First Boot

After importing the OVA, follow these steps for your initial setup:

Logging In

The image has SSH server installed and configured. Login credentials will be provided separately for security reasons.

Setting Up Networking

Network Interface

By default, networking is set to DHCP with DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1. Modify these settings to match your network configuration using the nmtui utility.

For more information, refer to the Rocky Linux Network Configuration Guide.

Setting up NTP and timezone

Proper time synchronization is crucial for system operations and logging. Follow these steps to set up NTP (Network Time Protocol) and configure the correct timezone for your Rocky Linux image.

Configuring NTP

Verify that Chrony is running and synchronizing:
```
chronyc tracking
```
To configure NTP servers, edit the /etc/chrony.conf file:
```
sudo nano /etc/chrony.conf
```
Add or modify the server lines to use your preferred NTP servers, for example:

server 0.pool.ntp.org
server 1.pool.ntp.org
server 2.pool.ntp.org
server 3.pool.ntp.org

4. Save the file and restart the Chrony service:

sudo systemctl restart chronyd

Setting the Timezone

List available timezones:
```
timedatectl list-timezones
```
Set your desired timezone:
```
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Your/Timezone
```
Replace Your/Timezone with the appropriate timezone (e.g., America/New_York).

Verify the timezone setting:
```
timedatectl
```

Updating the System Clock

After configuring NTP and setting the timezone, update the system clock:

sudo hwclock --systohc

This command synchronizes the hardware clock with the system clock.

Verifying the Configuration

To ensure everything is set up correctly:

Check the current time and timezone:
```
date
```
Verify NTP synchronization:
```
chronyc sources
```

This should show a list of NTP sources and their status.

Mapping Hostnames

The image contains two web applications:

Next Plus
Metabase (BI Service)

Create two DNS A records and map them to the server IP. For example:

nextplus.local
nextplus-analytics.local

Modify the /opt/nextplus/.env file with the newly created records:

NEXTPLUS_SITE_URL: http://nextplus.local (include protocol, no trailing slash) 

DEFAULT_HOST: nextplus.local (hostname only, no trailing slash) 

VIRTUAL_HOST: nextplus.local (hostname only, no trailing slash) 

METABASE_VIRTUAL_HOST: nextplus-analytics.local (hostname only, no trailing slash)

NEXTPLUS_METABASE_SITE_URL: http://nextplus-analytics.local (include protocol, no trailing slash)

Starting Web Services

Navigate to the /opt/nextplus directory and execute the following commands:

docker-compose up -d d
docker compose -f bi.yml up -d

Verify that you can access both hostnames from your browser (may take up to 1 minute to become accessible).

(Optional) Setup SSL

To enable HTTPS:

Place .crt and .key files under /srv/nginx/data/certs/
Name the files according to the hostname:
- nextplus.local.crt
- nextplus.local.key
- nextplus-analytics.local.crt
- nextplus-analytics.local.key
Restart the nginx webserver:
```
docker restart nextplus-nginx
```
Update the .env file to use the HTTPS protocol.

Setting up SMTP

Next Plus

Open Next Plus in your browser
Navigate to Settings -> System -> SMTP Settings
Set up the SMTP connection details
Send a test email and save the settings

Metabase

Open Metabase in your browser
Navigate to Settings -> Admin Settings -> Email
Click on "Edit configuration"
Set up the SMTP connection details
Send a test email and save the settings

Getting Logs

View all running Docker containers:

docker ps

View logs for a specific container:

docker logs CONTAINER_NAME

Useful flags:

-f: Follow log output
--tail: Show only the last N lines of output

Version Upgrade

Important: Take a backup before proceeding.

Upgrading Next Plus

Load the new Docker image:
```
docker image load -i filename.gz
```
Navigate to the Next Plus directory:
```
cd /opt/nextplus
```
Modify .env with the updated Next Plus tag version (NEXTPLUS_TAG)
Restart the service:
```
docker-compose up -d
```

Upgrading Data Modeler Service

Load the new Docker image:
```
docker image load -i filename.gz
```
Navigate to the Data Modeling directory:
```
cd /opt/nextplus/data-modeling
```
Restart the service:
```
docker-compose up -d
```

Manually Restart All Services

docker-compose -f /opt/nextplus/docker-compose.yml down 
docker-compose -f /opt/nextplus/docker-compose.yml up -d 
docker-compose -f /opt/nextplus/bi.yml down 
docker-compose -f /opt/nextplus/bi.yml up -d 
docker-compose -f /opt/nextplus/microservices.yml down 
docker-compose -f /opt/nextplus/microservices.yml up -d 
docker-compose -f /opt/nextplus/data-modeling/docker-compose.yml down docker-compose -f /opt/nextplus/data-modeling/docker-compose.yml up -d