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Tip

This video demonstrates how to prepare a RHEL 7.8 operating system for DPOD Non-Appliance mode installation. Use it just as a demonstration, as it is not kept up-to-date with every change in the requirements. When preparing the operating system, you should follow the procedure provided below.

Subject

Action

Supported operating system

Verify that the

Install an operating system that is supported by DPOD as described in Hardware and Software Requirements.

After

Verify the

server OS is installed, this can be verified

installed OS using the following command:

Code Block
 cat /etc/redhat-release

Resources allocation

Allocate resources according to the chosen deployment profile as listed in Hardware and Software Requirements.

After the server OS is installed, this can be verified

Verify the allocated resources using the following commands:

Code Block
free -h
lscpu

Network requirements

Ensure you have at least one network interface installed and configured with full access to network services, such as DNS and NTP.
Some configurations, such as the Cell environment, require 2 network interfaces.
See 

Network Preparation and

Firewall Requirements for more details.

Root access

The installation must be performed by a root user. You cannot use sudo instead.

  • Do not override the PATH variable with a fixed value during login sequence, as this will override the value set by DPOD installation in .bash_profile and will cause various scripts to fail.

  • Do not use script command during the login sequence to make a typescript of the terminal session for audit, as this will cause various scripts to hang.

  • Do not use trap command to clear the terminal on session close, as this will cause various scripts to get extra characters as their input and fail.

  • Do not print a disclaimer in .bashrc, as this will cause various scripts to get the disclaimer as their input and fail.

Disks

, mount points, file systems and logical volumes

DPOD requires at least 3 disks (LUNs / physical / virtual):

  • 1 disk for the operating system

,

  • 1 disk for the application/logs

, and

  • At least 1 disk for the data

. 

Some configurations, such as the Cell environment, require

additional disks.
Please allocate the

multiple disks for the data.

You may verify the existence of the disks using the following command (e.g: look for sda, sdb and sdc):

Code Block
lsblk

Mount points, file systems and logical volumes

See Table 1 below for the required mount points / file systems on the different disks

, as described in Table 1 below. 

.
It is strongly recommended to use logical volume manager (LVM) - particularly for the data

disks

disk(s). See Example: Creating File Systems using LVM.
Once configured, you may verify the configuration using the following command:

Code Block
lsblk

Tip: to create the mount points / file systems during RHEL installation:

  • Choose Installation Destination option.

  • Select all Local Standard drives and choose option "I will configure partitioning" under the "Other Storage Options" section.

  • Follow the table below and add all mount points with required definitions using the "+" button.

    • To create a volume group (sys, app, data), when applicable, open the "Volume Group" listbox and choose "create new volume group ...".
    Tip: To use LVM in AWS EC2 instances with RHEL 8.x and EBS disks, first execute dnf install lvm2 to install the LVM package, and use gdisk to create a partition. For more information, see https://aws.amazon.com/premiumsupport/knowledge-center/create-lv-on-ebs-partition/.
    Store service dedicated OS user and group
    The Store service requires a dedicated OS user and group to run. Consider executing the following command:
     Code Block
    groupadd storeadms && useradd -g storeadms -md /home/storeadm -s /bin/bash storeadm
    OS locale
    The supported OS locale is en_US.UTF-8. Check the OS Locale Configuration and change it if necessary.
    SELinux configuration
    Changes in SELinux configuration might be needed. Check if SELinux is enabled using the following command:
     Code Block
    sestatus
    If SELinux is enforced on the DPOD server, please review possible required configuration changes.
    Setup DNS
    Setup 
    It is highly recommended to setup DNS - your network admin may need to assist you with this action.
    Using yum on RedHat
    For RedHat only: Your system might need to be registered and subscribed to the Red Hat Customer Portal to be able to install all prerequisites using yum.
    Registration and subscription may differ between organizations and RHEL version, so 
    use 
    consider the following commands just as 
     a demonstration
    an example:
     Code Block
    subscription-manager register
subscription-manager attach --auto
    • For RHEL 7.x
       Code Block
      subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-rh-common-rpms
subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-optional-rpms
    • For RHEL 8.x
       Code Block
      subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-8-for-x86_64-baseos-rpms
subscription-manager repos --enable rhel-8-for-x86_64-appstream-rpms
    Setup NTP
    Setup 
    It is highly recommended to setup NTP - it has to be the same one configured in your IBM DataPower Gateways.
    • Consult your Linux and network admin about the proper way to configure this service.
    • For RHEL 7.x, ensure the NTP RPM is installed. Consider executing the following commands:
       Code Block
      yum install ntp
ntpdate <ntp server hostname>
systemctl enable ntpd.service
systemctl start ntpd.service
    • For RHEL 8.x, ensure the Chrony RPM is installed. Consider executing the following commands:
       Code Block
      yum install chrony
chronyd -q 'server {ntp_server_name} iburst'
systemctl enable chronyd.service
systemctl start chronyd.service
    Setup hosts file
    Verify that the /etc/hosts file includes an entry with your server name mapped to your external server IP.
    To 
     find 
    display your server name, you may execute the command hostname.
    To display your server’s IP address, you may execute the command ip a.
    Required RPMs
    Verify the existence of the following RPMs from the official RedHat/CentOS yum repositories:
    • httpd version 2.4.6-67 and above (together with the following dependencies: mailcap, apr, httpd_tools)
    • mod_ssl
    • mod_proxy_html
    • curl
    • wget
    • unzip
    • iptables
    • iptables-services
    • bc
    • fontconfig
    • squashfs-tools
     (make sure squashfs module is loaded - see more at https://access.redhat.com/solutions/5477831 - and that it is not disabled in /etc/modprobe.d)
    • numactl
    • pciutils
    • nvme-cli
    The installation is usually performed by executing yum. If the command fails to find the packages, you should manually download the RPM files and install them.
     Code Block
    yum install -y httpd
yum install -y mod_ssl
yum install -y mod_proxy_html
yum install -y curl
yum install -y wget
yum install -y unzip
yum install -y iptables
yum install -y iptables-services
yum install -y bc
yum install -y fontconfig
yum install -y squashfs-tools
yum install -y numactl
yum install -y pciutils
yum install -y nvme-cli
    The following RPMs are recommended for system maintenance and troubleshooting, 
     but 
    and are optional:
     telnet 
     telnet client, net-tools, iftop, tcpdump
    Ensure squashfs module is loaded - see more at https://access.redhat.com/solutions/5477831.
    Ensure squashfs is not disabled in /etc/modprobe.d (by running the command grep -ri squashfs /etc/modprobe.d).

