Special installation aspects (#358)

installation/installer-howto.rst

@@ -270,3 +270,100 @@ See our FAQ entry: :ref:`faq_rockstor4_repos`
 
 **NOTE: No Rockstor package update repository is configured until an
 Update Channel is selected.**
+
+
+.. _special_install_scenarios:
+
+Special Installation Scenarios
+-------------------------------
+There a some specific installation use cases that have been reported over the
+years, that are documented here:
+
+Assign static IP address after installation but before WebUI setup
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+If during setup the network architecture requires a static IP address on the Rockstor appliance's
+network interface :code:`Network Manager` can be used to force a static IP address on the network interface.
+
+Check Network connection using the command line:
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+    Rockstorsys:~$ nmcli connection show
+    NAME     UUID                                  TYPE      DEVICE
+    enp0s3   aa44c29f-33e8-358f-879b-e0b8efae27f3  ethernet  enp0s3
+
+In order to make this a static connection, here is an example on how this can be set up using `nmcli`:
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+   nmcli connection modify 'enp0s3' \
+      connection.autoconnect  yes \
+      ipv4.method manual \
+      ipv4.address 192.168.22.199/24 \
+      ipv4.gateway 192.168.22.1 \
+      ipv4.dns 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4.
+
+Upon successful completion of the command the connection will receive a static IP address:
+
+* automatically (i.e. whenever the network management is started)
+* static address with
+* IP address of 192.168.1.199 and
+* Gateway of 192.168.22.1 and
+* DNS1 and DNS2 server 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 respectively.
+
+To move the connection back to to `dhcp` mode, the above settings need to be reverted:
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+   nmcli con mod "enp0s3" \
+     ipv4.method "auto"
+     ipv4.addresses "" \
+     ipv4.gateway "" \
+     ipv4.dns ""
+
+For either of these changes to take effect run
+
+.. code-block:: console
+
+   nmcli connection up "enp0s3"
+
+or reboot the system.
+
+.. note::
+   The above is meant for setting up a specific connection **before** the installation/configuration is completed using Rockstor's WebUI.
+   Once the Rockstor installation is complete, a static IP can be assigned from the WebUI. Under most circumstances neither
+   should be necessary, as most routers today offer IP address reservation that will effectively result in a static IP address
+   assigned to the Rockstor appliance (which by default uses `dhcp` to automatically obtain an IP address from the gateway).
+
+Proxy for private network
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+In some network architectures, a proxy is required to be able to manage updates from external sources
+like OpenSUSE upstream packages, or check for and update a new version of the Rockstor software.
+
+This `KB 7006845 <https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=000017441>`_ provides some insights into how
+to set up a Proxy using the command line.
+
+VMWare guest tools installation
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+As VMWare is a commmon virtualization package that is used by the Rockstor (alongside with others VirtualBox, Proxmox, etc.),
+there is a useful toolset available that helps with various aspects of the integration between the host and guest among other tools
+(similar guest extensions exist under VirtualBox as well): **open-vm-tools**
+
+There is the option to build this package into the custom installer, so it becomes part of the initial installation routine.
+When building a customer installer to include it, using the `Rockstor installer <https://github.com/rockstor/rockstor-installer>`_
+the package is already contained in the **rockstor.kiwi** file, albeit commented out.
+
+.. note::
+
+   This is intended for more advanced users that are comfortable creating their own installers with custom content.
+
+To install the package after Rockstor has already been installed on a VMWare Guest instance, go to the command line and run:
+
+.. code:: console
+
+   zypper install open-vm-tools
+
+Subsequent updates to the package will be automatically considered during Rockstor's upstream package checks.