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USER GUIDE

Getting Started with Chimera

What you need

  • Go 1.25+ to build from source, or a .deb/.rpm from GitHub Releases
  • Browser for Command Center at /__chimera/
  • Optional: Transiva checkout for end-to-end export smoke

1. Start the engine

git clone https://github.com/zyvorai/chimera.git
cd chimera
go mod tidy
go build -o bin/chimera ./cmd/chimera
./bin/chimera serve -config config.example.json

Or remote install:

./scripts/deploy-remote.sh <host> [user]

2. Open Command Center

http://<host>:8989/__chimera/

Log in with admin / admin (change later in Settings). Without a session the UI shows only the login screen — no inventory flash.

3. Confirm the vSphere persona

./bin/chimera selftest \
  -url http://<host>:8989/sdk \
  -user administrator@vsphere.local \
  -pass vmware

A passing self-test proves auth, inventory, OVF descriptor, ExportVm, and NFC lease download.

Optional: protocol personas (Nutanix, Hyper-V, AWS, Azure)

Command Center stays on the vSphere listener. For other protocol smoke tests, start a second process (or replace the persona) with env overrides:

CHIMERA_PERSONA=nutanix CHIMERA_USERNAME=admin CHIMERA_PASSWORD=secret \
  ./bin/chimera serve -listen 0.0.0.0:8990
# → http://<host>:8990/api/nutanix/v3

CHIMERA_PERSONA=hyperv CHIMERA_USERNAME=Administrator CHIMERA_PASSWORD=secret \
  ./bin/chimera serve -listen 0.0.0.0:8991
# → http://<host>:8991/wsman

CHIMERA_PERSONA=aws CHIMERA_USERNAME=AKIDCHIMERA CHIMERA_PASSWORD=chimera-secret \
  ./bin/chimera serve -listen 0.0.0.0:8992
# → EC2 Query at http://<host>:8992/

CHIMERA_PERSONA=azure CHIMERA_USERNAME=11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 \
  CHIMERA_PASSWORD=chimera-azure-token ./bin/chimera serve -listen 0.0.0.0:8993
# → ARM at http://<host>:8993/subscriptions/...

See product-repo README.md, docs/PROVIDER_ARCHITECTURE.md, and docs/AWS_AZURE_PERSONAS.md.

4. First useful checks in the UI

  1. Overview KPIs populate after self-test (requests, sessions, exports).
  2. Topology shows datacenter → cluster → host → datastore.
  3. VM inventory lists simulator VMs (for example DC0_C0_RP0_VM0).
  4. Scenario Launcher: try Clean Environment, then Slow Fabric and watch latency in Live requests.

Operate from the console (UX)

  1. Browse to http(s)://<host>:8989/__chimera/ and sign in (admin / admin unless rotated).
  2. Confirm sidebar System Health ring and footer vSphere Persona strip show uptime and SDK endpoint.
  3. Click ↻ Refresh on Overview if KPIs are flat, then run selftest from the host.
  4. Open Inventory — verify VM count badge matches config; copy a VM name with the row ⇩ action.
  5. Optional: Settings (gear) → change admin password before sharing the lab URL.

Empty / fail: Login loop → defaults or CHIMERA_ADMIN_*; KPIs zero after selftest → client must use /sdk URL. Inventory empty → restart after config estate changes.

Success: KPIs and Live requests move during selftest; topology subtitle shows your datacenter/cluster counts.

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