SIRIS, ALTO, and NAS: Getting started with the SIRIS Imager

Topic

This article describes the SIRIS imaging tool used for creating SIRIS Imaged deployments.

Environment

• SIRIS Imaged

Description 

The SIRIS imager lets you convert compatible hardware to a SIRIS continuity appliance. See the following sections for system requirements and configuration recommendations.

• System requirements
• Recommended configurations for imaged Datto appliances
• Next steps

System requirements

Hardware requirements

• A BIOS capable of USB Boot. UEFI Boot is not currently supported.
  
  • VT-x (Intel Virtualization Technology for IA-32 and Intel 64 Processors) must be enabled in the BIOS.
  • Secure Boot must be disabled in the BIOS.
• A NIC with 1GbE DHCP-enabled Internet connectivity. Datto recommends dual NICs.
• A Quad-core 64-bit processor.
• The Minimum amount of RAM as determined by local storage capacity (see Required Configurations for Imaged Datto Appliances).
• If converting a single-drive device, you should only use a non-NVM Express (NVMe) solid-state drive (SSD) of at least 1 TB in capacity. Imaging will allocate 60 GB of free space to the OS partition.
• For multiple-drive devices, Datto recommends a non-NVM Express (NVMe) 120 GB SSD for the OS drive, and either non-NVM Express (NVMe) SSDs or 7200 RPM HDDs for the storage array.
  • For multiple-drive devices, the OS drive must have at least 60 GB free space for the Datto OS. The total capacity of the drive should not exceed 1 TB.
• All SATA hardware to be imaged must have the External Device option for its port set to Disabled in the device BIOS.

Unsupported Hardware

• Pre-existing RAID configurations, both hardware, and software, are unsupported. The SIRIS imager will create its software RAID configuration during the conversion process. If the target hardware has a hardware RAID, disable it. If possible, enable HBA mode (sometimes called Initiator-Target mode or Integrated RAID mode; see Oracle's documentation on the subject (external link) for more information.
• External SAN configurations are not supported.
• You cannot use removable media as the device's OS drive.
• Versions of the SIRIS Imager on media other than a USB stick are unsupported.

Network Requirements

• The target system's networking environment must meet the SIRIS, Alto & DNAS Networking And Bandwidth Requirements.

Recommended Configurations for Imaged Datto Appliances

For best performance, Datto recommends that the target hardware meet or exceed the following configurations. Allocating fewer system resources than recommended can result in performance limitations during restore and disaster recovery. The imager can create RAID configurations up to RAID 10.

Datto supports all Ubuntu Server Certified Hardware that meets these requirements.

Next Steps

If the target system meets the minimum system requirements for imaging, proceed to the Converting Hardware to a SIRIS With Datto Utilities article.