It is strongly recommended that the dom0user password be changed immediately after upgrade as described below. Access to DOM0 using dom0user is for diagnostic purposes only.   Modifications to the base Avance product without the approval of Stratus Technologies are not supported.

1. Attach a keyboard and monitor to either of the physical nodes
2. Login in to the physical console with the username/password combination dom0user/dom0user.
3. Change the dom0user password when prompted
4. Access to the system is limited to a keyboard and monitor attached to the physcial system after upgrade. If network based access is desired then enable remote access prompted.

The pasword change and remote access enable are applied to both nodes so it is only necessary to do this from a single node.  The password will be set to the same value on both nodes.

Once these settings have been changed the user will no longer be prompted to change them at dom0user login.  Future upgrades, node replace, and recover operations will also maintain these settings.

Changing the password after initial login

Enter the following command to change the password again at any time:

1. Login in to the console of either node
2. Enter this command:  rm /usr/lib/dom0user/.passwdChanged
3.  Logout
4. Login as dom0user again.   This will once again prompt the user to change the password and once done will be applied to both nodes.

Changing remote acces after initial login

To change the remote access

1. Login in to the console of either node
2. Enter this command:  rm /usr/lib/dom0user/.accessChanged
3.  Logout
4. Login as dom0user again.   This will once again prompt the user to enable or disable remote access setting and once done will be applied to both nodes.

A sample login session from the console:

On future logins only the WARNING banner will be displayed. When performing a node replacement or recovery the password and remote access settings will be applied to the replaced/recovered node.  Password and remote access settings are also retained on upgrade.

Remote Node Access

Once remote access has been enabled the primary node can be accessed using putty or plink or whatever access tool the user would like.   SSH should be used.  Putty and plink can be downloaded from the http://www.putty.org site.

A few examples below:

EXAMPLE 1

A putty ssh session can be established using the IP address of the Avance Unit (can be found in the UI header):

EXAMPLE 2

Using plink installed on a Windows desktop a command can be run on the primary node.  In this example the hostname command is run and returns the name of the primary node:

Note that the use of sudo was not required in this example.

EXAMPLE 3

C:\>plink -t -ssh -l dom0user -pw dom0userpassword  10.83.55.16 “sudo tail /var/log/messages”

Note that the use of sudo was required in this example. The –t option is required in order to execute sudo.

EXAMPLE 4

This example shows the use of the ipmitool from a putty session to get BMC information.  In this case we are listing sensor  types:

[dom0user@node1.avance ~]$  ipmitool -v sdr type list

EXAMPLE 5

To execute a command on the peer node from a putty session:

To execute the same command on the peer node using the plink command:

What’s New in Avance R4.0.0.11

• No new features

What’s New in Avance R4.0.0.10

• No new features

What’s New in Avance R4.0.0.9

No new features

What’s New in Avance R4.0.0.8

No new features

What’s New in Avance R4.0.0.7

IMPORTANT: DOM0 access enabled. Refer to Accessing DOM0  for details.

What’s New in Avance R4.0.0.6

No new features

What’s New in Avance R4.0.0.4

No new features

What’s New in Avance R4.0.0.3

In order to use the Avance UI without seeing warnings about unsigned Java applications, Stratus is providing a certificate for customers to download.  Please visit the following link to download the certificate file which works with Avance r4.0.0:

http://download.avancehelp.com/Avance%20R4.0/stratus.cer

The stratus.cer certificate can be installed by using the Java Control Panel (under Programs->Java->Configure Java in Windows).

1. Go to the security tab, and look for “Manage Certificates…”
2. Then pull down “Signer CA” as a “Certificate type”.  Note: make sure you select “Signer CA” rather than the default “Trusted Certificates”
3. Click on the “Import” button.
4. In the “Files of type:” field, pull down “All Files”.  Note: make sure you update the “Files of type:” field because the default file extensions (.csr and .p12) don’t include .cer.
5. Select the stratus.cer file from wherever you downloaded it, and click the “open” box in the file menu.  This will install the certificate.
6. Close the windows from the Java Control Panel.
7. Be sure to restart your browser to have the new certificate take effect.

