Installing CTERA Portal Instances

Use the following workflow to install CTERA Portal.

Creating a Portal Instance using a CTERA Portal image obtainable from CTERA support.
Configuring Network Settings.
Optionally, if it is not set correctly, configure a default gateway.
Additional Installation Instructions for Customers Without Internet Access.
For the first server you install, follow the steps in Configuring the Primary Server.
For any additional servers beside the primary server, install the server as described below and configure it as an additional server, as described in Installing and Configuring Additional CTERA Portal Servers.
Make sure that you replicate the database, as described in Configuring the CTERA Portal Database for Backup.
Backup the server as described in Backing Up the CTERA Portal Servers and Storage.

Note

You can use block-storage-level snapshots for backup, but snapshots are periodical in nature, configured to run every few hours. Therefore, you cannot recover the metadata to any point-in-time, and can lose a significant amount of data on failure. Also, many storage systems do not support block-level snapshots and replication, or do not do so efficiently.

Creating a Portal Instance

You can install the CTERA Portal on IONOS CLOUD. The installation requires the CTERA Portal qcow2 image, that you get from CTERA support. This image is uploaded to IONOS CLOUD using FTPS.

To transfer the portal image to IONOS CLOUD:

Log in to the IONOS CLOUD Data Center Designer (DCD).

Note

If this is the first time accessing IONOS CLOUD, select the cookies and options,

and also close the What's New in DCD window.

The Welcome page is displayed.
Select Backup & Storage in the navigation pane.
Select Images & Snapshots.
Click FTP Upload Image
Select the target location. This location must be the same location that you use for the storage.
Copy the FTP server address for the HDD Image option for the location. For example, ftp://ftp-fra-2.ionos.com/hdd-images
Open an FTP client and input the following configuration details:
Protocol – Select FTP.
Encryption – Select explicit encryption.
Host – Paste the regional FTP server address you copied from the DCD.
Port – Leave as 21 (the default for explicit TLS).
User – Enter your IONOS Cloud username.
Password – Enter your IONOS Cloud password.
Transfer the qcow2 image file.
Note

The image transfer can take a long time. An email is sent from 1&1 IONOS FTP Server <ftp@cloud.ionos.com> with the transfer details.
Click Close to close the FTP Upload Image window.
After the image has uploaded, refresh IONOS CLOUD Data Center Designer (DCD).
Click the image that was uploaded to see details.
Click the OS Type to define the OS Type.
Select Linux and click Save.
Close the Manage Images and Snapshots window.

To install the CTERA Portal:

Log in to the IONOS CLOUD Data Center Designer (DCD).

The Welcome page is displayed.
Make sure that the VDC Create mode is Canvas.
Click Create in Canvas.
Enter the following:
Name – A name for the data center.
Location – Select the same location as the location where you uploaded the image, from the drop-down list.
Check Create default network security group.
Click Create.
The virtual data center is displayed.
Drag-and-drop the vCPU Server element under the Internet Access element.
Click the green connector, , under the Internet Access element and drag the cursor to the connector, , on the vCPU Server element to connect the Internet Access element to the vCPU Server element.
Select the vCPU Server and specify the following under Settings.
Name – A name for the portal.
Preset – The vCPUs and RAM for the server.

Based on General Requirements specify the vCPUs and RAM. CTERA recommends setting XL for the primary, database, server and secondary replication, server and L for the application servers.
Click the Network tab and specify a name for the network.
Click the Storage tab.
For the root disk, click SSD and specify the following:
Name – A name for the root storage.
Size in GB – 32GB.
Image – Click Own Images and select the portal image.

Boot from Device – Check this field.
Click Create SSD Storage.
For the primary, database, server and secondary replication, server, click SSD and for the application servers you can click HDD.
Specify the following:
Name – A name for the data pool storage.
Size in GB – The size of the storage. CTERA recommends storage of at least 1% of the expected global file system size or a minimum of 200GB.
Image – Click Own Images and select the portal image.
Click Create SSD Storage or Create HDD Storage.
Click PROVISION CHANGES.
The Provision Data Center window is displayed.
Click Provision Now
The progress is displayed.
Select the portal and then click Console.
Log in as root using the default password ctera321.
You are promptd to change the password.
To make sure that the script to create the data pool completed successfully, run docker images to check that the docker images are available, including zookeeper, which is the last docker to load to the data pool.
Note

If the script to create the data pool does not successfully run, it will start on every boot until it completes. The script has a timeout which means it will exit if the data pool is not created within the timeout after boot time. If the data pool is not created, dockers required by the portal are not loaded to the data pool.

If all the dockers do not load you need to run the script /usr/bin/ctera_firstboot.sh

Also, refer to Troubleshooting the Installation if the script does not complete successfully.
Continue with Create the Archive Storage.
You can assign a static IP, as described in configure network settings.
Start CTERA Portal services, by running the following command: portal-manage.sh start

Note

Do not start the portal until both the sdconv and envoy dockers have been loaded to the data pool. You can check that these dockers have loaded in /var/log/ctera_firstboot.log or by running docker images

Create the Archive Storage

You need to create the archive pool on the primary database server and when PostgreSQL streaming replication is required, also on the secondary, replication database, server. See Using PostgreSQL Streaming Replication for details about PostgreSQL streaming replication.

To create the archive pool:

Log in to the Log in to the IONOS Data Center Designer (DCD).
Click the VDC under My Virtual Data Centers (VDC).
Select the CTERA Portal vCPU server.
Click the Storage tab.
For the the primary, database, server and secondary replication, server, click HDD
Specify the following:
Name – A name for the archive pool storage.
Size in GB – The size of the storage.
Note

The minimum archive pool should be 200GB but it should be sized around 2% of the expected global file system size. For more details, see Requirements.

Image – Click Own Images and select the portal image.
Click Create HDD Storage.
Click PROVISION CHANGES.
The Provision Data Center window is displayed.
Select the portal and then click Console.
Log in as root.
Run lsblk or fdisk -l to identify the disk to use for the archive pool.
Run the following command to create the archive pool: portal-storage-util.sh create_db_archive_pool Device
where Device is the device name of the disk to use for the archive pool.
For example: portal-storage-util.sh create_db_archive_pool vdc
This command creates both a logical volume and an LVM volume group using the specified device. Therefore, multiple devices can be specified if desired. For example: portal-storage-util.sh create_db_archive_pool vdc vdd vde

Troubleshooting the Installation

You can check on the progress of the docker loads in one of the following ways to ensure that all the dockers are loaded: The last docker to load is called zookeeper:

In /var/log/ctera_firstboot.log
By running docker images to check that the docker images are available.
By checking if /var/lib/ctera_firstboot_completed is present with the date and time when the installation was performed.

If all the dockers do not load you need to run the script /usr/bin/ctera_firstboot.sh