Installing BMC Helix Platform services

Before you begin

• Create a namespace for installing BMC Helix Platform services.
• Configure the Ingress controller.

To create a namespace

1. Run the following command. The namespace must be a DNS-1123 label. That is, it must consist of lowercase alphanumeric characters or '-', and must start and end with an alphanumeric character.

   kubectl create ns <namespace>

   Important

   In BMC Helix Platform services 23.2.02, Elasticsearch and Kibana are deployed in the BMC Helix Platform namespace, and not in a separate namespace.

2. Verify that nothing is installed in the namespace in which you plan to deploy the product.

   1. Run the following command:

      kubectl get all -n <namespace_created_earlier_in_this_procedure>

   2. Make sure that the following message is displayed:

      No resources found.

To configure the Ingress controller

1. Identify the configmap name by running the following command:

   kubectl get all -n <ingress_nginx_namespace>

2. Change the configmap name to use the configmap in your environment by running the following command:

   kubectl edit cm <ingress_nginx_configmap> -n  <ingress_nginx_namespace>
   
   data:
     enable-underscores-in-headers: "true"
     proxy-body-size: 250m
     server-name-hash-bucket-size: "1024"
     ssl-redirect: "false"
     use-forwarded-headers: "true"
    worker-processes: "40"

To deploy the BMC Helix Platform services

1. Log in to the controller or bastion machine from where the Kubernetes cluster is accessible.
2. Download the deployment manager BMC_Helix_Platform_Services_for_Service_Management_Version_23.2.02.zip from BMC Electronic Product Distribution (EPD) and extract it, if you haven't already.
   The ZIP file contains the deployment manager, helix-on-prem-deployment-manager-23.2.02.sh 
   To download the files from EPD, see Downloading-the-installation-files.

1. Go to the directory where you downloaded the deployment manager from the EPD and give the execute permission to the helix-on-prem-deployment-manager-23.2.02.sh file.
   

2. Self-extract the deployment manager. Run the following command:

   ./helix-on-prem-deployment-manager-23.2.02.sh
   cd helix-on-prem-deployment-manager
3. Prepare for password encryption:

1. 1. Go to the commons/certs directory and open the secrets.txt file.

   2. Add the following passwords to this file:

      Property	Description	Example
      IMAGE_REGISTRY_PASSWORD	Password for the Docker registry.	5016adc4-993f-4fc5-8fb0-8ef6b02ca9d3
      SMTP_PASSWORD	Password to connect to the SMTP server.  In the configs/infra.config file, if the value of the SMTP_AUTH parameter file is NONE, leave the SMTP_PASSWORD value blank as shown below:  SMTP_PASSWORD=""	password123
      SMART_SYSTEM_PASSWORD	Password to connect to the  BMC Discovery appliance.	password123
      PG_PASSWD	Password to connect to the PostgreSQL database.	password123
      KIBANA_PASSWORD	Password to connect to BMC Helix Logging (EFK).	kibana123
      MINIO_ACCESS_KEY	Password to access MinIO.	admin
      MINIO_SECRET_KEY	Password to connect to MinIO.	bmcAdm1n
      ES_JKS_PASSWORD	Password to connect to Elasticsearch. Important: If you are using a custom CA certificate, specify the password, else specify the value as ES_JKS_PASSWORD=""	test@1234

   3. Save the secrets.txt file

      Troubleshooting tip

      Make sure that you provide all passwords in the secrets.txt file. Even if a single password is not added in the secrets.txt file, the deployment fails with an error.

      Sample secrets.txt file

      # cat commons/certs/secrets.txt
      #Please put the passwords in this file
      IMAGE_REGISTRY_PASSWORD=password123
      SMTP_PASSWORD=""
      SMART_SYSTEM_PASSWORD=password123
      PG_PASSWD=pGtest2020
      KIBANA_PASSWORD=kibana123MINIO_ACCESS_KEY=adminMINIO_SECRET_KEY=bmcAdm1nES_JKS_PASSWORD=test@1234
      
      ################## End OF THE FILE ####################

2. In the helix-on-prem-deployment-manager/configs/infra.config file, modify the following parameters that are environment-specific.

   Important

   • The following load balancer hosts are required. You do not need any subdomains.
     • LB_HOST
       Ensure that the LB_HOST value is not the same as the tenant URL.

   • • TMS_LB_HOST
     • MINIO_LB_HOST
     • MINIO_API_LB_HOST
     • KIBANA_LB_HOST
     • Tenant URL that is derived based on the following parameters from the infra.config file:
       $COMPANY_NAME-$TENANT_TYPE-$ENVIRONMENT.$DOMAIN

   • Make sure that you have created a storage class.
     BMC supports a Bring-Your-Own-Storage-Class model, for any block storage supporting high performance IOPS. NFS is not supported for persistent volumes. CephRBD is certified by BMC.

3. In the helix-on-prem-deployment-manager/configs/deployment.config file, modify the following parameters:

   Parameter	Required value
   Infra services options
   DEPLOYMENT_SIZE	itsmcompact or itsmsmall If you are installing BMC Helix Platform services in a nonproduction environment, specify the value as itsmcompact. If you are installing BMC Helix Platform services in a production environment, specify the value as itsmsmall.
   INFRA	yes
   _PTPOSTGRESS	yes
   _KAFKA	yes
   _REDIS	yes
   _RSSO	yes
   _ELASTICSEARCH	yes
   _VICTORIAMETRICS	yes
   _MINIO	yes
   BMC Helix Dashboard services
   HELIX_DASHBOARD_SERVICES	yes
   BMC Helix ITSM Insights
   (Optional)ITSMINSIGHT_SERVICES	yes  If you are not using ITSM Insights, set this parameter to No.
   AR System services
   ARSERVICES	yes
   BMC Helix Logging
   BMC_HELIX_LOGGING	yes

4. Install the product by running the following command:

   ./deployment-manager.sh

After the BMC Helix Platform services are deployed, the tenant administrator receives the following emails:

• An email with details about the BMC Helix Platform account
• An email to change the BMC Helix Platform account password at the first login

All installation logs are located in the following directory:

helix-on-prem-deployment-manager/logs

Sample configuration files

Where to go from here