Commissioning the appliance

What it is for

EasyUC is delivered as a virtual appliance (OVA). The VM runs Linux with a text menu. In this menu you set network and time and run Initialize K3s once. This creates the Kubernetes cluster (K3s) with storage, the management of the database, search and messaging services, and the EasyUC Manager.

Initialisation runs without internet access. The container images are already inside the appliance. You install the EasyUC application itself afterwards in the Manager, see the chapter "Installing EasyUC and selecting modules".

According to the 4.8.7 release notes there is no OVA at level 4.8.7 yet. A new appliance is set up with the supplied OVA and the installation YAML and then brought to 4.8.7 with EasyUC-Update.

Prerequisites

A hypervisor with OVA import (VMware vSphere/ESXi; other hypervisors by importing the disk).
Guideline for a single VM: 4 vCPU (8 recommended), 8 GB RAM (16 GB recommended), 100 GB disk, SSD if possible. For clusters and larger installations, agree the sizing with EasyUC.
A fixed IP address, netmask, gateway and at least one DNS server.
An internal NTP time source that the VM reaches on UDP 123. Periodic time synchronisation of VMware Tools must be switched off.
Access to the VM console of the hypervisor. You log in with the console user of the appliance; you receive the credentials with the delivery.

Step by step: import the OVA and set the network

Import the OVA into your hypervisor and start the VM.
Open the VM console and log in with the console user. The Main menu appears with Administration and Setup Wizzard.
Select Administration and then Configure interfaces.
Select the network interface and then IP Configuration.
Under Select IP configuration type, select Manual.
Enter IP Address, Netmask, Default Gateway, DNS 1 and, if needed, DNS 2.
Confirm the prompt "Do you confirm the IP configuration?".
Check the result with Show IP Configuration and Ping test.

Step by step: set the time source

In the Administration menu, select NTP Server.
Read the status display (active sources, synchronisation state, VMware time synchronisation, state of K3s/etcd) and confirm.
Enter your internal time source. Separate several sources with spaces or commas. Up to eight IPv4/IPv6 addresses or host names are allowed.
Select Check sources. The menu queries each source read-only and does not set the clock while doing so.
Activate the configuration when the menu reports "All activation gates passed."
If the clock of an appliance that has not been initialised yet is off by more than 250 ms, the menu offers Authorize once. This exception exists only before K3s is initialised.

Step by step: initialise K3s and open the Manager

Select Administration → Manage K3s → Initialize K3s.
In the Install K3s dialog, check Node IP, Interface and Node Name and confirm.
Wait for the message "K3s initialization completed". It shows the nodes, the number of pods and the initial password of the Manager. The password is generated randomly per appliance and is also stored in a file that only root can read.
Note the initial password in a safe place.
Open https://<your-appliance>/manager in the browser. The Easy-UC Cluster Manager login appears.
Log in with Username and Password and select Sign In.
Open the user menu at the top right and select Passwort ändern. Enter Current Password, New Password and Retype New Password and confirm with Change Password.
If required, set up Zwei-Faktor-Anmeldung in the same menu.

Step by step: change the IP address later (single node only)

Set the new address under Administration → Configure interfaces.
Select Administration → Manage K3s → Change K3s IP.
Confirm the prompt "Reconfigure K3s for new IP address?". The menu creates an etcd backup, stops K3s, starts it with the new address and restores the cluster data from the backup.
Wait for "K3s IP change completed" and adjust DNS records and the targets in CUCM to the new address.

Fields and options

Fields and options
Field / action	Meaning and use
Show IP Configuration / Show Routing table	Shows addresses and routes of the VM.
Configure interfaces	Activate or deactivate the network interface and set it by DHCP (Automatic (DHCP)) or statically (Manual).
NTP Server	Internal time sources for `systemd-timesyncd`. Public fallback time servers are disabled. Activation is only allowed with one node or exactly three nodes in the cluster.
Change passwords	Change the password of a console user (at least 5 characters).
Internet Access	Direct connection or HTTP Proxy with Proxy IP, Proxy Port and optional authentication.
Ping test	Check whether a host is reachable.
Increase disk size	Extend the file system after the VM disk has been enlarged.
Manage K3s	Before initialisation: Initialize K3s. Afterwards: K3s Status, Change K3s IP (single node only), Set EasyUC owner password, Uninstall K3s.
Set EasyUC owner password	Sets a random 24-character password for the owner account of the admin interface and shows it once. EasyUC has no default password.
Uninstall K3s	Removes K3s with all cluster data. The image store of the appliance is kept.
Reboot machine	Restarts the VM. K3s and EasyUC start automatically afterwards.

Check the result and troubleshoot

K3s Status shows the node in state Ready. Pods that are not running can be deleted there to restart them.
The Manager page Übersicht shows the Knoten card with the new node and its load.
"No valid IP address detected. Please configure the network interface first before installing K3s.": set up the interface first.
"K3s installed but not ready after 3 minutes.": check time, disk and network, then open K3s Status again.
"EasyUC cluster is already initialized. Use 'Change K3s IP' if you need to reconfigure.": the appliance is already initialised.
"ACTIVATION BLOCKED. No service was restarted." in the NTP menu: a check has failed. The entry can be saved as a pending configuration; it does not become active by itself, not even after a restart.
"Multiple nodes detected in the cluster": changing the IP address through the menu is blocked in clusters with several nodes.