How to install Omada SDN controller on Linux system(above Controller 4.1.5)

This article is suitable for Omada Controller v4.

For Omada SDN Controller v5.0.29 and above, please refer to FAQ 3272.

For Omada Controller v3 and below, please refer to FAQ 2609.

Omada SDN Controller is software that is used to manage the TP-Link device that supports the SDN platform, include EAP, Switch, and Gateway. It supports both Windows and Linux systems. This article will introduce how to install the software on the Linux system to you.

1. Backup the configuration and uninstall the old controller.

If you are the first time to install Omada Controller, you can skip this step. If you are using Omada Controller and want to upgrade your controller, please backup your configuration at first.

You can follow the Backup&Restore section in User Guide to backup the configuration and restore it after upgrading. The below link contains the controller’s User Guide of different versions.

https://www.tp-link.com/en/support/download/omada-software-controller/

Backup the configuration for the old controller.

Resotre the configuration on the the Omada SDN controller.

After backup the configuration, you can uninstall the old Omada Controller. The following is the uninstallation command.

sudo bash /opt/tplink/EAPController/uninstall.sh

During the uninstalling process, you can choose whether to backup original data according to your needs.

Note:

Omada SDN controller only supports to restore the configuration above version 3.1.4. And some functions need to be reconfigured due to changes. You can refer to the upgrade guide.

2. Supporting system

Omada SDN Controller supports the following Linux system. Make sure your system belongs to one of them.

Ubuntu 14.04, 16.04, 18.04

CentOS 6.x, 7.x

Debian 8, 9

3. Installation example for Ubuntu and CentOS system

Next, we will take Ubuntu and CentOS 7 as examples to show the installation process of the Omada SDN Controller.

3.1 The example for Ubuntu and deb installation package.

To install and run the controller successfully, you can install the required dependencies before installing the controller. The controller needs Java 8 and MongoDB Version 3.x for running. But there are no built-in JRE and MongoDB in the installation package, so you need to install them by yourself. And also need to install jsvc and curl for running controller.

Install Java 8

You can use the below command to install Java 8.

sudo apt-get install –y openjdk-8-jre-headless

You also can refer to the following link to install in other ways.

https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase/javase-jdk8-downloads.html

Install MongoDB

Omada SDN controller supports MongoDB Version 3.x. You can use command “apt list mongodb-org” to check the default version of MongoDB source or whether you have installed MongoDB.

If you did not install MongoDB and the default version is incompatible, you can follow the below steps to install MongoDB of a suitable version. Here we take the example of installing version 3.4.

Use the below command to import the MongoDB public GPG Key.

wget -qO - https://www.mongodb.org/static/pgp/server-3.4.asc | sudo apt-key add -

Create /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.4.list with the appropriate version of command.

Ubuntu 14.04

echo "deb [ arch=amd64 ] http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu trusty/mongodb-org/3.4 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.4.list

Ubuntu 16.04

echo "deb [ arch=amd64,arm64 ] http://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-org/3.4 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.4.list

Ubuntu 18.04

echo "deb https://repo.mongodb.org/apt/ubuntu xenial/mongodb-org/3.4 multiverse" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mongodb-org-3.4.list

Issue the following command to reload the local package database:

sudo apt-get update

Issue the following command to install MongoDB:

sudo apt-get install -y mongodb-org

You can also follow the the MongoDB official tutorial below to install different versions.

https://docs.mongodb.com/v3.4/tutorial/install-mongodb-on-ubuntu/

Install jsvc

sudo apt-get install jsvc

Install curl

sudo apt-get install curl

Install Omada SDN Controller

Please go to the official website of TP-Link to download the Omada Controller, then use the below command to install the controller. You may need to change the directory to the folder that you save the installation package.

sudo dpkg –i Omada_SDN_Controller_V4.x.x_linux_x64.deb

3.2 The example for installing controller on CentOS 7.

CentOS doesn’t support deb installation package. Please install with tar.gz package.

We still need to install the dependencies including Java 8, MongoDB, jsvc, and curl.

Install Java 8

Check the available installation packages for Java 8.

sudo yum list java-1.8*

Choose the suitable version for your system and install Java 8.

sudo yum install –y java-1.8.0-openjdk.x86_64

You also can refer to the following link to install in other ways.

https://www.oracle.com/java/technologies/javase/javase-jdk8-downloads.html

Install MongoDB

Here we take the example of installing version 3.4.

Download the rpm installation package of MongoDB.

sudo wget https://repo.mongodb.org/yum/redhat/7/mongodb-org/3.4/x86_64/RPMS/mongodb-org-server-3.4.24-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

Use rpm command to install MongoDB.

sudo rpm -ivh mongodb-org-server-3.4.24-1.el7.x86_64.rpm

Install jsvc

sudo yum install –y jsvc

Install curl

sudo yum install –y curl

Install Omada SDN Controller

Please go to the official website of TP-Link to download the Omada Controller. Then run the terminal and change the directory to the folder that you save the installation package. Use the below command to unzip the installation package.

tar zxvf Omada_Controller_v4.1.5_linux_x64.tar.gz

Use the below command to enter the unzipped folder.

cd Omada_Controller_v4.1.5_linux_x64

Use the below command to install Controller.

sudo bash install.sh

4. Run Omada Controller

Here are some commands that can help you check/change the status of Omada Controller.

tpeap status -- show the status of Controller;
tpeap start -- start the Omada Controller;
tpeap stop --stop running the Omada Controller.

After you start the Omada Controller, you can browse URL http://localhost:8088 or https://localhost:8043 to access the web management page of the Controller.

Tips:

If your Linux system already installed MongoDB lower than 3.0.15, you can follow the above steps to install, MongoDB will be upgraded during the installing process. If your system already installed MongoDB higher than version 4.x or above, then you need to downgrade MongoDB to the suitable version by yourself.
If your Linux system already installed Java lower than Java 8, you can follow the above steps to install, the old version will be overwritten by Java 8. If your system already installed Java higher than Java 8, then you need to downgrade to Java 8 by yourself.
The backup database is only used to restore when you want to downgrade to use the old controller. It’s not recommended to import the backup database during install controller.

If you meet the dependency problem like the below, you can use the command “sudo apt-get -f -y install”or “apt --fix-all” to fix the problem. After fixing the dependency problem, the system will go on to finish installing the controller automatically.