This section explains how to use the deploy tool to deploy the Deployer VM and Cisco Smart PHY cluster.

From the staging environment, run the deploy tool to deploy the clusters using the following command:

$ ./deploy
Usage ./deploy -c <config_file> [-v]
  -c <config_file>      : Configuration File, <Mandatory Argument>
  -v                    : Config Validation Flag [Optional]
  -f                    : CLuster config_file: Force VM Redeploy Flag [Optional]
  -u                    : Cluster Upgrade Flag [Optional]
  -s                    : Update the Inception VM, and upload the CNF tar files to the VM.
                          It can be used with -u, -p, or -r flags to reduce the maintenance
                          window before the actual operation [Optional]
  -sc                   : Skip Compatibility check during upgrade, patch, or rollback
                          operation. It can be used with -u, -p, or -r flags [Optional]
  -D                    : Enable Debug Logs [Optional]
  -np                   : Provision Additional Nic [Optional]
  -sv                   : Skip Vcenter-obj Validation [Optional]
  -gui                  : Trigger and monitor auto deployer actions through Browser [Optional]
  --maintenance         : To trigger planned or unplanned cluster maintenance [Optional]
  --resume-maintenance  : To resume nodes from maintenance mode [Optional]
  -p <path/patch_file>  : Cluster patch operation [Optional]

The following options are available in the deploy tool:

• -c <config_file>: Configuration file (Mandatory Argument). This option is the first option in the command.

• -u: Cluster chart Update Flag. This is for updating CNF/charts in cluster. [Optional]

• -v: Config Validation Flag, [Optional]

• -f: Redeploy the cluster. If you redeploy the cluster, cluster VMs are rebooted, and the data persisted on disk is retained. You can use this option to modify some of the cluster parameters. [Optional]

• -s: Staging flag. This is used to upload a CNF tar file to the deployer without running SMI sync. It should be used in conjunction with -u or -p [Optional]

• -np: Nic Provision flag. This is used to provision additional NICs.

• -sv: Skip validation flag. This is used to skip all the vcenter object validations. It can be used with any of the flags [Optional]

• -gui: Autodeployer browser flag. This is used to trigger and monitor auto deployer actions through a browser interface.

• --maintenance: Cluster Maintenance flag. This is used to trigger planned or unplanned cluster maintenance.

• resume-maintenance: Nodes Maintenance flag. This is used to resume nodes from maintenance mode.

• -p <patch-file>: Patch flag. This is used to patch/update the CNF files in cluster.

Note	Starting with Cisco Smart PHY Release 24.1, the `-r` option (rollback flag) is no longer supported.

The deploy tool triggers the docker command that requires root permission to run. Depending on your setting, you can use the sudo to the deploy command.

The deploy tool does the following operations:

• If you’re running the deploy tool for the first time, it prompts you to enter all passwords required for installation.

  • For vCenter environment: vCenter password for the user specified in the environment configuration.

  • For deployer: SSH password of the user admin for the deployer's Operation Center.

  • For Cisco Smart PHY cluster: SSH password for all VMs in the cluster (or user-specified in the cluster's configuration file). Also, the SSH passwords for the three Operation Centers (Cisco Smart PHY, Operations Hub, and CEE); for user admin.

  You’re prompted twice to enter each password. The password is saved inside the staging directory in encrypted form for future use.

• Passwords for the deployer, the cluster, and the Operation Centers must be eight characters long, and must have a lowercase letter, uppercase letter, a digit, and a special character.

• The deploy tool generates an SSH key pair when the private-key-file line is missing for the deployer or the cluster in the configuration file. The generated private key files are in the .sec sub directory under the staging directory, with <cluster-name>_auto.pem filename.

• The root user owns the generated private keys. When logging in using SSH and these private key files, make sure that you run it with sudo.

• If the deployer VM isn’t running, the deploy tool installs the deployer VM.

• The deploy tool checks if the deployer VM is missing any of the product packages that are found in the offline-images directory, and if it finds any missing, it uploads them to the deployer VM.

• The tool also generates the configuration for each cluster and pushes them to the deployer VM.

• The deploy tool triggers the deployer VM to perform the sync operation for the cluster. The sync operation applies the configuration to the cluster. If you haven’t set up the cluster, it installs the cluster. Or the sync operation updates the cluster with the configuration.

