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Grid Protection Alliance Exercises

This document is an exercise procedure for setting up and testing concepts.

GPA Developer Workstation

This is a cookbook recipe style exercise procedure for setting up a workstation virtual machine for developing GridProtectionAlliance software. This procedure was developed and tested using specified operating systems, software versions, and installation sequence. However, with appropriate modifications, this procedure should be adaptable to work in other hardware and software platforms.

Platform

Platform Description

This example uses a Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Host server, named GPA-HOST running Hyper-V to host virtual machines configured with various operating systems and GPA software. The GPA-HOST server also runs Microsoft DNS Server to map the host's and virtual machines' names to IP addresses in our local network.

The virtual machines will be created with a clean operating system and software installed for this example. This document will try to highlight the non-default customized installation and configuration steps. This document does not include many default installation and configuration steps.

Platform Configuration

GPA-HOST Platform Host Server

- Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard with Hyper-V for hosting virtual machines
- DNS Server
- CPU = AMD Phenom X4, 3.2GHz
- RAM = 16GB, 1600 MHz, non-ECC
- Ethernet with Internet access

GPA-DEV GPA Developer Workstation virtual machine

- OS = Windows 10 Enterprise 2016 LTSB, 64-bit
- Software = Developer tools including Git, Microsoft Visual Studio
- Environment for developing, debugging, and documenting GPA Software
- CPU = 3 virtual cores
- RAM = 3072 standard (not dynamic)
- VHD = 127GB virtual hard drive

Host Server Setup

In this example, the Host Server is a general purpose physical server whose function is providing a Hyper-V infrastructure to run the virtual machines and local DNS service. Setting up the Host Server is beyond the scope of this example. However, the only significant Host Server setup beyond a clean Windows install is the installation of Hyper-V and DNS services.

DNS Configuration

The Host Server DNS service is optional. The DNS service provides reliable and easy to manage Host Name to IP address resolution. This example will use static IPv4 addresses for all of the machines.

This example's local area network (LAN) IP Address range is 192.168.1.0 to 192.168.1.255. Your network will not likely use the same IP Addresses. Also the gpa.net domain name is arbitrary. If using a different domain name, make sure it does not conflict with a real Internet domain you may want to access. Also, make sure to configure the DNS server's to Forwarders properties to resolve Internet side domains' host names.

  1. Create a Forward Lookup Zone for the domain named: gpa.net
  2. Under the gpa.net zone, create the following Host A records:
    • GPA-HOST A 192.168.1.249
    • GPA-DEV A 192.168.1.122
  3. Set the DNS Server's Forwarders properties to include your favorite ISP's DNS service or public DNS service. This example uses Google's public DNS.
    • 8.8.8.8 google-public-dns-a.google.com

Hyper-V Virtual Machines Setup

This example uses Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) subscription releases of the Windows operating system software in ISO file format. The ISO filenames in this document are renamed to be simplified.

IMPORTANT: PASSWORDS

In Production Deployments, complex passwords are desireable. However, in these cookbook scenarios, certain test procedures may be easier to troubleshoot if your passwords are at least 8 alpha-numeric characters long, with mixed character cases, and at least 1 numeric digit. For now, avoid short simple passwords and avoid using symbols in the passwords.

