LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning April 15, 2009 Functional Overview White Paper Introduction... 2 Architecture... 3 Operational Description... 4 MAC-Independent Provisioning... 6 MAC-Specific Provisioning... 9 MAC-Specific Imaging... 12 Application Programming Interface (API)... 14 Virtualization... 15 Cloud Computing, SaaS and Hosted Environments... 16 Installation Overview... 17 Reports and Logs... 18 Supported Platforms... 19 Useful Resources... 19 Trademarks and Copyright Notices: LinMin, LinMin BMP, LBMP, LinMin Bare Metal, LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning, LinMin Provision and LinMin- Provision are trademarks of LinMin Corp. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torwalds. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Contact: www.linmin.com or info@linmin.com 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 1 of 19 4/15/2009
Introduction LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning ( LBMP or LinMin ) is a software solution enabling IT personnel to deploy, repurpose, and recover Linux, Windows and Solaris servers, blades, workstations, appliances and virtual machines. LinMin has 2 primary modes of operation: Bare metal provisioning: native (hardware-independent), unattended and remote installation of an operating system (Linux, Windows, Solaris), and optionally, the installation and configuration of additional applications. This function can be initiated using a graphical user interface or an application programming interface (API). Bare metal imaging: bit-for-bit network backup, restore and cloning of a system s hard drive(s) onto like hardware for Linux and Windows. LinMin is used in corporate, Cloud, SaaS and hosting company data centers as well as in QA labs and classrooms, all environments characterized by frequent repurposing of systems and deployment of new ones. After a system has been provisioned or imaged by LinMin, the customer s existing systems management infrastructure takes over to perform traditional functions such as patch management, inventory discovery, monitoring and such. The business premise for LinMin is to empower domain experts (by Operating System, by application, by business) to create, test and maintain provisioning roles that can then be deployed by IT personnel of any skill level to either physical or virtual systems, without needing OS installation media (DVD/CD) and without having to interact (answer questions, provide installation options) with the operating system installer. Many LinMin customers set their systems to always boot to the network, knowing that LinMin will trap all requests, and most of the time force systems to boot from their local hard disk drives, unless the IT user decides to either re-provision or image (capture or restore) a given system. The LinMin Application Programming Interface enables external applications (asset management, load balancing, capacity planning, systems management, cloud computing resource management, system monitoring, SaaS deployment, hosting customer signup/billing, etc.) to interface directly with the LinMin data structures, eliminating the need for an IT user to use the graphical user interface for MAC-Specific Provisioning. LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning benefits include: - Better utilization of IT resources (staff, systems) - Reduced operational expenses - Reduced errors, better consistency between systems - Elimination of use of CDs/DVDs - System recovery in case of system/software corruption - Centralized Inventory of all provisioned systems with their MAC and assigned IP addresses - End user freedom (and lower IT costs) by enabling end user to select workstation OS - Co-existence with all other systems management solutions 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 2 of 19 4/15/2009
Architecture LinMin s architecture is comprised of 2 layers (interface and services) and 2 storage layers (database and file system) Interface Layer: o Browser-based graphical user interface (PHP) for: Creation of system-specific ( MAC-Specific ) provisioning role templates that define an operating system and optionally application installation and configuration Assignment of provisioning role templates, networking configuration and business rules to individual systems Creation of system-specific imaging roles and business rules Creation of system-independent ( MAC-Independent ) provisioning roles and client-side, pre-boot, manual OS selection screen o Application Programming Interface with GUI-based teaching mode o Scripts (perl) for: OS media uploading Driver integration LBMP configuration Services Layer (Java): o Web server o Low-level services (tftp, ftp, binl, bootp, etc.) intercept PXE (Preboot execution Environment) requests sent by the client system or virtual machine to the LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning server and initiate action based on the business rules set by the IT user using the graphical user interface, or by external applications using the application programming interface (see the Operational Description section for examples of actions) Database (PostgreSQL) Layer: o Stores relevant information for each system s provisioning and imaging roles File System Layer: o OS Media and drivers o Control/Configuration Files o Log files o Imaging files 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 3 of 19 4/15/2009
