SteelCentral™ NetPlanner 18.9.

0
Installation Instructions

Release 18.9.0
Feb 15, 2021
 Copyright, Contacts, and Legal Notices

Document Copyright
Title: NetPlanner Documentation Set
Version: 18.9.0
Revised: 2/15/2021
© 2021 Riverbed Technology. All rights reserved.

Patents and Trademarks

Riverbed and any Riverbed product or service name or logo used herein are trademarks of Riverbed Technology. All
other trademarks used herein belong to their respective owners. The trademarks and logos displayed herein may not
be used without the prior written consent of Riverbed Technology or their respective owners.
The absence of a patent or mark from the above notices does not constitute a waiver of intellectual property rights that
Riverbed has established in any of its products, service names or marks in use.

Software Copyright
Product Name: NetPlanner
Product Release: 18.9.0
© 2021 Riverbed Technology.
All Rights Reserved.

Contacts
Riverbed Technology
680 Folsom St.
San Francisco CA, 94107
USA

General
Telephone: 415.247.8800
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: http://www.riverbed.com

Technical Support
Telephone: 415.247.7381
E-mail: [email protected]

Terms and Conditions of Use

This document and the accompanying product documentation describes the functions of the Riverbed software
product(s) (“SOFTWARE”) identified above (this document and the product documentation are collectively referred
to as “DOCUMENTATION”). Riverbed Technology, 680 Folsom St., San Francisco, California 94107 is the sole
owner of all rights, title, and interest to the DOCUMENTATION and SOFTWARE.
Nothing herein shall grant or imply a license to the DOCUMENTATION or SOFTWARE. The right to use the
DOCUMENTATION and SOFTWARE shall result only from entering into a Master Software License Agreement and
a Software Usage Agreement, and paying the applicable license fees.

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 2

 Contents
Copyright, Contacts, and Legal Notices ..................................................................................................... 2

Overview of NetPlanner Installation ............................................................................................................ 4

Installation Workflow ........................................................................................................................................................ 4

System Requirements .................................................................................................................................. 6

Supported Platforms ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Policy on Linux Installations ............................................................................................................................................. 7
System Configuration ....................................................................................................................................................... 7
Supporting Software ......................................................................................................................................................... 8
Web Client Requirements ................................................................................................................................................ 9
Support Statement for NetPlanner Running on VMware and Other Major Virtualization Environments ......................... 10
Policy for Supporting NetPlanner in Cloud Environments .............................................................................................. 10

Preparing for Installation ............................................................................................................................ 12

Pre-Installation Checklist ................................................................................................................................................ 13
Communication Ports ...................................................................................................................................... 14
Required Installation Information .................................................................................................................................... 15
Prepare the NetPlanner Host ......................................................................................................................................... 17
Account Permissions ....................................................................................................................................... 17
Disable User Account Control (UAC)............................................................................................................. 17
Disable Windows Automatic Updates............................................................................................................. 18
Disable DHCP ................................................................................................................................................. 18
Disable Antivirus Software during Installation ............................................................................................... 18
Disable System Backup Services .................................................................................................................... 18

Installing NetPlanner ................................................................................................................................... 18

Installing NetPlanner on Windows .................................................................................................................................. 19
Additional Step for Design Action Development ............................................................................................ 20
Adding Licenses for a First-Time Installation ................................................................................................. 21
Viewing Online Product Documentation ........................................................................................................ 22
Starting NetPlanner ......................................................................................................................................... 22
Installing NetPlanner on Linux........................................................................................................................................ 23
Installation Notes............................................................................................................................................. 23
Installing NetPlanner (Linux) .......................................................................................................................... 25
Additional Step for Design Action Development ............................................................................................ 26
Adding Licenses for a First Time Installation ................................................................................................. 26
Setting Up NetPlanner to Run Automation Tasks ........................................................................................... 27
Viewing Online Product Documentation ........................................................................................................ 29
Starting NetPlanner ......................................................................................................................................... 29

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 3

 Overview of NetPlanner Installation
This document describes the preparation of a host machine for and installation of NetPlanner 18.9.0.

