17. Installation

TrueCommand™ is usually installed inside a virtual machine. It can also be installed on standalone hardware.

Download TrueCommand™ for free on the iXsystems website to get started.

17.1. System Requirements

The system requirements for TrueCommand™ are:

• x86 64-bit CPU
• at least 4 GiB or 4096 MiB of RAM
• at least 80 GiB of disk space

17.2. Virtualization

17.2.1. VirtualBox

VirtualBox is an open source virtualization program originally created by Sun Microsystems. VirtualBox runs on Windows, BSD, Linux, Macintosh, and OpenSolaris.

To install or run TrueCommand™ in VirtualBox, start VirtualBox. Click the New button.

Fig. 17.2.1 VirtualBox Screen Menu

Enter a name for the virtual machine. Click the Type drop-down menu and select BSD. Select FreeBSD (64-bit) from the Version drop-down. Click Next.

Fig. 17.2.2 New Virtual Machine Name and Operating System

Change the base memory size to at least 4 GiB or 4096 MiB (see System Requirements). Click Next.

Fig. 17.2.3 Virtual Machine Reserved Memory

Click Create.

Fig. 17.2.4 Virtual Machine Hard Disk

Select VDI and click Next.

Fig. 17.2.5 New Virtual Hard Disk Type

Select Dynamically allocated. Click Next.

Fig. 17.2.6 Virtual Disk Storage Type

Set the size of the Virtual Disk. Set the Virtual Disk size to at least 80 GiB (see System Requirements. Click Create to create the new VM.

Fig. 17.2.7 Virtual Disk Location and Size

Highlight the VM and click Settings to create a device for the installation media.

Fig. 17.2.8 New Virtual Machine

Click Storage in the left column to show storage options.

Select Empty from the Storage Devices frame and click the CD icon in the Attributes frame. Click Choose Virtual Optical Disk File to browse to the location of the TrueCommand™ .iso file.

Fig. 17.2.9 Adding the ISO Installation Media

Configure the network adapter by opening the VM settings and clicking Network. Select Bridged Adapter in the Attached To drop-down menu. Choose the name of the physical interface from the Name drop-down menu. Click Ok to save the new settings.

Fig. 17.2.10 Configuring a Bridged Adapter

Click Start to power on the VM and begin the TrueCommand™ installation.

After the installation is complete, shut down the VM. Remove the installation media by right-clicking the IDE icon and selecting Remove Disk from Virtual Drive.

Fig. 17.2.11 Remove Installation Media

17.2.2. VMware ESXi

ESXi is a bare-metal hypervisor architecture created by VMware Inc. Commercial and free versions of the VMware vSphere Hypervisor operating system (ESXi) are available from the VMware website.

When the VMware vSphere client is installed, use it to connect to the ESXi server. Enter the username and password created when installing ESXi to log into the interface. After logging in, go to Storage to upload the TrueCommand™ .iso. Click Datastore browser and select a datastore for the TrueCommand™ .iso. Click Upload. Use the file dialog to choose the TrueCommand™ .iso from the host system.

Click Create / Register VM to create a new VM. The New virtual machine wizard opens:

1. Select creation type: Select Create a new virtual machine and click Next.

   

2. Select a name and guest OS: Enter a name for the VM. Leave ESXi compatibility version at the default. Select Other as the Guest OS family. Select FreeBSD12 or later versions (64-bit) as the Guest OS version. Click Next.

   

3. Select storage: Select a datastore for the VM. The datastore must be at least 80 GiB (see System Requirements).

   

4. Customize settings: Enter at least 4 GiB or 4096 MiB of memory and at least 80 GiB of virtual storage (see System Requirements). Select Datastore ISO file from the CD/DVD Drive 1 drop-down. Use the Datastore browser to select the uploaded TrueCommand™ .iso. Click Next.

   

5. Ready to complete: Review the VM settings. Click Finish to create the new VM.

   

Click Virtual Machines ‣ {VM}, where VM is the TrueCommand VM name. Click Power on to start the VM. Click Console ‣ Open browser console and install TrueCommand™.

17.3. Installing TrueCommand™

The TrueCommand™ installer boot menu appears first. After a short pause, it automatically continues. To boot with one of the options, type the number of the option.

Fig. 17.3.1 Installer Boot Menu

Press Enter to select the default option, Install.

Fig. 17.3.2 Installer Options

Available disks are shown. Use the arrow keys to choose the target disk. Press Spacebar to select the desired disk. Press Enter to continue.

Press Enter to reserve the entire disk for TrueCommand™.

Fig. 17.3.3 Select Target Partition

Use the arrow keys to select GPT. MBR should only be used on legacy clients that cannot use GPT. Press Enter.

Fig. 17.3.4 Select Disk Format

Set and confirm the root password. The root user is for system maintenance and is not used to access the TrueCommand™ web interface. TrueCommand™ accounts are created through the web interface after installation.

Press Enter to continue.

Fig. 17.3.5 Set root password

Enter TrueCommand as the system hostname and press Enter.

Fig. 17.3.6 Set Hostname

Press Enter to Enable networking.

Fig. 17.3.7 Enable Networking

Use the arrow keys to select the network card. A static IP address is strongly recommended. DHCP can be used, but can result in the system unexpectedly moving to new IP address.

When using a static IP address, the IP address, gateway, and netmask are required. DNS is optional, but recommended for name resolution.

Fig. 17.3.8 Select Network Card

Press Enter to the Enable SSH. Enabling SSH is not required, but recommended.

Fig. 17.3.9 Enable SSH

Select install and press Enter.

Fig. 17.3.10 Start the Installation

Wait for the Installation finished! message and press Enter.

Fig. 17.3.11 Finish Installation

Use the down arrow to select quit. Press Enter.

Fig. 17.3.12 Quit Install Wizard

Restart the TrueCommand™ system. Remove the TrueCommand™ install media so the system boots from the hard drive.