GPA-DEV Workstation Initial Setup

    1. Download the windows_10_enterprise_2016_ltsb.iso file to the GPA-HOST server
    1. On the GPA-HOST server: create the GPA-DEV Workstation virtual machine.
    • Configure GPA-DEV's Hyper-V Settings as described in the earlier Platform Configuration section and assign the windows_10_enterprise_2016_ltsb.iso image file to its DVD drive.
    1. Start the GPA-DEV virtual machine and run the Windows installation.
    • In the Get going fast screen, press the "Customize" button.
    • In the 3 Customize settings screens, turn All of the options to Off. Optionally leave the "Browser, protection, and update / Use SmartScreen..." turned On
    1. In the Choose hou you'll connect screen, select "Join a local Active Directory domain"
    1. In the Create an account for this PC screen, enter the user information and Password you want to use and need to remember.
    • The user name in this example is: tangent
    1. Configure the static IP address
    • Open the Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center
    • Open the Ethernet / Properties and open its Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) / Properties and set the following values:
      • IP address: 192.168.1.122 - set to match your DNS for GPA-DEV.gpa.net
      • Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 - set to your network's subnet mask
      • Default gateway: 192.168.1.1 - set to your Router's LAN IP address
      • Preferred DNS server: 192.168.1.249 - set to the GPA-HOST server's IP address
    • Ping stuff to test the network and DNS configuration.
C:\Users\Administrator> ping gpa-host.gpa.net
    Pinging gpa-host.gpa.net [192.168.1.249] with 32 bytes of data:
    Reply from 192.168.1.249: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
    ...
C:\Users\Administrator> ping google-public-dns-a.google.com
    Pinging www.google.com [8.8.8.8] with 32 bytes of data:
    Reply from 8.8.8.8: bytes=32 time=20ms TTL=45
    ...
C:\Users\Administrator> ping time.nist.gov
    Pinging ntp1.glb.nist.gov [132.163.4.102] with 32 bytes of data:
    Request timed out.
    1. In Control Panel\Clock, Language, and Region click the "Set the time and date"
    • In the Date and Time tab, set the date and time and set the local time zone
    • Set the local time zone
    • In the Internet Time tab, click the Change settings... button and set the Server to time.nist.gov then click Update now and look for a message like "The clock was successfully synchronized with time.nist.gov on..."
    1. If everything is working so far, run Windows Update and take a coffee break!
    1. Reboot after Windows Updates are downloaded and let them complete by rebooting.
    1. In Control Panel\System and Security\System click the Change Settings link in the *Computer name, domain, and workgroup settings section.
    • In the System Properties / Computer Name tab, click the Change... button.
    • In the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog,
      • change the Computer name value to GPA-DEV
      • change the Workgroup value to GPA.NET
      • click the More... button and set the *Primary DNS suffix of this computer" value to gpa.net
      • close the dialogs and reboot
    1. Optional: In Control Panel\System and Security\System
    • Enable Remote Desktop: click the Remote Settings link and select "Allow remote connetions to this computer."
    • Adjust for Best Performance: click the Advanced system settings link
      • In the System Properties / Advanced tab's Performance section, click the Settings... button
      • Click the Adjust for best performance radio option, and select only the minimum Custom features desired
    1. After rebooted, Shut Down the virtual machine and create a Hyper-V Checkpoint recording of this basic installation configuration

GPA-DEV Workstation Developer Software Installation

  1. Start the GPA-DEV Workstation if it is not already running
    • Sign in with the tangent account

Create a Folder on the GPA-DEV Workstation for Receiving Software and Files

Do the following tasks in the GPA-DEV Workstation:

  1. Create the following folders. The C:\Apps and C:\Apps\shared folders should be made available to any authorized person logging into the GPA-DEV machine.
    • C:\Apps
    • C:\Apps\shared
  2. Configure Windows System / File Explorer's View options.
    • Open the Windows System / File Explorer
    • Click and drop down the View ribbon menu
    • Click the Options button
    • Disable the Hide extensions of known file types option by unchecking it
    • Click the Apply button
    • Click the Apply to all folders button

Downloading and Installing Software Packages Procedure

The following is a generalized procedure for installing software packages on the GPA-DEV Workstation.

  1. Open the Windows Accessories / Internet Explorer web browser and navigate to software's Home Page
    • Note: The Home Page is a good place to start. Download Pages or especially Download Links sometimes change over time.
  2. Navigate to the Download Page appropriate for the Windows platform and version (usually the current stable version)
  3. Click on appropriate Download :inks or buttons
  4. When prompted to save downloads, drop down the Save button menu and click Save as
  5. In the Save As dialog, browse to the C:\Apps\shared folder, then click the Save button
  6. Open the Windows System / File Explorer and navigate to the C:\Apps\shared folder
  7. Select the software package and install it in an appropriate location
    • Typical Applications installed in C:\Apps\{application_name} folders
      • Git, 7-Zip
    • Typical Applications installed in C:\Program Files\{vendor_name}\{application_name} sub folders
      • Microsoft Development Tools
  8. Optional: Pin to Start Menu, Pin to Taskbar, or create short cuts for the installed applications

Software Packages for this Exercise

Software Package Home Page Download Link Install Location Installation Notes
Git Portable 64-bit PortableGit-2.11.0-64-bit.7z.exe Git-Scm.com PortableGit-2.11.0-64-bit.7z.exe C:\Apps\Git Run installer as a Normal User, do Not Run as Administrator
7zip 64-bit 7z1604-x64.exe 7-zip.org 7z1604-x64.exe C:\Apps\7z Run installer as Administrator

Make a Checkpoint Snapshot Image of the Current GPA-DEV Workstation Virtual Machine

At this point in our exercise, we have a very clean, general purpose, workstation virtual machine. By making a Checkpoint of the current machine state, we can export or fork this machine to repurpose it for various development environments and scenarios.

Development Forks for this Exercise

  • Microsoft Visual Studio, Community Edition
  • Microsoft Visual Studio, Professional Edition

Dec 22, 2016 - Created by aj

Copyright 2017 Grid Protection Alliance