Installing BMC Server Automation components

On Linux and UNIX servers, you can install all server components of a BMC Server Automation system at one time except BMC Server Automation Console.

This topic provides instructions for installing the following server components:

  • Application Server
  • RSCD agent
  • Network Shell
  • PXE Server
  • TFTP Server

If you prefer, you can install only some of the available BMC Server Automation components.

Note

  • Choose all components you need for the installation. If you choose not to install a component, you cannot add it to the installation later by running this installation script again.
  • For successful provisioning, the RSCD agent must be installed on the same host computer as the PXE server. If you install the PXE server, you must also install the RSCD agent.

This installation does not install the BMC Server Automation Console. To view the console, you must install it. For information, see Installing-the-BMC-Server-Automation-Console-Linux-and-UNIX.

To install a Provisioning Server, install the Application Server and select the option to enable provisioning.

Performing this installation creates a UNIX user called bladmin and a UNIX group called bladmin. The BMC Server Automation Application Server runs as the bladmin user.

If a user wants to use BMC Server Automation and does not have root privileges, the user must first be added to the bladmin group to gain access to essential configuration files.

This installation does not set up a Network Shell Proxy Server. For instructions on setting up and customizing a Network Shell Proxy Server, see Setting-up-a-Network-Shell-proxy-server.

If the host computer on which you are installing the Network Shell has:

  • A supported version of Perl installed — The Network Shell installation automatically installs the Network Shell Perl module. (For information about the Perl versions that BMC Server Automation supports, see Perl support.)
  • An unsupported version of Perl installed — The installation copies files that allow you to install the Perl module after you have installed the supported version of Perl.

To perform a silent installation of BMC Server Automation components, see Using-silent-mode-to-install-BMC-Server-Automation-components.

Before you begin

  • Linux platforms on which you plan to install the Application Server or Network Shell must have the appropriate version of libtermcap.so.2 shared library installed. Install the shared library before installing these components. For more information, see Requirement for installing the Application Server, BMC Server Automation Console, or Network Shell on Linux.
  • The UNIX or Linux file system partition to which you plan to install the Application Server must not be mounted with the nosuid option.
  • Set the umask for the root user to 0027 or 0022 on the Application Server host computer.
  • BMC Server Automation might have many open files at any given point in its operation. Therefore, unless your environment has specific needs for a more restrictive setting (depending on the specific operation of the Application Server), BMC recommends that you ensure that the following operating system parameters are set for the bladmin user. These settings should be permanently set for the user (for example, in the /etc/security/limits.conf  file for Linux):
    • Set core files to unlimited.
    • Set the number of open file descriptors to 8192
  • If you are installing the RSCD agent on a computer running Red Hat Enterprise Linux version 6 x64 KVM, make sure that the glibc package is installed.

  • Optionally, set the INSTALL_FILES_TEMP environment variable to a valid, writable directory. If this variable is set, the installer files are stored in that location, thereby reducing the disk space requirements for /tmpduring the installation. Enter the following commands at the operating system command line:

    INSTALL_FILES_TEMP=<temporaryDirLocation>
    export INSTALL_FILES_TEMP

    For more information, see Methods-for-reducing-installation-space-on-Linux-and-UNIX.

To install all BMC Server Automation server components

  1. Navigate to the directory containing installation files and run the installation script for BMC Server Automation. (Script names follow the convention: BBSAversion-platform.) BMC recommends that you execute the installation from a root shell. Do not execute the installation script from a non-root account.

  2. Follow the instructions in the installation script and refer to Worksheet-for-installing-BMC-Server-Automation-on-Linux-and-UNIXfor details about the required installation parameters.

    Note

    • To avoid permission issues with bladmin, do not install a local installation beneath the root home directory.
    • If you are setting up VMware ESX servers, you must define certain properties that allow the Application Server to communicate with a web service which accesses the ESX server's virtual infrastructure. For more information on configuring an ESX server, see Setting-up-a-VMware-vSphere-environment.

    • If you have enabled Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux), during the agent installation you are prompted to allow the installer to alter settings for SELinux. These setting changes modify the security settings to allow assets to be deployed successfully. If you do not allow the installer to alter SELinux settings, or you enable SELinux after the agent installation, you must disable SELinux or run the following commands to allow assets to be deployed successfully:

      setsebool -P allow_execstack=1
      setsebool -P allow_execmod=1

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