Step 1: Begin

Before you install the Paragon Automation application, ensure that your server(s) meet the requirements listed in this section. A Paragon Automation cluster should contain only four nodes [virtual machines (VMs)], with three nodes acting as both primary and worker nodes and one node acting as a worker-only node.

A system administrator can install Paragon Automation by downloading an OVA bundle and using the OVA bundle to deploy the node VMs on one or more VMware ESXi servers. Alternatively, you can also extract the OVF and VMDK files from the OVA bundle and use them to deploy the node VMs. Paragon Automation runs on a Kubernetes cluster with three primary/worker nodes and one worker-only node. The installation is air-gapped but you need Internet access to download the OVA bundle to your computer.

Figure shows the workflow for installing Paragon Automation.

Figure 1: Workflow for Installing Paragon Automation

You use the OVA (or OVF and VMDK files) bundle to create your node VMs. The software download files come prepackaged with the OS and all packages required to create the VMs and deploy your Paragon Automation cluster. The VMs have a Linux base OS of Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish).

Once the VMs are created, you must configure each VM in the same way. When all the VMs are configured, you can deploy the Paragon Automation cluster from the first VM.

1. Download the OVA bundle onto your computer.

   You can use the OVA as a whole to create the VMs or alternatively, extract and use the OVF and .vmdk files from the OVA to create your VMs.

2. Log in to the VMware ESXi 8.0 server to install Paragon Automation.

3. Create the node VMs.

   To create the node VMs:

   1. Right-click the Host icon and select Create/Register VM.

      The New virtual machine wizard appears.

   2. On the Select creation type page, select Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA file and click Next.

   3. On the Select OVF and VMDK files page, enter a name for the node VM.

      Click to upload or drag and drop the OVA file or the OVF file along with the .vmdk files. Review the list of files to be uploaded and click Next.

   4. On the Select storage page, select the datastore that can accommodate 300-GB SSD for the node VM.

      Click Next. The extraction of files begins and takes a few minutes.

   5. On the Deployment options page:

      • Select the virtual network to which the node VM will be connected.

      • Select the Thick disk provisioning option.

      • Enable the VM to power on automatically.

      Click Next.

   6. On the Ready to complete page, review the VM settings and click Finish to create the node VM.

   7. Power on the VM.

   8. Follow steps 3.a to 3.g to create three more nodes. Enter appropriate VM names when prompted.

      Alternatively, if you are using VMware vCenter, you can right-click the VM, and click the Clone > Clone to Virtual Machine option to clone the newly created VM.

      Clone the VM thrice to create the remaining node VMs. Enter appropriate VM names when prompted.

   9. After all the VMs are created, verify that the VMs have the correct specifications and are powered on.

4. Configure the Nodes.

   To configure the nodes:

   1. Connect to the node VM console of the first VM node.

      You are logged in to the node as the root user automatically and prompted to change your password.

   2. Enter and re-enter the new password.

      You are automatically logged out of the VM.

      Note:

      We recommend that you enter the same password for all the VMs.

   3. When prompted, log in again as root user with the newly configured password.

   4. Configure the hostname and IP address of the VM, gateway, and DNS servers when prompted.

      For information, see Install Paragon Automation.

   5. When prompted, if you are sure to proceed, review the information displayed, type y, and press Enter.

   6. Repeat steps 4.c through 4.e for the other three VMs.

   7. Ping each node from the other three nodes to ensure that the nodes can reach each other.

You can now deploy the cluster.

Use the Paragon Shell CLI commands to deploy the Paragon Automation cluster.

To deploy a Paragon Automation cluster by using the Paragon Shell CLI commands:

1. Go back to the first node VM. If you have been logged out, log in again as the root user with the previously configured password.

   You are placed in Paragon Shell operational mode.

2. Enter the configuration mode in Paragon Shell.

3. Configure the following cluster parameters.

   Where:

   • The IP addresses of kubernetes nodes with indexes 1 through 4 must match the static IP addresses configured on the node VMs. The Kubernetes nodes with indexes 1, 2, and 3 are the primary and worker nodes, the node with index 4 is the worker-only node.

   • ntp-servers is the NTP server for synchronizing.

   • web-admin-user and web-admin-password are the e-mail address and password that the first user can use to log in to the Web GUI.

   • ingress-vip is the VIP address for the generic ingress IP address.

