Prepare Infrastructure

This guide covers preparing the infrastructure, installing PaletteAI on the nodes, and linking the edge nodes to the leader node.

Prerequisites

• Access to the PaletteAI ISO. Contact your Spectro Cloud representative to get access.

• At least six devices or machines available that meet the Hardware Requirements specified in the Appliance Installation overview.

• At least six IP addresses available for the nodes that will be part of the PaletteAI management cluster. You can configure these IP addresses during the cluster creation steps in Local UI.

• Network connectivity to the devices that will be part of the PaletteAI management cluster and the ability to access Local UI.

• The following network ports must be accessible on each node for PaletteAI to operate successfully.

  • TCP/443 - Must be open between all PaletteAI nodes and accessible for user connections to the PaletteAI management cluster.
  • TCP/6443 - Outbound traffic from the PaletteAI management cluster to the deployed cluster's Kubernetes API server.
  • TCP/6443 - Inbound traffic from all deployed clusters to the Kubernetes API server of the PaletteAI management cluster.
  • TCP/30003 - Inbound traffic to the Zot OCI registry used by deployed clusters.

• SSH access must be available to the nodes used for PaletteAI installation.

• Relevant permissions to install PaletteAI on the nodes including permission to attach or mount an ISO and set nodes to boot from it.

• A web browser to access Local UI on port 5080.

Enablement

1. Download the PaletteAI ISO. Contact your Spectro Cloud representative if you do not have access to the ISO.

2. Load the PaletteAI ISO to a bootable device, such as a USB stick, or upload the ISO to a datastore in your VMware environment. You can use several software tools to create a bootable USB drive, such as balenaEtcher.

   • For VMware vSphere, you can upload the PaletteAI ISO to a datastore using the vSphere Client or the govc CLI tool. Refer to the vSphere or govc documentation for more information.
   • For bare metal, you can use tools like scp or rsync to transfer the PaletteAI ISO to the nodes, or use a USB drive to boot the nodes from the ISO.

   Ensure that the PaletteAI ISO is accessible to all nodes that will be part of the PaletteAI management cluster.

3. Attach the PaletteAI ISO to the nodes and ensure the boot order is set to boot from the PaletteAI ISO first.

   For example, in VMware vSphere, the VMs will have the PaletteAI ISO in CD/DVD drive 1. Refer to the documentation of your infrastructure provider for specific instructions on how to attach and boot from an ISO.

4. Restart the nodes to start the installation process.

5. Once the nodes have rebooted and entered the GRand Unified Bootloader (GRUB) menu, allow PaletteAI to select the Palette Edge Interactive Installer boot option automatically.

6. Once the Palette Edge Interactive Installer window appears, select the target disk for installation.

   warning

   With legacy BIOS, the firmware attempts to boot devices in the order listed in the BIOS screen. To boot from the installed OS, the disk selected during install should either be top of the list or the only bootable device present.

7. Choose the post-installation action: nothing, reboot, or poweroff, then press ENTER.

8. Review the Installation Summary.

9. Press ENTER to start the installation.

10. Wait for the installation process to complete. This may take 30 minutes or more, depending on the resources available on the nodes. If you selected the reboot option in step 7, the nodes will reboot and display the Palette TUI after completion. If you chose the poweroff action in step 7, power on the nodes.

11. In the Palette TUI, provide credentials for the initial account. This is used to log in to Local UI and for SSH access to the node. Press ENTER to continue.

12. In the Palette TUI, the available configuration options are displayed. These options are described in the following steps. Use the TAB key or the up and down arrow keys to switch between fields. When you make a change, press ENTER to apply the change. Use ESC to go back.

13. In Hostname, check the existing hostname and, optionally, change it to a new one.

14. In Network Adapter, select a network adapter to configure. By default, the network adapters request an IP automatically from the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. The Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) block of an adapter's possible IP address is displayed in the Network Adapter screen without selecting an individual adapter.