Installation Workflow
The following is the suggested workflow for installing NetPlanner 18.9.0.

1) Review the system requirements for the NetPlanner host. See “System Requirements” on page 6.

2) Download the NetPlanner 18.9.0 installer from the Riverbed Support Center (http://support.riverbed.com).

3) Review the information needed before you begin the installation in

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 4

 4) Preparing for Installation” on page 12.

5) Install the software. See “Installing NetPlanner” on page 18.

6) Add NetPlanner licenses to your license server, if necessary.

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 5

 System Requirements

The system requirements for the NetPlanner 18.9.0 software installation are included below. The following sections are
available.
 “Supported Platforms“
 “Policy on Linux Installations” on page 7
 “Supporting Software” on page 8
 “Web Client Requirements” on page 9
 “Support Statement for NetPlanner Running on VMware and Other Major Virtualization Environments”
on page 10

Supported Platforms
The following table lists the supported platforms for NetPlanner 18.9.0

Table 1 Supported Platforms

Microsoft • Windows 10 Professional and Enterprise (64-bit)
• Windows Server 2016 (64-bit)
• Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)

Notes:
• Supported on the English language versions of each operating system.
• NetPlanner is supported on the operating systems listed above running under most major
virtualization environments, including VMware ESX.

1
Red Hat Linux • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (v. 3.10.0 Linux kernel)

1. NetPlanner is also supported under the major RHEL-compliant Linux distributions Scientific Linux, CentOS, and
Oracle Linux, subject to the notes and limitations detailed in the Linux support policy included in this document.

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 6

 Policy on Linux Installations
This document explicitly lists versions of RedHat Enterprise Linux (“RHEL OS”) as supported Linux platforms.
NetPlanner is supported under the major Linux distributions Scientific Linux, CentOS, and Oracle Linux, provided
those distributions are 100% compliant with RHEL OS. However, Riverbed’s support of RHEL-compliant Linux
distributions is subject to the following constraints — while Riverbed will attempt to address issues reported when
running NetPlanner under RHEL-compliant Linux distributions, the company reserves the right to request customer
assistance in problem determination, including recreating the problem on RHEL OS on the customer premises should
other diagnostic steps prove unsuccessful.

System Configuration
The following table lists the system configuration requirements for NetPlanner 18.9.0.

Table 2 System Configuration

CPU Required: 2.0 GHz using x86 or x86-64
Recommended: 3.0+ GHz dual- or quad-core using x86-64
Notes:
• The x86-64 ISA (instruction set architecture) is also known as EM64T, x86 AMD, AMD64
and x86.
• The Itanium (IA-64) instruction set architecture is not supported.
RAM Required: 8 GB
Recommended: 16+ GB
Note: Performance and scalability will improve with more available memory.
Disk Space Required: 3 GB
Recommended: 20+ GB
Note: Up to 2 GB of free disk space may be required during installation

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 7

 Supporting Software
The following tables list the compatible versions of supporting software for NetPlanner 18.9.0.

Table 3 Supporting Software

NetCollector Version 18.0.7, 18.0.8
NetIM Version 1.2, 1.3, 1.3.1, 1.4, 1.5, 2.3
AppResponse 8.5.5 or higher, using the latest export scripts available from the AR Update Center.
NetProfiler Version 10.5.0, 10.6.0, or 10.6.1,10.9.5, 10.12, 10.13, 10.15, 10.19

Optional Software
1
Microsoft Visio • Visio (Standard or Professional) 2003 with SP 3 or later,
• Visio (Standard or Professional) 2007, or
• Visio (Standard or Professional) 2010
Microsoft Excel Excel (Standard or Professional) 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013
1. Microsoft Visio is only required for NetMapper workflows.

Table 4 Supported Compilers

1
OS Compiler
Windows Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2002
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Express Edition
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express Edition
For instructions on configuring Visual Studio 2005, please see Knowledge Base article
S20334, What are the proper system environment settings for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
compiler for 64-bit OS?
Note: Riverbed highly recommends the Professional Edition of the compiler. Using the
Standard or Express Editions of the compiler does not allow for code optimizations and will
result in longer run-times.
Linux gcc 3.4 or higher
1. A compiler is required to create custom design actions using the Design Action Editor.