What’s New in Avance R4.0.0.2

Added support for the following Intel Ivy Bridge processor types. Refer to the

Avance Compatibility Matrix

for details
• Intel Xeon E5-2600 V2 series
• Intel Xeon E5-2400 V2 series
• Intel Xeon E3-1200 V2 series
• Added support for the Intel RMS25PB080 storage controller

Important Considerations – R4.0.0 PV Driver Installation

In order to install the xen-win-pv-drivers-6.2.0.3 tools supplied with the Avance R4.0.0 release on Windows VMs, please use the AvanceXenSetupAssistant.cmd script that is supplied with the tools. If you need to install the tools manually, please ensure that you start xensetup.exe with the /allowlegacyinstall option. If you just click on xensetup.exe without specifying /allowlegacyinstall, you will get a popup and the tools will not install.

Additionally, in order to install the xen-win-pv-drivers-6.2.0.3 tools on Windows XP or Windows 2003 VMs, you may need to address the following popup windows in order to get the network PV driver to function properly.  After the initial reboot from the tools installer, several minutes will pass and the Found New Hardware Wizard may pop up.  In this case, please click the button for “No, not this time” when the Wizard asks you to search Windows Update, and then click “Install the software automatically” when the Wizard locates the Citrix PV Ethernet Class.

Finally, if you are upgrading PV drivers and you are running a Windows VM with 3 or more drives, refer to the Avance Software Upgrade Guide for important precautions you must take to avoid a non-bootable VM

Important Considerations – Windows 2000 VMs

Avance R4.0 does not support Windows 2000 VMs. Avance release r2.1.3.11 is the last release to support Windows 2000. During the upgrade process a check is made for Windows 2000 VMs, and if any exist the upgrade will not proceed. The user will be required to abort the upgrade and recover the node.

Important Considerations – unsupported VMs will not migrate

Avance R4.0 will not attempt to migrate unless they are PV Aware (Linux) or run with PV Drivers (Windows).   All such VMs should be listed in the Avance Compatibility Matrix.   Any VMs in this category can be manually stopped and started on the other PM or will automatically restart in the event of loss of a physical machine.    Also, note this restriction covers any VM that is booted with a recovery CD.

Outstanding Issues in this release

Issues Fixed in this release

Installing Avance Release R4.0

Avance requires a DVD for installation, please review the documents below and follow all preparation, installation and configuration instructions:

• Avance Compatibility Matrix
• Avance Installation Guide
• Avance User’s Guide

Upgrading to Avance Release R4.0

Refer to the Avance Software Upgrade Guide for Important Considerations regarding this upgrade along with detailed instructions.

Important: If you are running a Windows VM with three or more drives or you are running Kaspersky anti-virus software in your VM refer to the the Avance Software Upgrade Guide prior to starting upgrade for special instructions.   Failure to adhere to these instructions may result in a corrupted boot disk that can be time consuming to recover.

Enterprise Management – Avance CLI and MIB

New Avance 4.0 CLI and MIB versions must be downloaded and installed into your management solutions. These versions are backwards compatible with all previous releases of Avance

Getting Help

If you have a technical question about Avance system software, you can find the latest documentation about your Avance at the Stratus Avance Documentation Web site, http://avancedoc.stratus.com/. .For known issue on Avance, please refer to the Avance Knowledge Base

If you are unable to resolve your questions with the help available at the online site, and the system is covered by a service agreement, please contact the customer support or your authorized Stratus service representative. For information, see: http://www.stratus.com/Stratus/Home/Services/CustomerSupport.

Ubuntu 12.04 VMs running on VmWare, Hyper-V can be converted to run on Avance: this is known as “Virtual-to-Virtual” or “V2V” migration.    In addition,  it is also possible to convert a Ubuntu 12.04 environment running on a physical server to run on Avance,  this is known as “Physical-to-Virtual” or “P2V” machine migration.    There are tools from both Acronis, as well as Symantec that can perform this task as well as an open-source tool called G4L, which will be described in more detail.

Setup

Avance requires that the boot volume must exist on the first physical disk.   In addition, the conversion process supports a maximum of 3 disks.   In order to facilitate the V2V/P2V migration using G4L both the source machine, and targeted Avance server will require access to an FTP server.      You will need enough disk space to hold your largest disk that is being migrated,  G4l uses Lzop compression so this generally about a 50% compression ration.

