ITA installation and setup

The latest version of DCO, if needed, is available to customers with an active software support contract.   Customers who are currently running a release which is older than DCO 8.3.x should first plan to upgrade to DCO 8.3.2 or newer. In this case, two new servers are required.   To upgrade to IT Advisor, customers may use this method: Backing up their DCO 8.3.x and restoring it on a new clean ITA installation.  Note: When you upgrade DCO 8.3.x to ITA, your Colo, High Availability, and Insight licenses are stripped out during the upgrade. See Differences between DCO and ITA   Can I upgrade my DCO 7.5 setup to latest ITA?. Backing up DCO 8.3.x and restoring it on a clean ITA installation   Upgrading to IT Advisor 9.1.x or newer requires a clean installation of ITA and a restore of the DCO 8.3.x backup file.   This upgrade method includes taking a backup of the data on your DCO 8.3.x server, making a clean installation of IT Advisor, and then restoring the backup file in the new ITA installation. This is the required process for customers upgrading to ITA 9.1.0 or newer. NOTE: This procedure assumes you are installing IT Advisor on a new physical server or virtual machine. If you perform a fresh installation of IT Advisor on the same DCO server, then all existing DCO data/information will be lost if the DCO backup was not copied from the server.   Recommendation Install IT Advisor on a new server and keep the DCO 8.3.x  running concurrently on the old server until you have verified that your new ITA server is up and running.     Saving a backup from the existing Data Center Operation 8.3.x server Browse to the Data Center Operation web client at https://<dco-server>/ Log in as an administrator user Click the Administration menu and select the Backup and Restore item. A list of backups should appear with the most recent backup appearing at the top of the list. By default, backups run automatically on a nightly basis. If that backup is not recent, then click the Schedule Backup button to create a new backup immediately, and wait for that backup to complete. Click the download button to the right of the backup row to download that backup image off of the DCO server.   Setting up a new server with a clean installation of IT Advisor See the entire installation process Installing IT Advisor   Copy the backup file to the ITA server Copy the DCO backup file to the new IT Advisor server using one of the following methods.   Using the ITA Web Client NOTE: Using the web client to upload backup files larger than 1GB in size may not work properly. Use Webmin to upload the backup in these cases.   Open the IT Advisor web client by browsing to the ITA server at https://<ita-server>/ Logon as an administrator user Click the Administration menu Click the Backup and Restore item Click the Upload Backup button Browse to the location of the downloaded backup, choose the file and wait for the backup to upload. Once the upload completes the Backup and Restore view should automatically refresh. The uploaded backup should be at the top of the list. Using the Webmin interface Use a browser to browse to the webmin interface for the ITA server at https://<ita-server>:10000/ In the left menu, select System>Upload and Download. Click the Upload to server tab. In Files to upload, browse to the location of your saved backup file. Make sure the file format is: <name><yyyy-mm-dd><hh.mm>.tar.gz In File or directory to upload to, select the location on the Data Center Operation server in which to save the file:  /data/backup .   Restoring the DCO backup file on the new ITA server Open the IT Advisor web client by browsing to the ITA server at https://<ita-server>/ Logon as an administrator user Click the Administration menu Click the Backup and Restore entry Click the Restore button to the right of the DCO backup file which should be visible in the list of backups Wait for the restore process to complete  

Here is a short list of things to do for a new ITA installation:   Add license key(s): How to add a license in ITA   Add user(s): Managing ITA users and user rights   Add SMTP server: Configuring email settings    Model your data center: More information...    Integrate external system(s): About external system integration   Add authentication server: Configuring authentication servers used for managing remote users

Note: Licensing for one disaster recovery node (DR) is part of the IT Advisor base license. In this example of configuring IT Advisor disaster recovery, two stand alone servers have been created, Server1 and Server2. Server2 will be configured as the disaster recovery node to Server1.   IMPORTANT: If the Disaster Recovery node is monitored by Data Center Expert via SNMP, it is important to set the device scan timeout in DCE high enough for the Disaster Recovery node to respond. Otherwise, it will return a communication lost status. How you set the device scan timeout depends on the network speed between the Disaster Recovery node and the ITA server.   Configure Server 1   Log in to the Server1 Webmin interface, and select EcoStruxure IT Advisor > Disaster Recovery. Select Allow another node to connect to this node. In Allow the following IP as disaster recovery node, enter the IP address for Server2. Click Attach.  img_01_360036883074.JPG Check Accept fingerprint then click Allow. img_02_360036883074.JPG Once the fingerprint is added successfully, follow the on-screen instruction to go to Webmin for Server2 to continue the setup.   ITA_dis_rec_82020_360036883074.JPG   Configure Server 2   Log in to the Server 2 Webmin interface and select EcoStruxure IT Advisor > Disaster Recovery. Select Attach this node (xx.xx.xx.xx) as a disaster recovery node to another node.  ITA_1_360036883074.png Enter the IP address for Server1 in Attach this node to the following IP:  ITA_2_360036883074.png Click Attach.  ITA_3_360036883074.png   img_04_360036883074.JPG Check Accept fingerprint.  ITA_1_360036883074.png and then click Attach. ITA_2_360036883074.png     img_05_360036883074.JPG     While the node is successfully being attaching, the notification is Attaching the node, please wait this could take several minutes......   Please watch the status page to monitor progress.   img_06_360036883074.JPG   The Server1 Status page displays information for both itself and Server2 as Disaster Recovery.   img_07_360036883074.JPG   The Server2 Status page displays information only about itself as Disaster Recovery.   img_08_360036883074.JPG   Upgrading a disaster recovery setup   Upgrade both the master node and the disaster recovery node to the new version of IT Advisor.

