Installing CTERA Portal Instances

Use the following workflow to install CTERA Portal.
1. Importing the CTERA Portal OVA File.
2. Preparing for Production Deployment.
3. Logging In to the CTERA Portal Server and changing the password.
4. Optionally, Initializing the Storage Pool.
5. Configuring Network Settings.
6. Optionally, configure a default gateway.
7. Additional Installation Instructions for Customers Without Internet Access
8. For the first server you install, follow all of the steps in Configuring the Primary Server.
9. 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.
10. Make sure that you replicate the database, as described in Backing Up the Database.

Importing the CTERA Portal OVA File

Contact CTERA Support, and request the latest ESXi CTERA Portal OVA file.

To install the CTERA Portal Server using the vSphere Client console:

1. In the vSphere Client console click File > Deploy OVF Template.
2. The Deploy OVF Template wizard is displayed.
3. Browse to the CTERA Portal OVA file and choose it.
4. Click NEXT.
5. Continue through the wizard specifying the following information, as required for your configuration:
   • A name to identify the CTERA Portal in vCenter.
   • The location for the CTERA Portal: either a datacenter or a folder in a datacenter.
   • The host or cluster to run the CTERA Portal.
   • The virtual disk format for the CTERA Portal software and the storage to use for this software. Refer to VMware documentation for a full explanation of the disk provisioning formats. Select either Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed or Thick Provision Eager Zeroed according to your preference.
     • Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed – Creates a virtual disk in a default thick format. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated when the virtual disk is created. Data remaining on the physical device is not erased during creation, but is zeroed out on demand at a later time on first write from the virtual machine. Using the default flat virtual disk format does not zero out or eliminate the possibility of recovering deleted files or restoring old data that might be present on this allocated space.
     • Thick Provision Eager Zeroed – Creates a virtual disk that supports clustering features such as Fault Tolerance. Space required for the virtual disk is allocated at creation time. In contrast to the flat format, the data remaining on the physical device is zeroed out when the virtual disk is created. It might take much longer to create disks in this format than to create lazy zeroed disks.
   • The network that the CTERA Portal will use.
6. Review the configuration details and click FINISH.
   The CTERA Portal is created and powered off.
7. Power on the CTERA Portal virtual machine.

Preparing for Production Deployment

• When deploying an application server to production: It is recommended to remove the default 60GB VMDK included in the CTERA Portal OVA.
• When deploying a main database server to production: It is recommended to remove the default 50GB and 60GB VMDKs included in the CTERA Portal OVA, and attach a VMDK sized at least 1% of the overall cloud storage you intend to allocate for the service. Prior to going to production, contact CTERA Support to evaluate whether the attached drive's performance meets CTERA's main database performance requirements.
• When deploying a document preview server to production: You can keep the existing drives included in the CTERA Portal OVA.

Logging In to the CTERA Portal Server

To log in to the CTERA Portal server:

• Log in as root, using SSH or through the console.
  The default password is ctera321
  You are prompted to change the password on your first login.

Initializing the Storage Pool

The storage pool is initialized during the [Configuring the Primary Server] procedure. You can also manually initialize the storage pool.

To create a new LVM storage pool:

1. Run the following command: fdisk –l
2. In the output, copy the name of the second disk displayed. In the following example, the second disk is named xvdf

   [root]# fdisk -l
   
   Disk /dev/xvde: 6442 MB, 6442450944 bytes
   255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 783 cylinders
   Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
   Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   I/O size (minimum/optimal) : 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   Disk identifier: 0xaae7682d
   
       Device Boot    Start    End     Blocks   Id   System
   /dev/xvde1   *      1       783    6289416   83   Linux
   
   Disk /deve/xvdf: 107.4 GB, 107374182400 bytes
   255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 13054 cylinders
   Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
   Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   I/O size (minimum/optimal) : 512 bytes / 512 bytes
   Disk identifier: 0x00000000
   
   Disk /dev/xvdf doesn't contain a valid partition table
   [root]#
   

3. Run the following command: portal-storage-util.sh create_storage <2nd_vol_name>
   Where <2nd_vol_name> is the name of the volume copied in the previous step.
   For example: portal-storage-util.sh create_storage xvdf
4. Run the following command to restart the portal: portal-manage.sh restart
5. Run the following command to ensure the volume is OK: portal-manage.sh status
   The following lines appear in the output:

   CTERA Portal: Starting
   ...
   Database Data Directory: Ready
   

   The LVM storage pool is now initialized. For the primary server, proceed with Configuring the Primary Serve]. For an additional server, proceed with Installing Additional CTERA Portal Servers.