1. Download g4l from http://g4l.sourceforge.net.   Somewhere on this page you will see a “browse all files”,  you will want to download both the ISO,  g4l-v0.43.iso,  as well as the g4l scripts that are contained in the tar file called g4l-v0.43.devel.tar.gz.. Please use only the versions specified in this document, these versions can found on http://http://sourceforge.net/projects/g4l/files/
2. Download the G4L scripts to a G4L subdirectory in the root directory of the source computer.
3. Expand (untar) the file by typing the following command:

   tar –zxvf g4l-v0.43.devel.tar.gz

4. Start G4L by typing the following (assuming it was untared at /root):  /root/g4l/bootcd/rootfs/g4l
5. Select Yes and press Enter.

1. Select RAW Mode and press Enter.
   
2. Select Network use and press Enter.
   
   
3. Configure the IP address of the FTP server, the userid and password, and the filename (items D, E, and F, below).
   
4. Specify a path for Path to Image directory (item P). This directory is for writing and reading backup files. If the directory does not exist, create or request a directory on the FTP server with the appropriate permissions.
5. Select Backup and press Enter.
6. Select the backup drive from the s, hd, and c0d0X disks.  It is important to backup the entire disk, with selecting any of its partions.  In the example below this is the “sdA” drive which is a total of ~70GB.
   
7. Check the displayed information. If correct, press Enter.
   
   The status is displayed while G4L backs up the drive.   This may take some time as the copy is generally performed somewhere between 50-70 Mbytes/sec depending on your hardware configuration.
8. Perform steps 7 through 9 for each additional disk. Give each disk a unique file name.    If disk space is a premium on your ftp server, you can do one disk at a time, after it has been restored on you Avance server then you can delete it and proceed to the next disk.

Create a Ubuntu Virtual Machine Container on your Avance Targer

On the target Avance server,  you need to create a Ubuntu VM as a container.   The key is to insure that the VM container is configured with the same number and size of disks, and number of network adapters.   The number of VCPUs and Memory can be increased or descreased as desired.    Failure to allocate the appropriated disk containers will result in a failed conversion because of lack of disk space.

1. Create a Virtual CD from the G4l Iso that was downloaded from sourceforge.
2. Follow the instructions for creating a Ubuntu VM, without following the step to convert it from an HVM to PV guest.  That is the final step after completing the P2V.  Note that this step can be aborted as soon as the VM goes from “installing” to “running” on the Virtual Machine page.
3. When the VM transitions to “running” it can be safely powered down via the “poweroff” button the virtual machine page.  When it successfully transitions to stop, there will be a “Boot from CD” option.
4. Now, click “Boot from CD”.   You will be presented with a pulldown, select the G4l iso that you created in Step 1.
5. Press Enter till the console prompt opens. Type .g4l.
6. Select RAW Mode and press Enter.
7. Select Network use and press Enter.
8. Configure the IP address of the FTP server, the userid and password, and the filename.
9. Select the backup file created previously, and click OK.
10. Select the destination drive.
11. Verify the displayed information, then press Enter.
12. Repeat steps 8, 9, and 10 for each additional drive to restore.
13. After restoring all the drives, reboot the virtual machine: select X: Reboot in the G4L window, and press Enter.

At this point you should boot into the Ubuntu VM.   You are almost done, but, there a couple more steps.

•  If the data disks are mounted in “/etc/fstab” you will have to adjust these mount points.   Note that drives that were presented as either “hdX”, “sdX” or “cd0P0″ are now presented as “xvdX”.
• P2V only:Disable any services that interact directly with hardware, such as:
  • Dell OpenManage (OMSA)
  • HP Insight Manager
• V2V only:Disable the following services:
  • VmWare tools
  • Hyper-V tools

At this point, depending on your deployment scenario it may be necessary to change the host name by editing the /etc/sysconfig/network file and ensuring that any static IP addresses assigned are unique.   At this point only the post-installation steps to configure the Ubuntu VM for PV conversion remain.

Avance version 3.1.1.x adds support for Ubuntu 12.04 Virtual Machines.    Prior to this release, Avance ran all CentOS/Rhel 4.x and 5.x releases as paravirtualized (Xen-PV) VMs, and CentOS/Rhel 6.x VMs in full hardware virtualization mode (HVM).   Ubuntu is the first VM supported by Avance that requires installation in HVM mode and then a conversion to Xen-PV mode.   The remainder of this document describes special considerations for Ubuntu VMs, and the procedure for converting them to Xen-PV mode.