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 8

 Web Client Requirements
The following table lists the web client requirements for NetPlanner 18.9.0.

Table 5 Web Client Requirements

Display Resolution Recommended: 1280x1024 and higher
Supported Browsers • Mozilla Firefox 39 or higher
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 or higher

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 9

 Support Statement for NetPlanner Running on VMware and
Other Major Virtualization Environments
This product is supported on the virtualized environment, subject to the following notes and requirements.
 The virtual machine in which NetPlanner is installed must be configured with a static (dedicated) allocation of
memory and CPU.
 The static allocations must meet or exceed NetPlanner’s minimum hardware requirements.
 VMware configuration with dynamic CPU or memory allocation is not supported.
 It is also required that vMotion (or similar technologies in other virtualization environments) be disabled on the
host running NetPlanner.
This product rarely exhibits functional problems when running under VMware. As a result, Riverbed will attempt to
address functional issues reported when running NetPlanner under the VMware environment. Riverbed does not insist
that customers re-create functional software issues with NetPlanner outside of VMware before contacting support.
However, Riverbed support and engineering may request customer assistance in problem determination, including
recreating the problem on a non-virtual, dedicated environment.
Riverbed sets limits on the degree of support provided regarding performance and scalability when NetPlanner is
running in a VMware environment. Specifically, Riverbed will not address performance and scalability issues reported
in a VMware environment unless the performance and/or scalability problem can be replicated on a non-virtual,
dedicated environment meeting Riverbed’s system requirements.
Performance and scalability problems when this product is deployed under VMware have proven to be common,
particularly as the size of the network being managed increases as new elements are included. As a result, Riverbed
believes the cost of ownership is actually higher for certain solutions deployed in a virtual environment and specifically
does not recommend implementing this product under VMware or other virtualization platforms.

Policy for Supporting NetPlanner in Cloud Environments

This release of Riverbed SteelCentral NetPlanner explicitly supports deployment of NetPlanner cloud environments.
In these configurations, NetPlanner can be deployed on a virtual machine (VM) in a public or private cloud
environment. The corresponding NetIM or NetCollector is deployed on-premises where is has fast access to the
network devices being monitored.

To ensure a successful deployment, adequate resources must be used on the virtual machine used to host the
NetPlanner instances. These include all of specifications list earlier in this document plus the following:
 Processor: 6 or more virtual CPUs or more
 RAM: 32 GB of memory or more
 Operating System: Any of the Microsoft Windows options listed above.

Furthermore, round-trip delay time between the cloud-based NetPlanner and the on-premises NetIM/NetCollector
must be less than 400ms.

Even if the requirements for VM resource and network delay are met, the time to import a model from an on-premises
NetIM to a cloud-deployed NetPlanner will be greatly affected by the size of the model being transferred. Models
with greater than 3,000 nodes or 5,000 interfaces, or greater than 1 GB of metric data will take enormous amounts of
time to transfer. For network models with these characteristics, a cloud-based deployment of NetPlanner should not
be used.

Since NetPlanner rarely exhibits functional problems when running under most major cloud platforms when

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 10

 following the guidelines explained about, Riverbed will attempt to address functional issues reported when running
its products in a cloud environment. Riverbed does not insist that clients re-create functional software issues outside
of virtualized environment before contacting Riverbed support. However, Riverbed reserves the right to request
customer assistance in problem determination, including recreating the problem on a non-virtual, dedicated
environment should other diagnostic steps prove unsuccessful.

Riverbed sets limits on the degree of support provided when its products are running under cloud environments.
Specifically, Riverbed will not address performance and scalability issues reported when running its products in a
cloud environment unless the performance and/or scalability problem can be replicated on a non-virtual, dedicated
environment meeting Riverbed's system requirements.

