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(12.04.120) IGEL UMS Installation

Owned by Harald Saller
Jul 23, 2024
6 min read

This article describes possible installation options for the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS) and it provides general installation recommendations and instructions. For further guidelines about the UMS environment, see Installation and Sizing Guidelines for IGEL UMS.

The UMS installation can consist of a single UMS Server instance or multiple UMS Servers.

The single-instance installation is called a Standard UMS. In the Standard UMS installation only one UMS Server performs all tasks and is the single access point for the endpoint devices. 

A multi-instance installation has several UMS Servers – each can perform all tasks, but some tasks are distributed across the UMS Servers. The endpoint devices can connect to any of the UMS Servers and are not fixed to them. Multi-instance installations require messaging between the components to support organizational tasks. The IGEL UMS supports two realizations of multi-instance installations:

  • Distributed UMS
    In a Distributed UMS installation, all UMS Servers are installed as standalone servers, but with the Distributed UMS feature enabled, these UMS Servers work just as if they were installed as a High Availability environment. Messages between the UMS Servers use the database bridge: With this, all core features of distributed tasks are available. 
    A Distributed UMS installation has the following requirements:

    • Common external database

    • 8443/TCP for WebDav file exchange

Characteristic features: Cross-subnet communication and installation in cloud environments like Azure / AWS are possible. For load distribution, DNS-Round-Robin load balancing of the server IP address should be used since IGEL UMS Load Balancers are not supported. The DNS-Round-Robin for igelrmserver should point to all servers.

Alternatively, you can use a reverse proxy / external load balancer for load distribution as of UMS 12; the FQDN and port of the external load balancer / reverse proxy must be specified as a Cluster Address, see Server Network Settings in the IGEL UMS.

Note the following:

 

  • UMS High Availability (HA) Extension
    The UMS HA provides all features from the Distributed UMS but comes with the possibility to install UMS Load Balancers. Communication between the components of the UMS HA installation, i.e. UMS Servers, UMS Load Balancers, is possible due to the use of the same IGEL network token. 
    As of UMS version 6.10 (no matter if it is an HA installation with UMS Load Balancers or without), messages between the UMS Servers use the database bridge, and not ActiveMQ like on earlier UMS versions. Nevertheless, ActiveMQ messaging still remains active: on HA installations without Load Balancers, it is active only in the background; on HA installations with UMS Load Balancers, ActiveMQ messaging is, however, further used for the message exchange with Load Balancers, and exactly this poses restrictions on the cross-subnet communication and possibility to install UMS HA with Load Balancers in cloud environments. For further information on messaging, see UMS HA Health Check - Analyse Your IGEL UMS High Availability and Distributed UMS Systems.

    A UMS HA installation has the following requirements:

    • Common external database

    • 8443/TCP for WebDav file exchange

    • For HA installations with IGEL UMS Load Balancers: 6155/UDP, 61616/TCP ActiveMQ messaging. For the list of the UMS ports, see IGEL UMS Communication Ports.

Characteristic features of HA installations with IGEL UMS Load Balancers: All UMS Servers and UMS Load Balancers must reside on the same VLAN; there is no support for cloud environments like Azure / AWS.

Cross-subnet Communication for UMS HA Installations without UMS Load Balancers

Existing UMS HA installations without UMS Load Balancers can be further used – there is no need to reinstall them as Distributed UMS. UMS Server communication over subnets will automatically be possible when you update to UMS 6.10 or higher.

There is no need for reinstallation also because a UMS HA without Load Balancers operates essentially as the Distributed UMS - both are identical in terms of the synchronization of files, firmware, certificates, licenses, and jobs; both use the database bridge for the message exchange.

How to Choose between the Standard UMS, Distributed UMS, and UMS High Availability

General Installation Recommendations

For small installations, a single UMS Server instance (standard UMS) with an embedded database is usually sufficient. If required, a single-instance installation can be easily extended anytime to a Distributed UMS installation by installing additional servers (and in the case of an embedded database, by switching preliminarily to an external data source).

Large installations should use either the UMS High Availability or the Distributed UMS (preferable for new installations, e.g. because you do not have to configure additional firewall exclusions). For large installations, it is also recommended to use DNS-Round-Robin load balancing or the IGEL Cloud Gateway.

See also Installation and Sizing Guidelines for IGEL UMS.

  • You are an existing customer and have a single-instance UMS installation but want to run additional UMS Servers...
    => Install UMS 12.01 or higher ("standard UMS" in the UMS installer) on the first server and enable the Distributed UMS feature. After that, you can install additional servers (as Distributed UMS) and connect them to the same database (NOT embedded database).

  • You are an existing customer and have the UMS High Availability installed...
    => Install UMS 12.01 or higher (UMS High Availability Network components in the UMS installer; see Updating the Installation of an HA Network) and leave everything as it is.

  • You are a new customer and want a single-instance UMS installation...
    => Install standard UMS 12.01 or higher.

  • You are a new customer and want to run the UMS with multiple servers, but you do not need IGEL UMS Load Balancers because you deploy DNS-Round-Robin load balancing...
    => Install UMS 12.01 or higher ("Distributed UMS" in the UMS installer) on the first server. After that, you can install the other servers, also as Distributed UMS, and connect them to the same database (NOT embedded database).

  • You are a new customer and want to run the UMS with multiple servers and to use the IGEL UMS Load Balancers...
    => Install UMS 12.01 or higher as High Availability with Load Balancers. But first, ask IGEL if it would be better to refrain from deploying IGEL UMS Load Balancers because they may be not optimal for large installations. For management of devices outside the company network, use also IGEL Cloud Gateway.

  • You are a new customer and want the UMS with multiple servers in the cloud...
    => Install UMS 12.01 or higher  ("Distributed UMS" in the UMS installer) on the first server. After that, you can install the other servers, also as Distributed UMS, and connect them to the same database (NOT embedded database).

How to Install the IGEL UMS

Standard UMS

If you decided on a single-instance UMS installation, see the following articles. They describe the complete procedure for installing the standard UMS with an embedded database. If your required installation differs, you can select individual components, e.g. for an individual console installation.

Distributed UMS

If you want to install the Distributed UMS or extend your existing standard UMS installation to the Distributed UMS, see Installing the Distributed IGEL UMS.

UMS High Availability

If you want to install the UMS HA Extension, see HA Installation.