• If the sync operation times out, the deploy tool triggers the sync operation again. The tool waits for the sync operation to complete, and then continues to monitor the cluster to make sure that all helm charts are deployed and all pods are created.

You can repeat the deploy tool to deploy more than one cluster by providing the corresponding configuration files. Alternatively, you can run this command appending a -v flag. The -v flag forces the deploy tool to skip the synchronizing operation. Use this option to push the configuration of a cluster to the deployer without deploying or updating the cluster.

Wait for the installation process to complete. Following is a sample output after the process is complete:

Friday 22 October 2021  07:53:52 +0000 (0:00:00.123)       0:12:22.518 ********
install-cm-offline : Extract cluster manager file into /data ---------- 545.16s
vm-vsphere-iso : Wait for ssh ------------------------------------------ 88.51s
install-cm-offline : Deploy cluster manager ---------------------------- 85.14s
install-ntp-iso : force_time_sync --------------------------------------- 7.34s
vm-vsphere-iso : Create VM ---------------------------------------------- 3.85s
vm-vsphere-iso : Get VM Update needed ----------------------------------- 1.65s
install-ntp-iso : Cleaning cache ---------------------------------------- 1.53s
Gathering Facts --------------------------------------------------------- 1.34s
vm-vsphere-iso : Check if ISO file exists ------------------------------- 0.79s
vm-vsphere-iso : Test vCenter credentials are valid --------------------- 0.60s
install-ntp-iso : apt_update -------------------------------------------- 0.55s
vm-vsphere-iso : Create user data ISO ----------------------------------- 0.52s
install-ntp-iso : Remove "ntp" package ---------------------------------- 0.47s
install-cm-offline : Ensure /data/cm-install folder NOT exists ---------- 0.36s
install-ntp-iso : Install offline APT repo GPG key ---------------------- 0.34s
install-cm-offline : Ensure /data folder exists ------------------------- 0.33s
install-ntp-iso : restart_chrony ---------------------------------------- 0.28s
install-ntp-iso : enable chrony ntp ------------------------------------- 0.28s
download-iso : download base image ISO file ----------------------------- 0.28s
vm-vsphere-iso : Create netplan Template -------------------------------- 0.18s

Create deployers completed

Deploying Clusters on Network Based Storage Devices Using vSAN

The Operations hub platform and the applications running over it can be deployed on a vSAN cluster. vSAN stands for Virtual Storage Area Network. It is a software-defined storage (SDS) solution that is offered by VMware that virtualizes and abstracts storage resources in a vSphere environment. vSAN combines local storage devices such as hard drives and solid-state drives (SSDs) from multiple hosts into a single shared storage pool.

Prerequisites for Deploying Clusters on vSAN

1. All the ESXi hosts used for the cluster deployment in the day-0 configuration yaml should be part of the same vSAN cluster.

2. The network speed between ESXi hosts in a vSAN cluster should be at least 10 Gbps.

3. On VCenter 7.0, proactive tests are available to ensure the vSAN cluster setup is proper. We recommend that you run proactive tests before installation to ensure the vSAN cluster is healthy. Use the following steps to run the Proactive tests using the VCenter GUI:

   • Access Cluster > Monitor > vSAN and select Proactive tests.

   • You can run the VM Creation Test, Network Performance Test, and Storage Performance Test. These tests must pass.

4. We recommend that you enable vSphere HA if there is a host failure. VMs should be moved to the active host. If vSphere HA is not configured, then it is recommended to use VM/Host groups and VM/Host rules to ensure the VM-to-host allocation model is mentioned in the day-0 configuration yaml.

   • ESXi-1 should host Control-plane-1, ops-1, infra-1, etcd-1

   • ESXi-2 should host Control-plane-2, ops-2, infra-2, etcd-2

   • ESXi-3 should host Control-plane-3, ops-3, infra-3, etcd-3

Note	You cannot perform a vSAN cluster deployment, using a user-defined data store folder. A vSAN cluster deployment only supports the default data store folder available in the root directory.

Verifying Installation

After successfully deploying the Cisco Smart PHY application using the deploy tool, the console shows a success message.