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 11

 Preparing for Installation

This section contains important information that you need prior to installing NetPlanner. Read through and follow this
information carefully. Print out the checklists and keep them handy during installation.
The following sections are available.
 “Pre-Installation Checklist” on page 10
 “Communication Ports” on page 11
 “Required Installation Information” on page 12
 “Prepare the NetPlanner Host” on page 14

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 12

 Pre-Installation Checklist
Confirm that you have addressed all of the items in the following checklist before installing the NetPlanner software.
\
Table 1 NetPlanner Pre-Installation Checklist
Requirement met? Verify...

 Software download • Have you downloaded the following file from Riverbed Support and placed it
on the NetPlanner host machine?
NetPlanner 18.9.0
Filename: netplanner_1890_#####_win.exe
 System Requirements • Does the host machine meet the minimum system requirements, as outlined in
“System Requirements” on page 6?
 Licensing • Have you obtained NetPlanner licenses?
• If you are using an external License Server, have you added and registered
your licenses?
 Required Ports • Have you determined the ports to be used in your installation? (See
“Communication Ports” on page 14.)
• Have you permitted or unblocked the required ports at firewalls and access
lists?
 Prepare NetPlanner Host • Have you prepared the NetPlanner host, as described in “Prepare
the NetPlanner Host” on page 17?
 Gather installation information • Have you reviewed “Required Installation Information” on page 15?
• Have you filled in your required installation information?

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 13

 Communication Ports

Before installation, you must determine which ports you will use and permit these ports on firewalls and access lists,
as needed. The following table lists the required ports and their default values, and provides a space for you to
designate an alternate value if desired.

Table 2 Required Communication Ports

Communication Port Default Value Custom Value

NetPlanner Live Update Service connection to 3100

NetCollector/NetIM over HTTP
Communication to on-premises license manager UDP 2047
2143
2345
Communication to Riverbed’s license server over HTTP 80

Communication over Riverbed’s license server over 443

HTTPS
SMTP TCP (optional) 25

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 14

 Required Installation Information
The following table lists the information requested during the installation process. Fill-out the table with the requested
information. Then be sure to retain the information for future reference.
Important—Be sure to retain the values that you entered for the requested information. This information is necessary
for future migrations and for troubleshooting.

Table 3 Information Requested During Installation

Install Parameter Description / Your Setting

Install Location
 Install Location Specify the destination (home) directory for the installation.
Default: C:\Riverbed
Important:
• Do not specify an installation path with parentheses, such as
“C:\Program Files (x86)”. The presence of parentheses in the installation path
will result in an installation error.
• Avoid an installation path with spaces.
Your setting:
Installation directory:
NetCollector/NetIM Information
 NetCollector/NetIM host Specify the NetCollector/NetIM IP address or hostname.
Your setting:
Hostname:
IP address:
 NetCollector/NetIM Specify encryption mode and which ports will be used to communicate with
encryption/ports NetCollector/NetIM.
Defaults:
• Encryption Mode: No (HTTP)
• HTTP Port: 9190
• HTTPS Port: 8543
• Live Update Service Port: 3100
Your settings:
Encryption Mode:
HTTP Port:
HTTPS Port:
Live Update Service Port:
License Server Information

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.7.1 15

 Table 3 Information Requested During Installation (cont.)
Install Parameter Description / Your Setting

 Licensing type Select the type of licensing you plan to use.

Options:
• Standalone—Choose if you are the only NetPlanner user.
• Floating: access license from remote server—(most common) Choose if
you will access a license server already installed in your network.
• Floating: serve licenses from this computer—Choose if you intend to
serve licenses from the NetPlanner host.
Your setting:
Licensing type:
 License Server name and port If you selected “Floating: access license from remote server”, enter the hostname
or IP address and the port for the license server.
Your settings:
Hostname:
IP Address:
Port:
 User Home Directory Specify the home directory where configuration files, user-created projects, and
reports are stored. The user home directory must be writable by the user specified
in the previous field. The directory is created if it does not already exist.
Your setting:
User Home Directory:

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.7.1 16

 Prepare the NetPlanner Host
To achieve optimum performance, follow the guidelines in this section to prepare your NetPlanner host machine.

Note: Before making these changes, discuss them with your system administrator.

