Preparing the Information Server 11.7.1 microservices tier node

Before you install IBM® InfoSphere® Information Server, version 11.7.1, you must prepare the Information Server microservices tier node of your cluster.

1. Configure the local host lookup for the Information Server Service Tier node if it is not already configured. To check whether you can perform a host lookup for <Information Server Service Tier Node>, run the following command:

   nslookup <Information Server Service Tier Node>

   Note: Configuring the host lookup is mandatory for the microservices tier to work.
2. Install the following packages if they are missing.
   • wget
   • python
   • curl
   1. To check whether a package is installed, run the following command:

      yum list installed <Package Name>

   2. To install a package if it is missing, run the following command:

      yum install -y <Package Name>

3. Set up the user that will run the installation and how the microservices tier is installed.
   You should decide whether you will:

   • Use a root or a non-root user on the master node.
   • Provide a password for the designated user.

   If you choose to provide a password:

   • In a single node environment, you do not have to set up passwordless SSH from the user running the installation on the IBM InfoSphere Information Server host to the master node.
   • Your non-root user must have sudo privilege with NOPASSWD enabled.
   • You must specify the SFTP port.
   • If you are setting up a multiple node environment, the non-root user must exist on all nodes.
   • You must setup passwordless SSH for the specified non-root user from the master node to the worker nodes.

   If you choose not to provide a password:

   • Your non-root user must have sudo privilege with NOPASSWD enabled.
   • You must set up passwordless SSH from the user that is running the installation on the InfoSphere Information Server host to the master node.
   • If you are setting up a multiple node environment:
     • The non-root user must exist on all nodes.
     • You must also set up passwordless SSH from the user on the master node to the worker nodes.

   For the root user, you can set up a root passwordless SSH connection to the microservices tier node by completing the following steps:

   1. If the file /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub does not exist, you must create the SSH Keys by running the following command:

      ssh-keygen -f /root/.ssh/id_rsa -q -N ""

   2. Copy the SSH public key to the Enterprise Search node by running the following command:

      ssh-copy-id -i /root/.ssh/id_rsa.pub root@<enterprise search=" " node=" "> Copy

   3. Validate the root passwordless SSH connection to the Enterprise Search node by running the following command:

      ssh root@<enterprise search=" " node=" "> hostnameCopy

   You can set up non-root users with sudo access by completing the following steps:

   1. Log in to the microservices tier node as a root user.
   2. Edit the /etc/sudoers file by using the following command:

      visudo

      Add the following line:

      <non root user ID> ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL 

      For example, if the-non root user ID is nonrtuser then specify nonrtuser ALL=NOPASSWD: ALL.

      Do not edit the sudoers file in a text editor. Doing so can lead to simultaneous editing and corrupted files, as well as potentially denying administrator access.

4. Check the local file system to make sure that the root partition or the partition that mounts the /var directory has a minimum of 200 GB free space.
5. Create a folder that is configured for holding application data. The default location is /var/lib/ibm/ugdata.

   You can also choose a different disk to store the application data on or use an NFS mount. If you are using local storage, then each node should have a persistent volume directory of 300 GB. This 300 GB of storage is in addition to the 200 GB that is required by the root partition or partition that mounts the /var directory. You can NFS mount the same disk or mount the storage on any number of nodes.

6. Check the local file system to make sure that you have a folder that is configured for holding application data. The default file location is /var/lib/ibm/ugdata, and the root partition or partition that mounts the /var directory should have a minimum of 200 GB of free space. However, you can choose a different disk to store it on, or you can use an NFS mount. If you are using local storage, then each node should have persistent volume directory of 300 GB each. You can NFS Mount the same disk or storage can be mounted on any number of nodes.
7. Ensure that the planned private IP address range for the Weave network, which Kubernetes uses to allocate dynamic IP addresses as needed, does not clash with the planned IP address range for Docker and is available. The default value is 10.32.0.0/12. The planned IP address range for the Weave network cannot be a public IP address range.
   Note: Docker uses 172.17.0.0/16, which cannot be changed.
   1. Check that the network IP addresses do not conflict with Weave and Docker on the microservices tier node.
      1. Query the existing private IP address ranges that are in use by running the following command:

         ip route show

         The output should look similar to the following example:

         default via 10.1.1.254 dev eth0 proto static metric 100
         10.1.0.0/16 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 10.1.1.207 metric 100

      2. Ensure the Weave IP range that was provided as input during the installation is not already in use.
      3. The Enterprise Search installation uses the following IP address as the default for Docker. Make sure that you do not use this IP range also.

