System requirements

Before you deploy BMC Helix Edge, use the information in this topic to make sure that your environment meets the hardware and software requirements. You must set up your own Kubernetes cluster. Both root and non-root users can deploy BMC Helix ITOM. The BMC Helix Edge system requirements might vary depending on the deployment and configuration, including Near Field Communication (NFC) requirements. 

The actual system requirements vary based on factors such as the scale of deployment, the number of devices being managed, the volume of data processed, and specific customization needs. Therefore, we recommend you refer to the official BMC Helix Edge and system requirements documentation for the most accurate and up-to-date information tailored to your specific deployment scenario.

Make sure that you have the cluster admin access for deploying BMC Helix Edge.

Hardware requirements

CPU

4 multi-core processor

RAM

16GB RAM for each worker node

Storage

  • NFS Server in the /var directory:
    • RAM: 8 GB to 16 GB
    • CPUs: 4
    • Storage: 200 GB
  • Worker node /var directory: 100GB in /var for worker node
Important

In a BMC Helix Edge deployment, the system uses the NFS details to create a Persistent Volume Claim (PVC). See Deploying Network File System.

Network

Stable network with access to the Docker registry.

Software requirements

Component name

Environment

Additional information 

BMC Helix Edge node

Docker 23.0.0

docker-compose version 1.29.2

BMC Helix Edge uses Docker for containerization and management of services and components.

NGINX Ingress Controller

*In this documentation, the NGINX Ingress Controller refers to the Open-Source NGINX Ingress Controller maintained by Kubernetes.

We have certified NGINX Ingress Controller version 1.7.0 with:

  • Kubernetes 1.24 and 1.25

  • Nginx-ingress-controller is installed by default in the ingress-nginx namespace. Review the following parameter value requirements in the nginx-configuration configmap in the ingress-nginx namespace:

    • enable-underscores-in-headers: "true"
    • proxy-body-size: 256m
    • server-name-hash-bucket-size: "1024"
    • ssl-redirect: "false"
    • use-forwarded-headers: "true"
    • proxy-connect-timeout: "300"
    • proxy-read-timeout: "600"
    • proxy-send-timeout: "600"
    • allow-snippet-annotations: "true"

    You can use the following command to view the parameters in the nginx-configuration configmap:

    kubectl get cm ingress-nginx-controller -n ingress-nginx -o yaml

BMC Helix Edge node

BMC Helix Edge core installer host

Operating System

  • Node (Linux-based operating system)
    • CentOS 7
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
    • Ubuntu 22
    • Ubuntu 16
  • BMC Helix Edge-Core installer host
    • CentOS 7
    • CentOS 8*
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8*

*CentOS 8 can only be used if the OS meets Python, Ansible, Helm, and kubectl prerequisites.

Container Orchestration


Kubernetes 1.24.x – 1.25.x

You can use a Kubernetes cluster or an existing BMC Helix Operations Management On-premises cluster with three worker notes where you deployed the BMC Helix Operations Management On-premises cluster. 

Important

BMC recommends using the KUBECONFIG variable to point to the Kubernetes cluster on the controller or bastion machine. BMC Helix Edge supports Kubernetes version 1.25 and earlier in the restricted Kubernetes Pod security standard for the namespace where it is being deployed.

Kubernetes management tools

Rancher Kubernetes with underlying Kubernetes 1.24.x – 1.28.x.

Package Manager


Helm 3.11 is supported with Kubernetes 1.24 and 1.25.

Container Host operating system


The product has no specific dependencies on the underlying Linux OS or version running on your worker nodes.

You can use any x86_64 GNU/Linux OS supported by your Kubernetes version.

All worker nodes must have cgroup version 1 for Linux. cgroup version 2 is not supported. 

To verify the cgroup version, run the following command as a root user:

mount | grep cgroup

Expected output: cgroup

If the output shows cgroup2, the worker nodes have cgroup version 2 enabled.

Persistent or Elastic Storage


BMC supports a Bring-Your-Own-Storage-Class model for any block storage supporting high-performance IOPS.

