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Windows Server 2008 Filer Installation Reference

Versions of CA AppLogic® later than 2.9.1 include support for Windows Server 2008 appliances and applications. Filesystem level operations over ntfs08 volumes are provided by the Sys_Filer_Window08 template application and the /system_ms:Filer_Windows08 appliance. These may be imported from your CA AppLogic® software version directory as follows. You must be a grid maintainer to perform these operations.

Perform these steps:

  1. Import the Sys_Filer_Windows08 application:
    1. Go to the CA AppLogic®-version Download Directory on the BFC server.

      For example, /opt/bfc/applogic-versions/<release number>.

    2. Copy the file Sys_Filer_Windows08-<version>.tar to the grid controller using following command
      scp Sys_Filer_Windows08-<version>.tar <controller IP>:/vol/_impex/
      
    3. SSH to the grid controller and untar the file using command
      tar -xf Sys_Filer_Windows08-<version>.tar
      
    4. Import the application as follows
      3t app import Sys_Filer_Windows08 Sys_Filer_Windows08 
      
  2. Import the system_ms catalog:
    1. Go to the CA AppLogic®-version Download Directory on BFC server.
    2. Copy the file system_ms-<version>.tar to the grid controller using following command
      scp system_ms-<version>.tar <controller IP>:/vol/_impex/
      
    3. SSH to the grid controller and untar the file using command
      tar -xf system_ms-<version>.tar
      
    4. Import the catalog /system_ms as follows
      3t cat import /system_ms system_ms 
      

Notes:

The Filer_Windows08 appliance is based on Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Core Install 32-bit (either SP1 or SP2). The Core Install is used to reduce the size of the filer appliance boot volume. The first step in creating this appliance is to create a base server class using the same OS as follows:

  1. Copy a Windows 2008 Server 32-bit ISO image to the impex volume of the grid controller. Either SP1 or SP2 ISOs may be used. This example uses the ISO image en_windows_server_2008_datacenter_enterprise_standard_sp2_x86_dvd_342333.iso downloaded from the Microsoft MSDN site.
  2. Open a 3t shell and use the iso2class utility to begin an installation of Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Core Install 32-bit:

    Note: The install_size may vary depending on the operating system installation size.

    This command creates and starts the win08sc-install application, booting the singleton iso2class from the specified ISO image.

  3. Access the graphic console of the singleton in one of the following two ways:
  4. After the graphical console appears, the Windows 2008 Server installation interface should be visible. Proceed to install the OS. The singleton reboots during installation, rendering the graphical console inoperative. When this event occurs, simply close and reopen the graphical console.
  5. When the installation completes, the singleton reboots itself and Windows prompts you to set a new password. Type in your new password and press Enter. Windows sets a new password for Administrator and displays a message indicating that the Administrator password set successfully. Press OK and Windows logs into the administrator desktop automatically. Next, perform the following operations:

    The installation will reboot the appliance automatically. This requires a few minutes.

    After reboot, open the graphical console again and login to the appliance.

  6. When the desktop becomes visible, perform the following operations in the command shell:
  7. After a minute reopen the graphical console and login to the Windows desktop.
  8. Disable power management hibernation support: powercfg -h off. Execute dir. There should be approximately 1GB of free space on the disk.
  9. Set the default Windows disk device timeout value to 60 seconds:
  10. If you intend to install the TurboGate PV drivers, then disable TCP checksum offload:
  11. Activate windows as follows:
  12. Shutdown the OS and continue the iso2class install as follows:
  13. After a minute, reopen the graphical console and login to the Windows desktop.
  14. To transform the singleton into a fully managed CA AppLogic® appliance, install the Server Windows msi. The installer can now be located on the E drive of the singleton. In the command shell type E: and <enter> to navigate to the E drive.Execute Server_Windows-2.0.4-1.msi to install the Windows Server MSI. The installer for the Windows Server MSI is available on the E drive.

    Note: Copy the VMware setup files from drive D to drive C.

  15. If you intend to install the TurboGate PV drivers, copy E:\TurboGate_GTools-3.0.1.exe to C:\.
  16. Complete the basic installation:
  17. If desired, install the TurboGate PV drivers:
  18. SSH into the singleton and set the Administrator password (net user administrator password). Login through the graphical console and, in the command shell, change the computername: wmic computersystem where name="%COMPUTERNAME%" rename name="WIN08SC"
  19. Within the SSH session Bash shell:
  20. Change the singleton into a WIN08SC catalog appliance class:
  21. Move the singleton into the /system_ms catalog where you have the required privileges. You must assign yourself full access rights to the catalog before you can move the singleton. See catalog modify_acl in the Command Line Shell Reference Guide for more information.

    The WIN08SC base class is now created.

  22. Proceed to create a functioning Windows Server 2008 filer appliance (/system_ms:Filer_Windows08).

Create a Functioning Windows Server 2008 Filer Appliance.

You can create a functioning Windows Server 2008 filer appliance (/system_ms:Filer_Windows08).

Perform these steps:

  1. Branch the WIN08SC instance within the win08sc-install application.
  2. Right-click the appliance in infrastructure editor and select Modify boundary. Go to volumes tab and add a new placeholder volume.
  3. Configure the singleton instance to use apk_volume for the placeholder volume with a mount point of D:\ . This volume is available because of the os=windows options used with iso2class.

    If apk_volume is not present then copy the apk_windows volume from 3t shell using command vol copy _GLOBAL_RO:apk_windows appname:apk_volume

  4. Save and start the application.
  5. SSH into the singleton and set the Administrator password (net user administrator password).
  6. Login to the graphical console of the singleton and in the command shell D:\Filer_Windows-3.0.8-1.msi to install the Windows Filer MSI.
  7. Within the SSH session Bash shell:
  8. Stop the application.
  9. This step requires maintainer access to the grid.
  10. Create a new application win08filer-install with an instance of /system_ms:Filer_Windows08 and branch the instance. Modify the boundary of the resulting singleton and set the Documentation URL to http://doc.3tera.net/AppLogic35/en/CatFilerWindows08.html. Save the application.
  11. Execute the following commands within a 3t shell:
    vol destroy win08filer-install:Filer_Windows08.boot --force 
    vol copy win08sc-install:WIN08SC.boot win08filer-install:Filer_Windows08.boot 
    class destroy /system_ms:Filer_Windows08 --force 
    
  12. Within the infrastructure editor for win08filer-install drag the singleton into the /system_ms catalog.
  13. This step requires maintainer access to the grid.

The /system_ms:Filer_Windows08 appliance class completes and becomes ready for use.