Operational Description This section is divided into 3 parts: - Provisioning (MAC-Independent) - Provisioning (MAC-Specific) - Imaging The first step for both MAC-Independent and MAC-Specific modes of provisioning is upload the contents of the operating system (Linux, Windows, Solaris) DVD/CD media: OS media and driver uploading o Execute a script to extract the ISO file from your Linux, Windows or Solaris OS media (CD, DVD) to the proper location in the file system o Execute a script to extract the contents of the ISO file and prepare them for provisioning. o In the case of Windows, execute a script to integrate device drivers for provisioning. o Sample loadlinux menu selection (a comparable loadwindows script exists): 1. Asianux 3.0 i386 2. Asianux 3.0 x86_64 3. CentOS 4.4 i386 4. CentOS 4.4 x86_64 5. CentOS 4.5 i386 6. CentOS 4.5 x86_64 7. CentOS 4.6 i386 8. CentOS 4.6 x86_64 9. CentOS 5.1 i386 (DVD) 10. CentOS 5.1 x86_64 (DVD) 11. CentOS 5.2 i386 (DVD) 12. CentOS 5.2 x86_64 (DVD) 13. CentOS 5.3 i386 (DVD) 14. CentOS 5.3 x86_64 (DVD) 15. Fedora Core 6 i386 16. Fedora 7 i386 (DVD) 17. Fedora 7 x86_64 (DVD) 18. Fedora 8 i386 (DVD) 19. Fedora 8 x86_64 (DVD) 20. Fedora 9 i386 (DVD) 21. Fedora 9 x86_64 (DVD) 22. Fedora 10 i386 (DVD) 23. Fedora 10 x86_64 (DVD) 24. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 i386 (DVD-1) 25. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 x86_64 (DVD-1) 26. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.1 (SP1) i386 (DVD-1) 27. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.1 (SP1) x86_64 (DVD-1) 28. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.2 (SP2) i386 (DVD-1) 29. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.2 (SP2) x86_64 (DVD-1) 30. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.3 (SP3) i386 (DVD-1) 31. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10.3 (SP3) x86_64 (DVD-1) 32. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 i386 (DVD-1) 33. Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 x86_64 (DVD-1) 34. OpenSUSE Linux 10.2 i386 (DVD) 35. OpenSUSE Linux 10.2 x86_64 (DVD) 36. OpenSUSE Linux 10.3 i386 (DVD) 37. OpenSUSE Linux 10.3 x86_64 (DVD) 38. OpenSUSE Linux 11 i386 (DVD) 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 4 of 19 4/15/2009
39. OpenSUSE Linux 11 x86_64 (DVD) 40. OpenSUSE Linux 11.1 i386 (DVD) 41. OpenSUSE Linux 11.1 x86_64 (DVD) 42. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.8 i386 43. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.8 x86_64 44. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.9 i386 45. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.9 x86_64 46. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.4 i386 47. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.4 x86_64 48. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.5 i386 49. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.5 x86_64 50. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6 i386 51. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.6 x86_64 52. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 i386 (DVD) 53. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1 x86_64 (DVD) 54. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 i386 (DVD) 55. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 x86_64 (DVD) 56. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 i386 (DVD) 57. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 x86_64 (DVD) 58. Ubuntu 8.04.1 i386 LTS Desktop and Server (DVD) 59. Ubuntu 8.04.1 x86_64 LTS Desktop and Server (DVD) 60. Ubuntu 8.10 i386 Desktop and Server (DVD) 61. Ubuntu 8.10 x86_64 Desktop and Server (DVD) Please enter your selection: 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 5 of 19 4/15/2009
