The purpose of this document is to provide comprehensive information on how to prepare Linux and Unix servers for the installation of H-Sphere components by the Positive Software team or by customers themselves. It covers the following topics:

• Preferred Operating Systems
• HDD Partitioning
• Requirements
    - OpenSSH
    - Disk Quota
    - Ports
    - DNS Server
    - gcc Compiler
    - compat3x (FreeBSD only)
• Remove Impeding Packages

Please also read the following:

• Winbox Preinstallation Guide
• Requirements

Note: We don't install H-Sphere on live servers and we don't take responsibility if your functional services go down during the H-Sphere installation.

Preferred Operating Systems

Before requesting H-Sphere installation, make sure to install one of the following operating systems:

a) RedHat Linux 7.2, 7.3
b) RedHat Enterprise Linux up to v.3.0 (WS, ES, AS)
c) CentOS 3.1
d) FreeBSD 4.8 and 4.9 (not recommended for the CP server)

We also recommend that you read a related discussion in our forum.

HDD Partitioning

H-Sphere is installed to the /hsphere directory. It can be located on any partition, preferably other than root, and a symlink to this directory is created, e.g.:

# mkdir -p /home/hsphere
# ln -s /home/hsphere /hsphere

The ideal solution, however, is to dedicate a partition solely to H-Sphere files and mount it as /hsphere. As the result, you should have at least two partitions, / and /home. Having only one partition can cause certain problems. For instance, if disk quota gets damaged, you cannot repair it without server reboot and fsck check in the single user mode.

One Server Installation

If you are installing H-Sphere to one box, make sure to have at least two IPs available, because some features (like OpenSRS) require at least two DNS servers. Also, note that on one server installations the postgresql hosting feature isn't included, because of the H-Sphere system database.

If you are going to install H-Sphere to one box, consider the following example for a computer with 20 GB HDD:

/root partition 0.5 - 1.5 GB (/etc, /tmp, /root)
/usr 1.5 - 3 GB
/var 3 - 5 GB - used for mail and MySQL files
/hsphere (or /home) - the remaining disk space for H-Sphere installation and hosting: the more users, the more disk space is required. If you want to have SiteStudio, it will also be installed onto this partition. However, this will require at least 512 RAM and a 500MHz processor.

In addition, you can create a separate mail partition for the H-Sphere mail system. Its size will depend on your mail quotas for users and the number of mailboxes.

Multiple Server Installation

If you have three boxes, it is recommended to put your control panel on a separate box. Consider the following partitioning scheme for a three-server configuration:

1) Control Panel:

The partitioning requirements are the same as those for the operating system. This box will have the H-Sphere control panel, system database, and SiteStudio.

2) Web + DNS2:

/ -500 MB - /etc, /tmp, /root
/usr -3GB
/var -3GB
/hsphere - takes the rest of the space and is the biggest partition

3) Mail + DNS1 + MySQL+PostgreSQL:

/ -500 MB
/usr -3GB
/var - takes the rest of the space for mail and MySQL files.

There are no more requirements to partitioning the servers, just make sure there is enough disk space to store user and other H-Sphere data.

Required Components and Configuration

Prior to the installation, make sure your server has the following:

OpenSSH

1. Install OpenSSH package on each H-Sphere box. You can use standard RPMs under Linux or packages under FreeBSD. Usually, the standard Linux and FreeBSD installations contain the OpenSSH package, you can use it without any restrictions. However, we recommend to update the package to the last version. SSH keys need to be configured under the cpanel user.
2. To enable Permit Root Login, open file /etc/ssh/sshd_config and uncomment the line:
   PermitRootLogin yes
   Make sure PermitRootLogin is set to yes. Then restart SSH:
   /etc/rc.d/init.d/sshd restart
3. Make sure that the .ssh directory has permissions 700 and the authorized_keys and authorized_keys2 files have permissions 600.
4. Enable the OpenSSH daemon start at server startup.
5. Start the OpenSSH daemon.

Disk Quota

Enable the disk quota feature on each H-Sphere web server. There is no need to enable it on other servers. To enable disk quota:

1. Log in as root.
2. Insert the usrquota directive (userquota for FreeBSD) into the /etc/fstab file for the corresponding partition. On Linux, it must look similar to this:
   LABEL=/hsphere   /hsphere   ext2   defaults,usrquota   1 1
   On FreeBSD, it must look similar to this:
   LABEL=/hsphere   /hsphere   ext2   defaults,userquota   1 1
3. Execute the following commands:
   quotaoff /partition_with_userquota_enabled
   mount -o remount /partition_with_userquota_enabled (Linux only, skip this line with FreeBSD)
   rm -rf /partition_with_userquota_enabled/aquota.user /partition_with_userquota_enabled/quota.user
   quotacheck /partition_with_userquota_enabled
   quotaon /partition_with_userquota_enabled
   

   If quotacheck returns this error:
       quotacheck: Cannot get quotafile name for /dev/xxx
   Do the following:
   1) # touch /partition_with_userquota_enabled/aquota.user
   2) # quotacheck -m /partition_with_userquota_enabled
   and ignore the message:
   "quotacheck: WARNING - Quotafile /partition_with_userquota_enabled/aquota.user was probably truncated. Can't save quota settings..."
   3) quotaon /partition_with_userquota_enabled

4. FreeBSD web server installations: Enable disk quota in the kernel configuration. Also, in /etc/default/rc.conf set:
   enable_quotas="YES"

Root Partitions: we don't recommend enabling the disk quota feature on root partitions. Use other partitions for this! Therefore, we advise not to place H-Sphere files on the root partition.

Quotacheck: quota versions can have some differences on different OSs. You may need to execute the quotacheck command with some additional parameters. Please read the command manual before performing this action.

Ports

In your firewall settings, open the following ports in both directions and specify the connection type - tcp or udp or both.
We need that firewall be configured by our customers.

* For highest security, open:
  - udp permanently;
  - tcp worldwide during H-Sphere installation and post-installation tests;
  - tcp between H-Sphere DNS servers permanently.

** SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) serves data communication between Control panel and Windows servers in H-Sphere 2.4 Beta 6 and higher.

DNS Server

If your DNS server is using bind 8.x, it can be upgraded to run with H-Sphere, but old domains would still have to be managed by hand. Please agree your DNS server upgrade with our installation team.
* As of now we don't provide support for Reverse DNS configuration.

gcc Compiler

Make sure you have gcc compiler installed on each box.

compat3x package

On FreeBSD 4.X servers, make sure to have the compat3x package installed for compatibility with 3.x. To diagnose if your compat3x is missing, run
/stand/sysinstall
and then go to Configure -> Distributions

Now that you have prepared the servers, you can proceed to H-Sphere installation or request installation by Psoft.

Remove Impeding Packages

Uninstall the following standard packages that come with OS installations. H-Sphere installation package will set up replacement packages.