Brief Instructions for the initial launch

Mindbreeze InSpire G6

Preparation

Please find inside a short guide to help you prepare your infrastructure for Mindbreeze InSpire.

Please provide us with the desired fully qualified host names for Mindbreeze InSpire (e.g. search.companyname.com), the technical contact for the implementation and suitable dates for the on-site support via our Mindbreeze InSpire contact form: https://www.mindbreeze.com/inspire-contact. Please also provide us with all data sources that you would like to link to the search. If necessary, also provide us with the authentication mechanism to be used for the search (e.g. Kerberos, SAML, etc.).

Necessary hardware resources

• Mindbreeze InSpire is envisaged for installation in a 19” server rack.
  2RU are required – please reserve this space.
• We recommend making two power connections available for the Mindbreeze InSpire server to guarantee a failsafe power supply (each 750W rated output).
• If possible, please prepare 2 Ethernet LAN connections so that the network bonding can be configured. For this both connections must be in the same sub-network. An Ethernet LAN connection is essential.
• To connect the Remote Management Interface (iDRAC), you require a 3rd Ethernet port. Please make sure that it is assigned a correct IP address (DHCP/manual). The assigned IP address can then be viewed on the front panel display or in BIOS. This IP is mandatory for the initial contact with our consulting team.

Mindbreeze Service Users

For Kerberos-based authentication with Active Directory you must set up a service user in Active Directory, e.g. mindbreeze.service. Please ensure that the following requirements are met:

• There must be an NTP server that is time synchronous with your Active Directory server and that the Mindbreeze InSpire appliance can access.
• The user exists in Active Directory
• The user has the service principal name
  HTTP/<fully qualified host name for Mindbreeze InSpire>
  As Active Directory domain administrator you can set the service principal name in a Windows prompt with the following command:
  setspn –s HTTP/<full qualified hostname for Mindbreeze InSpire><domain>\<mindbreeze.service>
  Sample:
  setspn –s HTTP/search.companyname.com company\mindbreeze.service
• The fully qualified hostname must have a DNS listing.
• The service user must have the “Trusted for Delegation (Kerberos only)” attribute set. You can set the attribute “Trusted for Delegation (Kerberos only)” for the user in the Microsoft Management Console under “Active Directory Users and Computers”.

Optional Service User

To crawl the data sources, users with full read access rights for all data to be indexed should also be created. These are only used by Mindbreeze to index data.

Firewall Configuration

Please note that the following network connections are activated for the Mindbreeze InSpire server:

• Port 443 for the Mindbreeze Client Service must be accessible by all users
• Port 8443 is accessible by administrators
• Port 8444 is accessible by administrators for administration via Webmin
• Ports 88 and 389 on all Active Directory servers must be accessible by the Mindbreeze InSpire Service
• Among data sources, other services and the Mindbreeze InSpire Appliance appropriate ports must be unlocked (e.g. NTP: Port 123)

Technical Requirements

Electrical and Other Technical Requirements for installing your Mindbreeze InSpire Appliance

Introduction

Your Mindbreeze InSpire Appliance must be installed in a location meeting the temperature, electrical, refrigeration, and other requirements shown in the following tables.

Requirements for Mindbreeze InSpire

Mindbreeze Management Center

Preparation

The Mindbreeze InSpire Management Center is the interface where administration and management tasks can be performed on a Mindbreeze InSpire Search Appliance.

Firewall Configuration

For accessing the Mindbreeze InSpire Management Center make sure that the following network ports are accessible on the connected Mindbreeze InSpire server network interfaces.

Admin and Management Ports:

• Port 8443 (HTTPS) for accessing the Mindbreeze Management Center
• Port 8444 (HTTPS) for accessing the Mindbreeze System Configuration Interface
• Port 22 (SSH) for accessing the Mindbreeze System Configuration Interface through one of our consultants.

General Mindbreeze Ports:

• Port 443 (HTTPS) for accessing the Mindbreeze Client

For using the iDRAC interface of the Mindbreeze InSpire Server the following Ports have to be accessible on the Mindbreeze InSpire Server’s iDRAC network interface:

• Port 443 (HTTPS) for accessing the iDRAC Web Interface
• Port  5900 (TCP, UDP) for accessing the iDRAC Virtual Console
• Port  8080 (TCP, UDP) for accessing the iDRAC Virtual Console

Getting Started

Connect by Wire

Make sure that the Mindbreeze InSpire Appliance network interface cards (NICs) are connected by wire. At least the iDRAC interface as well as one of the host NICs. Per default the Mindbreeze InSpire NICs are set to DHCP. See below on how to use iDRAC to obtain the host MAC address for reserving a DHCP lease.

