These instructions are for systems that do not have access to the CloudShark Lounge (lounge.cloudshark.org), or access to an OS repository (including local mirrors). If you have internet access, we highly recommend using the online installer because it is very easy and your system will have all the most recent security updates from your OS vendor.

These instructions are valid for both first time installations and upgrades.

Offline Install Overview

The CloudShark offline installation requires the system administrator to provide an ISO repository of the CentOS/RHEL OS packages. After the ISO repository is configured correctly, the CloudShark offline installer (.bin file) is downloaded from the CloudShark software lounge. This offline installer contains many CloudShark OS packages. It includes the CloudShark administration kit, which is finally used to register the CloudShark license and render the service online.

Offline Install Procedure

Provide the DVD Repository

• For CentOS 6.x, we require CentOS-6.5+-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso as the OS media source.
• For RHEL 6.x, we require rhel-server-6.5+-x86_64-dvd.iso as the OS media source.
• For CentOS 7.x, we require CentOS-7.0+-x86_64-bin-DVD1.iso as the OS media source.
• For RHEL 7.x, we require rhel-server-7.0+-x86_64-dvd.iso as the OS media source.

There are other OS media sources available, but these listed above provide all of the packages required by the CloudShark offline installer. The above sources are the only supported media sources compatible with the CloudShark offline installer.

If you are installing CloudShark on a physical machine, burn the ISO to DVD. For a virtual machine, load the ISO in the virtual DVD drive.

For first-time installations only

Install the operating system. Manage any special hardware devices or storage controllers your environment requires. Reboot the system when the installer has finished.

Set up your offline software repository

The installation DVD must be mounted so that CloudShark can access the software on it. The instructions below assume the installation DVD is mounted under the /media directory. During the OS installation, a symbolic link from /dev/dvd to wherever your specific DVD drive was during installation should have been created. Assuming this is the case, to mount the DVD under /media, run the following command as root:

mount /dev/dvd /media
# or try this if the above fails:
mount /dev/sr0 /media

Examine the /media directory. Somewhere there will be a repodata subdirectory, and the parent directory is your repository root. For example, if /media/repodata exists, then /media is your repository root.

If /media/cdrom/repodata exists, then the repository root is /media/cdrom. This is all dependent upon how the DVD was originally mounted, so some examination is required.

The /etc/yum.repos.d directory contains the various YUM repository definition files. Systems such as CentOS have a DVD repository already defined in the CentOS-Media.repo. RHEL does not provide this file by default, but it does include an example media.repo file in the root of the mounted DVD.

For CentOS repo files

• Create /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-Media.repo with the following contents and change the value of the baseurl field:

[c$releasever-media]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Media
baseurl=<See Below>
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-$releasever

• baseurl field is set to the repository root your DVD is mounted as

For example, if /media/repodata exists, then:

baseurl=file:///media/

But if /media/cdrom/repodata exists, then:

baseurl=file:///media/cdrom/

Full CentOS repo example:

[c$releasever-media]
name=CentOS-$releasever - Media
baseurl=file:///media/
gpgcheck=1
enabled=1
gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-$releasever

For RHEL repo files

• Copy /media/media.repo to /etc/yum.repos.d/
• chmod 644 /etc/yum.repos.d/media.repo
• Change the name of the repo from InstallMedia to rhel-media
• enabled field is set to 1
• baseurl field is set to the repository root your DVD is mounted as

Full RHEL repo Example:

[rhel-media]
mediaid=**dont change this**
metadata_expire=**dont change this**
gpgcheck=0
cost=500
baseurl=file:///media/
enabled=1

We require the InstallMedia to be changed to rhel-media because there is a YUM plugin that competes for the InstallMedia repo name. By choosing the rhel-media name, no other repositories will interfere.

Download and run the CloudShark installer

Go to the CloudShark Offline Instructions page on the CloudShark Lounge.

Get the first file, cloudshark-installer.bin. Leave the window open because you will come back for the license in a while. Save the CloudShark installer on a USB drive and move it to the CloudShark system.

Run cloudshark-installer.bin as root. Example:

chmod u+x cloudshark-installer.bin
./cloudshark-installer.bin

This program will first use the DVD media, if it is all correctly configured, to install many additional OS packages required by CloudShark. After this, it will install several more packages stored within the program itself. This second set of packages are normally provided by the CloudShark Lounge repository.

Register the system

Skip this step during upgrades because your system is already registered.

You need to register the system-id of your operating system with an available license from the CloudShark Lounge. Since your operating system is not online, you will need to transport the system-id by hand to another online system for registration.

To view the system id on your screen:

/usr/cloudshark/ruby/bin/cafepack --show-system-id

Or to save it into a file onto your USB drive:

/usr/cloudshark/ruby/bin/cafepack --show-system-id > /media/USB/systemid.txt

Go to the CloudShark Lounge licenses page and register your system to your unregistered license.

Download the license

Go back to the web page with the offline installation files. Refresh the page if you just finished registering your system.

Download the license and place this file onto your USB drive.

Install and activate CloudShark

As the root user, run the following command:

cloudshark-admin --install-latest --offline-repo --license-file /media/USB/cloudshark.lic 

At this point, CloudShark will be accessible by visiting the IP address indicated by the installer.

See also