Servers are often equipped with an out-of-band (OOB) management card. Depending on vendor, the technology has different names (HP ILO, DELL iDRAC, IBM RSA). OOB management allows users to access the server remotely typically through an Ethernet connection. This also gives access to the local media which makes it possible to install e.g. IT Advisor server from a remote location. It is recommended that you follow the on-screen instructions and select the default options unless you have specific requirements. Access and log into the server OOB management card. Launch the remote console. The server should be connected to the network during the entire installation process (preferably high bandwidth through cable due to full ISO being transferred to the server). Mount the ISO as a virtual CD/DVD drive. Ensure the BIOS settings enable the server to boot from the CD/DVD (or use the boot menu. Often F11 must be pressed during server startup). In the IT Advisor boot menu, select Install Standalone and follow the generic ITA installation steps.

You should be able to install ITA in a location without public Internet access in the same way as when an Internet connection is available by following the default installation instructions, ensuring you have prepared the installation media in advance. You may experience a short delay (about a minute) as the installer gets ready. You can force offline installation by selecting Troubleshooting in the boot menu when booting the ISO file.

The same installation instructions and system requirements apply to a virtual environment as to a stand-alone server. If your system doesn't meet the system requirements, you may experience issues with the installation, for example if you don't assign enough vRAM. IMPORTANT: To install ITA 9.1.x on VMware, plan to use VMware ESXi 6.5 U1 or newer. Otherwise, you may see a kernel bug error in CentOS 8.x. See VMware KB article https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2151480 for more information. Setting up the virtual machine is not included in these instructions. However, here are some recommendations to your environment: When installing IT Advisor in a virtual environment, it is best to select CentOS operating system (version 7, 64 bit) as the guest operating system. See CentOS 8 end of life This will make the configuration of virtual hardware, especially drivers, easier as you can simply select the default options suggested by the system during configuration. These default options are based on knowledge about the driver installation on these OS versions. If the CentOS guest operating system type is not available in the virtual environment, configure the virtual hardware to be compatible with: CPU architecture: 64 bit SCSI Controller: LSI Logic Parallel Network adaptor type: VMXNET 3 If you deploy as a virtual server on VMware, VMware might automatically install VMware Tools. If not, you can use YUM to install VMware Tools: yum install open-vm-tools If the server doesn't have internet access, you can install VMware Tools from VMWare itself. Right click the host and select Install VMware Tools. Read more: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1018414 Tip If you want to manually configure the IP address for your IT Advisor installation on VMware, you may need to disable and reenable the network settings. In the CentOS installation wizard, select NETWORK & HOST NAME. Click Configure, then enter and save your network settings. You may need to disable and reenable the NIC you just configured for the changes to take effect before finishing your configuration by clicking Done.