Special Considerations for Ubuntu VMs

There are special considerations for Ubuntu VMs that are necessary to ensure it can be properly converted from HVM mode to Xen-PV mode.  To install a Ubuntu 12.04 VM,  you need to create a VCD from either the 64-bit or 32-bit ISO provided by the Vendor.    On the second page of the creation wizard,  be sure and select “All other Linux Distributions”.    After completing each step of the creation wizard, the VM is created and you will be presented the standard Ubuntu installation screen in a newly opened console window.   There are three special considerations:

1. The boot, grub, and initrd files must be installed on the first partition of the first logical disk.   This is the default location during a Ubuntu install.  Ignoring this step will result in the VM failing to boot after converting it to Xen-PV mode and will require that the VM be destroyed and re-created.
2. The VM must be setup to accept its clock source in UTC format, which is the default option for a Ubuntu install.   This can be corrected after the initial install by ensuring that  ”UTC=yes”  is set in the VMs /etc/default/rcS configuration file.
3. The last step is required to ensure you continue to get console access from the Avance management portal after converting your VM to Xen-PV mode.   After completing the installation in HVM mode, log into the newly created VM before you convert it to Xen-PV mode, and copy and paste the file below into /etc/init/hvc0.conf.

—– cut here —

# hvc0 - getty
#
# This service maintains a getty on hvc0 from the point the system is
# started until it is shut down again.

start on stopped rc RUNLEVEL=[2345] and (
            not-container or
            container CONTAINER=lxc or
            container CONTAINER=lxc-libvirt)
stop on runlevel [!2345]
respawn
exec /sbin/getty -8 38400 hvc0

—– cut here —-

Converting to Ubuntu VMs Xen-PV Mode

After completing the initial installation, and taking care to follow the special considerations for Ubuntu VMs you are ready to convert your VM to Xen-PV mode.   Failing to perform this step will prevent the VM from reliably migrating  between nodes under all conditions and can result in corrupted data when recovering from unexpected failures.  To make  the conversion, you must select the VM on the Virtual Machines page of the management portal and click  the SHUTDOWN button.   Once the VM is stopped you need to click the Config button to  launch the Reprovisioning Wizard.   In the wizard, you need to click NEXT to skip forward until you get to the 4th page of the installation wizard.  At this point you will see an option at the bottom of the page to select PV.   When you select this option,  you will receive a prompt to ensure you followed the special instructions on this page before proceeding.

After reading and acknowledging the warning, hit OK and then accept all of the changes by clicking the Finish button in the top right hand corner of the wizard.    At this point, the VM is converted to Xen-PV mode which takes effect on the next boot.

Servers

Model	Description	Memory (Min/Max)	Disks (Min/Max)	CPU Chip Vendor/Model
H&i Server 2XXX	2 CPU Socket Intel® Server Board S2600GZ 2 U Rack	2/192 GB	2/8	Intel Xeon® E5-2600 Series Intel Xeon E5-2600 Series V2

Storage Controllers

Network Controllers

[1] Refer to Vendor documentation to determine supported SFP+ modules and cables

http://www.dopdf.com/

After downloading and installing the doPDF utility it appears as a printer option when selecting print from your Browser.

1. Connect a monitor and keyboard to the first physical machine (PM).
2. Power on the PM.
3. Enter BIOS setup by pressing F2 key when prompted
4. Load defaults by hitting F9 at main screen
5. Press Y to confirm load defaults
6. Use the arrow keys to select the Advanced page
   1. Select Processor Configuration and use enter key
      1. Select Intel(R) Virtualization Technology (default is Disabled)
      2. Use plus and minus keys to set to Enabled
   2. Use Esc key and select Mass Storage Controller Configuration and use enter key
      1. Select SAS/SATA Capable Controller (default is INTEL(R) RSTe)
      2. Use plus and minus keys to set to Disabled
7. Use the Esc key and use the arrow keys to select Boot Options
   1. Select Boot Option #1 and use the enter and arrow keys to set to the network adapter, and use the enter key
   2. Select Boot Option #2 and use the enter and arrow keys to set to the RAID controller_[1]and use the enter key
8. Save configuration and reset (to exit BIOS setup), use the F10 key followed by Y

