Deploy a hardware appliance

Two hardware appliances are available to work with the OpenNMS Portal: the Mini and the 1U. The installation process for both is almost identical. This procedure notes any appliance-specific tasks.

To install a hardware appliance, follow these steps:

Unpack the Minion Appliance and set it up in your preferred location.
Plug the power cable(s) and an Ethernet cable (not included) into the Minion Appliance.
1. 1U: You must use the jack on the left side on the back of the appliance (Gb1).
2. Mini: Use the LAN jack.
  
  1U (back)
  
  Mini (back)
Connect the Minion Appliance to your main network router/switch using the Ethernet cable.
Connect a monitor to the appliance.
1. 1U: through the VGA port.
2. Mini: through the HDMI port.
Plug the Minion Appliance into a power source.
Power on the appliance.
Wait for the appliance to start up, then SSH to it and use the following credentials to sign in:
- user name: admin
- password: opennms
  
  You are prompted to change your password.
Pick a secure password and log back in to the appliance with the new password.
If required, use the terminal user interface (TUI) to set additional information:
1. Static IP address and related information (if not using DHCP).
2. HTTP(S) proxy.
3. Other network information (NTP server, Gateway IP addresses, DNS server, DNS search names).
Reboot if you are using an HTTP(S) proxy.
Use the TUI to run a health check to verify your setup.
1. In addition, we recommend you check that the Minion Appliance is connected to the Appliance Service.

An appliance takes approximately 2-5 minutes to reboot (about 2.5 minutes until you can SSH into it, and a bit longer before the appliance appears in the OpenNMS Portal as online with a Minion).

Check that Minion Appliance is connected to Appliance Service

After installation, you should confirm that the Minion Appliance is connected to the Appliance Service. Sign in to the portal to view the list of your organization’s appliances. If an appliance’s state is "Offline", it is not connected to the Appliance Service. With all other appliance statuses (including "Unknown"), the appliance is connected to the Appliance Service.

Minion Appliance connection troubleshooting

If your appliance is not connected to the Appliance Service, try the following:

Make sure you have an IP address.
Check that you implemented security and Minion Appliance firewall rules correctly.
(Virtual appliances only) Check that the connection string on the appliance is correct.

Refer to getting started for information on using the OpenNMS Portal and Appliance Service.