MAC-Independent Provisioning Creation of MAC-Independent ( On-the-Fly ) Provisioning Roles o MAC-Independent Provisioning allows systems with unknown MAC addresses to be provisioned (or be denied provisioning) using either an unattended default OS or a manually-selected operating system using the client system s display and keyboard o MAC-Independent mode is typically used for provisioning workstations or test servers/vms. In production data center environments, MAC-Specific provisioning is typically used as it provides more control. o Create a role by selecting the desired OS from dropdown menu (LBMP displays an asterisk next to OSs/distributions that have media uploaded). Relevant file paths and LinMin-supplied control/configuration files are automatically selected: Caption: Select desired role (note the asterisk showing what OS media is present) Caption: LBMP auto-fills the paths to Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 2 s kernel, RAM disk and control file 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 6 of 19 4/15/2009
Caption: OS media for Windows 2003 Server 64-bit was not present so warning messages are generated Caption: Browser view of all MAC-Independent Provisioning Roles created by IT user. The same selection items will appear on client systems if equipped with a display and keyboard. 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 7 of 19 4/15/2009
Caption: Pre-OS Menu allows the end user or the IT user to select what OS is to be installed (if no default was set) 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 8 of 19 4/15/2009
MAC-Specific Provisioning MAC-Specific ( Fire and Forget ) Provisioning o MAC-Specific Provisioning is performed in 2 steps: Create Provisioning Role Templates (unique combination of OS, packages/apps) that define what a system s function will be (e.g., 2003 Web Server, SLES database server) Assigning to each unique system a given Role Template, along with unique network, security and other parameters. o As with MAC-Independent provisioning, one creates a role template by clicking a drop down (LBMP displays an asterisk next to OSs/distributions that have media uploaded). Relevant file paths and LinMin-supplied control/configuration files are automatically selected: Caption: Select the OS/distro for the MAC-Specific Provisioning Role Template Caption: LBMP auto-fills paths to Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 5.2 s kernel and RAM disk, and presents the control file for the IT user to edit (optional: LinMin supplies complete OS/distro installation control files that the IT user can edit to add/remove applications) 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 9 of 19 4/15/2009
Caption: List of all MAC-Specific Provisioning Role Templates created by the IT user Caption: Assign (or change) the Role Template associated with a unique system or VM 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 10 of 19 4/15/2009
Caption: After assigning a MAC-Specific Provisioning Role Template to a unique (by MAC address) system or VM, provide additional parameters and business rules (never provision, always provision, or provision once only then never provision again until changed by the IT user) Caption: List of MAC-Specific Provisioning Roles and Next Action Business Rule 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 11 of 19 4/15/2009
MAC-Specific Imaging The LBMP Imaging function is used primarily for disaster recovery purposes. The Imaging function is noteworthy because it is RAM-resident and is invoked at the time the system boots to the network. As such, no native OS is running, meaning that all services and applications are in a completely stable and consistent state. This also means that the system being imaged is unavailable during the time it is being imaged. Caption: Example of an Imaging Profile Caption: List of selected Imaging Profiles and their next boot actions 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 12 of 19 4/15/2009
Caption: Directory on LinMin Server containing a system s disk images 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 13 of 19 4/15/2009
Application Programming Interface (API) The LinMin Application Programming Interface enables external applications (asset management, load balancing, capacity planning, systems management, cloud computing resource management, system monitoring, SaaS deployment, hosting customer signup/billing, etc.) to interface directly with the LinMin data structures, eliminating the need for an IT user to use the graphical user interface for MAC-Specific Provisioning. The API allows pre-existing Provisioning Role Templates to be assigned to unique systems based on dynamic, real-time business needs. In this fashion, external applications can prepare systems to be provisioned from a pool of spare or under-utilized systems to maximize system capacity and minimize power consumption. The next time a given system boots to the network, it will be provisioned as specified by the external application, without human intervention. To assist in the implementation of the API, LinMin provides a GUI form that automatically generates the HTTP get strings and return codes, dramatically reducing development times. Caption: API learning mode GUI automatically generates syntactically correct calls and return codes, reducing development times for enabling external applications to create bare metal provisioning events Please reference the LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning User s Guide for the operational description, learning-mode GUI, syntax and return codes of the LinMin API. 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 14 of 19 4/15/2009