    Ensure the httpd service is enabled and started by executing the command:
     Code Block
    systemctl enable httpd.service && systemctl start httpd.service && systemctl status httpd.service
    Cleanup
    In case you are using yum, it is recommended to clean its cache to make sure there is enough space in /var (yum cache can take a lot of the space there). To clean yum cache, execute the following command:
     Code Block
    yum clean all

    Table 1 - File Systems / Mount Points
    File System / Mount Point
    Disk
    Space in Mib
    Minimum Size
    Device Type
    File System
    biosboot
    sys (
    Disk 1: Operating System (e.g.: sda)
    biosboot
    2
    2MB
    Standard Partition
    BIOS BOOT
    swap
    sys (sda)
    8192
    8GB
    LVM
    swap
    /boot
    sys (sda)
    2048
    2GB
    Standard Partition
    XFS
    /boot/efi
    sys (sda)
    200
    200MB
    (for UEFI installations for GPT partition)
    Standard Partition
    EFI System Partition
    /
    sys (sda)
    8192
    8192
    8GB
    LVM
    XFS
    /var
    sys (sda)
    8GB
    LVM
    XFS
    /tmp
    sys (sda)
    4096
    (recommended 16384)
    16GB
    LVM
    XFS
    /shared
    app (
    Disk 2: Application/logs (e.g.: sdb)
    512
    /shared
    1GB
    LVM
    XFS
    /app
    app (sdb)
    8192
    4096
    30GB
    LVM
    XFS
    /app/tmp
    app (sdb)
    8GB
    LVM
    XFS
    /installs
    app (sdb)
    11264
    30GB
    LVM
    XFS
    /logs
    app (sdb)
    12,288
    (can be on other fast disk - preferred locally)
    15GB
    LVM
    XFS
    /data
    data (sdc)
    Data Disk(s) (e.g.: sdc, sdd, sde...)
    /data
    As described in Hardware and Software Requirements or according to the sizing spreadsheet in case one was provided by the DPOD support team. Minimum of 100GB.
    LVM
    XFS
    [Required only for cell members]
    /data2, /data22, /data222, /data3, /data33, /data333, /data4, /data44, /data444
    Dedicated 6 or 9 disks
    Only for cell members, according to the sizing spreadsheet provided by DPOD support team. See Setup a Cell Environment for information about these disks/mount points.
    LVM
    XFS
    Third-Party Software
    Third-party software such as antivirus, cybersecurity, monitoring, APM, endpoint protection, backup, etc. might significantly decrease the performance of DPOD and impact its functionality.
    ...