2.7 Initializing the Appliance

You must now initialize the appliance.

  1. Verify that you meet the requirements listed in Section 2.2, Product Requirements.

  2. From a supported browser, access the initialization web interface at the URL displayed on the appliance screen after it is deployed.

    For example: https://appliance_ip_address/appliance/Init.html

    NOTE:This URL is case-sensitive, so ensure that you enter the non-variable portions of the URL exactly as illustrated.

  3. Provide the following information needed to initialize the appliance:

    1. Initialize Appliance

      Select Join Cluster only if you are initializing an appliance to add to an existing cluster. The first appliance that you configure automatically becomes the master node in the cluster.

    2. Step 1 - Network

      NTP server - The NTP (Network Time Protocol) server allows appliances to synchronize time with each other. Without this server, the data on the appliances becomes corrupted.

      Obtain an IP address automatically - Select this option if you have a DHCP server to provide the IP address of the appliance.

      Use the following IP address - Select this option only if you do not have a DHCP server in your environment and you are assigning a static IP address. If you deployed the appliance using the *-vcenter.ovf file, the fields are auto-populated with the settings you specified during deployment.

    3. Step 2 - Identity Source

      Select the identity source that you plan to use.

      Username and Password - Specify the fully distinguished LDAP format name of a user in the identity source who has Read access to the identity source. For example, in eDirectory this might be cn=admin,o=netiq.

      Context - Specify the search context of the users in the identity source. For example, o=netiq.

      Enable LDAP SSL - Specify whether you want to use SSL for communication with an LDAP identity source. If you use SSL, the default port is 636. The default port for non-SSL is 389. You can specify other port numbers as required if the identity source is using a non-default port.

      When you set up the identity source for the first time, you specify a single replica of the identity source, but you can add more replicas later if needed.

    4. Step 3 - Cluster Information

      Public DNS - Specify the public DNS name that is used as the base URL to access the appliance. For example, nca-01.company.info.

      Admin user name - Specify the user account in the identity source search context who becomes the administrator of the appliance. In eDirectory, this is the CN of the user. In Active Directory, this is the sAMAccountName of the user.

    5. Step 4 - Appliance Password

      New password / Confirm password - Specify the password for the appliance administrator account. If you lose the connection to the identity source for any reason, you can run through these initialization steps again using the appliance password specified here. You would then specify a different identity source and the user name and password of the new appliance administrator in that new identity source.

  4. Click Finish.

    A successfully initialized appliance automatically redirects the browser to the administration console login page at https://appliance_dns_name/appliance/index.html.

  5. Log in with the Admin user name specified in Step 3 - Cluster Information. The password is the user’s password in the identity source.

  6. Proceed with Section 3.0, Configuring the Appliance.

You can change the initialization settings at any time if needed. Enter appliance_dns_or_IP_address/appliance/Init.html in a browser to access the initialization settings page. After the appliance has been initialized for the first time, the next time you access the Init.html page, CloudAccess prompts you for the appliance password.

Whenever you make changes to the appliance, click Apply and wait for the appliance to finish applying your changes. Do not attempt to perform any other administration tasks in the console until the gears have stopped spinning on the appliance icon.