Virtualization LinMin s MAC-Independent and MAC-Specific Provisioning Roles can be used to provision both physical systems (servers, blades, workstations or appliances) and virtual systems (e.g., VMware or VirtualBox virtual machines) with no modifications whatsoever. Caption: MAC-Independent selection menu in a VMware virtual machine is identical in look and feel to a physical system Caption: Provisioning in progress in a VMware virtual machine 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 15 of 19 4/15/2009
Caption: Provisioning complete in a VMware virtual machine This ability to interchangeably deploy physical and virtual systems enables IT users to use out-of-the-box, LinMin-supplied roles and templates, and deploy operating systems to physical systems and virtual machines with no incremental effort. More importantly, LinMin s physical and virtual deployment ability lets IT domain experts refine and augment the LinMin-supplied roles and templates (e.g., change partitioning options, add/remove applications, execute scripts to configure applications, copy data from remote systems), while adhering to best IT practices (repeatability, compliance) in anticipation of repurposing existing systems or deploying new physical systems or virtual machines. Once the provisioning roles are tested and approved, not only can IT users quickly meet demands by bringing new systems on line in minutes, they can also easily experiment and compare the performance of live applications when running on different types of systems, or measure the impact of replacing older, less power-efficient systems with newer or consolidated systems. Cloud Computing, SaaS and Hosted Environments Deploying remote systems in environments such as Cloud Computing, Software as a Service or hosting centers is very similar to doing so in local data centers, labs, classrooms or offices, though some procedures and logistics may differ: - The production system running LinMin will be located where the clients to be provisioned are located (and the IT users will have another local LinMin server for testing as well as provisioning local production systems) - The IT user s browser will access the web server in the remote environment to establish role templates and do periodic maintenance - The Application Programming Interface is more likely to be used in remote environments (load balancing, monitoring, customer billing and other applications are more likely to trigger the provisioning of physical or virtual systems than are IT users using a browser) - Use of KVM over IP (Keyboard-Video-Monitor over Internet Protocol) devices are more likely to be used to interact with these remote physical systems 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 16 of 19 4/15/2009
Installation Overview Installing LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning is very easy, as all aspects of the installation have been automated. Starting with a system running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 or higher, or CentOS 5.2 or higher, after requesting the download from http://www.linmin.com/site/download_reg.php and placing it in the proper directory, entering a single command is all that is needed to fully install LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning. After the IT user has accepted the license terms and conditions, LBMP s installer detects all relevant system settings, asks you to confirm what is discovered then downloads from your designated repository, installs and configures all needed software (PostgreSQL database, DHCP, PHP, etc.). Once the automated installation is completed, the system is fully ready for use. In order to provision or image systems, a valid license key file tied to the MAC address of the system on which LinMin is installed is required. If no such license is supplied at installation time, the installation will complete successfully and all functions (except for the actual provisioning or imaging) will be available to the user. 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 17 of 19 4/15/2009