Account Permissions
The account used to install the NetPlanner software on a Windows host must have full administrative privileges. You
must be logged into the host as Administrator or a member of the local Administrators group when you run the software
installer.
The account used to install NetPlanner should also have full access permission to the installation directory (by default,
C:\Riverbed).

Note: Do not run the software installer using an account that is a member of a domain administrator group with limited
administrative privileges.

Disable User Account Control (UAC)

On Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows 7, and Windows 8 systems, we recommend that you
disable User Account Control (UAC) before you run the software installer. Disabling of UAC is required for software
installation and is strongly recommended for correct software operation.
In addition, for Windows Server 2012, we recommend that you enable the local security policy
“User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode.”
You can turn off UAC by choosing Start > Control Panel > User Accounts. Change UAC settings to “Never notify”
for the account that will install and operate NetPlanner. You must restart your Windows system after disabling UAC.
This is a one-time operation.
Important — If you choose not to disable UAC on your installation machine, then do one of the following each
time you perform a NetPlanner task, such as starting or stopping services.
 Always use right-click and choose “Run as Administrator” or
 Login to the default Windows administrator account on the server (which is not the same as a user with
administrator privileges).

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.7.1 17

 Disable Windows Automatic Updates
Riverbed does not recommend configuring Windows Automatic Updates to automatically install updates on the
NetPlanner host. Instead, configure Windows Automatic Updates to download updates (but not install the updates
automatically). Then install the updates and reboot, if necessary, when NetPlanner services are stopped.

Note: Some Windows updates have been known to interfere with correct NetPlanner operation. Therefore, if you know
when an OS update occurs, you are better equipped to troubleshoot and resolve any issues that might arise as the result
of that update.

Disable DHCP
The IP address should remain static on the NetPlanner host. Ensure that your system administrator has assigned a static
IP address and disabled DHCP on the host machine.

Disable Antivirus Software during Installation

Disable antivirus software on the host before you start the NetPlanner installer. You can re-enable it after you install
the software and initialize NetPlanner.
After NetPlanner has finished initializing, you can restart the antivirus software, but you must exclude the following
directories from being scanned:
 NetPlanner installation directory and sub-directories
 User home directories: op_admin, op_models, and op_reports

Disable System Backup Services

Make sure you do not have system backup services running on the NetPlanner host that will lock files in the database
directory and/or other directories to which the NetPlanner reads and writes.

WARNING: Do not run system backup services on the NetPlanner host during normal NetPlanner operation as this
can interfere with proper software operation.

Installing NetPlanner
These installation instructions apply to NetPlanner Release 18.9.0.
 “Installing NetPlanner on Windows” on page 19 applies to all Windows installations.
 “Installing NetPlanner on Linux” on page 23

Note: After installing this release, we strongly recommend that you read the Release Notes in the product
documentation. The Release Notes contain important information about new features, enhancements, and significant
changes from the previous release. This information might be especially important if you want to use models and files
that were created in the previous release.

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.7.1 18

 Installing NetPlanner on Windows
Use the following procedure to install NetPlanner on Windows.

Procedure 1 Installing NetPlanner on Windows

1. Download the installer from Riverbed Support (http://support.riverbed.com).

2. Login as Administrator.

3. Run the Software installer.

3.1. Double-click on the icon for the Windows installer file. The filename generally ends with “_win.exe”.

You are prompted for a directory in which to install the software. Typically, the install directory is
C:\RIVERBED.
Note—NetPlanner documentation refers to the installation directory as <install_dir>.
3.2. When prompted to specify the type of licensing system to install, the following might help you decide:

• Standalone is recommended if you are the only NetPlanner user.

• Floating: access licenses from remote server is the correct choice if you already have a license server
running on a remote machine and you want this installation to get its licenses from that machine.

• Floating: serve licenses from this computer is the correct choice if the current machine will be the license
server.

4. You can now start NetPlanner.

Warning—To connect to the License Server through a Windows firewall, you must add the op_license_server.exe to the
firewall exception list.