A ReadWriteMany storage class is required for BMC Helix Edge.

NFS is certified by BMC.

Important

NFS is one of the supported ReadWriteMany file stores. The product supports any ReadWriteMany file stores.

For more information about PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC), see PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) requirements.

Load Balancer    


Any load balancer is supported. See Load balancer requirements.

Docker Registry    


  • HTTPs access must exist to the containers.bmc.com site from the Kubernetes cluster to pull the container images.
    Access to containers.bmc.com is required if the property's value in the deploy.sh file is containers.bmc.com. However, BMC Software recommends using a local repository with options to run in an air-gapped environment. In this scenario, the value of the REGISTRY_HOST property points to the local repository. 
  • A docker client is required. If you use Podman, use an alias for the Docker.
  • Direct access to BMC's Docker Trusted Repository at https://containers.bmc.com/ is available. Use the latest version of Harbor synchronized with BMC’s Docker Trusted Registry.

Best practice

BMC Software recommends installing a local repository, specifically the local Harbor repository. BMC does not manage any repository other than Harbor and recommends that you use it to pull the container image. However, if you use any other repository, make sure it is configured to connect to the BMC DTR to pull the container image.

A local repository provides the following benefits:

  • Improved performance
    The container images are cached and accessed locally during deployments and upgrades.
  • Security 
    You can implement your security scan of containers before deployment.
  • Access control
    You can control access to the local repository by using authentication and authorization.
  • Air-gap support
    You can replicate the local repository to support environments that do not have internet access.


Certified component matrix

The certified versions of NGINX Ingress Controller and Helm with the Kubernetes orchestration environment are as follows:

Kubernetes

Ingress

Helm

1.25

1.7.0

3.11

1.24

1.7.0

3.11

Harbor repository requirements

The HTTPS protocol is required for the Harbor registry. For information about Harbor installation, see  Installation and Configuration in Harbor documentation.

Make sure that your system meets the following requirements to access images from a local Harbor repository:

Requirement

Description

Hardware

Minimum 4 CPU with 8 GB memory and 500 GB disk space

Software

To learn about software requirements for Harbor, see Harbor Installation Prerequisites in Harbor documentation.

Important: Make sure the software versions match the version of Harbor that you want to install.

Network port

Harbor installation uses the following ports as the default ports:

  • Port 443 with HTTPS protocol
  • Port 4443 with HTTPS protocol
  • Port 80 with HTTP protocol

For more information about network ports for Harbor installation, see  Harbor Installation Prerequisites in Harbor documentation. 

For information about setting up the Harbor repository, see Setting up a Harbor registry in a local network and synchronizing it with BMC DTR.

Controller machine requirements

The controller machine supports the following Operating systems:

Operating System

Version

Linux 

8.5 or later

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

  

8 or later

Ubuntu 

20.04.6 or later

Browser support

Operating System

Browsers

All supported operating systems and platforms

Firefox

Chrome

Windows   

Firefox

Chrome

Macintosh OS 

Safari 

Requirements for BMC Helix Edge products

In addition to the requirements added so far in this document, the following items are required for BMC Helix Edge:

Requirements

Description

BMC Helix IT Operations Management

The required version is 24.1.

This version is mandatory for all BMC Helix Edge deployments. You can deploy a new implementation of BMC Helix IT Operations Management or use an existing one.

The following topics provide more information from the BMC Helix IT Operations Management documentation:

Swap

The swap must be turned off.

IP configuration

All nodes must be configured with a static IP.

Other component requirements for BMC Helix Edge core installer host

Component name

Download location

Steps

Python 3.x

Download and install Python 3.x.
To download the files, click Python Downloadsimage-2024-2-23_15-9-7.png.

Depending on the version of PIP, run one of the following commands to import the necessary Kubernetes package:

  • Python PIP version 3.11: pip3.11 install kubernetes
  • Other versions of Python PIP 3: pip3 install kubernetes

Ansible 3.x

Install Ansible, follow the Ansible installation instructions.
To download the files, click the Ansible Installation guideimage-2024-2-23_15-9-7.png.

