PREINSTALL_OMNIA_APPLIANCE.md 3.1 KB

Prerequisites to install the Omnia appliance

Ensure that the following prequisites are met before installing the Omnia appliance:

  • On the management node, install Ansible and Git using the following commands:
    • yum install epel-release -y
    • yum install ansible-2.9.18 git -y
      Note: Ansible must be installed using yum. If Ansible is installed using pip3, re-install it using the yum command again.
  • Ensure a stable Internet connection is available on management node and target nodes.
  • CentOS 7.9 2009 is installed on the management node.
  • To provision the bare metal servers, go to http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/7/isos/x86_64/ and download the CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-2009 ISO file.
  • For DHCP configuration, you can provide a mapping file. The provided details must be in the format: MAC, Hostname, IP. For example, xx:xx:4B:C4:xx:44,validation01,172.17.0.81 and xx:xx:4B:C5:xx:52,validation02,172.17.0.82 are valid entries.
    Note: A template for mapping file is present in the omnia/examples, named mapping_file.csv. The header in the template file must not be deleted before saving the file.
    Note: Ensure that duplicate values are not provided for MAC, Hostname, and IP in the mapping file. The Hostname should not contain the following characters: , (comma), . (period), and _ (underscore).
  • Connect one of the Ethernet cards on the management node to the HPC switch and the other ethernet card connected to the global network.
  • If SELinux is not disabled on the management node, disable it from /etc/sysconfig/selinux and restart the management node.
  • The default mode of PXE is UEFI, and the BIOS Legacy Mode is not supported.
  • The default boot order for the bare metal servers must be PXE.
  • Configuration of RAID is not part of Omnia. If bare metal servers have RAID controller installed then it is mandatory to create VIRTUAL DISK.

Assumptions

Example system designs

Omnia can configure systems which use Ethernet or Infiniband-based fabric to connect the compute servers.

Example system configuration with Ethernet fabric

Example system configuration with Infiniband fabric

Network Setup

Omnia assumes that servers are already connected to the network and have access to the internet.

Network Topology

Possible network configurations include:

  • A flat topology where all nodes are connected to a switch which includes an uplink to the internet. This requires multiple externally-facing IP addresses
  • A hierarchical topology where compute nodes are connected to a common switch, but the manager node contains a second network connection which is connected to the internet. All outbound/inbound traffic would be routed through the manager node. This requires setting up firewall rules for IP masquerade, see here for an example.

    IP and Hostname Assignment

    The recommended setup is to assign IP addresses to individual servers. This can be done manually by logging onto each node, or via DHCP.