Anypoint Runtime Fabric : Part 1 - Pre-Installation Network Checking

Introduction

In the next few weeks, I will write more details about Mule runtime fabric installation, configuration, and troubleshooting. This article is about to verify the network connectivity before install Anypoint Runtime Fabric (RTF). In order to install Anypoint RTF, the network firewall must open. The details about the port and host whitelisting can be find here: https://docs.mulesoft.com/runtime-fabric/1.4/install-port-reqs.

Tools for Network Connectivity Checking

The following tools should be installed and configure on the Linux system:

• nslookup
• curl
• nc
• openssl
• chrony

nslookup must configured properly. To verify nslookup, you can use the following command:

nslookup anypoint.mulesoft.com

The above command should print out something like:

Name: anypoint-prod-936665732.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com
Address: 52.87.103.123
Name: anypoint-prod-936665732.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com
Address: 3.217.25.79
...

This means it is working. If you find a problem, most likely the file /etc/resolv.conf has the incorrect content. It should look like the following:

$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Generated by NetworkManager
search gmcr.com
nameserver 10.64.2.13
nameserver 10.124.240.104

The next tool is the well-known cURL. run the following command:

$ curl -sk https://anypoint.mulesoft.com:443

You should see something like the following:

301 Moved Permanently
nginx

This is good. If it hung, then we have problem. I have covered the usage of nc and openssl in my previous post

NTP - Network Time Protocol

In order for Anypoint RTF to work, we must make sure NTP is working in the system. Linux use chrony to perform NTP. Run the following command:

chronyc tracking

If the NTP is working correctly, it should print out the something like the following:

Reference ID    : A3EDDA13 (toddadev.your.org)
Stratum         : 2
Ref time (UTC)  : Mon Feb 03 00:18:55 2020
System time     : 0.000235624 seconds slow of NTP time
Last offset     : -0.000094732 seconds
RMS offset      : 0.000081353 seconds
Frequency       : 16.987 ppm slow
Residual freq   : -0.003 ppm
Skew            : 0.062 ppm
Root delay      : 0.025243049 seconds
Root dispersion : 0.000095447 seconds
Update interval : 514.2 seconds
Leap status     : Normal

Note the Leas status must be "Normal", otherwise, Anypoint RTF will be not working. The real for the Leap status is not normal is the network firewal is not open to the RedHat's time server. In this case, we need to use company's internal time server. To do this, modify the file: /etc/chrony.conf

# Use public servers from the pool.ntp.org project.
# Please consider joining the pool (http://www.pool.ntp.org/join.html).
#server 0.rhel.pool.ntp.org iburst
#server 1.rhel.pool.ntp.org iburst
#server 2.rhel.pool.ntp.org iburst
#server 3.rhel.pool.ntp.org iburst
server server 10.70.0.200
...

The line: server server 10.70.0.200 is company's private time server. Make sure comment out all the RedHat's entries. After the modification of the file of /etc/chrony.conf, make sure run the following command:

sudo systemctl restart chronyd
sudo systemctl enable chronyd

You also may verify the sources of the Ntp by the following command:

chronyc sources

This will restart the chrony daemon.

Network Connectivity Test Scripts

Mulesoft provided a scripts totest the network connectivity at here If you have gone through the test in the previous sections, this script should run with the following results.

Once the above procedures are all done, we are read to perform the installation for Anypoint Runtime Fabric. I will cover that in the following articles.