Custom Install

The custom installation method for ScaleArc software addresses situations where RPM package installation is preferred to ISO/CD installation.

This installation guide covers:

1. Recommended minimum system requirements
2. Installer Improvements
3. ScaleArc Custom Installation
4. Post-Installation

Recommended minimum system requirements

The minimum requirements to install the ScaleArc RPM package are:

• 6 CPUs
• 16 GB RAM
• 2 TB disk
• CentOS 7.5 Minimal Server

Installer improvements

Pre-installation Checks

During the ScaleArc software installation process, the traditional install.sh script is replaced with a custom_install.sh for both custom installs and upgrades.

ScaleArc installer improvements for custom installations include a number of pre-installation checks as summarized in the table below: 

Item	Description
RPM Version	ScaleArc requires a series of installed RPM files prior to installation.  These RPMs are different for Rackspace, DVD/CD/minimal versions of CentOS 7.5, AWS, and Azure. The required RPM list is used by the pre-check module of the installer to determine whether the required RPM package has been installed. If any RPMs are missing, the system throws an error message and the installation process is abandoned.   The ScaleArc installer also requires a list of RPMs that consist of packages that will be upgraded or installed by ScaleArc. Information from these packages is used by the pre-check module to verify whether the RPM version on the system being upgraded is lesser than or equal to what is required. If there's a match, the installation process continues. If the system finds any RPM of a higher version, it throws an error and the installation process is abandoned.  To continue with the installation process by ignoring the specific RPM, add the RPM which is reported in the log file (/data/logs/scalearc-install.log) into the conf file /opt/idb/bin/ignore_rpm_versions.conf from the backend. This avoids an RPM dependency failure and the installation process continues. This may be useful in Rackspace installations where new machines will have an updated version of all RPMs.  If the pre-check module successfully completes the RPM dependency check but subsequently fails at the YUM dependency stage then the installation process is abandoned. There is no workaround currently to address this condition.
YUM/Puppet Dependency	The Pre-check module runs dependency checks using both yum and puppet commands to verify whether ScaleArc can be successfully installed.
Minimum	The Pre-check module checks for a minimum RAM requirement of 2GB before proceeding. While the pre-check module only requires a minimum of 2GB of RAM, for optimal stability and efficiency, a minimum of 16GB of RAM should be assigned to the ScaleArc system.
Minimum Cores	Minimum of two cores is checked by the pre-check module. The ScaleArc installer isolates a portion of the system CPU cores for general OS usage. The remaining CPU cores are then dedicated to the ScaleArc software. Since the smallest usable ScaleArc license available is 4 cores, the minimum number of total system CPU cores is 6. Having a minimum of 6 CPU cores available on the system allows ScaleArc to make use of all the cores it needs while also making some cores available for the base operating system.
Storage Consideration	Minimum disk space of 100GB must be available at the root (/)partition of the system. The ScaleArc logging partition (/data) should have at least 500GB of space allocated via a separate disk drive volume.

 

SSH Management

In earlier installations, non-idb user SSH management was disabled during the installation process. The current version has a feature that does not disable non-idb users' SSH access. For custom ScaleArc installation, we have enabled non-idb user SSH management till the end of the installation.

To enable idb user SSH management post-installation, login to the ScaleArc UI and navigate to the System Config tab under System Settings, and enable SSH by clicking on the Enable SSH button. See Enable SSH access to ScaleArc using User Interface for more details.

 

ScaleArc Custom Installation 

Follow these steps  to install ScaleArc: 

1. Ensure that the server where the ScaleArc software will be installed has direct internet access. 
2. Connect to the Centos 7.5 minimal installation server where the ScaleArc software will be installed via SSH using the root user credentials. 
3. Change to the /tmp directory 
4. Download the ScaleArc Installer RPM. Go to the Release Portal and obtain the RPM download for the latest version.  
5. Install the installer RPM as follows:
   

   rpm -ivh <path to installer RPM>

6. Depending on whether the installation is on a cloud or non-cloud platform follow one of the relevant steps below: 
7. To install on a non-cloud platform run the following command:
   

   • /opt/idb/bin/custom_install.sh

8. To install on cloud platform install using cloud switch parameter i.e. -c.  
   

   • /opt/idb/bin/custom_install.sh -c AWS/AZURE/RACKSPACE

9. To know about options/help available for ScaleArc v3.10 and above, use the -h parameter:

   • /opt/idb/bin/custom_install.sh -h 
     
     [root@rpm-install-host ~]# cd /tmp 
     [root@rpm-install-host tmp]# curl --progress-bar --output idb_installer-3.10.1-107.x86_64.rpm 'https://idblb-iso.s3.amazonaws.com/scalearc-3.10.1/RPMs/idb_installer-3.10.1-107.x86_64.rpm' 
     ######################################################################## 100.0% [root@rpm-install-host tmp]# rpm -ivh idb_installer-3.10.1-107.x86_64.rpm 
     Preparing... ########################################### [100%] 
     1:idb_installer ########################################### [100%] 
     Successfully verified and installed new ScaleArc installer. 
     [root@rpm-install-host tmp]# /opt/idb/bin/custom_install.sh 
     2016-07-27 10:49:54 Logs will be redirected to /logs/installer.log 
     2016-07-27 10:49:54 : Stopping ScaleArc Loadbalancer 
     2016-07-27 10:49:56 : Stopping ScaleArc WatchDog 
     2016-07-27 10:50:09 : Starting Prechecks ... 
     WARNING: No Disk mounted on /data . 
     ScaleArc recommends that you mount an additional disk on /data . 
     /data will be used for log files, analytics and historical stats . 
     Do you wish to continue the installation (y/n)? : y 
     Continuing ScaleArc installation process ... 
     2016-07-27 10:50:17 : Starting ScaleArc Installation ... 
     2016-07-27 10:51:46 : Starting ScaleArc Loadbalancer 
     2016-07-27 10:51:47 : Manage : Lock Aquired successfully after 0 ms! 
     2016-07-27 10:51:47 : Starting ScaleArc Watchdog 2016-07-27 10:51:59: Successfully applied ScaleArc installer. ScaleArc custom installation will not disable SSH access. 
     If you want more security then disable the SSH access from ScaleArc UI's system settings page. 
     
     Broadcast message from idb@rpm-install-host 
     (/dev/pts/0) at 10:51 ... 
     
     The system is going down for reboot in 2 minutes! 
     First time installation of ScaleArc need system reboot. If you want to reboot later then press Ctrl-C

Post-Installation 

1. Following installation, the system reboots. If you cancel the reboot, make sure to reboot the system manually before accessing the ScaleArc UI. 
2. Following a reboot, log in to ScaleArc as follows:

    https://<ipaddress>