Reports and Logs LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning maintains several logs of provisioning-related activity. Media upload log: [root@linminbaremetal linmin]# more loadlinux.log Thu Jan 22 11:37:41 PST 2009 Load media source CD-DVD # 1 for: CentOS 5.2 i386 (DVD) Distro Media Content first 8 lines in: /tmp/mj2lvkhtu1/.discinfo 1213888991.267240 Final i386 1,2,3,4,5,6 CentOS/base /home/buildcentos/centos/5.2/en/i386/centos CentOS/pixmaps... media accepted: ok Copied contents of /tmp/mj2lvkhtu1/ to /home/tftpboot//pub/centos5_2_i386/disc1/... copy ended Thu Jan 22 11:47:09 PST 2009... copy started Thu Jan 22 11:37:46 PST 2009... copy packages returned: 1 Thu Jan 22 11:47:09 PST 2009 System Provisioning Log: This log provides the IT user with historical and compliance information for each system: Other Logs: 2009-01-22 11:52:56 MAC 00:11:09:62:9c:49 pxeboot request 2009-01-22 11:52:56... profile:/home/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/01-00-11-09-62-9c-49 2009-01-22 11:52:56... profile after boot:/home/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/01-00-11-09-62-9c- 49-after-next-boot 2009-01-22 11:52:56... control after boot:/home/tftpboot/controlfiles/001109629c49.cfgafter-next-boot 2009-01-22 11:52:56 psql linminbmp -U postgres -c "select enable_provisioning_flag from profiles where mac_address = '00:11:09:62:9c:49'"; 2009-01-22 11:52:56... sql select profiles enable_provisioning_flag: enable_provisioning_flag : -------------------------- : ignore : (1 row) : : 2009-01-22 11:54:21 MAC 00:11:09:2e:b4:05 pxeboot request 2009-01-22 11:54:21... profile:/home/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/01-00-11-09-2e-b4-05 2009-01-22 11:54:21... profile after boot:/home/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/01-00-11-09-2e-b4-05-after-next-boot 2009-01-22 11:54:21... control after boot:/home/tftpboot/controlfiles/0011092eb405.cfgafter-next-boot 2009-01-22 11:54:21 psql linminbmp -U postgres -c "select enable_provisioning_flag from profiles where mac_address = '00:11:09:2e:b4:05'"; 2009-01-22 11:54:21... sql select profiles enable_provisioning_flag: enable_provisioning_flag : -------------------------- : (0 rows) : : LBMP logs many other system activities and user actions to assist LinMin s support team to better troubleshoot systems: [root@linminbaremetal linmin]# ll *log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3125 Jan 22 12:52 lbmp-checkinstall.sh.log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jan 27 03:05 LBMPcronRestart.log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 48647 Jan 26 11:52 lbmpprovisioned.log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 268 Jan 22 11:26 lbmp-streaminstall.sh-exec.log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 27048 Jan 22 11:26 LinMinBareMetalPreInstall.exp.log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 14360 Jan 22 11:20 linmin-bmp-5.3.1-15.exp.log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 711 Jan 22 11:47 loadlinux.log -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 612 Jan 22 11:23 ocp-install.log 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 18 of 19 4/15/2009
Supported Platforms LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning is written to be highly transportable and run on different Operating Systems and Distributions. To provide optimal performance, ease of installation and ease of use, LBMP must run on and is supported only on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 or higher, or CentOS 5.2 or higher. The following is a list of provisionable Linux distributions and Windows and Sun Solaris operating systems as of the time this document was published. For the latest list of supported platforms, please visit www.linmin.com/site/platforms.html. Unless otherwise indicated, all supported platforms can be provisioned with 32-bit and 64-bit versions of: - Asianux 3.0 - CentOS 4 and 5 (all releases, including CentOS 5.3) - Fedora 7, Fedora 8, Fedora 9 and Fedora 10 - Microsoft Windows XP (all versions) 32-bit and Microsoft 2003 Server 32/64-bit - Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10, 10 SP1, 10 SP2, 10 SP3 and SLES 11 - OpenSUSE 10.2, OpenSUSE 10.3, OpenSUSE 11 and OpenSUSE 11.1. - Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, 4 and 5 (all releases, including RHEL 5.3). - Sun Solaris 10 U6 (optional module) x86 and SPARC - Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS, 8.10 and 9.04 Other provisionable OS/distributions in development or planned: - VMware ESX/ESXi - Windows Server 2008 - Windows 7 - FreeBSD Useful Resources LinMin s Home Page: http://www.linmin.com Features: http://www.linmin.com/site/products.html Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.linmin.com/site/faqs.html Screenshots: http://www.linmin.com/site/screenshots.html News Releases: http://www.linmin.com/site/news.html Media Coverage of LinMin: http://www.linmin.com/site/linmin_in_the_news.html Download: http://www.linmin.com/site/download_reg.php Pricing: http://www.linmin.com/site/purchase.html 2009 LinMin Corp. Page 19 of 19 4/15/2009