End of Procedure 1

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.7.1 19

 Additional Step for Design Action Development
If you want to create your own custom design actions using the Design Action Editor, you must perform the following
additional step:
 Install and configure an external compiler on the NetPlanner host.
Configuration requirements are highly platform- and compiler-specific. For information about supported
compilers, go to support.riverbed.com, go to the NetPlanner page, and follow the “System Requirements” link
under Related Information.
For information about configuring specific compilers, go to support.riverbed.com and follow the “Knowledge
Base” link. You might find the following FAQs especially useful:
– S20337—What are the proper system environment settings for Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 compiler to
work with release 14.5 or later (for 32-bit and 64-bit Windows)?
– S20336—How do I configure my Windows environment variables for MSVS 2008 Express Edition for 32-
and 64-bit machines to run Modeler 14.5?
– S20335—What are the proper system environment settings for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 compiler to
work with release 12.0 or later?
– S20295—What are the proper system environment settings for Microsoft's Visual Studio .NET 2003
compiler?

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.7.1 20

Adding Licenses for a First-Time Installation
Do this procedure only if you chose one of the following options when prompted to specify the type of licensing
system:
 Standalone
 Floating: serve licenses from this computer

Procedure 2 Adding Licenses

1. Start the License Manager (Start > Programs > Riverbed SteelCentral NetPlanner 18.7 > License Manager). The
License Manager appears.

2. Choose Tools > Register New License and follow the on-screen prompts.
Note—More detailed instructions for adding licenses are available in the Licensing chapter of the User Guide
(Getting Started > License and Installation Support > Licensing).

End of Procedure 2

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.7.1 21

 Viewing Online Product Documentation
The online product documentation requires a web browser that supports HTML frames and JavaScript. The following
browsers have been tested:
 Internet Explorer 10 and higher
 Mozilla Firefox 39 or higher
Other browsers might also work, but they have not been tested.

Configuring the Browser

If you experience problems viewing and/or navigating the online product documentation, try the following:
 Configure the browser so that it always accepts cookies.
 If the text is too small, increase the browser's default font size.
 To use a different font for the help text, change your browser's default font.
 If text or graphics become unclear or distorted, use the browser’s Refresh option.
 All online product documentation features (including the display of the current topic and related topics in PDF
using Adobe Acrobat) function correctly with the default settings of the tested browsers. If you experience
unexpected behavior, restore the browser’s default settings.

Starting NetPlanner
To start the NetPlanner software, do one of the following:
 From the Windows Start menu, choose Programs > Riverbed SteelCentral NetPlanner 18.7 > NetPlanner 18.7.
 From the Windows Start menu, choose Programs > Riverbed SteelCentral NetPlanner 18.7 >
NetPlanner 18.7 Console to open a console window. In the console window type “netplanner”.

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.7.1 22

 Installing NetPlanner on Linux
These installation instructions apply to NetPlanner Release 18.9.0.
 “Installation Notes” includes notes for installing on different Linux platforms.
 “Installing NetPlanner (Linux)” applies to all Linux installations.
 “Additional Step for Design Action Development” applies only if you want to create custom design actions using
the Design Action Editor.
 “Adding Licenses for a First Time Installation” applies only if this is your first NetPlanner installation.
 “Setting Up NetPlanner to Run Automation Tasks” applies only if you want to run automated tasks.
 “Viewing Online Product Documentation” describes the web-browser requirements for viewing the online
product documentation.
 “Starting NetPlanner” describes how to start the NetPlanner software.
You can find the latest version of these installation instructions on Riverbed Support (support.riverbed.com).

Note: After installing this release, we strongly recommend that you read the Release Notes in the product
documentation. The Release Notes contain important information about new features, enhancements, and significant
changes from the previous release. This information might be especially important if you want to use models and files
that were created in the previous release.

Installation Notes
You must ensure that the 32-bit version of the following package is installed:
 xorg-x11 (provides 'libX11.so.6')
If this library is not installed, NetPlanner might not run and instead show error messages about missing libraries or
files.
You can install this package using your system's package manager (such as up2date and yum on Red Hat Enterprise
Linux). For more information about installing packages, refer to the product documentation for your specific platform.
The full package names for these 32-bit versions have suffixes such as .i386 and .i686. To use these files, you
might also need to install additional packages as dependencies.