   • test-agent-gateway-vip is the VIP address for the Paragon Active Assurance TAGW.

   The VIP addresses are added to the outbound SSH configuration that is required for a device to establish a connection with Paragon Automation.

4. Configure hostnames for generic ingress and Paragon Active Assurance TAGW:

   Where:

   • system-hostname is the hostname for the generic ingress VIP address.

   • test-agent-gateway-hostname is the hostname for the Paragon Active Assurance TAGW VIP address.

   When you configure hostnames, the hostnames are added to the outbound SSH configuration instead of the VIP addresses.

5. Configure the PCE server VIP address.

   Where, pce-server-vip is the VIP address used by the PCE server to establish Path Computational Element Protocol (PCEP) sessions between Paragon Automation and the devices managed by it.

6. (Optional) Configure the following settings for SMTP-based user management.

   Where:

   • sender-domains are the e-mail domains from which Paragon Automation sends e-mails to users.

   • relayhost-hostname is the name of the SMTP server that relays messages.

   • relayhost-username (optional) is the username to access the SMTP (relay) server.

   • relayhost-password (optional) is the password for the SMTP (relay) server.

   • sender-e-mail-address is the e-mail address that appears as the sender's e-mail address to the e-mail recipient.

   • sender-name is the name that appears as the sender’s name in the e-mails sent to users from Paragon Automation.

   • papi-local-user-management false disables local authentication.

   Note:

   • SMTP configuration is optional at this point. SMTP settings can be configured after the cluster has been deployed also. For information about how to configure SMTP after cluster deployment, see Configure SMTP Settings in Paragon Shell.

   • For details about the behavior of Paragon Automation with different combinations of local authentication and SMTP configuration, see User Activation and Login.

7. (Optional) Install custom user certificates.

   Note:

   Before you install user certificates, you must copy the custom certificate file and certificate key file to the /root/epic/config folder in the Linux root shell of the node from which you are deploying the cluster.

   Where:

   • certificate.cert.pem is the user certificate file name.

   • certificate.key.pem is the user certificate key file name.

   Note:

   Installing certificates is optional at this point. You can configure Paragon Automation to use custom user certificates after cluster deployment also. For information about how to install user certificates after cluster deployment, see Install User Certificates.

8. Commit the configuration and exit configuration mode.

9. Generate the configuration files.

   The inventory file contains the IP addresses of the VMs. The config.yml file contains minimum Paragon Automation cluster parameters required to deploy a cluster.

   The request paragon config command also generates a config.cmgd file in the config directory. The config.cmgd file contains all the set commands that you executed in step 3. If the config.yml file is inadvertently edited or corrupted, you can redeploy your cluster using the load set config/config.cmgd command in the configuration mode.

10. Generate SSH keys on the cluster nodes.

    When prompted, enter the SSH password for the VMs. Enter the same password that you configured to log in to the VMs.

    Note:

    If you have configured different passwords for the VMs, ensure that you enter corresponding passwords when prompted.

11. Deploy the cluster.

    The cluster deployment begins and takes over an hour to complete.

12. (Optional) Monitor the progress of the deployment onscreen.

    The progress of the deployment is displayed. Deployment is complete when you see an output similar to this onscreen.

    Alternatively, if you did not choose to monitor the progress of the deployment onscreen using the monitor command, you can view the contents of the log file using the file show /epic/config/log command. The last few lines of the log file must look similar to Sample Output. We recommend that you check the log file periodically to monitor the progress of the deployment.

    Upon successful completion of the deployment, the Paragon Automation cluster is created.

    The console output displays the Paragon Shell welcome message and the IP addresses of the four nodes (called Controller-1 through Controller-4), the Paragon Active Assurance TAGW VIP address, the Web admin user e-mail address, and Web GUI IP address.

    The CLI command prompt displays your login username and the node hostname that you configured previously. For example, if you entered Primary1 as the hostname of your primary node, the command prompt is root@Primary1 >.

You can now log in to the Paragon Automation GUI by using the Web admin user ID and password.

To log in to the Paragon Automation Web GUI:

1. Enter https://web-ui-ip-address in a Web browser to open the Paragon Automation login page.

2. Enter the Web admin user e-mail address and password that you configured while deploying Paragon Automation.

   The New Account page appears. You are now logged into Paragon Automation. You can now create organizations, sites, and users.