IP Address Configuration of the iDRAC Interface (physical access required)

The IP address of the iDRAC interface after successful connection can be viewed locally on the front panel LCD by accessing the following menu:

• Home > View > iDRAC IP > IPv4 | IPv6 and selecting IPv4 (if it is the case).

A short introduction about the Front Panel LCD is available at:

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/w/wiki/3869.lcd-info-screen-and-led-alert-panel-on-poweredge-12th-generation-servers#Setting

With this information, you can retrieve from the DHCP server which IP address was leased for the network interfaces.

If DHCP is not available for the iDRAC network interface the IP Address can be set manually via the Front Panel LCD, as follows:

• Navigate from home screen to setup screen and then to the Static IP tab:
  Home > Setup ->iDRAC -> DHCP | Static IP -> IP: 192.168.2.12
• After IP v4 configuration from the same screen we can configure sub network mask and gateway as well:
  Home > Setup > IDRAC > Static IP - >Sub: 255.255.255.0
  Home > Setup > IDRAC > Static IP - >Gtw: 192.168.2.1

On the Front Panel LCD of the server also the MAC addresses of the host interfaces are listed. For viewing the MAC addresses, please follow this path:

• Home > View > MAC >iDRAC| iSCSI1 | iSCSI2 | iSCSIn | NET1 | NET2 …NETn. Here the NET1..N interfaces are the host network interfaces.

Option 1) IP Address Configuration of the Host Interfaces via DHCP

If DHCP is available the MAC addresses of the host interfaces (either obtained in the previous step) or obtained via the iDRAC Admin portal (https://<iDRAC_IP>:443) can be used to identify/or reserve the respective DHCP leases and therefore the obtained IP addreses.

Login for the iDRAC Admin Portal:

• Username: root
• Password: Appliance123

Option 2) IP Address Configuration of the Host Interfaces via iDRAC

If DHCP is not available to automatically assign network settings to the host network interfaces, the network configuration for these interfaces can be accomplished by connecting to the Virtual Console using the iDRAC Web Interface (https://<iDRAC_IP>:443).

In the Virtual Console, log in with the following credentials:

• Username: config
• Password: Appliance123

After a successful login the Network Configuration Interface is shown. Here the DNS Server and the static addresses of all the network interfaces can be configured. It is recommended to configure the DNS server only via “DNS configuration”.

Option 3) IP Address Configuration of the Host Interfaces via physical access

If access to iDRAC is not available log in using the config user can also performed physically. See above for the steps to set the Device and DNS configuration.

Management Center

Accessing the Mindbreeze InSpire Management Center

After a successful network configuration the Mindbreeze InSpire Management Center is accessible via the following Secure HTTP Link: https://<ip_address>:8443 . Here the <ip_address> tag is the IP address of one of the connected network interfaces.

For accessing the Mindbreeze InSpire Management Center login credentials are required. By default, the management center can be accessed with “admin” user and “Appliance123” password.

Testing Firewall, Gateway and Domain Name Resolution Configuration

To make sure that the Appliance can access resources within the enterprise and/or the internet one can use the “System” section. Login using the admin user and test DNS resolution via Lookup or Dig, connectivity via Ping or Traceroute (requires ICMP protocol access).

Press “Look Up!” to check that the IP address can be obtained.

Sections

Below is the short description of the main sections in the Mindbreeze InSpire Management Center.

Search Apps

In this section a preconfigured Mindbreeze Client Service and a Search App Editor can be accessed.

Reporting

Here you can explore reports, telemetry data and statistics related to the Mindbreeze services.

Search Experience

In this section various advanced search parameters can be configured such as “Synonyms”, “Stemmer Vocabulary” and “Relevance”. For more information visit Mindbreeze Query Expression Transformation.

Services

In this section different operations related to the Mindbreeze services can be performed, such as starting and stopping the services or resetting the indices (reindexing).

Configuration

The detailed configuration of the Mindbreeze services and components can be accessed and modified from this section. A detailed description of the configuration settings is available on help.mindbreeze.com.

System

• In this section different operating system level options can be performed. To access this configuration section an additional login is needed. The default login credentials are again username “admin” and password “Appliance123”.

Setting the NTP time server

For Kerberos-based authentication using Active Directory, an NTP server that is time-synchronous with your Active Directory server has to be specified in the configuration of your Mindbreeze InSpire appliance.

You can do this in: System -> Hardware -> System Time -> Time server sync -> Timeserver hostnames or addresses.
However, only the root user can access this configuration option.

Here you can enter the URL of your NTP time server. You can also configure the synchronization time.

Continuous Updating of the Operating System Patches

A Quick Start Guide to the updates of the operating system patches.