  1. To install Ansible, run the following command with administrative privileges:
    sudo pip3 install Ansible
  2. To install the Kubernetes core Ansible module, run the following command:
    ansible-galaxy collection install kubernetes.core

helm 3.x

Follow the helm installation instructions.
To download the helm installation setup, click the helm Installation Guideimage-2024-2-23_15-9-7.png.

NA

Kubectl

To install kubectl on the machine where you run the kubectl commands against the Kubernetes cluster, find the kubectl installation instructions for your environment.
To download the Kubectl installation setup, click Install Kubectl. 

Contact your Kubernetes administrator to get the kubeconfig file and place the file inside the user's directory (~/.kube). You require the director path name of the kubeconfig file in deploy.sh before starting the deployment on the BMC Helix Edge core.

Setting up for the installation.

envsubst utility 

Install the envsubst utility. Make sure that the envsubst utility is available by default on most UNIX machines. If the utility is not present, install the gettext package containing the envsubst library. 

Make sure the envsubst utility is present in the system. This utility is present by default on most UNIX machines. If the utility is not available, install the gettext package. This package contains the envsubst library. On macOS, you can install it by using Homebrew:

brew install gettext

JQ Command

Install the JQ utility.

For CentOS, Red Hat:

sudo yum install jq

JMESPath

Install the JMESPath library.

Example: 

pip3 install jmespath

Prerequisite software

Before carrying out the installation, make sure that you have the following components installed in the client's environment for a comprehensive deployment and management environment: 

BMC Helix Operations Management OnPrem Base Stack with BMC Helix SSO Server

The Automation and Digital Enterprise (BMC Helix Operations Management OnPrem) Base Stack is a fundamental infrastructure for BMC Helix Edge. BMC Helix Operations Management On-premises includes the Remedy Single Sign-On (BMC Helix SSO) server. BMC Helix SSO plays a vital role in authentication and providing single sign-on capabilities, ensuring secure access to the BMC Helix Edge environment. 

BMC Helix Operations Management

The BMC Helix Operations Management environment is responsible for the overall management and monitoring of the BMC Helix Edge environment. With BMC Helix Operations Management, administrators can oversee the health, performance, and configuration of BMC Helix Edge services and devices. The environment also ensures the reliability and availability. For more information about deploying BMC Helix Operations Management, see Deploying-packages.

BMC Helix Dashboards

BMC Helix Dashboards provide a user interface for visualizing and interacting with the data and insights from IoT devices and services. It serves as a central hub for monitoring the real-time status and performance of the IoT infrastructure, making it easier for users to make informed decisions.

BMC Helix AI Foundation

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a critical component in the IoT deployment. The BMC Helix AI Foundation offers the tools and frameworks for integrating AI-driven analytics and machine learning capabilities in the BMC Helix Edge environment. With BMC Helix AI Foundation, users can perform advanced data analysis, anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, and other AI-powered features.

Port requirements

The system requires specific port configurations for the BMC Helix Edge's optimal performance to make sure proper functioning.

Core

  • 443 (web UI): HTTPS
  • 1883 (MQTT): TCP
  • 8500 (Consul): HTTP

Node

MQTT: 1883 (TCP)


Important

The following two ports are temporary and will not be required in future releases:

  • Node-Red: 1880 (HTTP inbound)
  • Kuiper: 59720 (HTTP inbound)

Additional requirements

  • If you use custom domain names, the DNS configuration for host name resolution is https://<namespace-name>.<domain-name>.
    For example https://neo.dsmlab.bmc.com/

    • <namespace-name> is neo.
    • domain_name.com is .dsmlab.bmc.com.

    Be sure to use https:// because it is a secure connection protocol.

  • HTTPs access must be present in the containers.bmc.comimage-2024-2-23_15-9-7.png site from the customer environment.


 

Tip: For faster searching, add an asterisk to the end of your partial query. Example: cert*