Downloading
If you have not already done so, you can download the software from the Your Licences section of the Flexiant website. You need to be a registered user to do this, but you can register there if you are not yet registered.
Once you have registered the Your Licences section will link you to an ISO file for the latest version of Flexiant Cloud Orchestrator. Download this onto an appropriate machine in order to burn it to either DVD or USB memory stick.
Preparing the Software
Flexiant Cloud Orchestrator as standard installs a base copy of Ubuntu 14.04 as part of its install process. This means it needs to be installed on a blank machine. You can install it via USB memory stick or DVD, depending on your preference. If using a USB device, note that a simple drag and drop copy will not work; the installer must be written to the USB device using any of the methods outlined below. Once the installer has been written to DVD or USB, it is used to install Flexiant Cloud Orchestrator onto your chosen hardware during the boot process.
Preparing a DVD
To record the image on to a DVD you can use the same DVD writer program you normally would for any other ISO or IMG file. Some writing software may look for it to end in an .img or .iso extension, so please be aware of this as you may need to rename it. Check the instructions or help system of your DVD writer program if you aren't sure.
Preparing a USB memory stick
Instructions vary depending on operating system, instructions for Windows and Linux are available below:
Windows
You can use whichever tool you prefer that is capable of writing the USB memory stick correctly, however we recommend Image Writer for Windows which was originally designed to work closely with Ubuntu, the operating system we use.
Image Writer is very simple to use, once you have downloaded and installed Image Writer and downloaded the Flexiant Cloud Orchestrator image, follow the instructions below:
- Insert your USB memory stick
- Note the drive letter assigned to your USB memory stick
- Start Disk Imager (this is what Image Writer is called)
- Select the downloaded file and target device, and click "Write"
- Remove your USB memory stick when the operation is complete
Ubuntu Linux graphical install
First install and run usb-creator. Once installed, you can find this in System-->Administration-->Create a USB startup disk (for Ubuntu) or K-Menu-->Applications-->System-->Startup Disk Creator (for Kubuntu).
If usb-creator is not already installed, you can install it using the Synaptic Package Manager. Alternatively, you can install it as follows on Ubuntu:
sudo aptitude install usb-creator-gtk
or as follows on Kubuntu:
sudo aptitude install usb-creator-kde
Linux command line
Firstly these instructions assume you have a working knowledge of linux and know how to detect the relevant device name given to the flash device when plugged in to your machine. If you are not aware of how to do this we suggest using the DVD instead as overwriting the wrong files could result in significant data loss. You will also need root access (sudo or direct) to the machine. Remember, you are installing to the device itself, not any partition on it.
Once you have done that, please follow the instructions below.
The following steps are dangerous unless you know your way around a linux system, use with care.
dd if=/path/to/flexiant-cloud-orchestrator.img of=YOURDEVICE oflag=direct bs=1048576
You should substitute YOURDEVICE with the name of the device concerned (e.g. /dev/sdc). It is vital you get this right or you could overwrite an existing disk.
If the computer you are using does not support the oflag=direct option, then try again leaving it out. Without it, the process might take longer. The transfer could take 2 to 10 minutes depending on the speed of your computer, its USB bus speed, and the flash media type.
The dd command will output results when it completes. If there are no errors, you can remove the flash media after a few seconds. If your media has a busy indicator light, be sure to wait until it is no longer busy.
When successfull, you are then ready to plug the USB device into the machine you wish to install onto and tell it to boot from USB. At this point you should refer to the Installing the Software (KVM and Xen) page.
Other systems
Any programme which performs a bit-for-bit copy of the downloaded file onto the USB memory stick will work. Do not use programs which attempt to copy each file from within the .iso image to the USB stick, as these will fail to create a bootable image.
Next Steps
Once the software has been written to DVD or USB, it is used to install Flexiant Cloud Orchestrator onto your chosen hardware during the boot process. For instructions on how to install Flexiant Cloud Orchestrator, see the relevant Quick Start guide for your chosen hypervisor.