First, install the IT Advisor server from a prepared installation media: USB key or out-of-band management (OOM) interface. Then, after installing the server, install the clients. You do not need to preinstall an OS, as the IT Advisor installer image includes all needed installation material, including Rocky Linux. See CentOS 8 end of life Separate instructions are available for recommendations for installing ITA in a virtual environment. Prerequisites You have prepared a bootable installation media with the IT Advisor Installer Image file. Ensure the media has sufficient space (4GB) and is clean before copying the ISO to it. Download the IT Advisor ISO from a location provided by the support team. To locate the telephone number for your region, visit Contact Us.  Read about creating the bootable installation media here. When you have a bootable installation media with the ITA installer, you can install the IT Advisor server to any computer according to your licenses. If you have a previous version of IT Advisor, first, remember to back up your solution in a remote location to be able to restore the backup after installing IT Advisor. The installation will destroy all data on the server. You will lose all data if you skip creating the backup. More... IT Advisor ISO files There are two versions of the IT Advisor ISO file, an online version and an offline version. Online: EcoStruxureITAdvisor<version>.iso Use this file when your DCO/ITA server can resolve dependencies from public internet-based repositories. Offline: EcoStruxureITAdvisor<version>-offline.iso Use this file when your DCO/ITA server cannot resolve dependencies from public internet-based repositories. Installing the IT Advisor server It is recommended that you follow the on-screen instructions and select the default options unless you have specific requirements. Insert the IT Advisor installation media. Connect a keyboard and display. Ensure the BIOS settings enable the server to boot from the installation media and the server is connected to the network during the entire installation process. 4. In the IT Advisor boot menu, select Install to install an IT Advisor server with Rocky Linux customization options described in step 5. A few more options not relevant to the initial installation are available: Boot from local drive To skip the menu and continue booting from the local system disk. Troubleshooting To troubleshoot installation problems 5. Follow the installation wizard and set the Rocky Linux language, date and time, keyboard options and user for your IT Advisor server. a) When the Rocky Linux language settings are displayed, select the language to be used for the installation process as well as the default language of the installed system. rockyInstallation1_360036883214.png b) When the date and time options are displayed, select your country or the location matching your time zone. rockyInstallation2_360036883214.png c) For setups without network time synchronization needs, set Network Time to OFF, and select time zone on the map. For setups with network time synchronization needs, set Network Time to ON. Next to Network Time ON, click the settings icon to open NTP options, add an NTP server, verify it is working, and select use. Wait for the time (in the bottom left) to update, matching your current time. If NTP settings doesn't work, you can set the time manually on the server.   rockyInstallation3_360036883214.png d) Review the keyboard settings.  rockyInstallation4_360036883214.png e) Select USER CREATION to create the first OS user on the IT Advisor server with administration rights. This is a Linux user used for server configuration operations through command line, SSH and Webmin. You do not need to set the root password as it has been disabled for many functions in IT Advisor. Note Do not use common usernames, such as apc or admin, and ensure the user is an administrator. This step is important as, unless you create this administrator user (other than the root user) during installation, you'll not be able to access the server through SSH later. For clarification, read more about users. rockyInstallation5_360036883214.png Advanced non-mandatory system settings Note You do not need to set up partitions as default LVM partitioning, allowing for easy disk space upgrades, is included in the installation. Custom partitioning is not recommended since it has no benefit on performance and will make troubleshooting and support more difficult. Note For networks without DHCP, you can assign a static IP to the ethernet interface: Click NETWORK & HOST NAME, then Configure... Click IPv4 Settings, and in Method select Manual. Click Add, type your static IP and click Save. rockyInstallation6_360036883214.png rockyInstallation7_360036883214.png rockyInstallation8_360036883214.png   6. Click Begin Installation. rockyInstallation9_360036883214.png  8. Take a break while waiting for the installation to complete, for the server to reboot, and the IT Advisor software to initialize. It will be several minutes. 9. Remove the installation media. The IT Advisor server is now installed and is ready for use. 10. Log in to the IT Advisor web client as default user (credentials: apc/apc) and, as the very first thing, immediately change the password. IT Advisor uses a different set of users than the Linux OS users (used for the IT Advisor server installation itself). For security reasons, it is recommended that you create a new IT Advisor administration user with a complete set of user rights, including user administration rights, and then delete the default apc/apc user, or at the very least that you change the password of the apc user. You can proceed with server configuration and client installations as required. ITA_login_360036883214.PNG Installing IT Advisor clients  ITA web client is automatically available You don't need to install the ITA web client as it is automatically available with the server installation. When the server installation has been completed, simply open a web browser and launch to the ITA server IP address to log in and start using the web client. However, If you want to make the ITA web client or Tenant Portal available to your colleagues or customers directly from the Internet, you need to set up web client access. See more about setting up web client access here. Installing ITA desktop client Prerequisites: The IT Advisor server installation has been completed. On the computer where you want to install the IT Advisor client, open a web browser and launch to the IP address or hostname of the ITA server  <serverIPaddress>  to log in to the web client and get access to the desktop client download. (The ITA web client is automatically available with the server installation.) If you're not an English speaker, go to Account > Language option to select your preferred language. Go to Configuration > Licenses to add your license keys to enable download according to your purchased licenses. Go to Account > Download and then click Download to select the option for your operating system. Follow the instructions in the installation wizard.  Repeat on all client computers. ITA_download_desktop_client_3_360036883214.png

