2.3 Deploying Filr Appliances

NOTE:The information in this section illustrates a VMware deployment. The same basic steps apply to other supported hypervisors. For specific deployment instructions, refer to the Filr: Installation, Deployment, and Upgrade Guide.

After you have obtained and extracted the appliance software, you need to deploy it on your host server, as illustrated in Figure 2-7 and Figure 2-8 and as explained in the tables that follow them.

2.3.1 Small Filr Deployment Overview

NOTE:After initial VM preparation is completed, deploying on Hyper-V and Xen is comparable to the VMware steps illustrated below.

Figure 2-7 A Small Deployment of Filr on VMware

Letter	Details
	Using the vSphere client, access the VMware host server and deploy the .ovf template file. Specify the hostname and IP address. If possible, the system determines the mask and gateway, and automatically populates those fields. The network interface is bridged by default. Make sure this setting matches the network configuration in your VMware environment.
	A second disk is needed for the following reasons: Adequate personal storage disk space—personal files are stored here. Separation of system and data files to facilitate appliance updates—data files are stored here. You might want to also change the RAM allocation and the number of CPUs.
	A third disk is needed for storing log files, which prevents the system disk from running out of space.
	Start the appliance.
	Specify the appliance’s basic configuration, which includes administrative users’ passwords, IP address settings, and the time zone and NTP time source. These settings are common to all Micro Focus appliances.

2.3.2 Expandable Filr Deployment Overview

NOTE:After initial VM preparation is completed, deploying on the other hypervisors is comparable to the VMware steps illustrated below.

Figure 2-8 A Large Deployment of Filr

Letter	Details
	Using the vSphere client, access the VMware host server and deploy the .ovf template file. Specify the hostname and IP address. If possible, the system determines the mask and gateway, and automatically populates those fields. The network interface is bridged by default. Make sure this setting matches the network configuration in your VMware environment.
	A second disk is needed for the following reasons: Adequate personal storage disk space Separation of system and data files to facilitate appliance updates You might want to also change the RAM allocation and the number of CPUs.
	A third disk is needed for storing log files, which prevents the system disk from running out of space.
	Even if you deploy only one Filr appliance initially, the best practice recommendation is to add a shared CIFS or NFS disk. That way the deployment can be expanded to include more Filr appliances in the future. Otherwise, it cannot. If you don’t use shared storage, the deployment is non-expandable and although it is supported, it doesn’t comply with best practice recommendations. This only applies to the Filr VA, not to the Search or PostgreSQL appliances.
	Start the appliance.
	Specify the appliance’s basic configuration, which includes administrative users’ passwords, IP address settings, and the time zone and NTP time source. These settings are common to all Micro Focus appliances.
	If you are installing separate appliances, you need to deploy at least one and preferably two search appliances as well. The process is very similar to a Filr VA deployment, except that the search appliances don’t use shared storage.
	Installing separate appliances also requires configuring a PostgreSQL or MS SQL database. Deploying the PostgreSQL appliance that comes with Filr is very similar to the process for Filr and the search appliances. If you already have a MySQL or MS SQL database in your organization, you can use it instead of the PostgreSQL appliance that comes with Filr.