Log in to one of the control-plan nodes and make sure that all the pods are in the Running state.

kubectl get pod --all-namespaces

A few internal services and pods may need more time to complete the startup tasks and successfully establish communication with other services within the cluster. After a few minutes, you can initiate all operations from the Cisco Smart PHY web UI page.

Options That Can Be Passed With Other Arguments

./deploy -c <config_file> -v : This command validates the config file and vCenter objects.

./deploy -c <config_file> -D : This command is used to install the cluster in debug mode to capture more logs. The -D option can also be used during any stage of the deployment process.

./deploy -c <config_file> -sv : This command is used to skip the vCenter object validation during the cluster Installation/Upgrade/Patch/Rollback.

./deploy -c <config_file> -np : This command is used to perform the CIN activation on the running cluster without any VM reboot.

./deploy -c <config_file> -u -s : This command is used to perform the staging operation which updates the CNF files to the deployer during upgrade.

./deploy -c <config_file> -p -s : This command is used to perform the staging operation which updates the CNF files to the deployer during patch operation.

Patch Installation Command

./deploy -c <config_file> -p <path/patch-file>.tgz : This is used to perform the cluster patch with the provided patch.tgz file.

Operations Hub Deployer GUI

You can install, upgrade, patch a cluster using the auto deployer user interface. When the prerequisites are met and the staging environment is set properly, initiate cluster deployment through the Operations Hub Deployer GUI.

Use the following steps to launch the Operations Hub Deployer GUI.

1. Enter the ./deploy -gui command in the Autodeployer CLI and capture the URL and user credentials that are displayed.

   Example:
   
    $ ./deploy -gui
    check if the signature file is present locally.
    Software components are not signed. skipping signature verification step.
   
    Running autodeployer...
   
    2023-10-10 14:09:56. 724-INFO: Running on autodeployer GUI at location https://{autodeployer-URL}/
    Credentials for auto deployer GUI user: {user} password {password}

   Note	The URL and user credentials remains active as long as the autodeployer CLI session is active. If you close the autodeployer CLI session, you must run the ./deploy -gui command to generate a new Autodeployer URL with new credentials.

2. Open a browser, enter the URL and login to the Operations Hub Deployer GUI using the credentials provided in the previous step.

3. After a successful login, you can choose one of the following options:

   • Deploy a Cluster

   • Upgrade a Cluster

   • Patch a Cluster

   • Validate Cluster Configuration File

   • Provision CIN Interfaces

Note

When you log in to the Operations Hub Deployer GUI, a session with a validity of 360 minutes is created. If the operation takes more than 360 minutes to complete, you are logged out of the session and must log in to the Operations Hub Deployer GUI again using the same credentials. If the Autodeployer is triggered through an SSH console session, the SSH timeout can lead to the termination of the Autodeployer process. We recommended you to configure a higher value for SSH timeout to avoid the termination of the Autodeployer process. If you close the browser session before the deployment is complete, then the container continues to run after the deployment, and it must be stopped manually. Use one of the options below to manually stop the container. Access the terminal where the Autodeployer process is running and press the Ctrl+C keys. Find the docker container with the container name autodeployer and kill this container. When an operation triggered from the Operations Hub Deployer GUI is complete, click Next to view the Operations Hub Deployer GUI Landing Page. Post this, the container is terminated in 5 seconds by the Operations Hub Deployer GUI. You can now close the Operations Hub Deployer GUI web page.

Deploy a Cluster

You can use the Deploy a Cluster option to initiate a new deployment of a cluster.

1. Access the landing page of the Operations Hub Deployer GUI and click Deploy a Cluster. The Deploy a Cluster - Overview panel displays.

2. Review the Deploy a Cluster - Overview panel and click Next to display the Validate Cluster Configuration File - Deploy a Cluster panel.

3. Upload the Operations Hub cluster configuration file using one of the options below:

   • My Computer: Click Choose a file and select a valid cluster configuration file from your computer.

   • Staging Environment: In the File Name field, enter the name of the cluster configuration file that is saved in the staging directory in .yaml format. For Example, testconfig.yaml. Ensure that the filename is the same as the cluster configuration file stored in the staging directory. If the cluster configuration file is stored in a subfolder under the staging directory, then enter the complete path of the cluster configuration file. For Example downloads/testconfig.yaml. You can optionally download a sample cluster configuration file by clicking the Download a sample cluster configuration file hyperlink.

