VMware Workstation¶
Deploy the Sophos Remote Testing Appliance (RTA) as a virtual machine on a Windows or Linux desktop running VMware Workstation Pro 17. We provide the appliance as an OVA file; you import it directly into Workstation and it is ready to power on.
How delivery works on VMware Workstation¶
You receive one thing from your engagement lead:
| Item | What it is |
|---|---|
| OVA file | A self-contained appliance archive (.ova). Contains the disk images and VM descriptor. Provided out-of-band by your engagement lead. |
The OVA is customized for your engagement before you receive it. It bundles the
appliance's fixed 40 GB root disk and a small cidata.vmdk seed disk, plus a VM
descriptor that sets the hardware defaults — a single import attaches both disks. The
appliance's identity and credentials are already provisioned, so it boots already
registered and connects to the Sophos headend automatically; there is no
activation step, and the console shows a live status and troubleshooting
dashboard. The descriptor also sets UEFI firmware with Secure Boot off and is
built at VM hardware version 13 (Workstation Pro 12.5 and later) — there are no
firmware or boot settings to change after import.
Requirements¶
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| vCPU | 2 | 4 or more |
| Memory | 4 GB | 8 GB or more |
| Boot disk | 40 GB | 40 GB |
| Networking | NAT (lab/dev) | Bridged (engagement LAN) |
Use bridged networking to reach the LAN
NAT is convenient for isolated lab use but the appliance cannot reach the engagement LAN as a true Layer-2 peer from behind NAT. Set the network adapter to Bridged when the appliance needs to discover and test hosts on a physical network. Bridging requires a wired Ethernet uplink on the host — Wi-Fi bridging is not supported by VMware Workstation.
Choose a deployment method¶
-
Use the Workstation Pro graphical interface to import the OVA, adjust VM settings, and power on — no command-line tools required.
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Use
ovftoolandvmrunto import and start the appliance from a terminal. Good for scripted or headless workflows.