Create Baremetal Site

• Navigate to Etcher to download the installer file.

• Follow the instructions to install Etcher.

Note: If you are running macOS X Catalina, you must download the latest version of Etcher. If you do not download the latest version and attempt to flash an ISO image, the following terminal message appears:

“balenaEtcher” can’t be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software

To download the file, go to Certified Hardware and KVM Images. The certified Distributed Cloud Services node image software (.iso/.img) is packaged with all the required components to provision Distributed Cloud Services-based components.

For more information about choosing an appropriate image for your certified hardware, see How to choose an image for your site deployment?.

• Insert a USB into your computer.

• Open Etcher.

Figure: Etcher

• Follow the instructions to begin the flash process.

To enter the BIOS menu, press a key or key combination (Delete or F2) immediately after turning on your computer.

Note: The key combination differs from manufacturer to manufacturer. Typically, the start screen on the computer displays a message that states which key to press to enter the BIOS menu.

Figure: BIOS Menu

In the BIOS setup menu, you can select which devices will check in which sequence for a bootable operating system in the Boot tab.

Note: The possible choices usually include the internal hard disks, the CD/DVD-ROM drive and mass storage devices, such as USB sticks or external hard disks. The installation media in most of the scenarios is a flashed USB drive with the Distributed Cloud Services Node image.

• Select the USB drive to boot first from the boot menu options.

Figure: Selection of Primary Boot Device

Most BIOS versions allow you to call up a boot menu on system startup in which you select from which device the computer starts for the current session. If this option is available, the BIOS usually displays a short message like “press F12 for boot menu” on system startup. The actual key used to select this menu varies from system to system. Commonly used keys are F12, F11, or F8. Choosing a device from this menu does not change the default boot order of the BIOS. In other words, you can start once from a USB drive while having configured the internal hard disk as the primary boot device.

Figure: Selection of Boot Device During System Start

If you have no PS/2-style keyboard, but only a USB model, you might need to enable legacy keyboard emulation in your BIOS menu to use your keyboard in the bootloader menu. Modern systems do not have this issue.

If your keyboard does not work in the bootloader menu, consult your system manual and look in the BIOS for “Legacy keyboard emulation” or “USB keyboard support” options.

• Access the node using SSH or through a console window.

• Log in to the node with the default user credentials:

  • Local user account: admin
  • Password: Volterra123

• If this is the first time you are logging in, you are prompted to update the default password for the admin user account. Follow the instructions to update the default password.

• Press the Tab key to select parameters to configure.

You can optionally configure the network. Use this option if you want to use a static IP address instead of DHCP.

Use configure-network to perform the following tasks:

• Enable IPv6
• Configure static IP (need to reflect to configuration in UI)
• Special DNS, NTP, and so on
• Configure proxy

Note: You cannot change an IP address for a registered node in a multi-node Site. You must use fixed IP addresses or DHCP addresses with a fixed lease. When you configure an HTTP proxy server, IPsec tunneling is not supported. For tunneling, use SSL or automatic.

Figure: Configure network master-0

Figure: Configure network master-1

Figure: Configure network master-2

Note: If you apply static configuration for the network, you must first perform network configuration using the configure-network option before you set additional fields using the configure option. Also, you cannot change the IP address of a node in a multi-node Site after the node is successfully registered.

Press the Tab key to select the configure option.

• Enter the registration token.

• Enter a CE Site name. This name must be the same as the name provided in the Distributed Cloud Console.

• Enter a hostname. This is the node name.

Important: The name should not have "." in it. For example, the hostname can be node-0 or node0, but it cannot be node.f5.com since it is not supported. Your node name must adhere to DNS-1035 label requirements. This means the name must consist of lower case alphanumeric characters or “-“, start with an alphabetic character, and end with an alphanumeric character.

If configuring a multi-node Site, each node hostname must be unique.

• Enter the longitude and latitude information.

• Select an option for the certified hardware.

• Configure any other options that are presented.

Figure: Configure master-0

Figure: Configure master-1

Figure: Configure master-2

Enter Y to confirm configuration. This triggers the registration process on Distributed Cloud global controllers.

• Select get config.

• Confirm that the settings are correct.

• Wait a few minutes for the Site to be ready for registration.

• Optionally, select the factory-reset option to perform a configuration reset and repeat the registration process again per the instructions above.

• If you use an NTP server, ensure that the server is reachable. Otherwise, leave the NTP server configuration empty so that the F5 Distributed Cloud NTP servers are used instead.

• Use the q key to exit the health information page.

• Log into Console.

• Click Multi-Cloud Network Connect.

• Click Manage > Site Management > Registrations.

Registration requests are displayed in the Pending Registrations tab.

• Click Accept to accept the registration requests from the master-0, master-1, and master-2 nodes. The node names will differ.

• Enter the same values for the following parameters for all the registration requests:

  • In the Cluster name field, enter a name for the cluster. Ensure that all control nodes have the same name.

  • In the Cluster size field, enter 3. Ensure that all control nodes have the same cluster size.

• Enter all mandatory fields marked with the asterisk (*) character.

• Click Save and Exit.

It may take a few minutes for the Site health and connectivity score information to update.

• Click Overview > Infrastructure > Sites.

• Click on your Site name. The Dashboard tab appears, along with many other tabs to inspect your Site.

• Click the Site Status tab to verify the following:

  • The Update Status field has a Successful value for the F5 OS Status section.

  • The Update Status field has a Successful value for the F5 Software Status section.

  • The Tunnel status and Control Plane fields under the RE Connectivity section have up values.

Note: The factory reset functionality is not supported. To update a Site node, power off and then destroy it. Perform the same procedure as above.

• Log into Console.

• Click Multi-Cloud Network Connect.

• Click Manage > Site Management > Registrations.

Registration requests are displayed in the Pending Registrations tab.

• Click Accept to accept the registration request for the node.

• In the form that appears, enter all mandatory fields marked with the asterisk (*) character.

• Enter latitude and longitude values if you did not previously.

• Enter other configuration information, if needed.

• Click Save and Exit.

It may take a few minutes for the Site health and connectivity score information to update.

• Click Overview > Infrastructure > Sites.

• Click on your Site name. The Dashboard tab appears, along with many other tabs to inspect your Site.

• Click the Site Status tab to verify the following:

  • The Update Status field has a Successful value for the F5 OS Status section.

  • The Update Status field has a Successful value for the F5 Software Status section.

  • The Tunnel status and Control Plane fields under the RE Connectivity section have up values.

Note: The factory reset functionality is not supported. To update a Site node, power off and then destroy it. Perform the same procedure as above.