How to create an external region #

This document will take you through all the steps required to configure a new external region for both Nimbra Edge and Connect iT.

Prerequisites #

One machine for running the video appliance
One machine for running the thumb appliance

Check the hardware requirements document for the specific hardware required.

1. Preparing the machines #

Both the video appliance and the thumb appliance require docker and the Connect iT CLI.

1.1 Install Docker #

Ensure you have Docker and Docker Compose installed. You need Docker Compose v2 specifically which is not included in all Linux distributions.

If you are unsure if your distribution packages Docker Compose v2 use the official Docker installation instructions.

1.2 Download connectit #

curl --output connectit https://docs.cnctit.io/releases/connectit-R3.20.3
chmod +x connectit

2. Install the video appliance #

Installing the appliance requires the URL to the installation, a name for the appliance and a super user.

The default is to use a region called main. If you wish to use a different region add the --region flag.

Run the connectit CLI like this to start a video node on the machine:

sudo ./connectit install video --url <url> --name <appliance name>

For example:

user@video:~$ sudo ./connectit install video --url https://demo.cnctit.io --name video-1
✔ Input password for user admin · ********
[+] Running 2/2
 ✔ Container connectit-video-data-1     Started                           0.5s
 ✔ Container connectit-video-control-1  Started                           0.5s

Nimbra Edge uses the naming scheme video-region-<region>-<n> where n is a serial number for its video and thumb nodes. For example video-region-main-0 or video-region-main-thumb-0.

3. Install the thumb appliance #

A thumb appliance is created in the same way as a video appliance:

sudo ./connectit install thumb --url <url> --name <appliance name>

Once again the default region is called main. If you wish to use a different region add the --region flag.

For example:

user@thumb:~$ sudo ./connectit install thumb --url https://demo.cnctit.io --name thumb-1
✔ Input password for user admin · ********
[+] Running 3/4
 ⠦ Volume "connectit-thumb_content"     Created                           0.6s
 ✔ Container connectit-thumb-control-1  Started                           0.6s
 ✔ Container connectit-thumb-http-1     Started                           0.6s
 ✔ Container connectit-thumb-data-1     Started                           0.6s

4. Verify that all went well #

It should not take long for the appliances to start once the installation has finished.

Navigate to ⚙ Settings → Appliances and you should see that the appliances are connected.

Appliances in region

If you wish to run multiple video or thumb appliances simply repeat the steps above on other machines.