Installation & Setup¶

This guide walks you through installing NITA from scratch on a supported Linux system. The automated install.sh script handles all dependencies, Kubernetes setup, and NITA pod deployment.

Prerequisites¶

Quick Install¶

The fastest way to install NITA is with the automated installation script:

# Download the install script
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Juniper/nita/refs/heads/main/install.sh

# Make it executable
chmod 755 install.sh

# Run with sudo (preserving environment variables)
sudo -E ./install.sh

The script is interactive — it will prompt you at each stage:

install.sh: NITA install script.
Install system dependencies (y|n|q)? [y]
Install Kubernetes (y|n|q)? [y]
Initialise Kubernetes cluster (y|n|q)? [y]
Install NITA repositories (y|n|q)? [y]
Do you want to run Ansible as a standalone Docker container (y|n|q)? [y]
Do you want to install standalone yaml-to-excel tools (y|n|q)? [y]

Answer Y (or press Enter) for each step, N to skip, or Q to quit.

Installation Steps in Detail¶

Step 1: System Dependencies¶

The script installs essential system packages:

apt update -y
apt install -y ca-certificates curl wget gnupg gnupg2
apt install -y lsb-release software-properties-common apt-transport-https
apt install -y openjdk-19-jre-headless
apt install -y containerd.io git socat jq unzip

dnf update -y
dnf install -y ca-certificates curl wget gnupg gnupg2
dnf config-manager --add-repo=https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo
dnf install -y containerd.io git socat jq unzip

The containerd runtime is configured with SystemdCgroup enabled.

Step 2: Kubernetes Installation¶

The script installs Kubernetes 1.28 components:

• Disables swap (required by Kubernetes)
• Configures kernel modules (overlay, br_netfilter)
• Installs kubelet, kubeadm, kubectl

Step 3: Kubernetes Cluster Initialization¶

kubeadm init --control-plane-endpoint="localhost" --ignore-preflight-errors=NumCPU

After initialization:

• Calico CNI is deployed for pod networking
• Node taints are removed to allow scheduling on the control plane
• Firewall rules are configured (AlmaLinux)
• KUBECONFIG is exported

Step 4: NITA Repository Installation¶

The script clones all NITA repositories to $NITAROOT (default: /opt):

/opt/nita          — Meta repository, K8s configs, examples
/opt/nita-webapp   — Webapp container source
/opt/nita-ansible  — Ansible container source
/opt/nita-jenkins  — Jenkins container source
/opt/nita-robot    — Robot container source

It then:

1. Applies all Kubernetes YAML manifests to create pods
2. Generates self-signed Nginx SSL certificates
3. Creates Kubernetes ConfigMaps for proxy configuration
4. Generates a Jenkins keystore (JKS) and certificate
5. Creates Kubernetes ConfigMaps for Jenkins certificates
6. Copies KUBECONFIG to the user's ~/.kube/config
7. Installs nita-cmd CLI scripts to /usr/local/bin

Step 5: Optional — Standalone Docker (Ansible)¶

If you want to run Ansible containers outside of Kubernetes:

dnf install -y docker-ce  # or apt install
usermod -aG docker <username>

Step 6: Optional — YAML-to-Excel Tools¶

Installs Python-based tools for converting between YAML and Excel formats:

pip3 install ./nita-yaml-to-excel-main/

Post-Installation¶

Source Your Environment¶

After installation completes, source your shell configuration:

source ~/.bashrc

Verify Installation¶

Wait 5–10 minutes for all pods to initialize, then verify:

# Check pod status
nita-cmd kube pods

# Expected output:
# NAME                       READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
# db-xxxxx                   1/1     Running   0          5m
# jenkins-xxxxx              1/1     Running   0          5m
# proxy-xxxxx                1/1     Running   0          5m
# webapp-xxxxx               1/1     Running   0          5m

Access NITA¶

Environment Variables¶

Customize the installation by setting these environment variables before running install.sh:

Example:

export NITAROOT=/home/user/nita
export KEYPASS=mysecurepassword
sudo -E ./install.sh

Installation Flow¶

graph TD
    START["▶ Start install.sh"] --> CHECK["Check: root/sudo,<br/>OS, memory, disk"]
    CHECK --> DEP["Install System<br/>Dependencies"]
    DEP --> K8S["Install Kubernetes<br/>Components"]
    K8S --> INIT["Initialize K8s<br/>Cluster (kubeadm)"]
    INIT --> CALICO["Deploy Calico<br/>CNI Networking"]
    CALICO --> REPOS["Clone NITA<br/>Repositories"]
    REPOS --> YAML["Apply K8s<br/>YAML Manifests"]
    YAML --> CERTS["Generate SSL<br/>Certificates"]
    CERTS --> CM["Create K8s<br/>ConfigMaps"]
    CM --> CLI["Install<br/>nita-cmd CLI"]
    CLI --> DOCKER{{"Optional:<br/>Install Docker?"}}
    DOCKER --> Y2E{{"Optional:<br/>YAML-to-Excel?"}}
    Y2E --> DONE["✅ Installation<br/>Complete"]

    style START fill:#1565C0,color:#fff
    style DONE fill:#2E7D32,color:#fff

Uninstalling NITA¶

To remove NITA and its Kubernetes cluster:

# Delete NITA namespace and all pods
kubectl delete namespace nita

# Reset Kubernetes
sudo kubeadm reset
sudo systemctl restart containerd.service

# Remove NITA files
sudo rm -rf /opt/nita /opt/nita-*
sudo rm -rf /var/nita_project
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/nita-cmd*