---
title: Step 3 - Configure hosts file and download software
description: The hosts file contains the various parameters to be configured for installation of PingIntelligence components. Complete the following steps to configure the hosts file.
component: pingintelligence
version: 5.1
page_id: pingintelligence:pingintelligence_production_deployment:pingintelligence_automated_configuring_hosts_file_downloading_software
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingintelligence/5.1/pingintelligence_production_deployment/pingintelligence_automated_configuring_hosts_file_downloading_software.html
revdate: March 21, 2024
---

# Step 3 - Configure hosts file and download software

The hosts file contains the various parameters to be configured for installation of PingIntelligence components. Complete the following steps to configure the hosts file.

The configuration file has parameters where link to download third-party component is configured. If the Management machine does not have internet access, download the [third-party components manually](pingintelligence_manual_download_components.html).

|   |                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| - | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|   | Make sure that the entire deployment is homogenous with respect to the provisioned machines. All the PingIntelligence components should either be installed on an RHEL machine or on Ubuntu machines. |

Configure the following fields in the `config/hosts` file:

| **Variable**                                                                                                                                                             | **Description**                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| IP addresses- `[ase]`

- `[abs]`

- `[mongodb]`

- `[dashboard]`

- `[elasticsearch]`

- `[api_publishing_service]`

- `[kafka]`

- `[abs_reporting_node]`

- `[webgui]` | Configure the following IP addresses:- `[ase]` - ASE IP address

- `[abs]` - ABS IP address

- `[mongodb]` - MongoDB IP address and port. Providing the port number is mandatory.

- `[dashboard]` - Dashboard IP address

- `[elasticsearch]` - Elasticsearch IP address

- `[api_publishing_service]` - API publishing service IP address

- `[kafka]` - Kafka IP address

- `[abs_reporting_node]` - ABS reporting node IP address

  &#xA;&#xA;The IP address for \[abs] and\[abs\_reporting\_node] should be different. If you are installing all the components on a single host, leave the\[abs\_reporting\_node] field blank.

- `[webgui]` - Web GUI IP address. Web GUI and dashboard engine are part of the same package, however, you can install them on separate machines. If you want to install Web GUI and dashboard engine in the same machine, configure the same IP address in `[dashboard]` and `[webgui]`If you are setting up a POC environment, then all the components: ASE, ABS, MongoDB, Dashboard, WebGUI, and ElasticSearch can share a single IP address.&#xA;&#xA;Leave the abs\_reporting\_node field blank, when all the components have the same IP address..For production deployments:- ASE, ABS AI Engine, and MongoDB should be deployed on separate servers for redundancy.

- Dashboard, WebGUI, and ABS Reporting node (optional) can be deployed on a single server.

- ElasticSearch should be deployed on a standalone server.                                                                                                                                          |
| `installation_path`                                                                                                                                                      | Configure the path where you would want the PingIntelligence components to be installed. The default value is `/home/ec2-user`.&#xA;&#xA;The path that you provide in theinstallation\_path variable must exist on the machine. The automation script does not create this path. If you are installing all the PingIntelligence components on different machines, then manually create the same path on each machine before running the automation script.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| `install_with_sudo`                                                                                                                                                      | When set to `false`, the script installs PingIntelligence for a normal user. When set to `true`, the script installs PingIntelligence as a root user if the port number of ports configured are less than 1024.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| `install_as_service`                                                                                                                                                     | Set it to `true` if you want to install PingIntelligence components as a service. To install PingIntelligence components, you must be a `root` user. Set `install_with_sudo` as `true`.If you install PingIntelligence components as a service, the components are automatically restarted when the system is rebooted. Check the `ansible.log` file to verify starting PingIntelligence components as a service.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `install_mongo`                                                                                                                                                          | Set it to `true` if you want automated deployment to install MongoDB. Set it to `false` if you want to use an existing MongoDB installation. Default value is `true`.&#xA;&#xA;Configure the MongoDB IP address and port number even if install\_mongo is set to false. MongoDB details are required to configure abs.properties file.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| `install_elasticsearch`                                                                                                                                                  | Set to `true` if you want automated deployment to install Elasticsearch. Set it to `false` if you want to use an existing Elasticsearch installation. Default value is `true`. Note the following points:- If you have set the option as `true`, provide an IP address in the `hosts` file for Elasticsearch. Leave the IP address blank in the `hosts` file, if you configured the option as `false`.

- If you have configured the variable as `false`, configure the URL of your existing Elasticsearch in `dashboard-defaults.yml` file. For more information, see [Change Dashboard default settings](pingintelligence_changing_dashboard_default_settings.html).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| `install_kafka`                                                                                                                                                          | * Automated deployment (default):

  * Set `install_kafka = true` if you want automated deployment to install Kafka.

  * Provide an IP address in the `hosts` file for Kafka.

* Existing Kafka installation:

  * Set `install_kafka = false` if you want to use an existing Kafka installation.

  * Leave the IP address blank in the `hosts` file.

  * `kafka_server_url`: Configure the pre-existing Kafka IP port in `config/abs-defaults.yml`.

