Page Comparison

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1. Before installing a cell environment, make sure to complete the sizing process with IBM Support Team to get recommendations for the hardware and architecture suitable for your requirements.
2. DPOD cell manager and federated cell members must be of the same version (minimum version is 1.0.8.6).
3. DPOD cell manager is usually virtual and can be installed in both Appliance Mode or Non-Appliance Mode with Medium Load architecture type, as detailed in the Hardware and Software Requirements.
4. DPOD federated cell members (FCMs) can be one of the following:
   1. Physical servers installed in Non-appliance Mode (based on RHEL) with High_20dv architecture type, as detailed in the Hardware and Software Requirements.
      Physical servers are used when the cell is required to process high transactions per second (TPS) load.
   2. Virtual servers installed in Non-appliance Mode with Medium architecture type or higher, as detailed in the Hardware and Software Requirements.
      Virtual servers are used when the cell is required to process moderate transactions per second (TPS) load, or when the cell is part of a non-production environment where the production cell uses physical servers (to keep environments architecture similar).
5. All DPOD cell members must be identical - only physical or only virtual (cannot mix physical and virtual cell members in the same cell), and with the same resources (CPUs, RAM, disk type and storage capacity).
6. Physical federated cell members with 4 CPU sockets and NVMe disks require special disks and mount points configuration to ensure performance. See Configuring Cell Members with 4 CPU Sockets and NVMe Disks.
7. Each cell component (manager / FCM) should have two network interfaces:
   
   1. Internal network interface - dedicated for DPOD inter-communication between the cell components.
   2. External network interface - for communicating with the rest of the network. This includes users accessing the DPOD Web Console (on the cell manager), communication between DPOD and the Monitored Gateways, communication with DNS, NTP, SMTP, LDAP, and anything else on the network.
   3. This design was driven by customer requirements and allows separation between the two types of communications, which may be used to enhance the security (e.g.: deny end-users from being able to access the inter-cell communication).
   4. We recommend that all the internal network interfaces have IP addresses which belong to a single subnet (the internal subnet), and also all the external network interfaces have IP addresses which belong to a single subnet (the external subnet). Having an internal subnet that is different from the external subnet makes it easier to configure the servers without using static routing and easier to configure the network firewall rules.
   5. A diagram demonstrating this is available in Firewall Rules for DPOD Cell Environment.
8. Network rules should be defined as detailed in Firewall Rules for DPOD Cell Environment.

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• For Appliance Mode, follow the procedure: Appliance Installation.
  For Non-appliance Mode, follow the procedure: Non-Appliance Installation.
  During installation, when prompted to choose the data disk type (SSD / non SSD), choose the cell members disk type (should be SSD) instead of the cell manager disk type.
  During installation, when prompted to choose the IP address for the Web Console, choose the IP address of the external network interface.
• Install Once installation is done, execute the following software package (RPM): bcExecute the following operating system performance optimization commands and reboot the server:

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• Make sure to meet the prerequisites listed at the top of this page.
• Follow the procedure: Prepare Pre-Installed Operating System.
• The cell member server should contain disks according to the recommendations made in the sizing process with IBM Support Team, which includes disks for OS, install, and data (one for /data and 6 to 9 additional disks for /data2/3/4...).
• Physical federated cell members with 4 CPU sockets and NVMe disks require special disks and mount points configuration to ensure performance. See Configuring Cell Members with 4 CPU Sockets and NVMe Disks.

• Most Linux-based OS use a local firewall service (e.g.: iptables / firewalld). Since the OS of the Non-Appliance Mode DPOD installation is provided by the user, it is under the user's responsibility to allow needed connectivity to and from the server.
  Configure the local firewall service to allow connectivity as described in the prerequisites section at the top of this page.

• The following software packages (RPMs) are recommended for system maintenance and troubleshooting, but are not required: telnet client, net-tools, iftop, tcpdump

DPOD Installation

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DPOD Installation

• Physical servers should use RHEL as the operating system (and not CentOS).
• Use Non-appliance Mode and follow the procedure: Non-Appliance Installation
  The During installation, the four-letter Installation Environment Name should be identical to the one that was chosen during the Cell Manager installation.
  During installation, when prompted to choose the IP address for the Web Console, choose the IP address of the external network interface.
• Install the following software package (RPM): numactl pciutils nvme-cli
• Execute Once installation is done, execute the following operating system performance optimization commands command and reboot the server:

/app/scripts/tune-os-parameters.sh
reboot

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• In case of physical federated cell members with 4 CPU sockets and NVMe disks - use the information gathered at Configuring Cell Members with 4 CPU Sockets and NVMe Disks to map the mount point with the proper disk:

• For all other types of federated cell members servers - you may map the mount points to any disk.

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