Installation#

You can install NethServer 8 on a supported distribution or use one of pre-built images. Both methods require a working Internet connection.

Install on a supported distribution#

Pick your preferred Linux distribution between supported ones and ensure that the system firewall is not blocking any connection.

First, make sure the system is up to date and curl is installed:

  • for CentOS/AlmaLinux/RockyLinux: dnf update -y && dnf install -y curl

  • for Debian: apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y && apt-get install -y curl

Start the installation procedure as root:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NethServer/ns8-core/main/core/install.sh | bash

When the installation script ends, access the Web user interface at

https://<server_ip_or_fqdn>/cluster-admin/

First, you will need to login using the default credentials:

  • Username: admin

  • Password: Nethesis,1234

Then, choose Create cluster to create a new single-node cluster and setup a new administrator password.

Even if running on a single node, the system will setup a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for the cluster. With the VPN in place, you will be able to add more nodes in the future.

Please enter the following VPN details:

  • VPN endpoint address: this is the address of the leader node of your cluster, and must be reachable by any other nodes you may add to your cluster. Local network names and IP addresses will prevent you from adding systems to your cluster which aren’t on the same network as the leader node

  • VPN endpoint port: it’s the public port of the VPN, the port should be accessible to any future node

  • VPN CIDR: the VPN network address, make sure this network is not already used inside your existing network environment

If unsure, you can keep the proposed defaults which should be good for most environments.

Finally, click on Create cluster button. Your NS8 is now ready to run applications.

Each cluster has an auto-generated name. If you wish to change it:

  • go to the Settings page and click on the Cluster card

  • enter a name inside the Cluster label field

  • click the Save settings button

Now sure where to go from here? You can install an LDAP or Active Directory user domain, take a look at system logs, add new nodes or setup a metric dashboard.

To customize the installation, please refer to the developer manual.

Pre-built images#

Download one of latest available images from the release page.

Select your preferred distribution flavor, download the image and start it inside your virtualization platform. Choose a qcow2 image if you are using a KVM-based platform like Proxmox or a vmdk image if your using something like VMware. You can also upload the image to a cloud provider and create a public virtual machine.

When using the image on a cloud provider with cloud-init support, the machine will be configured with the host name chosen during the setup phase. Otherwise, when running on a local KVM-based platform, the machine will have the default host name node.ns8.test. Please remember to change the host name by following Debian or RHEL-based distros documentation.

Known bugs:

  • Debian image could be currently used only for local virtualization platform

  • When using RHEL-based images on Proxmox, change the default CPU model to anything other than kvm64

Uninstall#

You can uninstall NS8 from your Linux distribution.

The uninstall command attempts to stop and erase core components and additional modules. Handle it with care because it erases everything under /home and /var/lib/nethserver directories.

To uninstall NS8, execute:

bash /var/lib/nethserver/node/uninstall.sh