4. Click Validate Config File to validate the file content. In case of any errors, you can view and fix the errors before moving to the next step. If the validation is successful, then click Next to display the Credential Validation - Deploy a Cluster panel.

5. Enter the vCenter, Deployer, Cluster, and OpsCenter passwords in the respective password fields and click Validate Credentials. In case of any you have entered incorrect credentials, you can correct the credentials before moving to the next step.

6. If all the passwords are successfully validated, then click Start Deployment to start the deployment. You can view the real time progress of each stage of the deployment process. The deployment process contains the following stages:

   • Configuration Validation

   • Inception VM Creation

   • Configure Clusters

   • Cluster Sync

   • Post Check

   • Configure Log Forwarding

You can view the real time progress of each stage of the deployment process in the UI. The status of each stage is also indicated as mentioned below:

Cluster deployment may take several minutes to complete. When all the stages are completed without any errors, you can close the Operations Hub Deployer GUI and login to the Operations Hub cluster. See Cisco Operations Hub User Guide for details.

If you wish to cancel the deployment at any point (even if there are no errors), click Cancel, and then confirm by clicking Yes, Cancel.

Note

If you cancel the deployment operation during the Cluster sync or Inception VM creation stage, then you must clean up the cluster (i.e. cluster and inception VM ) before proceeding with the next installation. You must perform the cleanup even if Cluster sync or Inception VM creation fail due to an error.

Logs for each stage are displayed in the Deployer Logs section. If there are any errors in any stage, they are captured in the logs. You can download (logs.json format) or copy the logs by clicking the Download or the Copy options respectively.

Upgrade a Cluster

Note	Starting with Cisco Smart PHY, Release 24.2, the Upgrade a Cluster option is not supported. You cannot upgrade older versions of Cisco Smart PHY to Cisco Smart PHY, Release 24.2. Only Fresh (New) installations are supported.

For Cisco Smart PHY, Release 24.1.1 and earlier, you can initiate a Cluster upgrade through the Operations Hub Deployer GUI.

1. Access the landing page of the Operations Hub Deployer GUI and click Upgrade a Cluster. The Upgrade a Cluster - Overview panel displays.

2. Review the Upgrade a Cluster - Overview panel and click Next to display the Validate Cluster Configuration File - Upgrade a Cluster panel.

3. Upload the Operations Hub cluster configuration file using one of the options below:

   • My Computer: Click Choose a file and select a valid cluster configuration file from your computer.

   • Staging Environment: In the File Name field, enter the name of the cluster configuration file that is saved in the staging directory in .yaml format. For Example, testconfig.yaml. Ensure that the filename is the same as the cluster configuration file stored in the staging directory. If the cluster configuration file is stored in a subfolder under the staging directory, then enter the complete path of the cluster configuration file. For Example downloads/testconfig.yaml. You can optionally download a sample cluster configuration file by clicking the Download a sample cluster configuration file hyperlink.

4. Click Validate Config File to validate the file content. In case of any errors, you can view and fix the errors before moving to the next step. If the validation is successful, then click Next to display the Credential Validation - Deploy a Cluster panel.

5. Enter the vCenter, Deployer, Cluster, and OpsCenter passwords in the respective password fields and click Validate Credentials. In case of any you have entered incorrect credentials, you can correct the credentials before moving to the next step.

6. If all the passwords are successfully validated, then click Start the Upgrade to start the upgrade process. You can view the real time progress of each stage of the upgrade process. The Upgrade process contains the following stages:

   • Configuration Validation

   • Initializing the Operation

   • Performing Integrity Check

   • Cluster Health Check

   • Backing up the Database

   • Performing pre-update Actions

   • Updating Inception VM

   • Cluster sync (for Platform and Application upgrade) or Performing application update (for Only application upgrade)

   • Performing Post Check

   • Verifying Log Forward Configuration

You can view the real time progress of each stage of the upgrade process in the UI. The status of each stage is also indicated as mentioned below;

Cluster upgrade may take several minutes to complete. It is not recommended to cancel the ongoing upgrade process.

When all the stages are completed without any errors, you can close the Operations Hub Deployer GUI and login to the Operations Hub cluster. See Cisco Operations Hub User Guide for details.

