Information Systems:Iptor DC1 In Production

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Hardware

uniPHARM purchased an extra hard drive storage chassis with refurbished spinning drives that are attached to the Power8. The extra storage added 2TB to the Bart partition and extended the RAID arrays with the extra drives. The OS in the Bart partition is controlling how the drives are arranged in which type of RAID array. The OS is also balancing the data across all disks in both original and second chassis.

Hardware Purchase Details

The purchase order number for the hardware involved in this project is 8230073

Hardware Support

uniPHARM has a hardware maintenance contract with IBM that includes the extra storage on the Power8 until March of 2020

Iptor DC1 Installed On The Power8

The installation files for Iptor DC1 were downloaded from Iptor in June of 2018 and saved into a shared folder on the IFS called UWDDATA\downloads\iptor. Luis Meleiro from Protello installed the ERP package from the downloaded save files. uniPHARM I.S. staff did not participate in the actual install, however installing an ERP package is best left to subject matter experts that have done it once or twice before.

XT GUI Server

The DC1 package uses the client/server model for how staff use the software. The ERP programs and databases reside on the Power8 and a Windows based virtual machine acts as the middle-man for the client software on users workstations. The middle-man server, known as the XTGUI Server is running Windows Server 2012R2 and has server components installing in it that allow the XT client program to access the ERP and its databases. The programs on the XTGUI server are the "XT Service Manager", the "XT Admin" and the "XT Studio". The Service Manager controls the service that starts or stops the middleware and is currently set to auto start when the VM is rebooted. The XT Admin is a web based control panel that configures options for the XT client. The web based control panel sets how the XT client displays and works with the ERP programs and databases. More than 1 client configuration can exist if the business needs that. At the outset of the DC1 project (summer of 2018) the vision is for all uniPHARM staff to use the XT client going forward instead of having both ASW GUI and green screens open at the same time on multiple screens. The XT Admin web page also provides a download link to the XT client installer that has the automatic configuration baked into it.

Most of the Iptor XT GUI server side components are installed in C:\XT and cannot handle spaces in the file paths otherwise it would have been installed in C:\Program Files\ .... boo hiss. There are also XML layout files within that folder structure that are critical to how the XT client translates the DC1 green screens into GUI screens that are fun to use for humans.

XT GUI Studio

This application is also installed on the XTGUI Windows virtual machine and is used to customize GUI screens that the client can use. We will probably end up using this feature for something.

XT GUI Client

The XT GUI client is installed from an EXE file and can be installed into C:\Program Files\ on a Windows desktop or laptop. It is capable of being installed on both 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows. There is no known limit or licensing restriction on how many installs of the XT client can exist. The client has a modern look and feel and has a pleasant orange bar icon that is a gajillion times better than the ASW GUI. The XT client does use Eclipse java but it does not require the JRE from Oracle be installed. The java used in the XT client is self contained. The client installer defaults to putting the application folder on the root of the C drive which is effing stupid and lazy. Good news that it can be installed inside C:\Program Files as long as local users have modify rights to that folder. The GUI has been installed in this manner on manager laptops as of August 2018. When the GUI client is installed on all other workstations, the modify file permissions will need to be applied in the same way. This can be done in AD or manually.

Aperio Installed On The Power8

Aperio API Information

Place for any information related to how the Aperio API works

VUM VMware Update Manager

VUM has been configured with a dynamic baseline

vCenter Alarm Configuration

vCenter has been configured to use a small number of alarms

Content Library

Within vCenter, a content library called uniPHARM Content Library has been created.

Virtual Machines

A virtual machine is like a bucket.

VCSA

The vCenter appliance VM was created with all the default settings

XClarity

XClarity is a software based virtual appliance from Lenovo

Thermoprofile

This is the first physical server to be converted into a virtual machine:

Mail

This is the third physical server to be converted into a virtual machine:

SuperServer

This is the fourth physical server to be converted into a virtual machine:

WindowsXP JetDirect

DarrenF created this VM a long time ago

Lucy

This is the second physical server to be converted into a virtual machine:

Smithers

This is the fifth physical server to be converted into a virtual machine:

WDS

This is a new virtual machine created (not converted) with a fresh Windows Server 2012R2 OS install

UWDDC1

This is a new virtual machine created (not converted) with a fresh Windows Server 2012R2 OS install to act as an Active Directory Domain Controller.

UWDDC2

This is a new virtual machine created (not converted) with a fresh Windows Server 2012R2 OS install to act as an Active Directory Domain Controller.

XTGUI

This is a new virtual machine created (not converted) with a fresh Windows Server 2012R2 OS install to act as a server for the Iptor XT GUI.

Third Host Used For Testing

On Monday May 28, 2018 a third host server was added to the VMware cluster.

VMware Tools

VMware Tools is a package of tools and drivers that most virtual machines need

vCenter Standalone Converter

The vCenter Standalone Converter is a badly named application that converts real physical computers into virtual machines running on a host.

VMware Licensing And Support

uniPHARM has purchased a vSphere 6 Essentials Plus Kit that includes vCenter.

Backups

Veeam

As of May 2018, uniPHARM is evaluating Veeam Backup And Replication 9.5 as the platform used to do backups of VMware infrastructure and VM's. This section is mostly a placeholder but the sub sections are full of relevant documentation.

Hardware

On December 20, 2010, uniPHARM purchased an IBM x3650 M3 server from Anisoft

Veeam Software Installation

In May of 2018, Veeam Backup And Replication 9.5 was installed.

Veeam Licensing

We will probably get perpetual licensing with renewable annual support

What Is Veeam Backing Up?

Veeam will be able to backup the VM's and itself and whatever few remaining physical servers that are still in use.

Backup Strategy And Scheduled Jobs

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How Veeam Uses Tape Hardware

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Veeam Technical Support

Put the terms of the support contract in here plus the phone number and expiry dates.

Change Log - Try And Record Any Major Configuration Or Software/Hardware Changes To The Infrastructure Here

  1. Both servers have their UEFI/BIOS set to only boot from the USB thumb drive
  2. Both servers have their UEFI/BIOS set to use maximum performance in the power settings as per this KB article https://www.ibm.com/support/home/docdisplay?lndocid=migr-5098137
  3. Initial ESX version installed on March 21, 2018 is 6.5.0 Build 7388607
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