Part 2 of the 5 part series on the step by step installation post focuses on the setup of VMWare Server and the SuSe Linux system. Part 1 has a list and links to the download pages for this software.
The 5 parts of this series are:
- Part 1: System Requirements and Test Setup Concept
- Part 2: Setup of the VMWare Server and the Linux Servers
- Part 3: Install of the Sybase Software
- Part 4: Setup and test the Sybase Cluster
- Part 5: Add an additional node to the cluster
The instructions designed that non Linux admins can easily reproduce the steps. Any tuning, hardening, high-availability and other Unix management tasks have been omitted for simplicity.
Please click here to read how to setup the VMWare environment.
Linux Setup
This post will walk you through the Linux setup of our 3 virtual machines that have been setup in Part 2 of the Sybase ASE Cluster Edition Step-By-Step Installation. These posts are huge and for better readability they have been split in several parts. All parts are linked together. So you will always find the start of the series as well as each individual part.
Please click here to read how to setup the virtual machines. To start the series from the first post, please click here.
Setting up the Linux systems is a fully menu driven approach and requires mounting of the ISO file first to load the boot disk to the virtual machines.
First we need to add a new datastore to the VMWare Server to allow access to the location where the ISO files are saved. This is most likely on your desktop or laptop and very easy to do. In this example the new datastore is located on a network drive. It takes a little bit more parameters to configure.
Click on the icon next to the CD/DVD Drive label and select edit.
Select the ISO Image option for the CD mounts and click on Browse.
Select the SuSe Linux ISO file and click OK. Then click OK again to complete the mount process.
These are the steps to mount an ISO file as CD drive to any virtual machine. Now you can repeat these steps to mount the ISO file to the other virtual machines. Unlike a physical CD, you can mount the same ISO file to many virtual machines at the same time.
The test environment diagram outlines that there will be 3 Linux server installed; asece1, asece2 and asecenfs. The next steps will illustrated how to install the base Linux system on asecenfs. The only difference between this server and asece1 and 2 are the 3 network cards used and the shared disks.
These are the network addresses used for the 3 servers.
# asecenfs 192.168.1.210 asecenfs.localhost.org asecenfs # asece1 192.168.1.211 asece1.localhost.org asece1 192.168.2.211 asece1-ppriv.localhost.org asece1-ppriv 192.168.3.211 asece1-spriv.localhost.org asece1-spriv # asece2 192.168.1.212 asece2.localhost.org asece2 192.168.2.212 asece2-ppriv.localhost.org asece2-ppriv 192.168.3.212 asece2-spriv.localhost.org asece2-spriv
This information is crucial when configuring the network interfaces during the installation process.
Booting the Install Disk
Now it is time to boot up the virtual machine. Click on the console tab of the virtual machine you want to start. In this case we will start the ASECENFS server and then click anywhere in the black screen to boot the system. If you don’t see the big play symbol, you need to install the software. Just follow the instructions on the screen. Once completed, you will come back to this screen.
Once the power on process is complete you want to open to console to see console in a new window. It is important that you take control over the console as soon as possible. SuSe Linux has a default menu that shows up when booted the first time. Just click anywhere in the console window and move the cursor down to select “Installation”. This will stop the timer.
Now hit enter to start the installation process.
This is the first screen of the installation for SuSe Linux. Selecting the language then hit Next. On the left hand menu you will see the progress of the installation. Like the VMWare virtual machine setup, you always know which step you’re performing and how many more steps to go.
Accept the license agreement and click Next. If you don’t want to accept the license agreement, then click Abort. In this case you need to find an alternative way to install an active Linux system onto your virtual servers.
Skip the media check and click Next
Select the “New Installation” option, which is the only one available and hit Next.
Chose your Clock and Timezone settings and hit Next.
Now you will see a summary of the selection. If you are a Linux savvy admin, you could go ahead and click on the Expert tab to further fine tune the selection. But for this example we simply accept the default and let the system install all the necessary parts.
This is your last chance to abort this installation. Just hit install and the system will install SuSe Linux onto the virtual machine. This can take a while.
The system will reboot itself and after all is set and done, you will see this screen.
Just enter the root password and click on Next.
The next screen asks for the hostname and domain. This example creates asecenfs, therefore the hostname is asecenfs and for simplicity the domain is localhost.org, which is a fictive domain name.
DHCP is a big no-no in a cluster environment. Every time you see the word DHCP, make sure the checkbox next to it is unchecked.
Changing the network settings is important. Not only do you need to turn off any DHCP settings, but you also need to turn off any firewall settings. Both are turned on by default. On the next screen will click on the word enabled next to the word firewall and the firewall is turned off.
Now you need to configure the network. Just click on the Network Interfaces link.
Click Edit at the next screen.
Now you are in the network configuration mode. To make it all work the network will be configured with static ip addresses.
There are two more settings to either check or change. Add the appropriate name server and routing address for your network.
After clicking Next a couple of times you will end up at the entry screen again and it should look something like this.
After passing the network test you will see this screen. Don do anything with it for now. Select “Configure Later” and click Next.
Skip the service configuration.
Use local user configuration.
Create the Sybase user.
Click Next on the release notes and then the system checks the hardware configuration. The screen will flicker and resize several times. Once this process is completed, click Next on the screen below.
Congratulations!
You just installed your first SuSe Linux system. This wasn’t too hard? Click on Finish to exit the installation program.
Now it is time to configure the 2 main cluster nodes. Follow the steps outlined above to get the SuSe Linux software installed and the base system configured.
The main differences will be with the network interfaces. The following screens will illustrated the differences.
asece1
Now it is time to address the 3 network connections for asece1. Here are the ip addresses again.
# asece1 192.168.1.211 asece1.localhost.org asece1 192.168.2.211 asece1-ppriv.localhost.org asece1-ppriv 192.168.3.211 asece1-spriv.localhost.org asece1-spriv
Click on Network Interfaces to configure all 3 networks at once.
Select the first network to configure the public network and click on edit.
Add the ip address and select the static address setup option.
Set the name server and the routing address once done click on Next.
Now go ahead and select the second network from the list. This will be the primary private network that doesn’t share the subnet with anybody else. No name server or routing will be selected.
Here’s the ip setup screen.
Set the routing then repeat the same steps for the last network, which will be the secondary private network.
asece2
When you power on this server you will notice a new window asking you if you copied or moved this virtual machine. This is because you copied ascece1 to create asece2. Select “I copied it” and continue.
Repeat the same steps you already did for asece1 and asecenfs.
These are the ip addresses used for asece2.
# asece2 192.168.1.212 asece2.localhost.org asece2 192.168.2.212 asece2-ppriv.localhost.org asece2-ppriv 192.168.3.212 asece2-spriv.localhost.org asece2-spriv
Now all Linux servers for the Sybase cluster are set-up and ready to go.
The next step is to setup Sybase in part 3 of the series. Click here to read part 3 and click here to start all over from the beginning.