Server System Setup

Scout can be configured a number of ways, some of which require additional system setup.

Ubuntu

Info

The following Ubuntu installation tutorial is provided to assist users unfamiliar with Linux installation, but is not covered under our support services. Should you encounter problems, seek resources in the Linux community online.

Make sure that the laptop is connected to a fast and stable internet connection. Software download is required during this process, and some of the downloaded components may be > 2 GB. Obtain a thumb drive (8GB minimum) to store downloaded files for the Ubuntu operating system.

Download Ubuntu OS Image

WARNING

This process wipes the server of all existing content to install the Ubuntu Linux operating system. Ensure all existing content is backed up before proceeding.

Install Ubuntu as the only OS on the laptop; dual boot configurations are not supported. The following instructions are for version 20.04.

  1. On a separate computer, open a web browser and navigate to the Ubuntu 20.04 release page.
  2. Download the ISO Desktop image.
  3. Use the thumb drive to create a Ubuntu installation tool.

Install Ubuntu OS Image from USB

WARNING

This step deletes all data, including the original OS, from the laptop.

To install Ubuntu Linux as the operating system on the Scout Server laptop:

  1. Plug the thumb drive with the downloaded Ubuntu image into the Scout Server laptop.
  2. Restart the laptop.
  3. On restart, press the F12 key for the boot menu.
  4. Select the USB drive and boot to the USB.
  5. On a separate computer, open the Install support guide. Start with Step 4.
  6. Select Normal Installation and check both of the following:
    • Download updates while installing Ubuntu
    • Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware and additional media formats
  7. Select Erase disk and install Ubuntu
  8. Once installation is complete, restart the computer and remove the thumb drive.

First-time Ubuntu configuration

After the Ubuntu Linux boots for the first time, select the following options during its initial configuration questions:

  1. Click Next on Livepatch to skip setup.
  2. When prompted with Help improve Ubuntu, select No before clicking Next.
  3. Allow Location Services, then click Next.
  4. Click Next on Privacy.

Image Storage

Scout is designed to process large volumes of aerial survey imagery, which may come in terabytes. With that volume, a NAS device is recommended to hold the images.

Info

The following NAS mounting tutorial is provided to assist users unfamiliar with Linux. We have provided a general mounting process description. Depending on your device, the mounting process may be different.

To mount a NAS to Ubuntu:

  1. Connect the NAS to the Scout Server laptop via the fastest available connector.
  2. Open Disks on the Ubuntu desktop to view the attached disks. Your new NAS device should be listed.
  3. Divide the newly attached disk with GPT.
  4. Create one partition on the NAS device with format EXT4.
  5. Mount the new drive at /nas.
  6. In the Ubuntu desktop, navigate to /nas and create a subfolder, such as /nas/images to store images to be added to Scout.
  7. As soon as this subfolder is created, you can begin copying survey images into it.

Info

Subsequent instructions in this documentation reference /nas/images when referencing this subfolder. However, you can set up a different subdirectory name.

Scout uses the new disk as both:

  • A staging point from which to access new aerial survey images.
  • A location for long-term storage of images already ingested by Scout Server.

System File Storage

If you do not have a NAS or external hard drive, you can use the system’s internal file system for storage.

  1. Create or select two directories on your machine.
  2. The first should be for data storage. We recommend -v ~/scout_data:/data/db
  3. The second is for temporary use during processing. We recommend -v ~/scout_tmp:/tmp/scout-tmp

Optional: GPU setup

If your machine has an NVIDIA GPU of at least 16GB, we recommend using the GPU for processing.

CUDA toolkit

To update your system’s CUDA Toolkit:

  1. Visit CUDA Toolkit resources, select the version of Ubuntu you are using, and select deb(local) for your installer type.
  2. Follow the download instructions that appear.
  3. Once installed, you will need to reboot the server to ensure the toolkit is available.

NVIDIA Docker

To install NVIDIA Docker: 1. Visit NVIDIA Docker resources. 2. Follow the tutorial.

Verify GPU compute with ScoutBot demo

From the Terminal window, you can test GPU execution on the laptop by executing some of Scout’s GPU-enabled ML capabilities.

  1. Run the following command: docker run -it --rm --gpus all -p 5000:7860 wildme/scoutbot:main python3 app2.py
  2. Open a separate Terminal window to watch GPU performance.
  3. Press CTRL-C to end the test.