Installing Sisense using Provisioner and Helm

Provisioner provides an elegant and efficient solution for installing, upgrading and/or maintaining Sisense on an existing Kubernetes cluster. The Provisioner application deploys Sisense using a single Helm Chart, the simplest way of getting started with our applications on Kubernetes.

Provisioner is provided to simplify the process of installing Sisense-related Helm Charts, as described in Installing Sisense using Helm Charts.

Introduction

This single Helm Chart bootstraps the Sisense installation on an existing Kubernetes cluster, including monitoring and logging stacks.

Chart Details

The Helm Chart provides the following deployments on an existing Kubernetes cluster:

• Sisense application
• Prometheus operator
• Logging solution (fluentd, fluentd-bit)
• ReadWriteMany storage solution (AWS FSx, NFS ..)
• Cluster auto-scaler for Managed Kubernetes
• NGINX for Terminating SSL for Sisense

Prerequisites

• Supported Kubernetes Version (1.17 + )
• Helm installed, versions 3.5.1 up to 3.8.1
• RBAC Cluster-admin privileges
• RWX Cluster Storage (Rook-Ceph, FSx, NFS, NetApp ...)

• RWO Cluster Storage supported (gp2, gcd, azure disk ...)

SSL Prerequisites

Sisense uses the NGINX Ingress Controller with Ingress object for SSL termination on Layer 4.
Before installing Provisioner, perform the following steps:

1. Run the following command:

     $ kubectl create ns <namespace_name>

2. Run the following command:

     $ kubectl create secret tls <tlsSecretName>
     --namespace <namespace_name> \
     --key <ssl_key_filemne> \
     --cert <ssl_cer_filename>

3. On the Provisioner, set the tlsSecretName values using the tlsSecretName from the previous step.

Preparation

Run the following command to install HELM 3 on a machine with cluster access (either by bastion or with one of the cluster's nodes):

  curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/master/scripts/get-helm-3 && \
    chmod +x get_helm.sh && \
    DESIRED_VERSION=v3.5.1 ./get_helm.sh

Parameters

This section lists the Provisioner's chart configurable parameters.

To install Sisense using Provisioner on an existing Kubernetes:

1. Download the Provisioner Helm Chart supported version (Replace SISENSE_VERSION with Sisense external version):

     wget https://data.sisense.com/linux/provisioner-<SISENSE_VERSION>.tgz

2. Run the following to export the Helm chart's default configuration/values file:

     helm inspect values provisioner-<SISENSE_VERSION>.tgz > values.yaml

3. Edit Sisense Provisioner configuration for your setup:

     vim values.yaml

4. Install or upgrade Sisense Provisioner Helm Chart:

     helm upgrade prov-$NAMESPACE -f values.yaml 
     ./provisioner-<SISENSE_VERSION>.tgz --namespace=$NAMESPACE 
     --install --create-namespace

5. Observe the Sisense Provisioner provisioning process via its logs

     kubectl logs -f --namespace $NAMESPACE -l 
     app.kubernetes.io/name=provisioner

Using the Extra-Values Feature to Override Extended Configuration

You can override any values within Sisense Helm Charts by using the Extra-Values Feature.
Select a target Helm Chart and create your own override values file for each of the following supported Helm Charts:

• installer-values
• sisense
• prometheus-operator
• cluster-metrics
• logging
• nginx
• alb-controller
• cluster-autoscaler
• nfs-client
• nfs-server
• aws-ebs-csi
• kube-prometheus-stack

Run the following command to install the selected Helm Chart:

  helm install prov-sisense $CHART_URL \
  --namespace=$NAMESPACE \
  --create-namespace \
  --set-file <TARGET-VALUES-NAME-FROM-THE-LIST>=<YOUR-OWN-VALUES-FILE-PATH> \
  --set-file <TARGET-VALUES-NAME-FROM-THE-LIST>=<YOUR-OWN-VALUES-FILE-PATH>

For example, sisense-override-values.yml for overriding the "sisense" major Helm Chart values:

  sisense-override-values.yml
  api-gateway:
    replicaCount: 4
    affinity:
      podAntiAffinity: null
      nodeAffinity:
        requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
          nodeSelectorTerms:
          - matchExpressions:
            - key: "node-sisense-Application"
              operator: In
              values:
              - "true"

Run the following command for the above example:

  helm install prov-sisense $CHART_URL \
  --namespace=$NAMESPACE \
  --create-namespace \
  --set-file sisense=./sisense-override-values.yml

Adding Custom Labels to Sisense Pods

Sisense also provides the ability to add custom labels to each type of Sisense pods (Sisense service).

To add custom labels to Sisense pod types:

1. Create a YAML file for the custom labels.
2. Enter only the pod types whose label you want to change, and their new custom label in the following format:
   

     adminmongo:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     ai-integration:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     analyticalengine:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     api-gateway:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     blox:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     build:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     compute-service:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     configuration:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     connectors:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     customcode:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     droppy:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     exporter-xlsx:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     exporting:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     external-plugins:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     filebrowser:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     galaxy:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     identity:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     intelligence:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     jobs:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     knowledgegraph:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     management:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     migration:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     model-graphql:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     model-logspersistence:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     nlq-compile:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     nlq-duckling:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     nlq-rt:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     oxygen:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     pivot2-be:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     plugins:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     query-proxy:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     quest:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     recommendation:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     reporting:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     storage:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     tracking:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     translation:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     usage:
      labels:
        your: newlabel
     warehouse:
      labels:
        your: newlabel

3. From the directory where the YAML file resides, run the following command:
   

     helm install prov-sisense $CHART_URL \
     --namespace=$NAMESPACE \
     --create-namespace \
     --set-file sisense=./<sisense-custom-labels>.yml

Upgrading Sisense using the Existing Provisioner Installation

Run the following command to upgrade the provisioner:

  $ helm upgrade prov-sisense $CHART_URL \
  --reuse-values \    
  --namespace=$NAMESPACE 

Uninstalling Sisense

Run the following command to uninstall Sisense:

  $ helm upgrade prov-sisense $CHART_URL \
  --set uninstall.namespacedResources=true \
  --set uninstall.clusterResources=false \
  --set uninstall.removeUserData=true \
  --namespace=$NAMESPACE \
  --reuse-values \
  --force \
  --install

Uninstalling the Provisioner Chart

Run the following command to uninstall the Provisioner Chart:

  helm uninstall prov-sisense -n sisense