The Pratexo Studio deploys edge computing architectures to physical edge nodes and industrial PCs (IPCs). This article walks a technician through the steps to prepare the physical environment including setup of the Alpha node and the edge node imaging server (FOG server) to deploy complete edge solutions in bulk out in the field.

Prior to starting, contact your Pratexo technical representative to perform the following actions:

1. Provide your public IP address so that it can be whitelisted to allow access to the edge gateway
2. Acquire the following files:
   • alphaInstall.sh
   • alpha.tgz (~18 MB)
   • ASUS200S-2023-01-05.csv
   • ASUS200S-2023-01-05.zip (~4.26 GB)

Instructions

Setup Hardware and Configure Network

1. It is recommended that a minimum of 4 edge computers are used for a physical deployment
   • 1 x alpha node to orchestrate deployments
   • 3 x worker nodes (or more) to participate in the micro cloud (edge cluster)
2. Connect the alpha node and edge nodes to a network switch on a private network.
   • Only the alpha node requires internet access during installation and deployments
3. In the router under DHCP options, reserve IP addresses for the edge nodes with their MAC addresses.
   • This is for the PXE Boot of the operating system images that will be loaded from the alpha node.
4. In the BIOS of each edge nodes, make sure you have PXE Boot or Network Stack Configuration enabled. This can be found under the Advanced or Boot menus. (refer to your edge node manufacturers documentation for exact settings)
   • It is recommended to reset the BIOS to the default settings and simply enable PXE Boot on both network interfaces (Advanced → Configure Onboard Devices)

Install Ubuntu on the Alpha node

1. Download Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 - https://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/focal/ubuntu-20.04.5-desktop-amd64.iso
2. Flash image to a USB drive using a tool like BelenaEtcher - https://etcher.balena.io/
3. Connect Keyboard, mouse and display to the edge computer that will be the Alpha node
4. Insert USB drive with Ubuntu 20.04 in one of the USB slots
5. Connect the power and power on the edge node
6. The BIOS needs to be configured to boot from the USB drive
   • Activate the BIOS menu by pressing the 'Del' keys when the device is powered up

     NOTE The BIOS screen activation key could be Esc, F2 or some other key. Please check in your manufacturer's BIOS manual

   • Go to Boot TAB

   • Step down to Boot Option 1

   • Press Enter and select the USB drive

   • Save and exit

7. The computer should now boot from the Ubuntu USB drive

8. When the Ubuntu disk checker starts, press Ctrl-C to skip disk scanning

9. At the Welcome screen, select Install Ubuntu

10. Select English (US) and English (US) keyboard layout - Press Continue

11. Select minimal installation; all other options should be unchecked - Press Continue

12. For a hard disk that hasn't been used before follow these instructions:

13. For installation type, select 'Erase Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and reinstall' -Press install now

14. Confirm disk erasure by pressing Continue

15. 'Where are you?' - Select the time zone with the mouse

16. 'Who are you?' - Enter user and computer name (example below):

    • Your name:	Pratexo
      Your computer's name:	ptx-7001
      Pick a username:	ptx
      Choose a password?	nxb4K!93
      Confirm your password:	nxb4K!93
      Log in automatically:	Select

17. Press continue
18. Wait for installation to complete
19. Follow the instructions on the screen
20. Remove the USB drive - Press Enter

21. After Ubuntu has started, open the software updater and install updates
    NOTE: you will be prompted to upgrade to v22.04, DO NOT UPGRADE and confirm the decision in the next popup message

Install the Alpha node and FOG server applications

1. With help from your Pratexo technical contact, do the following:
   • Provide your public IP address so that it can be whitelisted to allow access to the edge gateway
   • Acquire the following files: alphaInstall.sh and alpha.tgz

2. Copy alphaInstall.sh and alpha.tgz to the alpha node in the home directory of the ‘ptx’ user or other user that you may have created in the ‘Install Ubuntu’ section

3. Make sure that you are in /home/ptx (or other home directory) on the alpha node

4. Change permissions on the alphaInstall.sh file

   • sudo chmod 777 alphaInstall.sh

5. Run sudo ./alphaInstall.sh

6. Enter the following information when prompted by the wizard:

   • Respond “Y” to installation of Alpha Node

   • Respond “Y” to installation of Fog Server

   • Enter the sudo user (‘ptx’ in our example)

   • Enter password of sudo user

   • Provide the Pratexo Studio environment name for the Fog Server to monitor for new deployments (‘dev2’ in our example)

   • Provide the network name you have assigned to your physical deployment (’studemonet’ in our example)
     NOTE: this network name must match the Network ID you assigned to the physical deployment in the Pratexo Studio

7. Installation script will execute - This might take 15 minutes to fully install

8. After installation, verify that the installation controller is running by executing sudo docker ps

9. Use a browser to access the installed FOG server at http:\\localhost:80 or http:\\<ip_address>:80

   • Default credentials  fog:password

10. Login into the FOG server and create a new user & password, delete the default user.

Push Ubuntu images to the edge nodes

1. Ensure that the edge nodes are setup and configured according to instructions in the 'Setup Hardware and Configure Network' section of this article
2. With help from your Pratexo technical contact, do the following:
   • Acquire the following files: ASUS200S-2023-01-05.csv and ASUS200S-2023-01-05.zip
3. Copy the .zip file to /images/folder at the root of the file system on the Alpha Node
   • This folder should already exist from the FOG server installation process
   • 
     
4. Change directory (cd) to the /images/folder and unzip the file
   •  sudo unzip ASUS200S-2023-01-05.zip
5. After unzipping there should be a new folder: /images/ASUS200S-2023-01-05
6. Copy the ASUS200S-2023-01-05.csv to the home directory of the logged in user. For example /home/ptx
7. Log into the FOG server interface from your browser and navigate to the Image Management tab
8. Select Import Images in left hand navigation
9. Browse to the location of the ASUS200S-2023-01-05.csv file and select it.
10. Press Import
11. In the main FOG server navigation, select the 'Hosts' option
12. Select 'Create New Host' in the left navigation
13. For each edge node, populate the following fields and leave the rest as default

    • Parameter	Example
      Host Name:	ptx-7001
      Primary MAC:	00:e0:67:25:18:74
      Host Image:	ASUS200S-2023-01-05 (should match the image of the target edge node)
      Host BIOS Exit Type:	GRUB_FIRST_HDD
      Host EFI BIOS:	GRUB_FIRST_HDD

    • Press the 'Update' button when finished.
14. Select 'List All Hosts' in the left navigation
15. Beside each of the listed edge nodes (hosts), click the green download icon
16. A popup window will appear requesting confirmation of the deploy task
    • Leave all options as default and press the'Task' bar
17. A download task is now queued and the PXE image will be downloaded to the node when it is restarted and a PXE boot request is received.
18. The imaging process can now be monitored in the 'Tasks' menu of the main navigation