SoftGate Installation¶

Minimum Hardware Requirements¶

8 CPU cores
16 GB RAM
300 GB HDD

SoftGate software provisioning¶

The SoftGate deployment needs a freshly installed Ubuntu Linux 22.04 LTS.

Note

Netris controller ships with two SoftGate nodes pre-defined in the Default site. (softgate1-default, softgate2-default). We recommend using these if you are new to Netris. Alternatively, you can learn how to define new SoftGate nodes here: “Adding SoftGates”.

Navigate to the Net–>Inventory section and click the three vertical dots (⋮) on the right side of the SoftGate node you are provisioning. Then click Install Agent and copy the one-line installer command to your clipboard.

Paste the one-line install command on your SoftGate node as an ordinary user. (keep in mind that one-line installer commands are unique for each node)

../_images/softgate-provisioning-cli-output.png

Note

Please note that the Netris installation script replaces the default Netplan networking backend with regular ifupdown and attempts to migrate the configuration set during installation to /etc/network/interfaces.

Handoff Netris the bond0 interface for further automatic operations. Netris will automatically create necessary subinterfaces under your bond0 interface. (bond0.<xyz>). But you need to manually configure which physical interfaces should bind under the bond0 interface. Netris will only make changes to your bond0 and loopback interfaces; all other interfaces will remain as described in /etc/network/interfaces.

sudo vim /etc/network/interfaces

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The management network interface
auto ensZ
iface ensZ inet static
    address <Management IP address/prefix length>
    # Please delete or comment out the line below if Netris Controller is located in the same network with the SoftGate node, otherwise adjust the line
    # according to your setup.
    up ip route add <Controller IP address> via <Management network gateway>

# Physical port on SoftGate node connected to a TRUNK port of your network
auto ens<X>
iface ens<x> inet static
    address 0.0.0.0/0

# Optionally you can add more physical interfaces under your bond0, uncomment as needed
#auto ens<Y>
#iface ens<Y> inet static
#    address 0.0.0.0/0

# Bond interface
auto bond0
iface bond0 inet static
    address 0.0.0.0/0
    # Please replace/remove the ensX/Y with actual interface name(s) below to one(s) present in the OS.
    bond-slaves ens<X>
    # Optional, please adjust the bonding mode below according to the desired functionality.
    bond-mode active-backup

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

Note

Ensure that the Management network interface IP address is as expected so the SoftGate node will maintain IP connectivity with Netris Controller after reboot.

Reboot the SoftGate

sudo reboot

Once the server boots up, you should see its heartbeat going from Critical to OK in Net→Inventory, Telescope→Dashboard, and the SoftGate color will reflect its health in Net→Topology.