Logs for each stage are displayed in the Deployer Logs section. If there are any errors in any stage, they are captured in the logs. You can download (logs.json format) or copy the logs by clicking the Download or the Copy options respectively.

Patch a Cluster

Auto deployer allows you to apply patches to a base installation of a cluster.

Prerequisites

Note

You can't apply a patch without downloading the base installer image. Download the following tarball Images from https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286319080/type. Smart PHY Base Release Signed tarball Image : This package contains the necessary tools for deploying, updating, and patching of the cluster and application software in tarball format. A base installer is provided with every stable major release of Smart PHY. Smart PHY Patch Release Signed tarball Image : This file only contains the application software. A Patch installer is released when a software bug fix or security fix needs be installed over the base installation of Smart PHY. This package does not contain the necessary tools for deploying, updating, and patching of the cluster. A patch tarball Image is different from an upgrade tarball Image. Extract the base installer. The extracted installer directory is called the staging directory. Do not use the same staging directory for applying multiple patches or reuse it to apply the same patch on a different cluster. Place the cluster and deployer VM SSH private keys and patch the tarball Image that is downloaded earlier inside the extracted staging directory. The name of the private key file must be the same as that of private key name mentioned in the cluster configuration YML.

Follow the step below to install a Patch:

1. Access the landing page of the Operations Hub Deployer GUI and click Patch a Cluster. The Patch a Cluster - Overview panel displays.

2. Review the Patch a Cluster - Overview panel and click Next to display the Validate Cluster Configuration File - Patch a Cluster panel.

3. Upload the Operations Hub cluster configuration file using one of the options below:

   • My Computer: Click Choose a file and select a valid cluster configuration file from your computer.

   • Staging Environment: In the File Name field, enter the name of the cluster configuration file that is saved in the staging directory in .yaml format. For Example, testconfig.yaml. Ensure that the filename is the same as the cluster configuration file stored in the staging directory. If the cluster configuration file is stored in a subfolder under the staging directory, then enter the complete path of the cluster configuration file. For Example downloads/testconfig.yaml. You can optionally download a sample cluster configuration file by clicking the Download a sample cluster configuration file hyperlink.

4. Click Validate Config File to validate the file content. In case of any errors, you can view and fix the errors before moving to the next step. If the validation is successful, then click Next to display the Credential Validation - Patch a Cluster panel.

5. Enter the vCenter, Deployer, Cluster, and OpsCenter passwords in the respective password fields and click Validate Credentials. In case of any you have entered incorrect credentials, you can correct the credentials before moving to the next step.

6. If all the passwords are successfully validated, then click Start the Upgrade to display the Patch File Name panel. In the provided Patch File Name field, enter the name of the Smart PHY Patch Release Signed tarball Image, which is saved in the staging directory. For Example, smartphy-installer-v2X.X.X-XXXXXX-XXXX.SPA.tgz

7. Click Apply the patch to start the patch process. You can view the real time progress of each stage of the patch process. The patch process contains the following stages:

   • Configuration Validation

   • Initializing the Operation

   • Performing Integrity Check

   • Cluster Health Check

   • Backing up the Database

   • Performing pre-update Actions

   • Updating Inception VM

   • Performing Application Update

   • Performing Postcheck

   • Verifying log forward configuration

Cluster patch may take several minutes to complete. When all the stages are completed, you can close the Operations Hub Deployer GUI and login to the Operations Hub cluster. See Cisco Operations Hub User Guide for details.

It is not recommended to cancel the ongoing patch process. If you wish to cancel the deployment at any point (even if there are no errors), click Cancel, and then confirm Yes, Cancel. After Cancellation, you can retry Patch a cluster.

Logs for each stage are displayed in the Deployer Logs section. If there are any errors in any stage, they are displayed in the logs. You can download (logs.json format) or copy the logs by clicking the Download or the Copy options respectively.

Provision CIN Interfaces

If you chose not to provision CIN interfaces during your cluster’s initial deployment, you can do so when you are ready from the Operations Hub Deployer GUI.

1. Access the landing page of the Operations Hub Deployer GUI and click Provision CIN Interfaces. The Provision CIN Interfaces - Overview panel displays.

2. Review the Provision CIN Interfaces - Overview panel and click Next to display the Validate Cluster Configuration File - Provision CIN Interfaces panel.