Preparation

Security and Important Patches

Following the patch day (the 2nd Tuesday of each month), the patches in the category of Security and Important are updated by Windows Update in our reference test system.  Customers will receive an e-mail notification thereof.  A staff member continuously scans, both on patch days and otherwise, for important bugfixes and informs about possible security gaps or any need for corrective action.

Internal Tests

Mindbreeze uploads its test systems internally every Wednesday after „Patch Tuesday“ (first Tuesday of the month) on the basis of the reference system. The selected patch sets 1 und 2 are corrected. Our customers usually upload these over the holiday break or during a scheduled maintenance window.

Information to the Customers

If the tests did not reveal any security gaps or errors, no notice will be sent to the customers.  However, should the tests indicate the need for corrective action, the customers will be notified by the 2nd Thursday of the month that the patches should not be uploaded, so as not to jeopardize the functionality of Mindbreeze InSpire.

Customer Configuration

Execution at customer premises

The customer can implement all patches on the second Friday of every month using YUM or RPM updates (with Linux-based appliances) or Microsoft Update (Microsoft  Windows-based  appliances).

• The customer should schedule a maintenance window for the appliance, as the patches may require a reboot of the system.
• In addition, all Mindbreeze InSpire services must be stopped.
• Thereafter, the patches can be imported.  
• A reboot will be initiated if necessary.
• Subsequently, all Mindbreeze InSpire services can be re-started.

Mindbreeze InSpire Product Updates

Introduction

New versions of Mindbreeze InSpire can be installed via the Management Center. This requires the SFX file and a web browser with access to the Management Center. You can download the SFX file from the Mindbreeze website using the following link: Updates & SPI

Installation

Open the Management Center and navigate to the section “Setup” “Update“.

Use “Choose File“ to select the SFX file and click “Upload File.“ A progress bar displays the progress of the upload process.

Next, important information about the update is displayed.

If you agree to the GTC, click “I agree to the General Terms and Conditions.“

You will then see a preview of the scheduled update.

You’ll be able to check which version is being replaced (current) and which version is the updated (new) version.

Next, we recommend that you perform a "test update". Some checks are performed in the test update, but nothing is actually installed. The system remains in its original state. You can also skip this step. To perform this step, make sure that "Test Update" is selected and click "Start". During the process, detailed information is displayed at the bottom of a console.

If the test update has been successful, a "Success" notice appears.

Then select “Perform Update.“ Some options are displayed.

You can configure the following options:

Click "Start" to finally finish the update process. Note: The services are not available during the update process! Detailed information is displayed at the bottom of a console while the update is being performed. If the update is successful, a “Success“ notice appears.

Backup Strategy

Mindbreeze InSpire Backup Strategy

This document describes the key facts that should be regarded for backups of Mindbreeze InSpire configuration files and index data.

The backup strategy should include the following type of data and should especially be performed before installing product updates:

• Mindbreeze Configuration data: after major changes in the Mindbreeze configuration you should take a backup of the main configuration files.
• Custom SearchApps or changes to Client service: after deploying custom Mindbreeze Search Apps or doing major changes on the Mindbreeze Client service (index.html, CSS, JS) you should take a backup of those changed files.
• Mindbreeze Index Data: before starting product updates or for huge data sources after they have been fully crawled you should take a backup of the index.
• app.telemetry Configuration Data: also the app.telemetry configuration should be included in your backup strategy (at least if modified/extended for custom needs).
• Other adjustments: Take a backup of any further adjustments that do not conform to the Mindbreeze standard product.

Backup Strategies

Backing up the Configuration Data

The last 10 revisions of the Mindbreeze configuration data files are kept in the configuration directory. Nevertheless, you should take an external backup of those files:

• Configuration files are stored in /etc/mindbreeze

Important configuration files:

• mesconfig.xml
• license
• plugins
• mesmasteruri.conf

Furthermore, please execute export_managerconfig.sh including a path (e.g. export_managerconfig.sh /data/export) and make a backup of the folder export.

Backing up Custom Search Apps or Changes to Client Service

On any custom changes to the Mindbreeze Client service files or if you have deployed your own Search Apps to the Mindbreeze client service folder you should take a backup of these changes:

/opt/mindbreeze/bin/webapps

• Custom Changes to Mindbreeze Client

(webapps\client-service\ROOT\apps\client)

• Custom SearchApps
  (webapps\client-service\ROOT\apps\<yourApp>)

Backing up the Index Data

Fabasoft Mindbreeze uses a file based index. These index files can be backed up completely in a consistent state.

