Before you run the provision tool

  • (Recommended) Run prereq.sh to get the system ready to deploy Omnia.

  • All target bare-metal servers (cluster nodes) should be reachable from the chosen OIM.

  • The UEFI boot setting should be configured in the BIOS settings before initiating PXE boot on the nodes.

  • Admin and BMC network switches should be configured before running the provision tool. For more information on configuring the switches, click here.

  • Set the IP address of the OIM. The OIM NIC connected to remote servers (through the switch) should be configured with two IPs (BMC IP and admin IP) in a shared LOM or hybrid setup. In the case of a dedicated setup, a single IP (admin IP) is required.

../../../_images/ControlPlaneNic.png

OIM NIC IP configuration in a LOM or Hybrid setup

../../../_images/ControlPlane_DedicatedNIC.png

OIM NIC IP configuration in a dedicated setup

  • Set the hostname of the OIM in the <hostname>.<domain_name> format.

    • The hostname should not contain the following characters: , (comma), . (period) or _ (underscore). However, the domain name is allowed with commas and periods.

    • The hostname cannot start or end with a hyphen (-).

    • Ensure that the domain name is valid and acceptable within your organization’s network.

    • No upper case characters are allowed in the hostname.

    • The hostname cannot start with a number.

    • The hostname and the domain name (that is: hostname00000x.domain.xxx) cumulatively cannot exceed 64 characters. For example, if the node_name provided in input/provision_config.yml is ‘node’, and the domain_name provided is ‘omnia.test’, Omnia will set the hostname of a target cluster node to ‘node000001.omnia.test’. Omnia appends 6 digits to the hostname to individually name each target node.

    For example, controlplane.omnia.test is acceptable.

    hostnamectl set-hostname controlplane.omnia.test

Note

The domain name specified for the OIM should be the same as the one specified under domain_name in input/provision_config.yml.

Note

Ensure the ISO provided has downloaded seamlessly (not corrupted). Verify the SHA checksum/ download size of the ISO file before provisioning to avoid future failures.

Note the compatibility between cluster OS and OIM OS below:

OIM OS

Cluster Node OS

Compatibility

Ubuntu

Ubuntu

Yes

  • Ensure that all connection names under the network manager match their corresponding device names.

    To verify network connection names:

    nmcli connection

    To verify the device name:

    ip link show

In the event of a mismatch, edit the file /etc/netplan/00-installer-config.yaml using the vi editor for Ubuntu clusters.

  • When discovering nodes via a mapping file, all target nodes should be set up in PXE mode before running the playbook.

Note

  • After configuration and provisioning of the cluster, changing the OIM server is not supported. If you need to change the OIM, you must redeploy the entire cluster.

  • For servers with an existing OS being discovered via BMC, ensure that the first PXE device on target nodes should be the designated active NIC for PXE booting.

If you have any feedback about Omnia documentation, please reach out at omnia.readme@dell.com.