Linux

Overview

This section describes how to install and configure MetaDefender (MD) Cluster Control Center on supported Linux distributions. After installation, administrators can use MD Cluster Control Center to manage MD Cluster services from a centralized interface.

Prerequisites

Before installing the MD Cluster Control Center service, ensure the following requirements are met.

Create the ignition file

Create an ignition file in YAML format. This file contains the credentials and connection settings required for the service.

The file must include the following keys:

Example ignition file:

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database:

  host: "your_postgres_host_ip"

  port: 5432

  user: "your_postgres_username"

  password: "your_postgres_admin_password"

identity:

  host: "your_md_cluster_identity_service_host_ip"

  port: 8891

  connection_key: "1234abcd"

secure:

  encryption_key: "12345678123456781234567812345678" # [a-z0-9]{32}

Save the ignition file to the following path on the target machine:

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/etc/opswat/md_cluster_control_center.yml

Install the service

1. Copy the installer file (.deb or .rpm) to the target machine.
2. Open Terminal.
3. Run the following command to start the installation:

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# Debian or Ubuntu

sudo apt -y install uuid

sudo dpkg -i <md_cluster_control_center_package> || sudo apt install -f

# Rocky or RHEL

sudo yum -y install uuid

sudo yum install <md_cluster_control_center_package> -y

Verify the service status

1. Open Terminal and run the following command:

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sudo systemctl status md-cluster-control-center

2. Check the active (running) field in the output.
3. If the service is not running, start it manually:

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sudo systemctl restart md-cluster-control-center

4. To ensure the service starts automatically at system boot:

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sudo systemctl enable md-cluster-control-center

Service management

Customize the service configuration

During installation, MD Cluster Control Center generates a configuration file at:

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/etc/md-cluster-control-center/md_cluster_control_center.yml

To customize the service behavior:

1. Open the configuration file in a text editor such as nano.

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sudo nano /etc/md-cluster-control-center/md_cluster_control_center.yml

2. Modify the required settings according to your environment.
3. Save the changes.
4. Restart the service to apply the new settings.

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sudo systemctl restart md-cluster-control-center

Directory structure

• /etc/opswat/md_cluster_control_center.yml: Service ignition file.
• /etc/md-cluster-control-center/md_cluster_control_center.yml: Service configuration file.
• /var/log/md-cluster-control-center/: Default log directory.
• /var/lib/md-cluster-control-center/: Contains persistent data required for the service to maintain state across reboots.

Log files

To check the service logs, open the file: /var/log/md-cluster-control-center/control-center.log.

To check the system log, run the following in Terminal:

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# Fetch by systemd-journald

sudo journalctl -r

# Ubuntu syslog

sudo cat /var/log/syslog

# Rocky or RHEL syslog

sudo cat /var/log/message

Uninstall the service

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# Debian or Ubuntu

sudo apt purge <md_cluster_control_center_package>

# Rocky or RHEL

sudo yum remove <md_cluster_control_center_package>

Troubleshooting

A. Service does not start

1. Check the service status:

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sudo systemctl status md-cluster-control-center

2. Review recent service logs:

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sudo journalctl -u md-cluster-control-center -n 100 --no-pager

3. Verify that the configuration file syntax is valid and restart the service after correcting any issue.

B. Installation fails

Possible causes:

• Insufficient privileges.
• Missing package dependencies.
• Required uuid package is not installed.

Solution:

• Ensure the installation commands are executed with sudo.
• Install dependencies and rerun the package installation.
• Confirm the package file matches the Linux distribution in use.

C. Control Center cannot connect to Identity Service

Possible causes:

• identity.host is incorrect.
• Network connectivity issues.
• Firewall restrictions.
• identity.connection_key does not match the value configured on MD Cluster Identity Service.

Solution:

• Verify identity.host, identity.port, and identity.connection_key in the ignition or configuration file.
• Ensure MD Cluster Identity Service is running and reachable from MD Cluster Control Center host.
• Verify that firewall rules allow traffic between the two services.
• Do not use localhost or 127.0.0.1 for identity.host unless both services run on the same host and the deployment explicitly supports it.

D. Database connection fails

Possible causes:

• PostgreSQL is not running.
• Database credentials are incorrect.
• PostgreSQL is not reachable from MD Cluster Control Center host.

Solution:

• Verify PostgreSQL service status.
• Confirm database.host, database.port, database.user, and database.password are correct.
• Ensure PostgreSQL accepts remote connections and firewall rules allow access.

Ignition file key reference

• identity.host (Required)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: IP address or domain name of the server hosting MD Cluster Identity Service. Avoid using localhost or 127.0.0.1.

• identity.port (Required)

  • Value type: number.
  • Description: Port where MD Cluster Identity Service listens for client connections.

• identity.connection_key (Required)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: A 4-64 character string that contains only digits (0-9) and letters (a-z, A-Z). This value must match the connection key configured on MD Cluster Identity Service.

• database.host (Required)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: IP address or domain name of the PostgreSQL server.

• database.port (Required)

  • Value type: number.
  • Description: Port where PostgreSQL listens for client connections.

• database.user (Required)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: PostgreSQL user account. SUPERUSER privilege is required during the initial setup.

• database.password (Required)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: PostgreSQL user password.

• secure.encryption_key (Required)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: A 32-character plain text key composed only of lowercase letters (a-z) and digits (0-9).

• rest.port (optional)

  • Value type: number.
  • Description: Port where MD Cluster Control Center listens for incoming connections. Default value is 8892.

• rest.log_path (optional)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: Location where REST logs are written.

• rest.log_level (optional)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: Level of REST log messages (dump, debug, info, warning, or error).

• log.streams[@].log_type (optional)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: Type of log device (file or syslog).

• log.streams[@].log_level (optional)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: Level of log message (dump, debug, info, warning, or error).

• log.streams[@].log_path (optional)

  • Value type: string.
  • Description: Location where logs are written. If log.streams[@].log_type is "file", the value is a file path. If log.streams[@].log_type is "syslog", the value can be [tcp/udp]://host:port for a remote syslog server or "local" for the local syslog server.