 Intel S1200KP Server BIOS Initialization

1. Connect a monitor and keyboard to the first physical machine (PM).
2. Power on the PM.
3. Enter BIOS setup by pressing F2 key when prompted
4. Load defaults by hitting F9 at main screen
5. Press Y to confirm load defaults
6. Use the arrow keys to select the Bootpage
   1. Select Boot Device Priority
   2. Use the plus and minus keys to set the boot order to_[1]
      1. Network
      2. Hard Disk Drives
7. Save and Exit BIOS (F10 followed by Y)

1. Connect a monitor and keyboard to the first physical machine (PM).
2. Power on the PM.
3. Enter BIOS Boot Device Menu, press F1.
4. Under System Settings > Integrated Management Module, set Commands on USB Interface Preference = Disabled
   1. Wait 30 seconds after making this change before proceeding.
5. Under System Settings > Integrated Management Module > Network Configuration, set:
   1. Network Interface Port = Shared
   2. Select Save Network Settings, enter Y when prompted to reset the IMM and then Enter.
   3. Press ESC to return to the Integrated Management Module page.
   4. Wait 10 minutes for the IMM reset to complete.
   5. Return to the Network Configuration page and validate that Network Interface Port is set to Shared.
6. If you have an IBM Emulex 10GNIC installed:
   1. Under System Settings > Emulex NIC Configuration Utility > Emulex One Connect… Port 0
      1. Set vNIC Support = Disabled ii.
      2. Select Save.
   2. Under System Settings > Emulex NIC Configuration Utility > Emulex One Connect… Port 1
      1. Set vNIC Support = Disabled ii.
      2. Select Save.
7. Save settings and exit
8. Press the power button on the PM to power it off.

Repeat this process on the second node

The installation of Avance on an HP servers, requires an additional step to install some HP tools utlized by the Avance software to manage your servers.

Creating HP Tools Media

1. Create a folder titled avancetools on your PC.
2. Go to www.hp.com. Search for the following HP tools (filenames in bold). Download to the avancetools folder. Current file links are also listed.

1. HP Array Configuration Utility CLI for Linux – HP Business Support Center hpacucli-9.0-24.0.noarch.rpm
2. HP Lights-Out Online Configuration Utility for Linux – HP Business Support Center hponcfg-4.0.0-0.noarch.rpm
3. HP SNMP Agents for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (x86) – HP Business Support Center hp-snmp-agents-9.0.0.48-49.rhel6.i386.rpm
4. Insight Management MIB update kit for HP Systems Insight Manager for Linux/HP-UX – HP Business Support Center, version 8.40 (29 Mar 2010) upd900mib.tar.gz
5. HP System Health Application and Command Line Utilities for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (x86) – HP Business Support Center hp-health-9.0.0.48-46.6.rhel6.i386.rpm
6. SmartStart Scripting Toolkit Linux Edition – HP Business Support Center hp-scripting-toolkit-linux-9.00.tar.gz

Make sure the files you download and install have the filenames listed above. For best results, download the files to the computer you will use to create the tools media.

• Copy the files from the avancetools folder to a CD/DVD-ROM or USB memory stick. For instructions, see your computer’s online help.
  1. Burn utilities and CD/DVD-ROM hardware must support and use the Disk-At-Once (DAO) method. Stratus recommends burn utilities that default to DAO mode, such as http://www.imgburn.com/.
  2. Use only new CDs/DVD-ROM discs.
  3. Write only to the root directory of the USB stick or CD/DVD-ROM. Do not write to a folder.
  4. The Avance installation program will not recognize some older USB sticks.
• CD/DVD-ROM only: Verify the new disc.

Connecting Business Links

1. In the Avance Management Console, go to the Networks page.
2. Connect additional network cables to both nodes, a pair at a time. Ideally in the same NIC slot and port number in each server: For each connection:
   1. Wait for the new Shared Network to appear. If it does not appear within a minute or so, it means your cables are on different subnets or the NIC ports between the nodes are not compatible (e.g 10Gb on Node 0 and 1Gb on Node1).
   2. Double click the shared network name and re-name it based on the based on its L3 Lan connectivity: “10.83.0.x” or “Engineering Lab”.
3. Verify the newly formed shared network displays a green check.