knowledge-base/PROVISIONING.en.md

📦 Provisioning — boot, installation, server management

Network boot (PXE / iPXE)

PXE boot flow

1. Server power-on → PXE ROM in NIC / UEFI
2. DHCP Broadcast → DHCP server offers IP + next-server (TFTP) + boot file
3. TFTP downloads pxelinux.0 (BIOS) / bootx64.efi (UEFI)
4. Loads configuration (pxelinux.cfg/default or MAC/IP-based)
5. Downloads kernel + initrd via TFTP/HTTP (iPXE)
6. Kernel boot → automated installation (Kickstart / Preseed / AutoYaST)

DHCP configuration (ISC DHCP)

subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    next-server 10.0.0.10;        # TFTP server
    filename "ipxe.efi";          # Boot file (UEFI)
    option domain-name-servers 10.0.0.10;
    option routers 10.0.0.1;
}

iPXE (modern PXE replacement)

• HTTP instead of TFTP (faster, more reliable)
• HTTPS support (Image verification, secure boot)
• iSCSI boot, FCoE boot
• Scriptable: chain http://boot.example.com/script.ipxe
• Embedded: iPXE ROM flashed directly into NIC

PXE vs iPXE comparison

Feature	PXE	iPXE
Protocol	TFTP (slow, 512B/block)	HTTP/HTTPS/iSCSI
Encryption	No	HTTPS, TLS
Scripting	Menu only	Full scripting engine
Debugging	Limited	Built-in shell
UEFI/BIOS	Both	Both

Automated installation

Kickstart (RHEL/Alma/Rocky)

# Minimal kickstart for RHEL 9
text
url --url="http://10.0.0.10/install/rhel9"
lang en_US.UTF-8
keyboard us
timezone Europe/Prague --isUtc

rootpw --iscrypted $6$...

%packages
@^minimal-environment
vim
net-tools
%end

%post
echo "node001" > /etc/hostname
%end

reboot

Preseed (Debian/Ubuntu)

d-i debian-installer/locale string en_US.UTF-8
d-i keyboard-configuration/xkb-keymap us
d-i netcfg/choose_interface select auto
d-i netcfg/get_hostname string node001
d-i clock-setup/utc boolean true
d-i time/zone string Europe/Prague

d-i partman-auto/method string regular
d-i partman-auto/choose_recipe select atomic

d-i passwd/root-login boolean true
d-i passwd/root-password password securepass
d-i passwd/root-password-again password securepass

d-i pkgsel/include string openssh-server vim
d-i finish-install/reboot_in_progress note

Metal as a Service

MAAS (Canonical)

• Discovery: DHCP → PXE boot → hardware detection (CPU, RAM, disk, MAC)
• Commissioning: node goes through commissioning, stores inventory in DB
• Deploy: OS image (Ubuntu, RHEL, ESXi) written to disk → reboot
• Integration: Juju, OpenStack, Kubernetes (Charmed Kubernetes)
• Networking: VLAN, subnet, DNS/DHCP management, BGP peering

Digital Rebar / RackN

• Provisioning: workflow-based (stages: discovery → firmware → OS → config)
• Multi-cloud: bare metal + cloud + edge
• Template: templates for OS deployment (RHEL, Ubuntu, VMware)
• API: fully REST API, Terraform provider

Management API — Redfish

DMTF Standard

REST API (JSON) → successor to IPMI.

Endpoint	Purpose
/redfish/v1/Systems/	Server management (power, boot, inventory)
/redfish/v1/Chassis/	Physical hardware (PSU, fan, temp, sensors)
/redfish/v1/Managers/	BMC (iLO, iDRAC, XClarity)
/redfish/v1/UpdateService/	Firmware updates
/redfish/v1/EventService/	Event subscription (webhook)

Redfish examples

# Power on server
POST /redfish/v1/Systems/1/Actions/ComputerSystem.Reset
Body: {"ResetType": "On"}

# Set boot override (one-shot PXE)
PATCH /redfish/v1/Systems/1
Body: {"Boot": {"BootSourceOverrideTarget": "Pxe", "BootSourceOverrideEnabled": "Once"}}

# Get sensor data
GET /redfish/v1/Chassis/1/Thermal
→ {"Temperatures": [{"Name": "CPU1", "ReadingCelsius": 45}], "Fans": [...]}

IPMI (legacy)

• Port 623/UDP (RMCP)
• ipmitool power on/off/status
• ipmitool sensor list
• ipmitool chassis bootdev pxe
• Serial over LAN: ipmitool sol activate

Terraform for provisioning

# Terraform provider for VMware vSphere
provider "vsphere" {
  user           = var.vsphere_user
  password       = var.vsphere_password
  vsphere_server = var.vsphere_server
}

resource "vsphere_virtual_machine" "web" {
  name             = "web-${count.index}"
  resource_pool_id = data.vsphere_resource_pool.pool.id
  datastore_id     = data.vsphere_datastore.ds.id
  num_cpus         = 4
  memory           = 16384
  guest_id         = "rhel9_64Guest"
  network_interface { network_id = data.vsphere_network.net.id }
  disk { label = "os", size = 80 }
}

More in CICD.md.

Firmware management

• BIOS/UEFI settings: profile update during provisioning (Redfish PATCH /Systems/1/Bios)
• Firmware updates: Redfish UpdateService, SUU (Dell), SUM (HPE), SMM (Supermicro)
• Lifecycle Controller (Dell LC): integrated OS for firmware management
• Baseline management: maintain consistent firmware versions across fleet
• Boot: UEFI vs Legacy BIOS:
  • UEFI: Secure Boot, GPT, larger disks, faster boot
  • Legacy BIOS: MBR, compatibility, 2 TB boot disk limit

Configuration management (post-provisioning)

Tool	Language	Push/Pull	Use case
Ansible	YAML	Push (SSH)	General config management, ad-hoc
Puppet	Ruby DSL	Pull (agent)	State management, enterprise
Chef	Ruby DSL	Pull (agent)	Compliance, infrastructure automation
SaltStack	YAML/Python	Both (salt-minion)	High-speed config, event-driven

More in CICD.md.

OpenStack Provisioning

OpenStack offers several methods for provisioning infrastructure:

Deployment tools

Tool	Description	Use case
TripleO (OpenStack on OpenStack)	Deploy OpenStack using bare metal (Ironic) + Heat orchestration	Production, Red Hat OSP
Kolla (Ansible + Docker)	Containerized OpenStack services, Ansible orchestration	Production, flexible
Kolla-Kubernetes	OpenStack on Kubernetes	Kubernetes-native, edge
Charmed OpenStack (Juju)	Canonical, Juju charms for OpenStack	Ubuntu, hybrid cloud
OpenStack Charms	Juju charms for individual services	Fine-grained deployment
DevStack	Fast development deployment	Dev/test, learning
OpenStack-Ansible	Ansible playbooks for OpenStack (OSA)	Legacy, AIO

Ironic (Bare Metal Provisioning)

• OpenStack service for managing and provisioning bare metal servers
• Supports PXE, iPXE, Redfish, IPMI
• Concepts: Node (HW), Port (MAC), Driver (HW type)
• Lifecycle: enroll → manage → inspect → provide → available → active
• Integration with Nova: Nova runs instances on bare metal via Ironic

Glance (Image Management)

• Image catalog for VM images and ISO
• Supported formats: raw, qcow2, vmdk, vhd, iso
• Image caching on compute node (for faster boot)
• Multi-backend: file, Ceph RBD, Swift, NFS

Sources

Links, books and standards: sources/infrastructure/sources.md

Last revision: 2026-06-03