    ```
    # When kafka is set to false in config/hosts, this url will be used
     # Give the host:port combination of mutiple kafka server in comma seperated.
     # Make sure kafka_server_url is accessible from ansible management host, dataengine, and abs nodes.
     #This will be used via dashboard dataengine module too.
     kafka_server_url: kafka_1:9093
    ```

  * `kafka_custom_truststore_password`:Set the `kafka_custom_truststore_password` parameter value in `config/abs-defaults.yml` with the password of your existing Kafka service. This needs to be set when `install_kafka` is set to `false`.```
# When kafka is set to false in config/hosts, this passoword for jks will be used
 #This will be used via dashboard dataengine module too.
 kafka_custom_truststore_password: custom
```* Place the existing Kafka `truststore.jks` file in the `cert_dir` directory.

  ```
  cert_dir: "{{ root_dir }}/certs"
  ```&#xA;&#xA;Default settings when you deploy Kafka and Zookeeper through the deployment framework:&#xA;&#xA;ssl.hostnameVerification is disabled&#xA;&#xA;allow\.everyone.if.no.acl.found is true |
| `kafka_download_url`                                                                                                                                                     | Kafka download URL. A default URL is populated in the hosts file.&#xA;&#xA;If your machine does not have internet access, then download Kafka 2.12-2.5.0 and save the file as kafka\_2.12-2.5.0.tar.gz in externaldirectory.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        |
| `jdk11_download_url`                                                                                                                                                     | The automated script requires `OpenJDK 11.0.2`.&#xA;&#xA;If your machine does not have internet access, then download the OpenJDK 11.0.2 and save the file as openjdk11.tar.gz in externaldirectory.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| `mongodb_download_url`                                                                                                                                                   | MongoDB download URL. A default URL is populated in the `hosts` file.&#xA;&#xA;The default URL is RHEL version of MongoDB. If you are installing on Ubuntu, configure the MongoDB Ubuntu download URL.&#xA;&#xA;If your machine does not have internet access, then download the MongoDB 4.2.0 and save the file as mongodb.tgz in externaldirectory.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| `elasticsearch_download_url`                                                                                                                                             | Elasticsearch download URL. A default URL is populated in the `hosts` file.&#xA;&#xA;If your machine does not have internet access, then download the Elasticsearch 7.13.4 and save the file as elasticsearch-7.13.4.tar.gz in externaldirectory.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `timezone`                                                                                                                                                               | Timezone setting for PingIntelligence components. It will set the timezone settings of ASE, ABS, and PingIntelligence for APIs Dashboard. Allowed values are `local` or `utc`. The default value is` utc`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| `ansible_ssh_user`                                                                                                                                                       | Ansible `ssh` user. The default value is `ec2-user`.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| `ansible_ssh_pass`                                                                                                                                                       | Configure the ansible SSH user's password if you want to use password to authenticate with the host machines. NOTE: If you do not configure password, SSH use establishes a password-less authenticated connection.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |

Add Ansible username in the `ansible_ssh_user` field. The default value is `ec2-user`.

```
[ase]
10.96.6.41
10.96.6.111

[abs]
10.96.6.75
10.96.6.128

[api_publishing_service]
10.96.6.73

[abs_reporting_node]
10.96.6.73

[kafka]
10.96.6.63 zookeeper_id=1
10.96.6.160 zookeeper_id=2
10.96.6.254 zookeeper_id=3

[mongodb]
10.96.6.243 mongo_port=27017
10.96.6.236 mongo_port=27017
10.96.6.80 mongo_port=27017

[dataengine]
10.96.6.73

[elasticsearch]
10.96.6.10

[webgui]
10.96.6.73

[all:vars]

# Installation Path
installation_path="/home/ec2-user"

# install_as_service set to true will start ASE, ABS, Dashboard, Elasticsearch
# and kafka as systemd services.
install_as_service=true

# configure install_with_sudo to true if any of the ports used for ASE,
# ABS, Dashboard are < 1024. That component will be started using sudo.
# when install_as_service is true, install_with_sudo should be set to true.
install_with_sudo=true

# this option can be used if there is an existing mongo installation that can be used
# set it to false if Mongodb need not be installed
install_mongo=true

# this option can be used if there is an existing kafka installation that can be used
# set it to false if kafka need not be installed
install_kafka=true

# this option can be used if there is an existing elasticsearch installation that can be used.
# set it to false if elasticsearch need not be installed.
# when install_elasticsearch is set to false, remove any nodes under elasticsearch section and
# configure elasticsearch_url in config/dashboard-defaults.yml.
install_elasticsearch=true

# timezone setting. It will set timezone settings of ASE, ABS and Dashboard
# allowed values: local, utc
timezone=utc

# Download URLs for external packages
jdk11_download_url='https://download.java.net/java/GA/jdk11/9/GPL/openjdk-11.0.2_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz'
mongodb_download_url='https://fastdl.mongodb.org/linux/mongodb-linux-x86_64-rhel70-4.2.0.tgz'
elasticsearch_download_url='https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-7.13.4-linux-x86_64.tar.gz'
kafka_download_url='https://archive.apache.org/dist/kafka/2.5.0/kafka_2.12-2.5.0.tgz'

# Ansible SSH user to access host machines
ansible_ssh_user=ec2-user
# Uncomment the ansible_ssh_pass line and configure password of ansible_ssh_user if you wish to use SSH connection with password.
# If you do not use this option, then the SSH user uses password-less authentication.
#ansible_ssh_pass=
```
