Windows Filer Installation Reference

In order to use Windows-based appliances in AppLogic you must have the 3tera Windows enhancement hotfix installed on your grid.

AppLogic 2.4.x includes a reference template application Sys_Filer_Windows03. This application includes a Filer_Windows03 appliance which is missing a placeholder volume named windows. This volume is created using WIN03S as a base (Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition R2 32-bit). Please first create the Windows Server appliance WIN03S as described here.

These instructions for building the Windows filer assume that the WIN03S appliance exists and contians a boot volume that is 3GB in size. The filer should be made to have a 3GB boot volume. Please ensure that your grid contains a WIN03S appliance with a 3GB boot volume before creating your Windows filer.

1. Import the Sys_Filer_Windows03 application from your AppLogic 2.4.x distro: "./aldo ai grid=mygrid applications=Sys_Filer_Windows03"
   • Note that you must be a grid maintainer in order to do this
2. Make a new singleton from WIN03S:
   • Create a new application. Include an instance of WIN03S and branch the class.
   • Enable the external interface:
     • In the application editor right-click on the singleton and select Modify Boundary.
     • In the Interfaces tab check the box for External Interface.
   • Start the application and access the graphic console of the singleton.
   • If necessary, configure the network settings for the external interface as described in the section above for the Windows Server.
3. Install devcon, a command line utility for managing devices provided by Microsoft:
   • Point IE at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272
   • Open and run the self-extracting executable devcon.exe
   • Unzip the contents to the folder C:\devcon\
4. Un-install optional windows components such as IIS which conflict with the operation of Filer_Windows03 or are simply un-necessary. Open Control Panel=>Add or Remove Programs=>Windows Components and un-install:
   • Application Server
   • Email Services
   • Management and Monitoring Tools
   • Networking Services
   • Security Configuration wizard
   • Windows Deployment Services
   • Windows Media Services
5. Install the Windows Filer msi. This self-executing installer can be downloaded from the grid controller through the internal interface. This interface has already been properly configured through DHCP.
   • To find the internal IP address of the controller, in a command line shell execute ipconfig /all and note the IP address of the DHCP server for the last enumerated interface (e.g., Local Area Connection 5).
   • Point IE at http://IP-address:8080/download/ and download the current Windows Filer msi (e.g., Filer_Windows-1.0.0-1.msi):
     • Right-click on the msi file and select Save Target As to download the file to the desktop.
   • Double-click on the msi file on the desktop to perform the installation.
   • Delete the msi file and empty the Recycle Bin.
6. Prevent system shutdown dialogs from popping up (reason for system shutdown)
   • Open the Start menu and run "gpedit.msc"
   • Go under "Computer Configuration" > "Administrative Templates"
   • Click on "System"
   • On the right pane double-click on "Display Shutdown Event Tracker"
   • Choose "Disabled" and click Apply
7. This requires maintainer access to the grid. Stop the application and copy the boot volume to the windows volume in the Sys_Filer_Windows03 application, e.g.:
   • app unlock Sys_Filer_Windows03
   • vol copy my-app:WIN03S.boot Sys_Filer_Windows03:windows
   • Open Sys_Filer_Windows03 in the application editor and configure the Filer_Windows windows placeholder volume to be the windows application volume. Save and exit.
   • app lock Sys_Filer_Windows03
8. The Sys_Filer_Windows03 template application is now ready for use.

-- StephenQ - 21 Sep 2008