Installing DDM

Overview

DDM is packaged as an ISO file, which includes a streamlined Linux distribution which has been pre-configured for the DDM application.

To install DDM you can create a bootable USB drive (for installing DDM on a bare-metal machine, for example) or import the ISO directly into a virtualization platform such as VMWare ESXi®. You can also burn the ISO image to a DVD.

System Requirements for the Physical Host Machine

The licensing model for DDM includes three editions: Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Each edition supports a different number of devices and domains.

  • For the Silver and Gold editions, the host machine requires a minimum of 2 CPUs, 20GB of disk space and 4GB of RAM.
  • For the Platinum edition, the host machine requires a minimum of 2 CPUs, 20GB of disk space and 8GB of RAM.
  • For systems that include more than 200 devices, 16GB of RAM is recommended.

The physical host machine on which a hypervisor is installed must also meet the above specifications (with additional capacity for any other applications).

Creating a Bootable USB Drive

In Windows

There are various applications available for creating bootable USB drives in Windows.

Rufus (https://rufus.ie/) is a popular (free and open-source) application, but there are other alternatives that may be more suitable for your own environment.

Note:  Do not change the volume label. When prompted, after clicking ‘START’, select ‘DD Image mode’ (not ‘ISO Image mode’) for writing.

In Linux

The industry-recommended method for creating a bootable USB drive in Linux is by using dd. The following instructions are adapted from the Centos instructions.

  • Assuming your USB stick is seen as /dev/sdb:

    dd if=[filename].iso of=/dev/sdb

  • You must write to the entire device, and not a partition on it (so, /dev/sdb not /dev/sdb1).
  • When asked for the media to install from, select ‘Hard disk’ and then the device corresponding to the USB key.
  • Make sure you select as destination the device corresponding to the USB key (/dev/sdb in the above example) and not a partition (such as /dev/sdb1).

Booting from USB

Once you have created a bootable USB drive, you must instruct the target computer BIOS to boot from the USB drive.

Computer manufacturers use many different BIOS implementations – refer to the instructions for your particular computer to find out how to configure the BIOS.

Importing the ISO Directly into a Virtualization Platform

ISO files are supported by all major virtualization platforms. Refer to the user guide for your particular platform to find out how to import an ISO file.

For more information about installing DDM in a hypervisor, see the Technical Documentation page at audinate.com.