Installing HCL™ Accelerate with analytics services using Docker Compose

Install HCL™ Accelerate with analytics services into the Docker Compose container orchestrator.

Before you begin

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. HCL™ Accelerate 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. HCL™ Accelerate 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.
Note: If you are installing the product on Red Hat Enterprise Linux®, you need RHEL 7 or later.
Note: On Linux, the Docker daemon runs as the root user. If you do not want to use sudo with the docker command, create a Linux group called docker. Ensure that the user who installs the product is a member of that group. See the Docker documentation for more information about managing Docker as the non-root user.
Get a key. The key enables you to complete installation. Visit the HCL™ Accelerate web portal to obtain your key. After completing the form, you will receive a confirmation email with an access key. Store the key in a readily-available location; you use it during installation.
Note: Secure values stored in a JSON file are automatically added to the home directory of the user installing the product. The directory is hidden and should not be modified or removed by the user. Because the values are located in the user's home directory, future upgrades must be performed by the user of the original installation. The encryption key encrypts the secure values in the JSON file. If a user uses the default encryption key when installing the product, future upgrades should proceed normally. If a non-default encryption key is provided for the initial installation, the user must also provide that encryption key for future upgrades. The values stored in the hidden directory are accessed by the installer on any future upgrades, and changes to the secure values will prevent upgraded instances from accessing existing data.

About this task

The installation instructions describe installing the product on all supported operating systems. The downloaded executable file steps you through the installation process and sets your installation parameters.

Procedure

  1. Download the installation file for your environment.
    Note: For macOS and Linux installations, set the appropriate permissions before running the file: sudo chmod +x.
    Visit the FlexNet download center and select the file for your environment. Or you can download the installation file directly from the following URLs:
  2. Run the downloaded executable file with the additional undocumented flag --betaFeature analytics
    For example, on Linux® use the following shell command: 
    ./accelerate-hcl-install-latest-linux --betaFeature analytics
  3. Complete installation by responding to the prompts described in the following steps.
    When the script starts, you are prompted to accept the license. You can explicitly accept the license without viewing it by appending the following parameter to the command:
    ./<Accelerate-installation-file> --license=accept
    1. At the Please enter your HCL Accelerate access key prompt, enter your SE version access key.
      If you previously installed an SE version, the already-configured key is the default value.
      Note: Make sure that you enter the key for the right version.
    2. At the Enter your encryption key or leave blank to use the default. Key must be at least 8 characters prompt, enter your encryption key or leave blank to use the default encryption key.
      Note: The encryption key must be at least 8 characters. Save the encryption key to use for further upgrades.
    3. At the Choose the platform prompt, select Docker Compose.
    4. At the Enter the location where the HCL Accelerate files will be installed prompt, enter the location where you want to install the product files.
      Files are copied to the specified directory in a subdirectory named product_version_number.
    5. At the Please enter the hostname where you will run HCL Accelerate prompt, enter the host name where users can access the Web UI.
      The default value is localhost.

      The host name must resolve to a name on your DNS server, or in the server's hosts file. On Linux, the file location is etc/hosts; on Windows, the location is C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts.

    6. At the Enter the desired port where HCL Accelerate will run prompt, enter the port number for the Web UI.
      The default value is 443.
    7. Optional: If you are performing an off-line installation, at the Choose how to receive offline docker images for HCL Accelerate prompt, select one of the following options.
      • Local File System. Copy images to the file system and manually load them into the local Docker registry.
      • Local Docker Registry. Load images into the local Docker registry. This requires the Docker client on the host where the installation script is running.
      • Remote Docker Registry. Load images into the local Docker registry, and then tag the images and push them to a remote Docker registry. This requires the Docker client on the host where the installation script is running.
    The images are loaded on the local host.
  4. Complete installation by changing to the directory where you installed the product, and start Docker Compose. For example: 
    ~/projects/accelerate/ docker-compose up -d
    The HCL™ Accelerate images are pulled from Docker Hub and configured for Docker Compose.

What to do next

Access the HCL™ Accelerate Web UI. The URL is https://hostname:port, where hostname and port are the values that you set during installation. The initial user name is admin and the default password is admin.

Installation properties are stored in the [installation_folder]/docker-compose/.env file. You can edit the properties appropriate for your environment. The env file contains a description for all installation properties, including the following properties:
Access_Key
The product access key obtained earlier.
NGINX_HOST
The domain of the URL the users will use to access HCL™ Accelerate. The value is usually the hostname of the virtual machine where Docker Compose is running.
To complete installation, replace the supplied SSL public certificate and private key with your own copies. You can use OpenSSL to generate your own key with a command similar to the following example:
openssl req -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes -keyout key.pem -x509 -days 365 -out certifcate.pem

Place your self-generated key and certificate in the accelerate-install-folder/product_version_number/conf/ssl folder.

After you purchase the product, you receive a permanent access key and a license key.

View the analytics dashboards in the HCL™ Accelerate UI by performing the following:
  1. Navigate to /featureFlags
  2. In the Enter a feature name to enable it field, enter embedded-analytics-views
  3. Click the Enable button.
  4. Click Insights > Analytics