Assumptions

• Internet access is available on the device.
• Ports 80, 443, 4007, 4010, 4011, 9443 are all available.
• SSH is available on the machine over port 22.
• A domain name exists (docker.fileflexdemo.com in this example), and points to the IP of the host machine.
• An combined SSL certificate (including the primary cert and all dependant chain portions), and it's key file are available for the same domain.
• We are deploying against a new instance of Debian 9 (stretch), with a user 'dadmin' having been created during the installation process.
• These instructions discuss the machine as being "virtual" but these steps work equally well for a physical device.

Instructions

Deploying a Virtual or Physical Machine

This is not covered in this document.

It's assumed that a Debian 9 instance is available, with:

• OpenSSH is installed
• A user "dadmin" with sudo permissions is present.
• SUDO has been installed, and the user dadmin has full sudo permissions.
• net-tools has been installed

You can ensure the packages above are present by running the following as root:

apt-get install net-tools sudo ssh

Installing Docker

Ensure the system is updated:

sudo apt-get update

Install some packages needed to allow the use of APT over HTTPS:

sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg-agent software-properties-common

Add Docker's official GPG key:

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo apt-key add -

Add the official docker APT repository (following the appropriate command for Debian, or for Ubuntu depending on your operating system):

sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian $(lsb_release -cs) stable"

or

sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" 

Update the package index again:

sudo apt-get update

Install the latest version of Docker Engine (community edition and containerd):

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

Preparing a Deployment Configuration

Now we must prepare our deployment specific configuration files. Start by downloading the FileFlex server image:

Download the FileFlex docker image into the current user's home folder root:

cd ~
wget --http-user developer --http-password 2trEndY! https://res.fileflex.com/nec/docker/fileflex-v2.5.tar

Once our docker image is downloaded, we will create a special folder inside our home that will contain all deployment configuration files which will be made available to the running Docker instance.

Create a folder ~/config in the user's home folder that will contain all deployment configuration files

mkdir ~/config

As mentioned in the note, ~/config will be available to the container code as /opt/ffs/config.

We must now upload the certificate files, and the deployment info file (INI file) into this ~/config folder.

Preparing the Certificate

Copy your domain's certificate files into our ~/config folder. This is an example only!

cd ~/config
scp some_user@some_domain.com:~/some_folder_with_certificates/STAR_fileflexdemo* .

In our example, we have the following 3 certificate-related files in our ~/config folder:

-rw-r----- 1 dadmin dadmin 4123 Mar 26 22:01 STAR_fileflexdemo_com.ca-bundle
-rw-r----- 1 dadmin dadmin 2313 Mar 26 22:01 STAR_fileflexdemo_com.crt
-rw-r----- 1 dadmin dadmin 1704 Mar 26 22:01 STAR_fileflexdemo_com.key

The deployment configuration file (INI file) expects a single certificate, so we must combine with bundle/intermediate with the primary certificate. An example for GoDaddy certificates is:

 cat 524daaa823ca8e28.crt gd_bundle-g2-g1.crt >> cert_chain.crt

In our case we have Sectigo certificates, so we issue the following command:

cat STAR_fileflexdemo_com.crt STAR_fileflexdemo_com.ca-bundle >> cert_chain.crt

This will result in a new file being created in our folder:

-rw-r--r-- 1 dadmin dadmin 6436 Mar 26 22:05 cert_chain.crt
-rw-r----- 1 dadmin dadmin 4123 Mar 26 22:01 STAR_fileflexdemo_com.ca-bundle
-rw-r----- 1 dadmin dadmin 2313 Mar 26 22:01 STAR_fileflexdemo_com.crt
-rw-r----- 1 dadmin dadmin 1704 Mar 26 22:01 STAR_fileflexdemo_com.key

Preparing a Deployment Configuration File

We must now prepare a deployment configuration file (setup.ini). This will typically be done on another machine and then copied into this host machine. In our example, the file is being prepared on the same machine that had the certificates from the prior step.

In a working folder somewhere, create a file called "setup.ini" that will contain our deployment configuration information. Note that the paths contained in this file are interpreted as bring within the running container instance's path, not the host machine's path!

[default]
skip-page = [all]
admin-password = Q!w2e3r4
repo-select = None
firewall-enable = False
cert-pem = /opt/ffs/config/cert_chain.pem
cert-key = /opt/ffs/config/STAR_fileflexdemo_com.key
cert-password = randompassword
msp-id = 5e7bae3xxxxxxxxxxxxx67
msp-key = IBM34SOLELPXXXXXXXXXXXXXYWECF
hostname = docker.fileflexdemo.com
docker = True

Let's copy the setup.ini file from the remote working machine into our host:

cd ~/config
scp some_user@some_domain.com:~/some_folder_with_config/setup.ini .

Deploying our Docker Image

Now that we have a folder on the host machine containing the certificate files, and deployment configuration file (setup.ini), we're ready to load our image into docker and start things up.

Import the FileFlex docker image:

cd ~
sudo docker load -i fileflex-v2.4.tar

This will take a moment. Once complete, check that the image is properly imported by running:

sudo docker images 

... and you should see output similar to:

REPOSITORY          TAG                 IMAGE ID            CREATED             SIZE
fileflex            v2.4                ee4498eb1078        18 hours ago        2.02GB

Run the imported FileFlex container:

sudo docker run -it -p 9443:9443 -p 443:443 -p 80:80 -p 4007:4007 -p 4010:4010 -p 4011:4011 -p 3310:3310 -d --name=fileflex --mount type=bind,source=/home/dadmin/config,target=/opt/ffs/config --hostname docker.fileflexdemo.com fileflex:v2.4

Validate that the container is running:

sudo docker ps 

... you should see output similar to:

CONTAINER ID        IMAGE               COMMAND                  CREATED             STATUS              PORTS                                                                                                                                                 NAMES
4e0ad8deb93c        fileflex:v2.4       "/usr/bin/supervisord"   22 seconds ago      Up 16 seconds       0.0.0.0:80->80/tcp, 0.0.0.0:443->443/tcp, 0.0.0.0:4007->4007/tcp, 0.0.0.0:4010-4011->4010-4011/tcp, 0.0.0.0:9443->9443/tcp, 0.0.0.0:32768->3310/tcp   fileflex

Congratulations, FileFlex is now running. You should be able to access server admin by opening a browser to:

https://docker.fileflexdemo.com:9443

Next Steps

Logging in to Server Admin

Some configuration is necessary to obtain a properly running FileFlex server instance. The first step is to log in to Server Admin over port 9443. Open a browser at your domain URL (docker.fileflexdemo.com is an example only)

https://docker.fileflexdemo.com:9443

When prompted for login credentials, use the following:

• Username: sadmin
• Password: Q!w2e3r4

Once logged in you will see a screen similar to the following:

Configuring a User Administration Account

You will need a user administration account in order to configure user accounts. Under Control Panel, click on "User Administration":

A prior account will be shown, but the password isn't known to you, so create a new one. Click the lock symbol to edit the values:

Click Apply when you're satisfied.

Accessing User Administration

User Administration is accessed from the primary FileFlex login, which should now be accessible at the URL you provided earlier (docker.fileflexdemo.com in this example). Open your browser to that URL over HTTPS:

https://docker.fileflexdemo.com

... you will be presented with the FileFlex login page:

Enter the user admin credentials you previously created, and click login. You should then be presented with the "User Administration" user interface:

Primary configuration of FileFlex Enterprise is now complete.