Create a new VM using the platform-install OVA#

Overview#

This topic describes the steps for a fresh install, using the latest OVA file.

Note

If an OVA file is not available for your current release, you need to obtain the most recent release OVA for which there is an upgrade path to your release. Refer to What to do if the OVA file is not available for your current version

The steps for creating a VM and running the wizard should be completed for each node in your topology. Therefore, these tasks will need to be performed either once or multiple times during installation, depending on the topology you’re installing.

The install tasks (creating the VM and running the install wizard) describe the steps for a common setup of a single node from the OVA file for each of the following fresh install scenarios:

Step 1: Download the OVA file#

Download the OVA file for your release from the New Installation folder on the client portal.

The downloaded OVA file is imported into VMware vCenter Server (when creating the VM). Only one OVA file is used to deploy all the functional roles. Each time you run the install wizard on the VM, you will select the relevant role for the node type you’re installing on.

Step 2: Create the VM#

Prerequisites:

To create the VM:

  1. Log in to vSphere to access the ESXi Host.

  2. Choose File > Deploy OVF Template.

  3. Choose Source, browse to the location of the .ova file, and click Next.

  4. On the Name and Location page, fill out a name for this server.

  5. On the Deployment Configuration page, select the appropriate node type.

    Note

    Refer to the description for role in the install wizard step, below.

  6. Choose the resource pool in which to locate the VM.

  7. Choose the data store you want to use to deploy the new VM.

  8. Choose the disk format to use when deploying the new VM.

    • For non-SSD-based drives in production environments, “thick provisioning” is mandatory. Thick Provision Eager Zeroed is recommended.

    • For SSD-based drives, “thin provisioning” is supported.

  9. On the Network Mapping page, choose your network on which this VM will reside.

  10. Do not select Power on after deployment.

  11. On the Ready to Complete page, click Finish to start the deployment.

  12. After the VM is created, select the CD ROM configuration and verify the Connect at Power On checkbox is enabled. Also, verify the memory, CPU, and disk settings against the requirements shown in either the Single-node cluster (cluster-of-one) System Hardware Specification or Multi-node Cluster Hardware Specification section in the Install Guide.

  13. Next steps: Step 3: Run the installation wizard on the VM

Step 3: Run the installation wizard on the VM#

Prerequisites:

To run the install wizard on the VM:

  1. Power on the VM.

  2. Configure the options in the installation wizard:

    Step

    Description

    1. network device

    The network device name.

    1. IP

    The IP address of the server. The required format is with Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR): ip/netmask. [1]

    1. gateway

    The IP address of the network gateway. [1]

    1. DNS

    The DNS server is optional. Ensure that the DNS server is capable of looking up all hostnames referred to, including NTP server and remote backup locations. [1]

    1. NTP

    The NTP server is mandatory to ensure that time keeping is accurate and synchronized among nodes in the same cluster. [1]

    1. boot password

    Enable boot loader configuration password. See the example below.

    1. hostname

    The hostname, not the fully qualified domain name (FQDN).

    The maximum character length for the hostname is 56.

    1. role

    Choose a role for the node you’re installing on.

    Note: only WebProxy, Application and Database nodes are used for a modular architecture installation.

    • A WebProxy role installs only the front-end web server together with ability to distribute load among multiple middleware nodes.

    • An Application node is the main transaction processing engine and includes a web server which can operate by itself, or route transactions from a web node.

    • A Database node provides persistent storage of data.

    • A Standalone node consists of the Web, Application, and Database roles on one node. For Single-node cluster (cluster-of-one).

    • A Unified node consists of the Web, Application, and Database roles on one node. On installation, the system needs to be clustered with other nodes and the cluster provisioned.

    • A General node used for M2UC, NBI.

    1. data center

    The system’s geographic location (data center name, city, country that a customer can use to identify the system location). You cannot change this setting once set.

    1. platform password

    Platform password must be at least eight characters long and must contain both uppercase and lowercase letters and at least one numeric or special character.

  1. Once all details are entered, installation proceeds. Monitor install progress.

    When the installation completes, the system reboots. Since all services will be stopped, this takes some time.

Related topics

Step 4: Finalize the installation#

  1. Once the OVA installation completes, a sign-in prompt for the platform user displays. This confirms that the system is ready for use.

  2. Connect to newly deployed server CLI as the platform user.

    A login message such as the following displays:

    Last login: Wed Nov  2 11:12:45 UTC 2016 from thwh on pts/6
Last failed login: Wed Nov  2 11:19:53 UTC 2016 from iza on ssh:notty
There were 2 failed login attempts since the last successful login.

host: dev-test, role: webproxy,application,database, load: 0.21, USERS: 3
date: 2016-11-02 11:19:57 +00:00, up: 14:19
network: 172.29.253.14, ntp: 172.29.1.15
HEALTH: NOT MONITORED
database: 31Gb
Failed logins: 2 since Wed Nov 02 11:19:53 2016 from iza

    mail - local mail management          keys - ssh/sftp credentials
 network - network management           backup - manage backups
    voss - voss management tools           log - manage system logs
database - database management          notify - notifications control
schedule - scheduling commands        selfservice - selfservice management
    diag - system diagnostic tools      system - system administration
    snmp - snmp configuration             user - manage users
 cluster - cluster management           drives - manage disk drives
     web - web server management           app - manage applications

    If the user failed to log in prior to a successful login, the count, date, and origin of the attempts are shown as Failed logins. A successful login resets this login count.

