Installing CTERA Portal Instances
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Installing CTERA Portal Instances

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Article Summary

A CTERA Portal in AWS is created as an instance in an existing Virtual Private Cloud (VPC).

Use the following workflow to install CTERA Portal.

  1. Creating a Portal Instance.
  2. Logging in to the Server to Create the Storage.
  3. Optionally, associate your CTERA Portal instance with an Elastic IP Address. See Optionally Obtaining an Elastic IP Address for the CTERA Portal Instance.
  4. Optionally, configure a default gateway.
  5. For the first server you install, follow the steps in Configuring the Primary Server.
  6. 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.
  7. Make sure that you replicate the database, as described in Configuring the CTERA Portal Database for Backup.
  8. Backup the server as described in Backing Up the CTERA Portal Servers and Storage.

Creating a Portal Instance

To create the Amazon EC2 CTERA Portal instance:

  1. In the AWS Management Console select Services.

  2. Under the Compute service, select EC2.

  3. In the navigation pane, click Images > AMIs.
    The Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) window is displayed.

  4. Select the CTERA Portal image that CTERA shared with you and click Launch instance from AMI.
    The Launch an instance window is displayed.

  5. Under Name and tags, enter a name for the instance.

  6. Optionally, click Add additional tags to add tags, clicking Add tags for each additional tag you want to add.

    Note

    In multi-instance environments, it is recommended include the name of the CTERA service running on this instance, for example, replication, preview, application.

  7. Under Instance type, select the required instance type, for example M5.xlarge or M5.2xlarge.

    Note

    For information on CTERA's server sizing requirements, contact CTERA Support.

  8. Under Key pair (login), do one of the following.

    • If you created a key pair, and have the private key file that corresponds to the pair in a safe and accessible place, select the key pair from the drop-down list
    • If you want to create a new key pair, do the following:
      1. Select Create new key pair.
      2. In the Key pair name field, enter a name for the key pair.
      3. Choose the .pem Private key file format option.
      4. Click Create key pair.

    A private key in *.pem format is downloaded.
    Be sure to save the private key file in a safe place. You will need to provide the name of your key pair when you launch the instance and the corresponding private key each time you connect to the instance.
    This is also the key you will use to setup any additional portal servers.

    Warning

    You must have a key pair for the instance. If you launch your instance without a key pair, you will not be able to connect to it.

  9. Under Network settings, click Edit

    1. Select the VPC Network from the drop-down list.
    2. Select the Subnet from the drop-down list. The subnet can be a private subnet or a public subnet.
      Note

      You only need a public subnet if access to the CTERA Portal will not be within the VPC.

    3. Under Firewall (security groups) choose Create security group for a new security group or Select existing security group if you already have one defined.

      For security reasons, it is recommend to create one security group for servers running CTERA's application service or preview service, and a different security group for servers running CTERA's main database.

      If you chose Create security group, click Add security group rule to add the following from the Type drop-down:
      • DNS (UDP)
      • HTTP
      • Custom TCP and set Port range to 389, for Active Directory, if used.
      • HTTPS
      • Custom TCP and set Port range to 995
      Notes

      TCP port 22 for SSH remote connectivity and assistance by CTERA support personnel is added automatically when you select Create security group.

      CTERA Portal instances communicate with eah other over TCP port 5432. Allow TCP communication overport 5432 to the CTERA Portal database server. This communication port should be opened only between the CTERA servers.

      CTERA recommends modifying the allowed source IP addresses for each inbound security rule added.

      If you chose Select existing security group, select the security group from the Common security groups drop-down list.
  10. Under Configure storage, click Advanced and then click Add new volume to add the volume:
    Another row is displayed in the table.

    1. In the Size (GiB) field, enter the size of the EBS volume.
      The size of the volume depends on the server, as specified in Requirements.
    2. In the Volume Type field, select the volume type. The volume type depends on the server, primary database server, secondary, replication server, preview server, application server, with or without the messaging server, as specified in Requirements. Where SSD is specified, choose General purpose SSD (gp3), otherwise choose Magnetic (standard) from the drop-down list.
    3. Record the Device name, such as /dev/sdb for the volume.
    4. For the primary database server and secondary, replication, server, repeat the step to add a second volume.
  11. Under Advanced details, select the IAM instance profile created in Setting CTERA Portal Resource Access in IAM.

  12. Review the Summary and click Launch instance.

  13. After the instance is successfully launched, click the instance id link in the Success box.
    The Instances page is displayed, showing the status of the instance.

  14. Wait until the Status check has finished and then click the Instance ID.
    Information about the instance is displayed.

  15. Note the IP address displayed in either the Public IPv4 address field, when public access was required and a subnet accessible publicly was specified, or in the Private IPv4 addresses field, when the access is within the VPC.

  16. Continue with Logging in to the Server to Create the Storage.

Logging in to the Server to Create the Storage

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

To create the data and archive pools:

  1. Log in to the AWS Management Console, in the EC2 service, click Instances > Instances in the navigation pane.
  2. Select the instance you created in Creating the Amazon EC2 CTERA Portal instance and click Connect.
  3. Select the Session Manager tab and click Connect.
  4. Change to the root user by running the following command: sudo -i
  5. Run the following command to create the data pool: portal-storage-util.sh create_storage EBS_Volume_ID
    Where EBS_Volume_ID is the EBS Volume ID you copied down in the procedure Creating the Amazon EC2 CTERA Portal instance.
    For example: portal-storage-util.sh create_storage vol-0726144d8ae69e058
  6. Run the following command to create the archive pool: portal-storage-util.sh create_db_archive_pool EBS_Volume_ID
    Where EBS_Volume_ID is the EBS Volume ID you copied down in the procedure Creating a Portal Instance.
    For example: portal-storage-util.sh create_db_archive_pool vol-0726144d8ae69e017
  7. Start CTERA Portal services, by running the following command: portal-manage.sh start

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