FreeSBC:Baremetal:Installation

Requirements

Minimal server requirements:

• 64 bits server
• Optical disk drive
• One management Ethernet
• Console access through serial port or keyboard/monitor ports
• BIOS setup for maximum performance (i.e. no dynamic CPU throttling)

Sessions	CPU	RAM	Disk Space	Data Ethernet ports***
Up to 5,000	2	4 Gb	40 Gb	1 Gbps
5,000-20,000	4	8 Gb	60 Gb	4 X 1 Gbps or 1 X 10 Gbps
20,000-50,000	4**	16 Gb	80 Gb	1 X 10 Gbps
Above 50,000	6**	24+ Gb	100 Gb	Multiple 10 Gbps

** The CPU number is based on Intel R630 with Xeon E5-2643. Double the CPUs number if yours are from a earlier generations.

*** See list of supported Network Interface Cards (NICs) here: List of supported NICs

More details on HW/CPU/NIC requirements can be found here: Requirements Matrix

For better performance (see optimization section)

• NUMA tuning
• PCIe tuning

Getting the ISO

Please go to our FreeSBC Download site to get a copy of the latest FreeSBC ISO.

Installing the ISO

The installation process will reformat the server's disks and install all the necessary software.

Installing using the ISO burned onto a bootable USB flash drive

Use a software application to burn the ISO onto a USB flash drive. On Windows, Rufus is known to work with the FreeSBC ISO. But generally any similar application should work. Make sure to set the volume label to "CENTOS 7 X8" and to format the drive in the FAT32 file system format.

Physical installation steps

1. Identify which Ethernet networks you need and connect them to your server. Refer to Networking for more information. For FreeSBC Transcoding and associated network setup please also see FreeSBC:Transcoding and Network Setup.
2. Burn the ISO onto a DVD or a USB flash drive
3. Get an access to the console of the server. Usually, this is achieved by connecting a keyboard and screen to the server.
4. Insert the DVD in the optical drive of your server and boot from the DVD drive.
   • Alternatively, plug in your USB flash drive and boot from that drive.
5. You should get the to the "Virtual Appliance Installer" menu on your display:
   
6. Hit 'R' key, then 'ENTER' key to start the installation
   
7. Wait for the installation process to complete. When installation is complete, the server will reboot itself.
   • Important: Make sure to remove the DVD from the drive while the server is rebooting. If you get back to "Virtual Appliance Installer", just eject the CD or remove the USB flash drive and reboot again.
8. It may take a couple of minutes for the system to be brought up after the first reboot. Until the WebPortal is accessible, you must not reboot the newly created machine to allow the installation to complete properly.

Assigning IP address

By default, all detect network interfaces will have DHCP enabled. Thus, the server might already have an IP address assigned if the network has a DHCP server running. In such case, you can display and use it to access the web portal configuration panel.

1. Retrieve an IP address assigned by DHCP

 # ifconfig

If you want to assigned a static IP address or there are no DHCP on your network, you will need to configure it manually.

1. Use tbchangeip shell command and answered questions to changed your Ethernet interface address:

 # tbchangeip

Accessing the FreeSBC web portal

1. Open a web browser to the IP of your server, on port 12358. Example if your server address is 192.168.178.30, the URL would be:
   http://192.168.178.30:12358
2. You should get to the FreeSBC Configuration Wizard
   

From here, you can go to Web Portal Initial Configuration Guide to continue the installation, and/or optimize your server to get the maximum out of your server.

Web Portal Initial Configuration

Click on the following link to pursue installation from the web portal: Web Portal Initial Configuration

Optimizations

Click on the following link for baremetal server optimizations: Optimizations