  3. Run app status on all application nodes and ensure the services are all running and reporting the correct version before continuing.

  4. Return to Multi-node Installation, Standalone Installation or Failover step to complete the overall installation or failover recovery procedure.

Boot password and security#

The default security protocol for the web server is TLSv1.2.

Password protection can be enabled on the VOSS Automate boot loader configuration from the install wizard upon first install and also from the CLI - see the topic on System Boot Passwords in the Platform Guide for commands to enable, disable or reset the boot password.

Important

The boot password is non-recoverable.

The console example below shows the boot password configuration output:

(1)              ip    (199.29.21.89)
(2)         netmask    (255.255.255.0)
(3)         gateway    (199.29.21.1)
(4)             dns    (199.29.88.56)
(5)             ntp    (199.29.88.56)
(6)   boot password    (disabled)
(7)        hostname    (atlantic)
(8)            role    (UNDEFINED)
(9)     data centre    (earth)
(10) platform password (UNDEFINED)
Select option ? 6
Valid passwords must contain:
   at least one lower- and one upper-case letter,
   at least one numeric digit
   and a special character eg. !#@$%&^*
Password: Please enter platform user password:
 Please re-enter password
Password:
NOTE: The system boot password is now set for user platform.

When the boot password is set, the wizard will show:

(6)   boot password    (*****)

Role of each VM installation for multi-node installation#

According to the multi-node deployment topology and specification, the role of each VM installation is as indicated below.

  • For each web proxy instance:

    • Create a new VM using the platform-install OVA.

    • For role, select (3) WebProxy.

    • Specify the appropriate data center (Primary/DR site) for each web proxy instance.

  • For each unified instance (Standard Topology only):

    • Create a new VM using the platform-install OVA.

    • For role, select (2) Unified.

    • Specify the appropriate data center (Primary/DR Site) for each unified instance.

    The following unified nodes are required in the cluster:

    • One unified node as the Primary node at the Primary site

    • One unified node as the Secondary node at the Primary site

    • Two unified nodes as the Secondary nodes at the Disaster Recovery (DR) site

    Note

    For a six node multi cluster deployment there are:

    • Two unified nodes (one Primary and one Secondary)

    • One web proxy node at the Primary site

    • Two unified nodes (both Secondary)

    • One web proxy node at the DR site

    For an eight node multi cluster deployment, there are:

    • Four unified nodes (one Primary and three Secondary)

    • One web proxy node at the Primary site

    • Two unified nodes (both Secondary)

    • One web proxy node at the DR site

  • Modular Architecture Topology

    The following nodes are required in a typical Modular Architecture cluster:

    • One Application node as the Primary node at the Primary site

    • One additional Application node at the Primary site

    • One Database node as the Primary Database node at the Primary site

    • One additional Database node at the Primary site

    • One Application node at the Disaster Recovery (DR) site

    • One Database node at the Disaster Recovery (DR) site

    Note

    For a typical Modular Architecture cluster there is one web proxy at the Primary site and one WebProxy node at the DR site.

    For each Database instance:

    • Create a new VM using the platform-install OVA.

    • For role, select (2) Database.

    • Specify the appropriate data center (Primary/DR Site) for each database instance.

    For each Application instance:

    • Create a new VM using the platform-install OVA.

    • For role, select (2) Application.

    • Specify the appropriate data center (Primary/DR Site) for each Application instance.

    Also refer to Multi-node Installation section in the Install Guide.

Detailed configuration can be applied from the Command Line Interface (CLI). Use the following commands for details: network help or network

For example, domain can be configured using network domain add <domain-name>.

For a geo-redundant deployment, the data center information entered in the wizard is equivalent to the location information.

What to do if the OVA file is not available for your current version#

If the OVA file is not available for your current release, you will need to obtain and install the most recent release OVA for which there is an upgrade path to your current release. In this case however, you will be performing an upgrade of your system.

The table describes the steps for obtaining the relevant OVA file and applying the upgrade:

Scenario

If the OVA file is not available for your current release …

Standalone installation

  1. Obtain and install the most recent release OVA for which there is an upgrade path to your release.

  2. Apply the Delta Bundle Upgrade steps for the current release to the OVA to upgrade it.

A node install during multi-node installation

  1. Obtain and install the most recent release OVA for which there is an upgrade path to your release.

  2. Apply the Delta Bundle Upgrade steps for the current release to the cluster to upgrade it. Refer to the Upgrade Guide with Delta Bundle.

Failover recovery

  1. Obtain and install the most recent release OVA for which there is an upgrade path to your release.

  2. Add it to your cluster. Use the same configure options in the table below as were applied to the lost node.

    Note

    The node version mismatch in the cluster can be ignored, since the next upgrade step aligns the versions.

  3. Apply the Delta Bundle Upgrade steps for the current release to the cluster to upgrade it.

    For details, refer to the Upgrade Guide with Delta Bundle and to the specific scenario Disaster Recovery steps in the Platform Guide.