To save index data, perform the following steps:

1. Change the mode of the index service to „Mode: readonly”. This can be achieved by using the Mindbreeze Manager UI and simply clicking the icon for the index state on the overview page.
2. Check the consistency of the index with mescontrol (adapt the index port for the desired index)
   mescontrol http://indexserver.yourcompany.com:23100 checkconsistency
3. Verify the exit code (ERRORLEVEL) of mescontrol
   echo %ERRORLEVEL% (should return the value 0 on success)
4. In order to start the backup process navigate to the directory where the index is stored and perform the backup (after a successful consistency check) as follows:
   1. Either copy the whole index directory to the target backup path using the operating system copy tools (e. g. Linux Console). You could compress this target folder later on to save disk space.
   2. Or directly create a backup archive of the index directory using any compression tool of your choice. But be careful and consider the following issues:
5. Creating a compressed backup archive may take much longer than a simple copy task therefore the Mindbreeze index will stay in readonly-mode for a longer time.
6. The backup tool must not modify any index files and must be able to handle open files with shared read access (locked by some Mindbreeze processes for read-access). For example using the 7-Zip tool you have to activate the option „Compress shared files“ (-ssw).

1. Change the mode of the index service to “Mode: running”

Backing up the app.telemetery Configuration

Just take a copy of the main app.telemetry configuration file (infra.xml) located at following location:

/etc/app.telemetry/

Running Third-Party Software

General notes about Mindbreeze InSpire as an appliance

Mindbreeze InSpire is delivered to customers as a preconfigured appliance. The pre-installed software components were coordinated with one another and tested for possible side effects.

It is not foreseen that customers make changes to the software status on their own, except for security updates, for which the recommended procedure is explained in the brief guide entitled:
“Brief Instruction - Continuous Updating of the Operating System Patches”.

Possible examples of adverse changes to the software status include:

• Software updates from installed applications (except Mindbreeze product updates)
• Removing (uninstalling) preinstalled software
• Installing new software (such as antivirus software)Backup Strategies

Impact of third-party software on Mindbreeze InSpire

Depending on the type of third-party software components, the effects this may have on Mindbreeze can vary.

The possible effects of third-party software include:

• Negative impact on system performance …
  • due to excessive hard disk access (e.g. antivirus software)
  • due to excessive storage usage of the third-party application
• Stability problems due to unexpected file access …
  • File locking
  • Modification of file contents

The most common problems are to be expected through the use of antivirus software and can be minimized as described in the following chapter.

Minimizing the impact of antivirus software on Mindbreeze

To minimize any negative impact on Mindbreeze performance and stability, the following directories should be specifically excluded from virus scanning runs:

• Mindbreeze index directories (path depends on the configuration)
  • Example (Microsoft Windows): C:\indices
  • Example (Linux): /data/indices
• Mindbreeze log directories (path depends on the configuration)
  • Example (Microsoft Windows): C:\logs
  • Example (Linux): /data/logs
• Mindbreeze configuration directory
  • Microsoft Windows: The configuration files are stored in the “AppData” folder of the user under which the Mindbreeze Management Node service runs. If this involves the SYSTEM user, the path is as follows:
    C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming\Mindbreeze
  • Linux: Configuration files are stored under: /etc/mindbreeze
• Mindbreeze product directory:
  • Microsoft Windows: C:\Program Files\Mindbreeze
  • Linux: /opt/mindbreeze
• Fabasoft app.telemetry product directory:
  • Microsoft Windows: C:\Program Files\Fabasoft app.telemetry
  • Linux: /opt/app.telemetry
• Fabasoft app.telemetry data directory:
  • Microsoft Windows: C:\ProgramData\Fabasoft app.telemetry
  • Linux: /var/opt/app.telemetry/
• Directory of the Fabasoft app.telemetry telemetry database:
  • Microsoft Windows: C:\telemetrydatabase
  • Linux: /data/telemetrydb/
• Temp-directories used by the individual services:
  • Microsoft Windows: C:\Users\<Service-User>\AppData\Local\Temp
    and C:\Windows\Temp
  • Linux: /tmp sowie /var/opt/mindbreeze

Other installation-dependent directories that should not be modified by the virus killer:

• C:\plugins(adapted Mindbreeze plugins − depends on the configuration)
• C:\data(sitemaps, synonyms, etc. − depends on the configuration)
• C:\cache(Mindbreeze website download cache − depends on configuration)
• C:\setup(Mindbreeze setup scripts and product packages)

However, any type of virus scan run can have a potential negative effect on the system performance and consequently the response time behaviour of Mindbreeze. If regular system scans are unavoidable, we recommend that they be performed in maintenance windows or outside the core time in which the search is offered.

Mindbreeze InSpire support process

Directions in case of problems with Mindbreeze InSpire

To ensure the best possible support, we ask all our customers and partners to follow our standard support process.

1. For any standard product problems (software, hardware), each customer and partner creates a ticket from our support desk at https://tickets.mindbreeze.com.
2. The members of our support team are the first point of contact for resolving any problems that arise and will ensure that the problem is remedied quickly.