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Creating an OVF template for adding instances to a system

You might want to add additional instances to the system if:

  • You want to improve the performance of workflow tasks or user searches.
  • You are running out of disk space on one or more instances.

This chapter describes how to create an OVF template to make this process easier. You can configure the OVF template so that by simply deploying and powering on a new virtual machine, a new worker instance automatically joins the HCI system.

ImportantEach instance must run a number of essential services. Because of this, each new instance you add counts against your licensed service unit limit.
NoteHitachi Vantara has qualified HCI systems with up to 16 instances.

What you need

To create your own OVF template for adding new worker instances, you will need:

  • An existing system that has either one or three master instances.

    For information on setting up a system, see Installing HCI.

  • An HCI OVF template. This can be either:
    • The Hitachi Vantara-provided OVF template contained in the Hitachi Content Intelligence-OVF-EXAMPLE-<version-number>.tgz file.
    • An HCI OVF template that you created yourself. For information, see Creating a production HCI OVF template.

Additionally, to let a new worker instance automatically join an existing system, you need to configure DHCP in your environment to automatically assign IP addresses to your newly-created instances.

NoteYour system needs the IP address of each instance to stay the same. Though an instance's IP address can initially be set dynamically, you need to configure that IP address to remain static. For more information, see Set a static IP for the new instance.

The following are the steps needed to create your own OVF template:

  1. Create a list of the master instances
  2. Deploy a new virtual machine for each instance
  3. Modify the virtual machine to suit your environment
  4. Edit the cluster.config file
  5. Enable the HCI.service file
  6. Configure NTP
  7. Export the OVF template
  8. Use the OVF template to add a new instance
  9. Set a static IP for the new instance

Create a list of the master instances

To create a list of the master instances in your system:

Procedure

  1. In the Admin App, go to Dashboard > Instances.

    The Masters section at the top of the page lists the IP address of each master instance.
  2. In a text editor, type out the list of master IP addresses as a comma-separated string:

    MASTER_IPS=192.168.1.2,192.168.1.3,192.168.1.4

Deploy a new virtual machine for each instance

To create a new HCI virtual machine:

Procedure

  1. Extract the Hitachi Content Intelligence-OVF-EXAMPLE-<version-number>.tgz file to a folder that's accessible by your virtual machine host.

  2. Create a new virtual machine by deploying the OVF template. For more information, see the documentation for your virtual machine host.

  3. After the virtual machine has been deployed, power it on and open a console connection to it.

  4. At the localhost login prompt, type: hci

  5. When prompted, enter a password for the hci user account.

    ImportantDo not lose this password.
    NoteThe password for the root user account is Chang3Me!
  6. Repeat this procedure for each virtual machine you want to create.

Modify the virtual machine to suit your environment

Make any changes to the virtual machine that your environment needs. For example:
  • Remove any software packages that are not needed.
  • Add software packages that your environment requires.
  • Set up password-less SSH access.

Edit the cluster.config file

To configure the virtual machine to know about the master instances in your system:

Procedure

  1. In a terminal window on the virtual machine, change directories: cd /<path>/hci/config/

  2. Open the cluster.config file in a text editor.

  3. Delete all contents of the file and add the list of master IP addresses.

  4. Save the file.

Enable the HCI.service file

You need to enable the HCI.service file so that it starts running when your new HCI virtual machines power on.

Procedure

  1. To enable the HCI.service file, run this command in a terminal on the virtual machine:sudo systemctl enable HCI.service

Configure NTP

Procedure

  1. Configure NTP (network time protocol) for the virtual machine so that each new worker instance uses the same time sources as the existing instances in the system. For information, see http://support.ntp.org.

Export the OVF template

  1. Power off the virtual machine and export it as an OVF template. If necessary, see your virtual machine host documentation for more information.

Use the OVF template to add a new instance

To use the OVF template you created to add a new worker instance to your system:

Procedure

  1. Use OVF template to deploy a new virtual machine. For information on deploying OVF templates, see the documentation for your virtual machine host.

  2. After the virtual machine has been deployed, power it on.

    The virtual machine automatically joins the system as a new instance.
  3. To verify that the instance joined the system, in the Admin App, go to the Dashboard > Instances page.

    ImportantHCI does not automatically begin running services on the newest instance. You need to manually configure services to run on the new instance.

Set a static IP for the new instance

In a terminal window on the newly added virtual machine instance:

Procedure

  1. If you don't know the Ethernet port name for the virtual machine, run this command: ifconfig

  2. Change directories: cd /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/

  3. Identify the configuration file for Ethernet port.

    The file name has this format: ifcfg-<Ethernet-port-name>
  4. In the Ethernet configuration file, specify values for IPADDR, GATEWAY, and DNS1. Leave the other values as they are.

  5. Restart the network. Run: sudo /etc/init.d/network restart

  6. Verify that the Ethernet configuration was updated correctly. Run: ifconfig

 

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