    There are a few options you can configure for each network adapter:

    • You can change the IP addressing scheme of the adapter and choose static IP instead of DHCP. In Static IP mode, you need to provide a static IP address, subnet mask, and the address of the default gateway. Specifying a static IP removes the existing DHCP settings.
    • If desired, specify the VLAN ID. A VLAN ID enables you to logically segment network traffic on the same physical network interface, providing network isolation and enhanced traffic management. If you assign a VLAN ID, the host tags all outgoing packets from that adapter with the specified VLAN identifier.
    • You can also specify the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) for your network adapter. The MTU defines the largest size, in bytes, of a packet that can be sent over a network interface without needing to be fragmented.

15. In DNS Configuration, specify the IP address of the primary and alternate name servers. You can optionally specify a search domain.

16. After you are satisfied with the configurations, navigate to Quit and press ENTER to finish the configuration. Press ENTER again on the confirmation prompt.

    After a few seconds, the terminal displays the Device Info and prompts you to provision the device through Local UI.

    tip

    If you need to access the Palette TUI again, issue the palette-tui command in the terminal.

17. Ensure you complete the configuration on each node before proceeding to the next step.

18. Decide on the host that you plan to use as the leader of the group. This is the node that will be used to manage the individual nodes that form the cluster PaletteAI will be installed on. Refer to Link Hosts for more information about leader hosts.

19. Access the Local UI of the leader host. In your web browser, go to https://<node-ip>:5080. Replace <node-ip> with the IP address of your node, and log in using the credentials you provided in step 11. If you have changed the default port of the console, replace 5080 with the Local UI port. The address of the Local UI console is also displayed on the terminal screen of the node.

    If you are accessing Local UI for the first time, a security warning may be displayed in your web browser. This is because Local UI uses a self-signed certificate. You can safely ignore this warning and proceed to Local UI.

    

20. (Optional) If you need to configure an HTTP proxy server for the node, complete the following steps. Otherwise, skip to the next step.

    1. From the left main menu, click Edge Host.

    2. On the Edge Host page, click the pencil icon next to HTTP Proxy.

    3. Supply the proxy server information.

    Field	Description
    HTTP Endpoint	The address of the HTTP proxy server. Used to route HTTP traffic through the proxy.
    HTTPS Endpoint	The address of the HTTPS proxy server. Used to route HTTPS traffic through the proxy.
    No Proxy	Addresses or domains that should bypass the proxy and connect directly. Useful for local or internal network resources.
    CA Certificates	CA certificates used to authenticate the proxy server. The certificates must be base64-encoded.

    4. Click Confirm.
    info

    Updating the HTTP proxy settings causes HTTP/HTTPS services on the Edge host to restart. You will not be able to access the console for a short duration.

21. From the left main menu, click Linked Edge Hosts.

22. Click Generate token. The host generates a token that you will use to link the leader host with individual hosts. Linking hosts allows the leader node to form the cluster PaletteAI will be installed on. The Base64 encoded token contains the IP address of the host, as well as an OTP that will expire in two minutes. Once a token expires, the leader generates another token automatically.

23. Click the Copy button to copy the leader's token.

    

24. Log in to Local UI on the host that you want to link to the leader host.

25. From the left main menu, click Linked Edge Hosts.

26. Click Link this device to another.

    

27. In the pop-up box that appears, paste token you copied from the leader host.

28. Click Confirm.

29. Repeat steps 25-29 for every host you want to link to the leader host.

30. Confirm that all linked hosts appear in the Linked Edge Hosts table. The following columns should show the required statuses.

    Column	Status
    Status	Ready
    Content	Synced
    Health	Healthy

    Content synchronization takes at least five minutes to complete, depending on your network resources.

Validate

1. Log in to Local UI on the leader host.

2. Verify all the edge nodes are linked to the leader node. Navigate to the Linked Edge Hosts page and verify all the edge nodes are listed with a Ready status, have Synced content, and are Healthy.

Next Steps

Once your infrastructure is prepared, you are ready to use the linked edge hosts to create a cluster and install PaletteAI.