Before you go through the installation process of a 128T router, there is some information you will want to gather, such as:
Also, make sure you check out the 128T Installation Guide and review the Hardware Requirements, Operating System Requirements, and BIOS Recommendations sections before you start. Following these requirements and recommendations will ensure that your installation goes smoothly.
NOTE: Be sure to check out the Installation Guide for the software version you want to install.
NOTE: During installation, the system will need access to the internet to retrieve software applications and libraries. Please ensure the system can reach the public internet prior to commencing.
Retrieving the Installer Package
Launch the Linux command prompt for the server you would like to install your 128T router on.
The 128T router and conductor software installer package is hosted in the 128 Technology software repository located at yum.128technology.com. To locate the installer, issue:
sudo yum install http://yum.128technology.com/installer/repo.rpm
To download the installer, issue:
sudo yum install 128T-installer
128T Installer
NOTE: That one step within the installation process requires cutting and pasting contents from a file into the wizard. This is made significantly easier by accessing the target machine over SSH.
To run the installer, issue:
sudo install128t
The 128T splash screen will appear:
Press enter to select the "Begin" button and start the installation wizard.
The first page you see asks you to input your 128T client certificate. The 128T installer will download the 128T routing software from a server hosted by 128 Technology. This server restricts access to clients that have a valid X.509 certificate. As part of the purchase or evaluation of 128 Technology’s software, you will receive a client certificate in PEM format from 128T’s sales operations team.
Make sure you copy the entire contents, including the Certificate and Private key information, and paste it into this window. Press tab and enter when done.
NOTE: you can also store the certificate as /etc/pki/128technology/release.pem to avoid having to copy and paste. Instead, the installation wizard will ask if you want to overwrite an existing certificate to which you can press enter to say “No.”
Next, we’ll select the system software version we want to install. The 128T installer application will dynamically create the list of available packages based on the contents of the software repository hosted by 128 Technology, Inc. If in doubt on which version of the software to install, we recommend going with the latest.
Use the arrow keys and space bar to select the software version you want to install and click "OK" by pressing the enter key to continue. The installer application will now use the credentials you’ve supplied (via the PEM certificate) and retrieve the software from the 128 Technology repository. This process may take a few minutes to download and install.
128T Initializer
The 128T initializer is a complementary application to the installer that tunes your operating system, prepares the platform to run the 128T software, and creates the bootstrapping files for the installation and node setup. The initializer is automatically launched once the 128T installation wizard is complete. By answering these questions, you can complete the full installation process and have a functioning platform.
The first question you are asked is what type of role your system will have; in this case, we are installing a router, so use the arrow keys to highlight "Router" and then the space bar to select it. Press Enter to select "OK."
Next, you are asked for the IP address(es) of your 128T conductor(s).
If you have conductors, enter their management IP addresses here, and this node will retrieve its configuration from the conductor. If you have only one conductor, leave the 2nd conductor address field blank. If you have no conductors, you can choose skip.
The next question you will be asked is "What kind of Router node is this?" Your options are:
- Standalone
- 1st HA Node
- 2nd HA node
Choose "Standalone" if this router does not have an HA peer, choose "1st HA Node" if this router does have a peer, but is the first of the HA pair to be initialized, and select "2nd HA Node" if this router is part of a HA pair and the first node has already been initialized. Use your arrow keys and the space bar to make your selection and then press enter to move to the next screen.
The next screen is the Node Info screen. Here you just need to enter your Node Name and your Router Name.
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Node Name - unique name of the system within your 128T conductor. This field will be auto populated with your linux system hostname, but you can change it if you like.
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Router Name - name of the router system as a whole. Note, a router or conductor can consist of one or two nodes depending on if it is an HA implementation or not.
Just hit tab and enter to move to the next screen.
NOTE: there is an "Advanced" option on this screen. Choosing that allows you to specify the number of CPU cores that are to be allocated to running your 128T routing software. This is only recommended for experienced users.
The next screen is the Password Setup screen. Here you create a password for the 128T admin user. The administrator password must be at least eight characters long, contain at least one upper case letter, contain at least one lower case letter, contain at least one number, and not contain any characters that repeat more than three times. After you create your password, you will need to confirm it.
Next you'll see the Anonymous Data Collection screen. Here, you can choose to either Accept or Disable the RoadRunner process which measure the health of your 128T routers and components. The RoadRunner process collects anonymous information from the router and sends it to 128 Technology for storage and analysis, which informs and allows 128 Technology to support and improve the 128 Networking Platform. For a list of what information is collected, please check out the 128T Installation Guide.
The next thing the 128T initializer will do is perform the hardware compatibility check. This is to ensure your software is running on compatible and capable hardware. If this check does not pass, it can be either due to WARNING or FAILURE. If there are no failures, you will be given the option to continue installation, even if there are multiple warnings. If there is a FAILURE, the installer will exit out on you.
Warnings and failures will be displayed in the output of the compatibility check script if there is at least one test that did not pass.
Once the hardware compatibility check is complete, you are finished with the installation. All you need to do now is reboot your system. Selecting “Yes” at this screen will reboot your system for you, but you can always select “No” and do it yourself.
After the reboot, you can check to see if your 128T conductor or router is running by issuing the command:
sudo systemctl status 128T
If the service is listed as “inactive,” run the command:
sudo systemctl start 128T
By default, your 128T router or conductor should start on reboot. If the 128T service is verified to be active, log into the system as “admin” by typing:
su admin
Then type the password you created in the initializer. You can also log into the GUI if you prefer. Just the type management IP into browser. Sign in with username "admin" and the password you created during the initializer.
If you have any questions at all, feel free to ask them in the forums in our community. Also, don’t forget to check our additional resources listed beside this video.
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