Install EVE-OS onto an Edge Device

Before You Start

This guide describes how to install an EVE-OS image onto an edge device. You can install EVE-OS directly onto physical hardware (i.e., onto bare metal) or onto a virtual machine.

The first time you install EVE-OS might be while you’re onboarding an edge node to ZEDEDA Cloud. You can install EVE-OS on your device at any time before or after completing all the steps in the onboarding flow. After onboarding, the edge device is called an edge node. 

This is a series of articles. You will likely follow them in this order.

1. Get EVE-OS 
2. Flash an EVE-OS installer or live image
3. Install EVE-OS - You are here!

Prerequisites

• You must have a bootable media with EVE-OS flashed onto it. If you don't have one, see our guide to getting an EVE-OS image.
• You must have physical access to your edge device.
• You must have a stable internet connection through a wired Ethernet port (with port 443 open). If your edge device has only WiFi connectivity, contact support.

Recommendations

Each installation of EVE-OS  will create a directory in the installer media’s INVENTORY partition. The name of this directory will be your edge node's soft serial number, and it will contain essential information about your edge node's hardware. You'll need to reference these when you onboard the edge node to ZEDEDA Cloud.

We recommend clearing your installation media's INVENTORY partition before each installation. If you use the your media for multiple installations without clearing it before each, you may find it difficult to determine which directory belongs to which node.

Install EVE-OS

1. Ensure that your edge device is powered off and connected to a monitor and keyboard.
2. Ensure that your edge device is connected to a wired network.
3. Plug in the USB drive that you flashed your EVE-OS installer onto.
4. Boot your edge device into its BIOS. To do so, immediately and repeatedly tap the BIOS access key for your machine as you power it on. If your device doesn’t boot into its BIOS, power your device down and try again.

   This key varies depending on the manufacturer but is often one of the following: F2, F10, Delete, or Esc.

5. If your BIOS has these settings, configure them as shown:

   Intel Virtualization Technology (V-tx): Enabled
   VT-d: Enabled
   Security Device Support: Enabled
   TPM: v2.0
   Watchdog Function: Enabled (only for Supermicro Edge Nodes)

6. Configure your device’s boot order to boot from your installation media.
   UEFI is a common substitute for a BIOS. In the following example, you would move UEFI EVE-OS to the top of the list.
   
7. Save your changes and reboot your device. EVE-OS installation will begin automatically. Your edge device will power down automatically after installation.
   1. GRUB shows the installer.
      GRUB will display partitions available to boot from. Installers are generally tagged with “installer”. If you see something similar to the following, your machine will boot your EVE-OS installer.
   2. Boot from the installer.
      You see the following message regarding "Booting `Boot <version>-installer`" when the edge device boots from the installer.
   3. Installation begins.
      You see the following "Edge Virtualization Engine" when EVE-OS begins to install.
8. Unplug your USB. Save this USB. You will need it when you onboard this edge device. Do not use it for another EVE-OS installation until you finish onboarding this edge device.
9. Recommended: Boot your edge device into its BIOS and change the boot drive to the default bootable disk, which now contains EVE-OS.

Post-Installation

After your edge device reboots, you should see in GRUB that it's booting the EVE-OS image that you just installed.

Boot from the installer

You see something similar to the following message regarding "Booting `Boot <version>`" when the edge device successfully boots from EVE-OS.

System starts

You see this when EVE-OS starts.

Connect to a controller

At this point, your device node will try to connect to a controller to fetch its initial configuration. Before it can do so, however, you'll need to onboard it to your enterprise.

No IP address

You'll see the following if your edge device has no IP address to connect to the controller.

Last resort mode

In last resort mode, it will treat all Ethernet ports as DCHP clients and management ports.

Connected but not onboarded

You'll see the following if your edge device is connected, but not onboarded.

NOTE: If hardware preconfiguration or an initial WiFi connection is needed on the edge device, contact support for assistance.

Next Steps

Before your edge device can connect to your ZEDEDA Cloud cluster, you’ll need to create an edge node object for it in your enterprise if you haven't already done so.

1. Edge Node Overview  
2. Onboard an Edge Node
3. Manage an Edge Node
4. Use the ZEDEDA CLI to Manage an Edge Node