You must also ensure that the following packages are installed:
 glibc.i686
 glibc-devel.i686
 libX11.i686
 libXmu.i686
 libXext.i686
 libXtst.i686
 libXi.i686
 libXau.i686
 libxcb.i686
 xorg-x11-fonts-75dpi.noarch
 libXrender.i686
 libgcc.i686
Some of the listed packages may be missing, depending upon the Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation options. If any

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 23

 of the listed packages are not installed, NetPlanner might not run and will instead show error messages about missing
libraries or files.

Note: To use these files, you might also need to install additional packages as dependencies.

To check if packages are installed, use your system’s package manager. For example, in yum, use the following
command:
yum list installed <package name>
For any missing packages, use your system’s package manager to install them. For example, you can use the following
command in yum:
yum install <package name>

Note: For more information about checking for or installing packages, refer to the product documentation for your
specific platform.

If you are installing NetPlanner on a SELinux platform

When launching the software, you might get the error message
"Cannot restore segment prot after reloc: Permission denied"

This indicates that the advanced access controls of Security Enhanced Linux are enforced, but the security context of
the Riverbed libraries is not properly set. If you see this message, refer to Knowledge Base article S21654 on the
Riverbed Support Site (supportkb.riverbed.com).

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 24

 Installing NetPlanner (Linux)

WARNING: Before you install Riverbed SteelCentral NetPlanner 18.9.0, verify that you have a supported version of
Linux installed as well as any required system patches. For up-to-date information about system requirements, see the
NetPlanner page on Riverbed Support (support.riverbed.com) and follow the “System Requirements” link.

Use the following procedure to install NetPlanner.

Procedure 3 Installing NetPlanner on Linux

1. Download the software installer from http://support.riverbed.com.

2. Log in as root.

3. Verify that the DISPLAY shell variable is set up appropriately.

Note—Because this “check” is shell-specific and environment-specific, it may be best to verify the setting
with your system administrator.

4. Run the Software installer.

4.1. Go to the directory in which you downloaded installer, and enter the following command:

# ls *lin*
 The command window shows the file name of the Linux installer.

For example: netplanner_1860_19044_linux86.bin

4.2. Enter the full file name of the installer at the command prompt, using the following syntax. Be sure to
include the “./” path prefix and the “*bin” file name suffix:

# ./<filename>.bin
Then press Enter.

 The installer wizard appears and guides you through the installation process.

4.3. When you are prompted to specify the type of licensing system to install, the following might help you
decide:
• Standalone is recommended if you are the only user.

• Floating -- access licenses from remote server is the correct choice if you already have a license server
running on a remote machine and you want this installation to get its licenses from that machine.

• Floating -- serve licenses from this computer is the correct choice if the current machine will be the
license server.

4.4. When the installation wizard finishes installing, click “Done”.

5. Set the user’s PATH variable to point to the directory where the NetPlanner binary executable files are stored.

For example, if you installed NetPlanner in the directory /usr/riverbed, you would run the following
command for csh or tcsh:

setenv PATH /usr/riverbed/18.7/sys/unix/bin:$PATH

Note—The specific command for setting the PATH environment variable might differ, depending on the specific
shell you are using.

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 25

 End of Procedure 3

Additional Step for Design Action Development

If you want to create your own custom design actions using the Design Action Editor, you must perform the following
additional step:
 Install and configure an external compiler on the NetPlanner host.
Configuration requirements are highly platform- and compiler-specific. For information about supported
compilers, go to support.riverbed.com, follow the “Product Resources and System Requirements” link, and
navigate to the Product Resources page for NetPlanner.

Adding Licenses for a First Time Installation

Do this procedure only if you chose one of the following options when prompted to specify the type of licensing
system:
 Standalone
 Floating: serve licenses from this computer

Procedure 4 Adding Licenses

1. Set permissions for the OPNET license directory:

1.1. Verify that you are logged in as root on the host where you want to install the licenses.

1.2. Verify that the opt/OPNET_license directory exists:

• Enter the following command to see if the directory exists:

#ls /opt

• If the OPNET_license directory is not listed in the output, create the directory by entering the
following command:

#mkdir /opt/OPNET_license
1.3. Set permissions on the directory by entering the following command:

#chmod 777 /opt/OPNET_license

2. Log in to a user account; if you have not already done so, modify the user’s PATH as described in step 6. of
Procedure 3.

