Setting up Unica cloud-native environment

You must set up Unica cloud-native environment before implementing Unica Docker. The chart that you download uses Helm as a package manager for Kubernetes. The chart is a preconfigured application resource and it deploys Unica suite on a specified Kubernetes cluster. Extract the chart ZIP file to a location in the cloud VM, where you plan to deploy Unica. For reference purposes, this chart contains a placeholder for the database. Unica does not own the database and is not responsible for database management. If required, set a containerized database (the charts and subcharts folders are for reference) as a subchart to the Unica Chart. You can use scripts to automate the restoration of database on a container.

Before you begin

The prerequisites for running a Helm chart are as follows:
  • Download the required Docker images from Flex Net Operations (FNO).
  • To import the downloaded Docker images for all the products, run the following command:
    docker load -i product_image_name.tar
  • To verify if all products images are loaded and available for use, run the following command:
    docker images
  • To tag the images appropriately, run the following command:
    docker tag SOURCE_IMAGE[:TAG] TARGET_IMAGE[:TAG]
  • To push the images to the docker registry, run the following command:
    docker push TARGET_IMAGE[:TAG]
  • Open the values.yaml file, which is placed inside the Unica folder, and edit:
    • the Docker images name in the repository section
    • the tag numbers in the tag section
    See the following code snippet for reference:
    image:
    	repository:
    		init: TARGET_IMAGE
    		platform: TARGET_IMAGE
    	tag:
    		init: TAG
    		platform: TAG
  • Configure the database in one of the following ways:
    • Database within Kubenetes cluster - Set the database as a subchart to Unica helm chart. Unica will not own or manage the database chart.
    • Pointing to an external database - Configure the database to reside on the same subnet as the worker nodes to ensure good performance.

About this task

To set up Unica cloud-native environment, complete the following steps:

Procedure

  1. Update chart configurations:
    1. Update or customize database and application server details in the configMap files for each products. For more information on configMap files, see Helm chart configuration. An example for updating or customizing the campaign-configMap.yaml is as follows:
       CAMPAIGN_DATABASE_HOST: "{{ .Release.Name }}-unica-suite-database"
       CAMPAIGN_DATABASE_PORT: "1521"
       CAMPAIGN_DATABASE_NAME: "xe"
       CAMPAIGN_DATABASE_USERNAME: "campuser"
       CAMPAIGN_DATABASE_PASSWORD: "unica"
       CAMPAIGN_DS_INITIAL_SIZE: "1"
       CAMPAIGN_DS_MIN_IDLE: "1"
       CAMPAIGN_DS_MAX_IDLE: "15"
       CAMPAIGN_DS_MAX_TOTAL: "80"
       CAMPAIGN_DS_STATEMENT_CACHE_SIZE: "300"
      
  2. Update persistence volume:
    1. Based on the persistent volume of your choice, update the following files:
      	- unica/extra-configs/local-pv.yaml 
          - unica/templates/pvc.yaml
  3. Perform an upgrade:
    1. You can use one of the following methods to upgrade:
      • Upgrade from On-premises to Docker (for example, Unica version 9.1.2 to version 12.1.0)
      • Upgrade from earlier Docker version to new version (for example, Unica version 12.0 to version 12.1)
    2. Befpre the upgrade, ensure that you have backed up the file system and the Database.
    3. Place the file system on the mount point and configure the BASE_FOLDER parameter in the common-configMap.yaml file to point to the file system location.
    4. Also, update the database details in the common-configMap.yaml file. For example, refer the following code snippet:
       DATABASE_EXPORT_DIR: "/DBBACKUP/"
       BASE_FOLDER: "OLDINSTALL/IBMUnica_86"
       SOURCE_SCHEMA: "camp86"
       TARGET_SCHEMA: "camp86"
       SOURCE_SCHEMA_RT: "camp86"
       TARGET_SCHEMA_RT: "camp86"
       SOURCE_SCHEMA_PROD: "intpr86"
       TARGET_SCHEMA_PROD: "intpr86"
       SOURCE_SCHEMA_LRN: "intlr86"
       TARGET_SCHEMA_LRN: "intlr86"
       SOURCE_SCHEMA_RUN: "intrt86"
       TARGET_SCHEMA_RUN: "intrt86"
    5. In case of managed Kubernetes clusters, change the value of the storageClassNames parameter in the values.yaml file.
      Note: Active MQ Image or Chart, provided by Unica, is for reference purposes only. Unica does not own or is not responsible for Active MQ Deployments.