Installing Flow Enterprise Server 2021.3.1

Preinstallation instructions

• If you’re using an external database, have your database administrator complete the necessary steps to prepare the database.

• Download the latest copy of the flow-enterprise-tools package. Version 2.1.x is required. This is provided by your Pluralsight support representative. Install this package on each node of the Flow cluster.

• For the host server, copy flow-enterprise-tools-<channel>[-airgap]-<version>.tar.gz to the home directory of the user account used for the installation on the host server.

• Extract the tools file using tar xvf flow-enterprise-tools-<channel>[-airgap]-<version>.tar.gz.

  Note: You can run any tool from the bin directory by running cd /path/to/flow-enterprise-tools/bin ./[tool name]. Install the tools package with the install-enterprise-tools.sh script cd /path/to/flow-enterprise-tools ./install-enterprise-tools.sh. The script will ask where to install the components. The default is /usr/local/share/flow-enterprise-tools.
• Install the flow-enterprise-tools package using the script install-enterprise-tools.sh. This allows installation of the scripts and binaries in the system where users can access them from standard PATHsettings. You can also run the scripts of this package in-place.
  Note: For the root user, /usr/local/bin must be in the PATH environment variable. The root user should be set up as a Flow user after the installation of Flow. This is critical if your OS is hardened.
• Create the following directories. These can all be bundled in a single volume
  app directory (default: /opt/flow)
  mkdir -p [app_directory]
chmod 755 [app_directory]
  Once the app directory is created, change the ownership of the directory to the following:
  chown -R 37355:37355 [app_directory]
• If you're using an embedded database, make a database directory (default /opt/flow/database) on the primary host server only:
  mkdir -p [database_directory]
chmod 725 [database_directory]
  Once the database directory is created, change the ownership of the directory to the following:
  chown -R 1000:1000 [database_directory]
  
  

If your version of Flow Enterprise Server is airgapped, download the airgap bundle from Replicated. A password is required. If you can't access Replicated, contact Support for assistance.

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Install Flow Enterprise

Now we are ready to install Flow Enterprise 2021.3.1. For an online installation, run sudo flow-tools install. For an airgapped installation, run sudo flow-tools install -a. This only needs to be done on the primary node.

The device filter is in golang regular expression format. Device names vary between distributions. Add multiple filters if the devices are named differently in worker nodes. An example of such a case may look like sd[b-z]|nvme[1-3]|xvd[b-c].

On a single-node cluster, the installation labels the primary node appropriately by default. However, in a multi-node installation, label the worker nodes as directed from the output of the installation command as seen above.

Reset the console password by running kubectl kots reset-password -n default if desired.

Next, install Flow Enterprise on each of the worker nodes using the join command output at the end of the installation of the primary node. Read more about joining a node to the cluster.

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Configure the KOTS app

Configure TLS

1. Open your Chrome browser and go the URL provided at the end of the installation on the primary node. It will look like http://<ip address of server>:8800).

   Note: You will receive an error saying your connection is not private. Flow uses a self-signed SSL/TLS Certificate to secure the communication between your local machine and the admin console during setup. This is secure.
   Click Advanced, then click Proceed to continue to the admin console.

2. On the next screen, enter the following information from the Before you begin steps:

   1. Enter your hostname

   2. Upload your key and certificate

3. Click Upload & Continue

Log in to the KOTS admin console

1. Enter the password provided during installation at the end of the installation script output

   

2. Upload the license file provided by your Flow representative.

   

3. On the following screen, there are two options for installing Flow. If your server doesn’t have internet access, choose the airgapped environment option and upload the pre-downloaded airgapped binary zip file. Otherwise, click on the download from the internet link to continue.

Set up Flow configurations

Once the license is validated, the configuration screen appears as shown below.

The following configuration changes are recommended:

• The Flow URL must match the fully qualified domain name registered earlier.

• Provide a valid email address to receive email alerts.

• Click Email settings and provide the details of the SMTP/Email server port, credentials, protocol, and other details.

• If there is a proxy involved, check Use an outbound HTTP/HTTPS Proxy and add in the details.

• Enter the details for your external Postgres database.

Once this screen is configured, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click Save config.

Deploy Flow

To deploy Flow, on the next screen, click Deploy.

Confirm the pop-up window by clicking Yes, deploy.

To monitor the deployment process, run kubectl get pods on the primary node to see each pod’s status. Wait until all pods are in a running state. Once all pods are running, start Flow.

Then proceed to log in to the Flow Enterprise Application using the original URL for the application.

Log in to Flow

Navigate to your Flow URL. Enter your organization name and the primary email. Choose a password to log in.

Connect with your Pluralsight Flow representative to talk about next steps for your onboarding experience. For steps to get started with Flow, check out our Getting Started guide.

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If you need help, please contact Pluralsight Support.