I am trying to deploy Harvester on a dedicated Eco server. I tried booting the ISO installation image as a custom template, but that did not work. Now my server is stuck, I can't boot it or reinstall another image. An intervention is scheduled (verification hard reboot), hopefully that will get it up and running again.
I would assume I need to create the template somewhere else using e.g. Packer.
Has anyone here had any success installing Harvester?
Hi,
One thing you could try is using a custom iPXE script https://help.ovhcloud.com/csm/en-dedicated-servers-ipxe-scripts?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0058505
Netboot.xyz is a service that provides easy-to-use iPXE scripts. They seem to support Harvester, they have an installation script at https://github.com/netbootxyz/netboot.xyz/blob/master/roles/netbootxyz/templates/menu/harvester.ipxe.j2
You can just use the following iPXE script to try netboot.xyz's iPXE menu and Harvester should be under "Linux Network Installs":
#!ipxe
chain --autofree https://boot.netboot.xyz/menu.ipxe
This works for me (as a PoC, to be able to verify the hardware/compatibility before automating it).
Boot the node into the iPXE shell and run:
#!ipxe
chain --autofree https://boot.netboot.xyz/menu.ipxe
Select “Harvester” and start the installation.
When you see the login prompt, log in with:
rancher / rancher
Kill the existing harvester-installer (in my case it was running on a different TTY).
Start a new installer (the exact command is visible in ps aux after login).
When the TUI appears, proceed with the manual installation. At the end, create a file with the following content:
scheme_version: 1
install:
iso_url: https://releases.rancher.com/harvester/master/harvester-master-amd64.iso
Set this file as the additional configuration, because otherwise the ISO image won’t be available.
In the OVH console, change the boot mode to “From Disk.”
Restart and verify that you can log in.
Thanks for writing down these steps @Michal Cukierman , I have some questions about this.
When I kill the harvester-installer that is running after logging in it starts a new instance straight away. Is that to be expected?
I do start a new install with this command:
sudo /bin/bash -e /usr/bin/start-installer.sh
At some point the installation fails because it cannot find the ISO. You write: At the end, create a file with the following content:
Where exactly would we create this file? Are you talking about the remote config, and should I host a config file somewhere that can be downloaded by the installer?
So far the whole installation procedure seems to be very unstable. Not sure if it is due to the ipxe boot or something else, but I get a lot of errors regarding networking etc.
Looking forward to get this working so I can start experimenting with Harvester :-)