3. Launch the License Manager by typing the command:

op_license_manager

The License Manager will appear.

4. Choose Tools > Register New License and follow the on-screen prompts.
Note—More detailed instructions for adding licenses are available in the Licensing chapter of the User Guide
(Getting Started > License and Installation Support > Licensing).

End of Procedure 4

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 26

 Setting Up NetPlanner to Run Automation Tasks
When running on Linux, NetPlanner requires an X display to run an automation task. If the task is launched while a
user is logged on to the Linux host, NetPlanner can use the X display of that user. If no one is logged on, however,
NetPlanner does not have access to a user display.
To run automation tasks even when no one is logged on, you must install and configure a virtual frame buffer on the
host. To do this, perform the following procedures:

1) Procedure 5 “Installing a Virtual Frame Buffer on the Linux Host“ on page 27

2) Procedure 6 “Configuring NetPlanner to use the Virtual Buffer Display“ on page 28

Procedure 5 Installing a Virtual Frame Buffer on the Linux Host

1. Download the Xvfb program from http://www.xfree86.org. You should download the version of Xvfb that
corresponds to your X server.

2. Copy Xvfb to the following location on the Linux host:

/usr/X11R6/bin

3. Choose a screen that will be dedicated to Xvfb.

(Note—The following steps assume that screen 1 is chosen.)

4. Create the file /etc/init.d/xvfb that contains the following text:

#!/bin/sh
mode=$1
case "$mode" in
'start')
# start the X Virtual Framebuffer (Xvfb)

if [ -f /usr/X11R6/bin/Xvfb ]; then
echo "***Starting up the Virtual Frame Buffer on Screen 1***"
/usr/X11R6/bin/Xvfb :1 -screen 0 1152x900x8 &
fi
;;
*)
echo " Usage: "
echo " $0 start (start XVFB)"
echo " $0 stop (stop XVFB - not supported)"
exit 1
;;

esac
exit 0
-----

5. Create a soft link to a file in the appropriate run-level directory. For example, to make Xvfb execute at run level
5, run the following command:

ln -s /etc/init.d/xvfb /etc/rc5.d/S75xvfb

6. Reboot the Linux system.

End of Procedure 5

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 27

 Procedure 6 Configuring NetPlanner to use the Virtual Buffer Display

1. If you have not already done so, perform “Installing a Virtual Frame Buffer on the Linux Host” on page 27.

2. Start NetPlanner.

3. Select Automation > Configure/Run Automation Tasks

4. Click the "Display Settings…" button.

5. Enter the display name for Xvfb. For example, if your host name is "my_local_host" and Xvfb is running on
screen 1, you would enter the following string:

my_local_host:1

6. Click OK in the Display Settings dialog box, then click OK in the Configure/Run Automation Tasks dialog box.

During automated task execution, NetPlanner will send its windows to Xvfb. To view the "screen" at any time,
run the following command:

xwd -display :1 -root -out image.xwd

End of Procedure 6

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 28

 Viewing Online Product Documentation
The online product documentation requires a web browser that supports HTML frames and JavaScript. The following
browser has been tested:
 Mozilla Firefox 39.x or higher
Other browsers might also work, but they have not been tested.

Configuring the Browser

If you experience problems viewing and/or navigating the online product documentation, try the following:
 Configure the browser so that it always accepts cookies.
 If the text is too small, increase the browser's default font size.
 To use a different font for the help text, change your browser's default font.
 If text or graphics become unclear or distorted, use the browser’s Refresh option.
 All online product documentation features (including the display of the current topic and related topics in PDF
using Adobe Acrobat) function correctly with the default settings of the tested browsers. If you experience
unexpected behavior, restore the browser’s default settings.

Starting NetPlanner
To start the NetPlanner software, open a command prompt and enter
the following command:
netplanner

NetPlanner Installation Instructions / Release 18.9.0 29