Specifying microservices tier installation options, 11.7.1

You can install the microservices tier during the IBM® InfoSphere® Information Server 11.7.1 suite installation. The microservices tier includes Enterprise Search, Information Governance Catalog New, and the InfoSphere Information Analyzer console.

Before you begin

  • Starting with InfoSphere Information Server 11.7.1, the microservices tier (formerly known as the Enterprise Search node) can be installed without setting up passwordless SSH connections. You can choose from these installation options:
    • Specify root as the user for running the microservices tier installation and provide the password and the SSH port.

      In this case, you do not have to set up passwordless SSH connections from the user running the installation on the InfoSphere Information Server host to the root user on the microservices tier master node host. For a microservices tier with multiple nodes, the root user must exist on all nodes with the same password . Also, the port must be the same.

    • Specify a non-root user for running the microservices tier installation and provide the password and the SSH port.

      In this case, the non-root user must have sudo privileges. Also, you do not have to set up passwordless SSH connections from the user running the installation on the InfoSphere Information Server host to the non-root user specified for the microservices tier installation. For a microservices tier with multiple nodes, the specified non-root user must exist on all nodes with the same password . Also, the port must be the same.

    • Specify root as the user for running the microservices tier installation and do not provide a password.

      In this case, set up passwordless SSH connections from the user running the installation on the InfoSphere Information Server host to the root user on the microservices tier master node host. For a microservices tier with multiple nodes, the root user must exist on all nodes and root passwordless SSH connections must be configured from the microservices tier master node to the worker nodes.

    • Specify a non-root user for running the microservices tier installation and do not provide a password.

      In this case, the non-root user must have sudo privileges. Set up passwordless SSH connections from the user running the installation on the InfoSphere Information Server host to the non-root user specified for the microservices tier installation. For a microservices tier with multiple nodes, the specified non-root user must exist on all nodes and passwordless SSH connections from the microservices tier master node to the worker nodes must be configured for the specified non-root user.

  • You can check the prerequisites for installing the microservices tier before you even start the installation by running the verify_prereqs_microservices tool. For more information, see Tool to test system readiness for microservices tier.
  • Ensure that the date and time at the InfoSphere Information Server and microservices tier master node and the worker nodes are synchronized. To verify whether all servers are synchronized, run the date +%s command on each node, and make sure that the value that is returned is same for all servers.

About this task

This task details the information necessary to complete the installation of a single-node or a multi-node microservices tier during the suite installation of InfoSphere Information Server.

The microservices tier is required if you want to use Information Server Enterprise Search, Information Governance Catalog New, and machine learning capabilities of InfoSphere Information Analyzer. If you use InfoSphere Information Server but have no need for these features, installation of the microservices tier is not necessary.

If the microservices tier is installed, the Launchpad link is https://microservices_tier_master_node/ibm/iis/launchpad.

Procedure

Enter the necessary information in the following fields of the Information Server Microservices Tier installation window during the suite installation.
Number of Nodes
You can choose between a single node setup and a multiple node setup with 3 nodes.
Master Node Host
During the installation wherever appropriate, specify the fully qualified domain name of the remote host on which the microservices tier will be installed. The master host computer must be running RedHat version 7.3 or above and have the following number of CPUs and RAM for a single node setup:
  • 8 CPUs and 32 GB of RAM
In a setup with multiple nodes, the following number of CPUs and RAM must be available :
  • All nodes: Minimum of 8 CPUs and 32 GB of RAM each
Installation Directory
Specify the directory on the master node host where the microservices tier will be installed. If the directory already exists, it must be empty.
User
Specify a user account for authenticating with the designated microservices tier node during installation. The user can be the root user or any other user with sudo access. If you set up a multi-node microservices tier, the user must exist on all nodes.
Authenticate with a password
Select this option if you want to install without configuring passwordless SSH login for the user running the installation. In this case, you must specify a password in the Password field.
Password
If you choose password authentication for the installation instead of passwordless SSH login, enter the password for the specified user.
Port
Specify the SSH port to use for SSH connections from the InfoSphere Information Server host to the microservices tier host. The default port is 22.

This information is required only if you select Authenticate with a password.

Persistent Storage Location
Specify the location for holding application data. If you set up a microservices tier with multiple nodes, the location is the same for all nodes. The default storage location is /var/lib/ibm/ugdata. However, you can choose a different local storage location, or you can use an NFS mount. If you are using local storage, the directory on each node must have at least 300 GB of free space. With an NFS mount, you can mount the same disk or storage on any number of nodes.
Docker Image Location
Specify the location on the designated microservices master node to which you downloaded the Docker images from Passport Advantage.
Private IP Address Range
Specify an available IP address range for the Weave network. This address range must not be used for Docker. The default address range for Docker is 172.17.0.0/16. Also, do not use a public IP address range. To check existing private IP address ranges, you can run the ip route show command.

You can use an open source tool to calculate the open ranges. The tool is available at: https://dnsquery.org/subnetcalc/

Services IP Address Range
Specify an alternative IP address range to use if the default range of 10.96.0.0/12 is already in use on your system.

For a setup with multiple nodes, a further installation window is displayed where you must provide the fully qualified domain names for the worker node hosts.

Results

After installation, the following information about Kubernetes applies.

All kubeinstall logs are captured as part of the installation logs at /tmp/ibm_is_logs. You can also locate the same logs in the /tmp folder of the microservices tier master node host.