3. Upload the Operations Hub cluster configuration file using one of the options below:

   • My Computer: Click Choose a file and select a valid cluster configuration file from your computer.

   • Staging Environment: In the File Name field, enter the name of the cluster configuration file that is saved in the staging directory in .yaml format. For Example, testconfig.yaml. Ensure that the filename is the same as the cluster configuration file stored in the staging directory. If the cluster configuration file is stored in a subfolder under the staging directory, then enter the complete path of the cluster configuration file. For Example downloads/testconfig.yaml. You can optionally download a sample cluster configuration file by clicking the Download a sample cluster configuration file hyperlink.

4. Click Validate Config File to validate the file content. In case of any errors, you can view and fix the errors before moving to the next step. If the validation is successful, then click Next to display the Credential Validation - Provision CIN Interfaces panel.

5. Click Start Provisioning to provision CIN Interfaces. You can view the real time progress of each stage of the provisioning process. The provisioning process contains the following stages:

   • Configuration Validation

   • Merge Cluster Configuration

   • Configure Additional Network Interface

   • Inception VM creation

   • Cluster Sync

   • Postcheck

   Icon	Status of the Stage
   Green icon with a check mark	Stage is complete
   Blue icon with spinning arrows	Stage is in progress
   Gray icon with a crescent moon	Stage is yet to start
   Red icon with a cross	Stage has stopped due to some errors. For more information, check the error logs.

If you wish to cancel the deployment at any point (even if there are no errors), click Cancel, and then confirm by clicking Yes, Cancel. After Cancellation, you can retry provisioning the CIN Interfaces.

CIN Provisioning may take several minutes to complete. When all the stages are completed, you can close the Operations Hub Deployer GUI and login to the Operations Hub cluster. See Cisco Operations Hub User Guide for details.

Logs for each stage are displayed in the Deployer Logs section. If there are any errors in any stage, they are displayed in the logs. You can download (logs.json format) or copy the logs by clicking the Download or the Copy options respectively.

Validate Cluster Config File

You can validate a Cluster Configuration before using it. Validating a cluster configuration file ensures that:

• The YAML is formatted properly.

• All mandatory keys and values are present.

• All values meet data type requirements.

• All resource credentials are valid.

Validation occurs in two phases:

• Input Validation (Syntactical and Semantic)

• Credential Validation

Validate Cluster Config File can be triggered through the Operations Hub Deployer GUI.

1. Access the landing page of the Operations Hub Deployer GUI and click Validate Cluster Config File. The Validate Cluster Config File - Overview panel displays.

2. Review the Validate Cluster Config File - Overview panel and click Next to display the Validate Cluster Config File - Input Validation panel.

3. Validate the Operation Hub cluster configuration file by uploading a cluster configuration file using one of the options below:

4. Upload the Operations Hub cluster configuration file using one of the options below:

   • My Computer: Click Choose a file and select a valid cluster configuration file from your computer.

   • Staging Environment: In the File Name field, enter the name of the cluster configuration file that is saved in the staging directory in .yaml format. For Example, testconfig.yaml. Ensure that the filename is the same as the cluster configuration file stored in the staging directory. If the cluster configuration file is stored in a subfolder under the staging directory, then enter the complete path of the cluster configuration file. For Example downloads/testconfig.yaml. You can optionally download a sample cluster configuration file by clicking the Download a sample cluster configuration file hyperlink.

5. Select the appropriate cluster operation option from the Intended cluster operation(Optional) drop-down list. There are two options:

   • Initial Cluster Deployment: This is the default option which does not perform a ping check on the cluster and the deployer VM. You can use this option when you are validating the cluster configuration for a new cluster installation.

   • Modification (Upgrade/Patch/CIN) of existing cluster: This option performs a ping check on both the cluster and the deployer VM. Use this option for scenarios other than a new cluster installation.

6. Click Validate Config File to validate the file content. In case of any errors, you can view and fix the errors before moving to the next step. If the validation is successful, then click Next to display the Credential Validation - Validate Cluster Config File panel.

7. Enter the vCenter, Deployer, Cluster, and OpsCenter passwords in the Password Entry panel and click Validate Passwords. If all the passwords are entered correctly, a Success message displays, mentioning that all passwords are valid and that the configuration file is valid.

8. Click Done. The landing page of the Operations Hub Deployer GUI displays.