System requirements

Installation requirements

Review the following installation requirements:

Platform System Manager requirements

• x86 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 with the recent updates.
  • The Red Hat Enterprise Linux system must be dedicated to running Cloud Pak System Software for x86 and not other enterprise applications.
  • Restriction:

    • You must have the English locale (LANG=en_US.UTF-8) set in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. By default, this setting is configured in the /etc/sysconfig/i18n file.
    • The shell profile and start files must not include custom prompts (for example, PS1, PS2) or terminal line (stty) settings.
• Cloud Pak System Software for x86 must be installed and run as the root user on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system.
  Note: More users are created with random passwords and keys.
• Only administrative users responsible for installation and maintenance of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system require access to Platform System Manager installation.
• The System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) must not be enabled on the Platform System Manager operating system. New users are created, and these new users must be able to SSH and authenticate on the Platform System Manager without the need to update SSSD or Pluggable Authentication Modules (PAM) settings.
• Modifications to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux default sshd configuration (/etc/ssh/sshd_config) are not supported. Cloud Pak System Software for x86 requires an internal user's public and private keys to be in specific locations. These keys are used for key based authentication. Modifications that change the default behavior of sshd can break various functions in Cloud Pak System Software for x86.
• On the Platform System Manager, you must set the default umask to 002. This setting is often configured in /etc/profile. A more restrictive umask can cause permission issues.
• Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) must be disabled or in permissive mode. Avoid extra warning messages in the logs by setting it to permissive mode.
• CPU: Minimum of 8 cores
• Memory: Minimum of 80 GB (of which up to 40 GB can be swap space)
• Partitions: 4 disk partitions
  • Root: Minimum of 10 GB
  • Data: Minimum of 1.5 TB
  • Runtime: Minimum of 500 GB
  • Temp: Minimum of 5.5 GB
  Note: The preceding requirements assume that /opt is part of the Root file system. If it is a separate partition, free space is needed for IBM software that is installed under the /opt directory. Make sure that 4 GB of free space is available for this software.
• Red Hat YUM with configured YUM repositories Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7.7 and Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux
• Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) packages automatically installed from YUM repositories:
  • bind-utils.x86_64
  • compat-libstdc++-33.x86_64
  • dnsmasq.x86_64
  • genisoimage.x86_64
  • httpd.x86_64 libcgroup.x86_64
  • ksh.x86_64
  • libcgroup-tools.x86_64
  • lsof.x86_64 mod_ssl.x86_64
  • mod_ldap.x86_64
  • mod_security.x86_64
  • net-tools.x86_64
  • ntp.x86_64 unzip.x86_64
  • openssh-clients.x86_64
  • pam.x86_64 redhat-lsb-core.x86_64
  • perl-Sys-Syslog.x86_64
• Firewall:
  • The loopback interface must be configured to accept all connections for IPv4 & IPv6 traffic.
  • Ports for outbound traffic must be open.
  • Specific ports for inbound traffic are allowed through the firewall. See the following table:

    Table 2. Inbound ports allowed through the firewall

    Port	Protocol	Purpose
    80	TCP	HTTPd
    123	UDP	NTPD
    162	UDP	Virtual machine to Cloud Pak System Software communication
    443	TCP	HTTPd
    8585	TCP	Virtual machine to Cloud Pak System Software communication
    9443	TCP	Virtual machine to Cloud Pak System Software communication
    9444	TCP	Virtual machine to Cloud Pak System Software communication

  • Specific ports for internal communication between components are open. See the following table:

    Table 3. Ports for internal communication between components

    Port	Protocol
    657	TCP
    2000	TCP
    5000-5001	TCP
    5003-5011	TCP
    7005-7007	TCP
    8080	TCP
    8383	TCP
    9080	TCP
    9081	TCP
    50002	TCP
    50003	TCP
    1747	UDP
    1804	UDP
    2123	UDP
    2176	UDP
    2495	UDP
    2517	UDP
    2534	UDP
    2551	UDP
    12347	UDP
    12348	UDP

vCenter Server and ESXi requirements

• The ESXi user must be granted shell access and assigned the Administrator role.
• The environment must support a distributed virtual switch.
• The Platform System Manager must use a Secure Shell (SSH) connection directly to each ESXi hypervisor to do management functions.
• The Platform System Manager must be able to ping each ESXi hypervisor (Internet Control Message Protocol packet must not be blocked).

Compute node requirements

• Maximum of 32
• CPU: Any number of cores and speeds if all compute nodes within the same cloud group are the same.
• Memory: Any amount. Avoid trouble by ensuring a single cloud group does not contain compute nodes with mixed memory.
• Important: Using local storage on a single compute node is not supported. However, you can use shared storage that is mapped to the compute node.

Network requirements

• The Platform System Manager has an assigned IPv4 address on the same network as vCenter Server.
• The Platform System Manager has IPv6 that is enabled for local loopback.
• The DNS and NTP servers are available.

Deployment requirements

• vCenter Server data center that is dedicated to Cloud Pak System Software for x86 and an administrative user who is restricted to the data center and inventory objects.
  Attention: Do not modify changes to the vCenter Server data center other than changes that are in the product documentation. Any changes to this environment that are not documented might impact Cloud Pak System Software for x86 functions.
• Specific switch and host configuration within the Cloud Pak System Software for x86 data center object.
• Cloud group datastores must be mapped to all hosts in the Cloud Pak System Software for x86 data center object.
• 2 TB cache datastore with a specific name must be mapped to all hosts in the Cloud Pak System Software for x86 data center object.
• No virtual machines or virtual data centers with designated data center or hosts besides the ones that are managed by Cloud Pak System Software for x86.
• Network:
  • The Platform System Manager can reach vCenter Server, ESXi, and deployed virtual machines.
  • Deployed virtual machines can reach the Platform System Manager OS.

Supported guest operating systems

Storage requirements

• Only VMFS formatted data stores, such as Fibre Channel, SAS, InfiniBand, and iSCSI, are supported. NFS and NAS backed VMware data stores are not supported.