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Prerequisites

Preface​

The components and tools that are described here are to be understood as a proposal from Tractus-X and not as standards that must be used. Using the proposed software stack of this tutorial will make it easier to complete it. Nevertheless, if your company policy requires e.g. the use of open stack, or you can't use docker containers or kubernetes, the Catena-X components will also work, you might just need a little extra effort.

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You can either complete the tutorial in a cloud space (e.g. AWS or Azure) or locally. If you choose to run the tutorial locally, make sure that your machine fulfils the minimal performance requirements.

Required Skills and Technologies​

As mentioned in the introduction, no preliminary knowledge about Catena-X is required. However, to complete the tutorial you will have to work with the following technical software stack. A basic understanding of those technologies is advised.

  • Cloud Environment (AWS/Azure) or a local machine with at least 2 CPUs, 16GB RAM, 20GB free storage
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • Kind (for local systems)
  • Helm (will be installed by Terraform)
  • Terraform

Chosing your environment​

The tutorial is designed to be used in cloud environments, such as AWS, Google or Azure. If you intend to build your own local environment independently of Cloud based offers, you may use this tutorial as well. In this case you need to ensure, you have the right technical software stack installed, see below.

Setting up your own environment on local systems​

In case you want to install Catena-X components or [Kits] directly on your local system you need the following:

  • Access to the internet (see next section)
  • One local server instance, either a physical server or a virtual machine with at least 2 CPUs, 16 GB [RAM] and 20 GB storage
  • Your local system should run a Linux Version (Debian or Ubuntu are recommended)
  • You need super user privileges (either root access or the right to use sudo)
  • The above tools should be installed (Docker, Kubernetes, Kind, Helm, Terraform)

Access to the Internet​

Most companies run a complex network. Usually direct open access to the Internet is not allowed. Firewalls and proxy server isolate the local network and most communication links are blocked (by blocking ports and external URLs).

Before you start configuring your environment ensure that you know your

  • network addresses
  • routes (and router) as well as gateways
  • proxy server

You may need the support of your local IT department. Once you are confident to understand the network layout you can start to configure (or ask to configure) the access to required resources (repositories) for the installation process. For the implemented installation process as configured you will need access to a couple of URLs for different repositories:

URL Whitelist​

Specific URLs​, required for [MXD]​

.download.docker.com​
.k8s.io​
.io/v2​
.charts.bitnami.com​
.download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg​
.storage.googleapis.com​
.hub.docker.com                                     # Docker Hub​
.kind.sigs.k8s.io                                   # Kind
.kubernetes.io                                      # Kubernetes​
.helm.sh                                            # Helm Charts​
.hashicorp.com​
.github.io​
.apt.releases.hashicorp.com

General URLs​, may be used for further components of the EDC​

.access.redhat.com/solutions/15840                  # yum​
.apps.fedoraproject.org/packages                    # dnf​
.software.opensuse.org                              # zypper​
.snapcraft.io                                       # snap​
.pypi.org                                           # pip​
.packagist.org                                      # composer​
.deb.debian.org                                     # Debian Package Updates​
.mirrors.centos.org                                 # CentOS Package #Updates​
.mirrors.fedoraproject.org                          # Fedora Package Updates​
.download.opensuse.org                              # openSUSE Package Updates​
.packages.debian.org                                # Debian Package Repositories​
.archlinux.org                                      # Arch Linux Package Repositories​
.packages.gentoo.org                                # Gentoo Package Repositories​
.pkgs.org                                           # RHEL/CentOS Package Repositories​
.kernel.org                                         # Linux Kernel Updates​
.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git. # Linux Firmware Updates​
.sourceforge.net                                    # SourceForge​
.npmjs.com                                          # Node Package Manager (NPM)​
.rubygems.org                                       # RubyGems​
.ubuntu.com                                         # Ubuntu Package Updates​
.github.com​
.raw.githubusercontent.com​
note

The above list is currently a candidate for changes, especially as long as the used installations scripts and tools are still in development.

Ports​

https (443)​

You will need https (port 443) as open port for getting access to the above repositories. If you do not have direct access from your system, you most likely work in an environment which is using proxy forwarding for https. An easy way to configure your system to use the proxy server is by setting the envionment variabale "https_proxy". For example with the command below (bash), if the port 8080 is used for the forwarding:

export https_proxy=http://[proxy-web-or-IP-address]:8080

The complete format is:

export https_proxy=http://[username]:[password]@ [proxy-web-or-IP-address]:[port-number]
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The above URLs then will be passed only if your proxy server is configured to forward the above whitelist of URLs. To ensure your setting is permant, you may want to add the above command in your .bashrc or /etc/environment. Further you can configure apt to use the proxy by entering the following into the configuration file /etc/apt/apt.conf:

Acquire::https::Proxy "http://[username]:[password]@ [proxy-web-or-IP-address]:[port-number]";

To ensure, that the local access is not forwarded, you should set NO_PROXY as environment variable or in your .bashrc or in /etc/environment.

export NO_PROXY="localhost,127.0.0.1,::1"

http (80)​

The port http (80) should not be used, but it will. You can apply the above hints for https (port 443) just by replacing https by http.

ssh (22)​

For the [MXD], which is running locally, you only need secure shell access, which means port 22 should be open.

Install the basic tools (on Ubuntu 20.x and higher)​

Within this section we briefly describe how to install the required tools on an Ubuntu system. We have tested this on 22.04.3 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.15.0-86-generic x86_64). Please check the online availabe documentation for further details.

Install docker​

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install docker.io

Install kubernetes​

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install kubernetes

Install kubectl​

sudo snap install --classic kubectl

Install Kind​

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It might be the case, that not all of these steps are needed on your machine.

Install go​
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install golang-go
Install kind​
sudo go install sigs.k8s.io/kind@v0.20.0
Check go version​
go version
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Response should be: "go version go1.18.1 linux/amd64"

Terraform​

Prepare the installation of Terraform including helm:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y gnupg software-properties-common

Generate key for terraform:

sudo wget -O- https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com/gpg | gpg --dearmor | tee /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg

Verify the generated key is working:

sudo gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg --fingerprint

Store location into source for hashicorp:

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/hashicorp-archive-keyring.gpg] \
https://apt.releases.hashicorp.com $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hashicorp.list

Now install Terraform, which automatically also will install helm.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt-get install terraform

Webbrowser​

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If not already installed, install a webbroser like firefox or google-chrome, you also may need to install an x-environment (xterm).

Check if you can access your system by using

ssh -X <your system>

Then you should be able to run the webrowser locally to open the links given later in the tutorial.

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Your enviroment for the tutorial starting with chapter "deploy" should be ready.