Installation

The installation roadmap is a description of the high-level steps for installing IBM® UrbanCode Velocity.

IBM UrbanCode Velocity is provided in several editions. The Standard Edition (SE) is full-featured and comes with 24/7 customer support. You can use the Standard Edition for free for 60 days. You can also use the free-to-use Community Edition. The Community Edition is full featured but does not provide customer support and limits users to two concurrent sessions.

Technology overview

IBM UrbanCode Velocity consists of services and other tools that are stored in Docker containers. A Docker container is a single unit that contains a software application, often called a service, and the environment needed to run it. Containers can be created and destroyed as needed.

IBM UrbanCode Velocity consists or over 10 containers. Because of the number of containers, another application, called a container orchestrator, is used to manage the containers. Which orchestrator you use is up to you. Docker Compose is often used for trials and tests. For production environments, Kubernetes or another Kubernetes-based orchestrator, such as OpenShift, is preferred.

Kubernetes installations are managed with resources called templates. Each template describes a separate resource. If you perform an OpenShift installation, the templates are stored in the /templates folder in your installation directory. If you use Kubernetes to install IBM UrbanCode Velocity, the resources are combined into a single file called a Helm chart. For Kubernetes-based installations, you can change a resource by modifying the affected template file or the corresponding resource in the Helm chart. For Docker Compose installations, resources are defined in a file named docker-compose.yml that is found in the installation folder.

Table 1. Container technology overview
  Docker Compose Kubernetes
Product core configuration 15 containers 43 resources, 1 Helm chart
External communication 13 exposed ports Ingress for communication. NodePort exposed for external communication.
Storage 4 volumes None

Preparing your installation

Both editions require an access key. You apply the free access key during installation. When you license the SE version, in addition to your access key, you receive a permanent license key.

Download the installation files for your environment:

If you are evaluating IBM UrbanCode Velocity and are unsure about which versions to install, many users find the Docker Compose installation process to be easiest because it is the most automated.

In outline, the installation process consists of the following general steps:

  1. Review the system requirements
    The ID that you use to install the product must be able to make changes to the host environment. The tools required by all installation scenarios include the following items:
    • Docker installed on the host system.
      Note: If you use Docker for Windows, make sure Docker is using Linux-type containers. IBM UrbanCode Velocity does not support Windows-type containers.
    • Internet connection. During installation, files and container images are retrieved from remote locations. If you are unable to access the internet during installation, you can download the files beforehand and perform an offline installation. IBM UrbanCode Velocity supports the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.
      Note: Steps to retrieve the container images from public repository to your private repository:

      Use pull command to pull the container images from public repository.

      $ docker pull public repo

      Use tag command to tag the public and private repository.

      $ docker tag public repo private repo

      Use push command to push container images to private repository.

      $ docker push private repo

      All the container images are retrieved from public to private repository.

    Note: The installation files used for offline installation are not the same as those used for internet-connected installation. Ensure that you download the right file for your installation environment.

    You can dynamically generate a system requirements report using the Software Product Compatibility Reports (SPCR) tool.

  2. Optionally configure IBM UrbanCode Deploy for integrating with IBM UrbanCode Velocity:

    IBM UrbanCode Velocity supports IBM UrbanCode Deploy Version 6.2.3 and later. Although not required, many IBM UrbanCode Velocity features assume integration with IBM UrbanCode Velocity. It doesn't matter which product you install first.

    If you are using an IBM UrbanCode Deploy version prior to V6.2.5, you must install the patch located at the following website: http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/products/UrbanCode/plugins/ucsync/patches/ibmucd/. Select from the index the appropriate version that is installed on your computer.

    IBM UrbanCode Velocity can connect to an IBM UrbanCode Deploy server on the same network. If you install IBM UrbanCode Velocity with Kubernetes, the Kubernetes cluster must be on the same network as the IBM UrbanCode Deploy server.

  3. Install IBM UrbanCode Velocity for your target environment using the links provided earlier.
  4. Integrate with external tools

    After the installation is complete, you can access the configuration pages to integrate with IBM UrbanCode Velocity and other external tools, such as Jenkins. Only sample report data is available until the integration process is complete.

  5. Authenticate users

    After the installation is complete, you can authenticate users. Authenticating users to access reports is not required. However; until users are authenticated, only the administrator user has access to reports and product features.

Additional installation details are included in the following topics:

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