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Chapter 3. Installing and Upgrading the JBoss ON Server on Linux

The core of JBoss Operations Network is the server, which communicates with agents, maintains the inventory, manages resource settings, interacts with content providers, and provides a central management UI. JBoss ON has other components which are required in order for JBoss ON to carry out its functions — agents which are installed on platforms, a CLI which allows administrators to script configuration, and plug-ins which integrate JBoss ON with other JBoss products. Each component has to be installed and configured independently, to match the needs of the specific network.

3.1. Preparing for Installation

3.1.1. Setting up the JDK for the JBoss ON Server

The JBoss ON server requires Java 6 or Java 7 JDK.
  1. Download and install the appropriate version of Java, if necessary.
  2. Set the JAVA_HOME environment variable to the installation directory.
    1. Open the .bashrc for the system user that will run JBoss ON. For example: 
      vim /home/jon/.bashrc
    2. Add a line to set the JAVA_HOME environment variable to the specific JDK directory. For example: 
      export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0/
  3. Set the system to use the correct version of the JDK using the system alternatives command. The selected version has the *+ symbols by it. 
    /usr/sbin/alternatives --config javac

There are 2 programs which provide 'javac'.

  Selection    Command
-----------------------------------------------
   1           /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-bea/bin/javac
*+ 2           /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk/bin/javac

Enter to keep the current selection[+], or type selection number:

3.1.2. Preparing the Host Machine

For JBoss ON servers and agents to be able to communicate, they have to be able to connect to each other's host machines. Make sure that the machines are configured so that the server and agent machines are able to locate and connect with each other. There are three areas that commonly need to be configured:
  • Install the urw-fonts package. Java requires certain system fonts packages in order to label charts and graphs properly. If the urw-fonts package is not installed, then the monitoring graphics cannot be rendered.
  • Synchronize machine clocks. All JBoss ON servers and agents must have synchronized clocks. Clock variations cause issues in availability reporting, metric measurements, graphing, and even identifying and importing resources into inventory. The Network Time Protocol project, http://www.ntp.org/, has information on installing and configuring NTP to ensure your clocks are synchronized.
  • Configure DNS. Both forward and reverse DNS mapping entries must be present for all hosts involved in monitoring. This includes all JBoss ON servers and all machines running agents.
  • Configure the firewall to allow communication over the server and agent ports. Ensure the necessary ports have been opened to prevent the firewall from blocking the JBoss ON server and agents from communicating. The JBoss ON server typically uses port 7080, and the JBoss ON agents typically use port 16163.