For dual NIC configurations, please read this entire "Prepare your System" section: at the very end of this section you will find instructions for configuring dual NIC systems.

LBMP is delivered as a software appliance, where the customer supplies a dedicated physical or virtual system, configured to LinMin specifications, onto which LBMP is then easily installed, used and maintained. No other applications may be running on the system dedicated to running LBMP. The LinMin Server can be accessed remotely via Firefox browser, via API and via SSH should external services need to interact with LBMP.

Your LinMin Server must be installed on the same VLAN/subnet (the "provisioning subnet") as the systems to be provisioned or imaged. Switching from production subnet to provisioning subnet and back can be accomplished automatically using orchestration software to control IT software, systems and switching equipment.

It is very important that you configure your environment as specified by LinMin otherwise your installation will fail or be unstable. If you follow the guidelines below, you will become productive immediately.

If you do not assign a static IP address to your system and specify your Network, Broadcast, DNS, Gateway and Netmask in the file ifcfg-eth(x) (where x is the Ethernet port number) before installing the LinMin Server, your client systems may not be able to be provisioned or imaged.

Remember: the LinMin Server must reside on the same subnet/VLAN where the systems to be provisioned or imaged reside.

Edit the file ifcfg-eth0 (if you are using Eth0):

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

Before: a typical system with a dynamic IP address:

DEVICE=eth0

HWADDR=00:11:09:2E:B4:05

ONBOOT=yes

BOOTPROTO=dhcp

After: the same system with a static IP address

DEVICE=eth0

HWADDR=00:11:09:2E:B4:05

ONBOOT=yes

# Please note to change BOOTPROTO=dhcp to BOOTPROTO=static

BOOTPROTO=static

# Enter your IP, Netmask, Network, Broadcast, Gateway and DNS information

IPADDR=192.168.0.222        

NETMASK=255.255.255.0

NETWORK=192.168.0.0

BROADCAST=192.168.0.255

GATEWAY=192.168.0.254

DNS=192.168.0.254

Caution: do not have duplicate entries in the ifcfg-ethx files. Duplicate entries will cause provisioning failures.

Restart your network services

service network restart

yum check-update (to ensure you have yum access)        

Dual NIC Configurations

The following are the recommended steps for installing LBMP on systems with 2 Network Interface Cards.

In this example, provisioning and imaging functions will take place on the LinMin Server "Provisioning VLAN" (a full 10.49.49.0 class C subnet) on Eth0 and external access (to the Internet for RHEL and CentOS installations, or  to your Red Hat Network Satellite for RHEL) will be enabled through a "Public VLAN" (a full 192.168.0.0 class C subnet) on Eth1.

Your license key will be tied to the MAC address of the LBMP Provisioning VLAN (in this example, the 10.49.49.0/24 VLAN & Eth0 NIC).

Prior to installing the LinMin Server, configure both NICs to have static IP addresses (and static MAC addresses if your hardware allows dynamic MACs).

Configure your /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 (this is your 10 dot private VLAN) file to have DNS and Gateway IP addresses that are part of your Eth1 Public VLAN. For example:

GATEWAY=192.168.0.254

DNS=192.168.0.254

And restart network services:

service network restart

yum check-update (to ensure you have yum access)

Now proceed with the LinMin Server installation.

After installing the LinMin Server, you must edit the /etc/dhcpd.conf file and change DNS and Gateway (called "routers") IP addresses from 192 dot to the IP of  the LinMin Server. These are valid IPs to satisfy the dhcp clients. Note that no gateway routing or DNS service is provided to the clients in this Release 6.2. A future release will support both DNS relay and HTTP relay.

From:

option domain-name-servers 192.168.0.254;

option routers 192.168.0.254;

To:

option domain-name-servers 10.49.49.1;

option routers 10.49.49.1;

Then:

cd /usr/local/linmin/

./linmin-services restart

If you experience problems, consult the Troubleshooting the LinMin Server Installation topic. Read each scenario and try to recognize the problem you experienced, then resolve the situation.

Should you need to contact Support, first generate a .help file (this captures your system’s settings):

cd /usr/local/linmin

./linmin-bmp-support-help.sh

Then email LinMin-Support@LinMin.com the resulting “lbmp-supporthelp_{timestamp}*.help” file with a detailed description of what you experienced and the messages you saw. Screen shots are always very helpful.

Do not alter the .help file. Email it as it is: do not zip or otherwise compress the .help file, nor change its extension. Such help files received in other formats fail automated pre-processing and will delay providing you with a response.
 
Support .help files are already in "bz2" compressed format with a .help file extension. This format and file extension pass all known email security/spam filters. Other file formats and extensions, e.g. .zip, can be blocked or delayed.

The steps below summarize the information found in the "Provision Red Hat or CentOS" tutorial:

1) Prepare your Linux ISO media

Copy your Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS 5 ISO to /home/tftpboot/ISOs/linux. Next, prepare your ISO file:

cd /home/tftpboot/bin

perl loadlinux.pl                   (then select your Linux distro)

2) Use the GUI to Create a Provisioning Role:

3) Power on the system you want to provision

If you ran into a problem, please review our Troubleshooting the Client topic.

Next steps: review this User’s Guide and start using MAC-Specific provisioning and disk imaging.

The steps below summarize the information found in the "Provision Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7" tutorial:

You must have the optional Windows Provisioning Module (WPM) installed to provision Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.

1) Prepare your Windows ISO media and create an “Installation Instance”

Copy your Windows Server 2008 or Windows 7 ISO to /home/tftpboot/ISOs/windows/win7_2008/.

cd /home/tftpboot/bin

sh windows-create-install-instance.sh       (answer questions to prepare the media and create your Install Instance)

2) Use the GUI to Create a Provisioning Role:

Power on the system you want to provision

If you ran into a problem, please review our Troubleshooting the Client topic.

Next steps: review this User’s Guide and start using MAC-Specific provisioning and disk imaging.

The steps below summarize the information found in the "Imaging" tutorial:

Before you begin, make sure that the system you image has been backed up by other means.

1) Use the GUI to Create an Imaging Profile:

2) Create an Imaging Profile

3) Set the Imaging Profile to "Backup"

4) Power on the system you want to image

5) Perform a "Restore":

If you ran into a problem, please review our Troubleshooting the Client topic.