  To download DCE: Download the Data Center Expert virtual machine trial installation file: https://www.apc.com/my/en/product/AP94VMTRL/data-center-expert-virtual-machine-trial-software-download/ Details and requirements for the DCE virtual machine: https://dcimsupport.ecostruxureit.com/hc/en-us/sections/360005443953-Data-Center-Expert-Virtual-Appliance-VM- DCE system requirements and all other details for deployment and configuration are in the help center: https://dcimsupport.ecostruxureit.com/hc/en-us To download IT Advisor (formerly Data Center Operation): When you purchase IT Advisor, you will be given access to download an ISO file. For detailed instructions, see Installing IT Advisor on-premise You need only one ISO file. Use the file named .../EcoStruxureITAdvisorx.x.x..iso if you are running an IT Advisor server that has access to the public internet. This is required to resolve dependencies during installation or upgrade. Use the ISO file with offline in its name .../EcoStruxureITAdvisorx.x.x-offline.iso if you are running an IT Advisor server that does not have access to the public internet to resolve dependencies during installation or upgrade. ITA system requirements and other details for deployment and configuration are in the help center: https://helpcenter.ecostruxureit.com/hc/en-us/categories/360001633134-EcoStruxure-IT-Advisor EcoStruxure IT Entitlements After you install both the DCE and ITA servers, record their serial numbers and /or MAC addresses and keep them in a safe place. You will need this information to register these assets in EcoStruxure IT Entitlements. The DCIM Assets portal was replaced by EcoStruxure IT Entitlements in September 2021. If you had a DCIM Assets account, you will be invited to register on the EcoStruxure IT Entitlements site. New customers will be invited to register on the EcoStruxure IT Entitlements site when they purchase a software license for DCE, ITA, or NetBotz. You cannot create an EcoStruxure IT Entitlements account yourself. idea_icon_360014761257.png Set your notification preferences on the EcoStruxure IT Entitlements site to get announcements about product updates and more. See how

ITA can be installed using a bootable USB key containing the ITA installation. On a Windows machine On Windows one way of creating a bootable USB key is using the free tool, Rufus. 1. Download and install Rufus here: https://rufus.akeo.ie/ 2. Insert your USB key and run Rufus. 3. In Device, select your USB key. 4. Click the disk icon (see screenshot), and select the ISO file, then click Start. ITA_rufus1_360037365413.png 5. Select Write in DD Image mode, then click OK to replace all data on your USB key with the ITA installer files. 106209166_600x250_360037365413.png 6. Wait for the process to complete and click Close. ITA_rufus4_360037365413.png 7. Eject the USB key from Windows before removing the key (e.g. in Windows Explorer right-click the USB key, and select Eject). ITA_rufus_eject_360037365413.png On a Mac machine Run the dd command as described below.  Insert your USB key and open Disk Utility on your Mac. Select your USB key, and find the USB device name (see screenshot). Open Terminal and navigate to the folder with the ITA ISO file (e.g. cd Downloads). Type sudo dd if=EcoStruxureITAdvisor-<version number>.iso of=/dev/<usb device name from step 2> Wait for dd to finish and remove the USB key. ITA_rufus_usb_1_360037365413.png On a Linux machine Run the dd command as described below. Insert your USB key and open your favorite console program. Type dmesg and find the USB device name, such as sdb (see screenshot). Type sudo dd if=EcoStruxureITAdvisor-<version number>.iso of=/dev/<usb device name from step 2> Ensure you select the device as destination (e.g. /dev/sdb) corresponding to the USB key and not a partition (such as /dev/sdb1). Wait for dd to finish and remove the USB key. ITA_rufus_LinuxUSB2_360037365413.png Output of dmesg, showing USB device name

You may want to change the location of the temporary files for a number of reasons that the company policy leaves limited space in the user profile folder. Recommendation: Do not move the temporary files to a location on your network drive as you will experience decreased performance. Windows 10 By default, the temporary ITA files are stored here: C:\users\<username>\.isxo You can change this location in the .config ini file stored in the program files: Browse to C:\Program Files\<IT Advisor version>\application\configuration Program Files is the default location. If you are running 32bit, the location is Program Files (x86). Open the config.ini file in a text editor, such as Notepad++. Edit the path in these two lines from @user.home/ to a location of your choice, for example to the root c:/ : osgi.instance.area=@user.home/.isxo/<version number>/Operations osgi.configuration.area=@user.home/.isxo/<version number>/Operations

These are the absolute minimum recommendations for running ITA. For larger setups, better specifications are recommended.   You must have local administration rights on the client computer during installation, first login, and license upgrade.   Processor: 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (or equivalent)   Hard disk: 500 MB free hard disk space for installation   Memory: 4 GB RAM   Display: Absolute minimum 1024x768 screen resolution with 16 million colors, 1280x1024 is recommended. For 3D view to work, 3D hardware including working drivers are needed   Operating System: Windows 10 OS X latest version   The latest version of the Java Runtime Environment is needed for the desktop client   The web client is available on a computer, tablet, or mobile device with an internet browser: Browser: The latest version of Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Safari, or Firefox   Bandwidth requirement guidelines web client/Tenant Portal: First time loading: 5 MB (this will be cached) Loading a small room: 20 KB Loading a room with 150 racks: 90 KB Loading large room (1000 racks): 1.7 MB