Set Up Zephyr Data Center

About

Zephyr Data Center is a solution you use to organize testing by using cluster machines. You deploy Zephyr on multiple nodes, set up an external database and create a shared folder – all this is done to provide high availability and performance at scale for the users working with Zephyr. If a node fails for some reason, the requests are redirected to the other nodes:

The deployment components include the following:

Load Balancer - balances the load across the cluster nodes.
Elasticsearch – a search engine deployed on the server node as a micro service or as a separate process in the virtual private network.
Shared database – a shared database used by the nodes. Zephyr supports MySQL, MS SQL Server, and Oracle Database.
Shared directory – a shared folder where attachments are stored. In a cluster environment, this folder must be shared with write permissions. Network-attached storage (NAS) and similar devices are supported.

It is recommended to have this clustered deployment behind a firewall.

Requirements

Zephyr Data Center Requirements
JVM Allocation
The same Java version must be installed on all the nodes.
The same time zone must be set on all the nodes and the current time must be synchronized (use the Network Time Protocol daemon (ntpd) or a similar service).

Installation procedure

To install Zephyr Enterprise on cluster nodes, you need to perform the following:

1. Install a database

You can install one of the following database management systems on any computer where Zephyr is not installed:

MySQL (make sure the ITCC and Dversion databases are not installed)
Microsoft SQL Server
Oracle Database

You must have a connector JAR file for your MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle database.

2. Install Elasticsearch

Install Elasticsearch 5.5.0 (a search engine) on any computer where Zephyr is not installed.

3. Set up a shared directory

Share a folder by using NAS (network-attached storage) or a similar device:

1. Create a shared folder with read/write access in NAS.

2. On all the nodes, open the Program Files\Zephyr\tomcat\webapps\flex\WEB-INF\classes\jdbc.properties file, find the line

ZEPHYR_DATA = C:/Program Files/Zephyr/zephyrdata

and replace the C:/Program Files/Zephyr part with the IP address of the NAS shared folder. For example:

ZEPHYR_DATA= //192.168.11.141/zephyrdata

Install the NFS (Network File System) server and client on CentOS 7. To do that:

On the server side:

1. Install the required NFS packages by running the following command:

yum install nfs-utils

2. Create the Zephyrdata directory and allow access to it:

chmod -R 777 /homeZephyrdata

If you installed Zephyr as a non-root user, install the NFS server and client as a root user and create the Zephyrdata directory as a non-root user.

3. Start the following services and add them to the Boot Menu:

systemctl enable rpcbind
systemctl enable nfs-server
systemctl enable nfs-lock
systemctl enable nfs-idmap
systemctl start rpcbind
systemctl start nfs-server
systemctl start nfs-lock
systemctl start nfs-idmap

4. Open exports for editing –

sudo gedit /etc/exports

– and type the following:

/home/zephyrdata 192.168.0.101(rw,sync,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)
/home/zephyrdata 192.168.0.102(rw,sync,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)

5. Start the NFS service by running the following command:

systemctl restart nfs-server

6. Add the NFS service override in the CentOS 7.0 firewall-cmd public zone service:

firewall-cmd --permanent --zone=public --add-service=nfs
firewall-cmd –reload

The NFS server is ready to work.

On the client side:

1. Install the required NFS packages by running the following command:

yum install nfs-utils

2. Start the following services and add them to the Boot Menu:

systemctl enable rpcbind
systemctl enable nfs-server
systemctl enable nfs-lock
systemctl enable nfs-idmap
systemctl start rpcbind
systemctl start nfs-server
systemctl start nfs-lock
systemctl start nfs-idmap

3. Mount the NFS share on the client machine by running the command below:

mount -t nfs 192.168.0.100:/home/zephyrdata /home/node1/zephyrdata

4. Change the ZEPHYR_DATA path to the mounted path for all the nodes in the opt\Zephyr\tomcat\webapps\flex\WEB-INF\classes\jdbc.propeties file.

For example:

ZEPHYR_DATA = /home/node1/zephyrdata

5. You are connected to the NFS share. Now you can crosscheck it by running the following command:

df -kh

4. Install Zephyr Enterprise on your nodes

Installation steps:

Install Zephyr Enterprise on nodes. The installation steps on the first node differ from the steps you perform on the other nodes.

1. To install Zephyr Enterprise on the first node:

Follow the installation steps for Windows.

Follow the installation steps for Linux.

2. After you install Zephyr, stop the node.

3. Install Zephyr Enterprise on another node. The way you do this depends on your operating system:

Open Command Prompt as an Admin and run the following command:

zephyr_6.6_xxx_setup_iRev_xxx.exe -VzSkipStartupData=true

4. Once the installation is complete, stop the node.

5. After you install Zephyr Enterprise on all the nodes, you need to modify the following files:

6. On all the nodes, open the folder zephyr/tomcat/webapps/flex/WEB-INF/template, copy the file cluster.properties.tmpl, paste it to the folder zephyr/tomcat/webapps/flex/WEB-INF/classes and change the file name to cluster.properties.

7. Make the following changes in the cluster.properties file:

Remove the following lines:

#unique identifier for the cluster node
cluster.aws.enable=false
HAZELCAST_PASSWORD=huser
HAZELCAST_USERNAME=hpass

Update the following information:

cluster.key=node1 (this should be a unique name of the node)
cluster.node.1.key=node1
cluster.node.1.url=172.17.18.141 (the IP address of node 1)
cluster.node.count=4
cluster.node.2.key=node2
cluster.node.2.url= 172.17.18.157(the IP address of node 2)
cluster.node.3.key=node3
cluster.node.3.url=172.17.18.223 (the IP address of node 3)
cluster.node.4.key=node4
cluster.node.4.url=172.17.18.201 (the IP address of node 4)

8. Start the first node where you installed Zephyr. Zephyr will start on it. After Zephyr is launched, the HAZELCAST_USERNAME and HAZELCAST_PASSWORD values will be generated in the zephyr/tomcat/webapps/flex/WEB-INF/classes/cluster.properties file.

9. Copy the HAZELCAST_USERNAME and HAZELCAST_PASSWORD values and paste them to the zephyr/tomcat/webapps/flex/WEB-INF/classes/cluster.properties file on the other nodes.

Now you can use your nodes.

Zephyr Standalone