         172.17.0.0/16 dev docker0 proto kernel scope link src 172.17.0.1

   2. Run the following command to remove the IP address range for the Docker and Weave networks if they are still assigned after the cleanup script, /opt/IBM/UGinstall/cleanUGInstall.sh, was run to remove the existing installation.

      ip route del <IP Range>

8. Configure the services cluster IP address range.
   1. Ensure that the services cluster IP address range does not conflict with the existing host network or with the network_cidr.
   2. Ensure that it is a valid IP address range.
   3. Ensure that the IP address range does not start with 172.17 because 172.17 is used for the Docker IP address range.
   4. Ensure that a public IP address range is not used.
9. Check to see whether IP Forwarding is enabled.
   1. Check the file /etc/sysctl.conf, by running the following command:

      sysctl -a | grep ip_forward

   2. Enable IP Forwarding if net.ipv4.ip_forward = 0
   3. Edit the file /etc/sysctl.conf, and change it to net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
   4. To load the settings that were made to the file /etc/sysctl.conf, run the following command:

      sysctl -p

      The configuration setting might also be in any configuration file in the /etc/sysctl.d directory.

10. Ensure that port 443 is not used.
11. Ensure that the swap space is disabled in order for the pods to come up on the IBM InfoSphere Information Server Enterprise Search node after the restart of the IBM InfoSphere Information Server Enterprise Search node.
    Before disabling the swap space, first check the /etc/fstab file to ensure that the swap space is not mounted again after restart. For example, the /etc/fstab file might contain an entry similar to the following example.

    /dev/mapper/rhel-root / xfs defaults 0 0 UUID=.... /boot xfs defaults 0 0 /dev/mapper/rhel-swap swap swap defaults 0 0

    To disable the swap space, run the following command:

    swapoff ‐a

    Note: The swap space must be left disabled after installation.
12. Take into account the following information about the Information Server microservices tier node installation directory.
    • You can specify any absolute path as the Information Server microservices tier installation directory. If the given directory exists already, the installation is done in the provided directory.
    • If you create the installation directory, the directory must be empty at the time of installation.
    • If you do not create the Information Server microservices tier installation directory before the installation, the installer creates the specified directory location.
13. Note: This step applies only to Information Server, version 11.7.1.0 and earlier. Skip this step if you are using Information Server, version 11.7.1.1 or later.
    Check the static host name on the Information Server microservices tier node by issuing the following command:

    hostnamectl --static

    For example, static hostname: jsmith-1171-ug-2. If you are using a short name for the host, then set it to the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) by issuing the following command:

    hostnamectl set-hostname `hostname -f`

    The fully qualified domain name will be set as the static host name and will be the input to the installer for Information Server microservices tier host name.
14. Verify that the Host lookup (nslookup) of the local host on the Information Server microservices tier node points to the local host and that it is not registered in DNS to any other name by issuing the following command:

    nslookup localhost
    Server: 172.16.200.52
    Address: 172.16.200.52#53

    If the host name is registered to any other name, you must fix the issue before you can successfully complete the installation.
15. Verify that the following ports are available to the Information Server microservices tier node:

    TCP 6443* Kubernetes API Server
    TCP 2379-2380 etcd server client API
    TCP 10250 Kubelet API
    TCP 10251 kube-scheduler
    TCP 10248 kubelet
    TCP 10249 kube-proxy
    TCP 10252 kube-controller-manager
    TCP 10255 Read-Only Kubelet API
    TCP 30000-32767 NodePort Services
    TCP 6783/6784 Weave Services
    TCP 9092 Kafka
    TCP 2181 zookeeper