Click New Simulation, enter a name, select Blank Canvas, then click Create.

3. A blank canvas appears with a "System Palette" containing switches and servers. Drag and drop switches onto the canvas. Do not use the switch named oob-mgmt-switch.

4. Build your topology by placing switches on the canvas. Select any switch to configure links between switches.

5. You can rename switches (for example, SN2100-1, SN2201-1) by selecting a switch and editing its properties.

6. After you finish configuring switches and links, enable OOB (out-of-band network) by selecting the toggle under your username.

7. Click Export Simulation to download the topology as a JSON file.

Add the NVIDIA Minerva Server to the JSON File

1. Open the downloaded JSON file in a text editor.

2. Add the following block at the end of the Nodes array, then save the file:

   "minerva-server": {
     "memory": 65536,
     "cpu": 24,
     "storage": 500,
     "os": "minerva-365.1.1.1000",
     "cpu_mode": "host-passthrough"
   }
   

If a newer NVIDIA Minerva image is available, update the os value accordingly. You can search for images hosted in DSX Air from the Images menu.

Create the Simulation

1. Click New Simulation and enter a name.

2. Select JSON as the simulation type and upload the JSON file you created in the previous section.

3. Enable Apply ZTP Template. Delete the contents and replace them with ztp.sh. The ZTP script sets the OOB management server IP address to 192.168.200.1 and updates the default switch password from cumulus to Minerva_123.

4. Click Create. After the simulation loads, select the play button to start the simulation.

5. It can take several minutes to load the simulation. After the simulation is loaded, refresh the page to view it. Drag the nodes to reposition them.

Install NVIDIA Minerva and Expose the NVIDIA Minerva UI

1. Log in to minerva-server with the username minerva and the default password Minerva_123.

2. Install the NVIDIA Minerva stack on minerva-server with sudo minerva-install.

3. Verify that the installation was successful with cd ~/minerva && ./svm stack-status.

Configure OOB Management Server and Create NVIDIA Minerva UI Service

1. Click the OOB-mgmt-server node and change the default credentials:

   • Username: ubuntu

   • Password: nvidia

2. Run the following command on the OOB management server to configure port forwarding:

   MIN_IP=$(getent hosts minerva-server | awk '{print $1}')
   sudo iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -m tcp --dport 444 -j DNAT --to-destination ${MIN_IP}:443
   sudo netfilter-persistent save
   

3. Create a service to expose the NVIDIA Minerva UI:

   • Navigate to the Services tab.

   • Click New Service.

   • Provide the following values:

     • Name: minerva-ui

     • Interface: oob-mgmt-server:eth0

     • Service Type: HTTPS

     • Service Port: 444

4. Refresh the page to see the new service.

Access the NVIDIA Minerva UI

1. Open a browser and navigate to https://<external-host>:<external-port>/. The external host and port values are located on the Services page.

2. Log in using the default credentials:

   • Username: admin

   • Password: ChangeMe123!

Last updated: October 15, 2026