IDENTIFYING AND PROVISIONING BARE METAL SYSTEMS

An information handling system may include at least one processor and a memory. The information handling system may be configured to: receive an indication of a desired role, wherein the desired role has a stack associated therewith; store the desired role in a basic input/output system (BIOS) variable; upon a subsequent boot, transmit the desired role to at least one network destination; and perform a network boot, wherein the network boot is configured to provision the information handling system with the stack based on the desired role.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates in general to information handling systems, and more particularly to techniques for provisioning software onto bare-metal information handling systems.

BACKGROUND

Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCl) is an IT framework that combines storage, computing, and networking into a single system in an effort to reduce data center complexity and increase scalability. Hyper-converged platforms may include a hypervisor for virtualized computing, software-defined storage, and virtualized networking, and they typically run on standard, off-the-shelf servers. One type of HCl solution is the Dell EMC VxRail™ system. Some examples of HCl systems may operate in various environments (e.g., an HCl management system such as the VMware® vSphere® ESXi™ environment, or any other HCl management system). Some examples of HCl systems may operate as software-defined storage (SDS) cluster systems (e.g., an SDS cluster system such as the VMware® vSAN™ system, or any other SDS cluster system).

In the HCl context (as well as other contexts), information handling systems may execute virtual machines (VMs) for various purposes. A VM may generally comprise any program of executable instructions, or aggregation of programs of executable instructions, configured to execute a guest operating system on a hypervisor or host operating system in order to act through or in connection with the hypervisor/host operating system to manage and/or control the allocation of hardware resources such as memory, central processing unit time, disk space, and input and output devices, and provide an interface between such hardware resources and application programs hosted by the guest operating system.

When a new HCl system is to be deployed, it is typically provisioned with a set of components referred to herein as a “stack.” A stack may include an operating system, hypervisor, firmware, drivers, software, etc.

For example, in a cloud-native on-premises deployment, bare metal servers may be used for many different roles, such as nodes associated with different cloud providers, as well as different node types (e.g., Kubernetes control plane nodes, Kubernetes worker nodes, etc.). Bare metal servers may thus be provisioned to different software stacks based on their different intended roles.

Currently, the role of a bare metal server is defined when a user manually provisions the server, which does not lend itself to automation. It would be advantageous to be able to identify the role of a bare metal server in such a way that it may provision itself automatically when booted.

For example, embodiments of this disclosure allow for a bare metal server's role to be defined in non-volatile memory (e.g., in a UEFI BIOS setting). When the server is next booted, it may perform zero-configuration networking setup (zeroconf) and boot from a designated network boot source that may allow it to provision itself with the desired stack.

It should be noted that the discussion of a technique in the Background B section of this disclosure does not constitute an admission of prior-art status. No such admissions are made herein, unless clearly and unambiguously identified as such.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure, the disadvantages and problems associated with provisioning of information handling systems may be reduced or eliminated.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, an information handling system may include at least one processor and a memory. The information handling system may be configured to: receive an indication of a desired role, wherein the desired role has a stack associated therewith; store the desired role in a basic input/output system (BIOS) variable; upon a subsequent boot, transmit desired role to at least one network destination; and perform a network boot, wherein the network boot is configured to provision the information handling system with the stack based on the desired role.

In accordance with these and other embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include an information handling system receiving an indication of a desired role, wherein the desired role has a stack associated therewith; the information handling system storing the desired role in a basic input/output (BIOS) system variable; upon a subsequent boot, the information handling system transmitting the desired role to at least one network destination; and the information handling system performing a network boot, wherein the network boot is configured to provision the information handling system with the stack based on the desired role.

In accordance with these and other embodiments of the present disclosure, an article of manufacture may include a non-transitory, computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions thereon that are executable by a processor of an information handling system for: receiving an indication of a desired role, wherein the desired role has a stack associated therewith; storing the desired role in a basic input/output system (BIOS) variable; upon a subsequent boot, transmitting the desired role to at least one network destination; and performing a network boot, wherein the network boot is configured to provision the information handling system with the stack based on the desired role.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Preferred embodiments and their advantages are best understood by reference toFIGS.1and2, wherein like numbers are used to indicate like and corresponding parts.

For purposes of this disclosure, when two or more elements are referred to as “coupled” to one another, such term indicates that such two or more elements are in electronic communication or mechanical communication, as applicable, whether connected directly or indirectly, with or without intervening elements.

When two or more elements are referred to as “coupleable” to one another, such term indicates that they are capable of being coupled together.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the term “computer-readable medium” (e.g., transitory or non-transitory computer-readable medium) may include any instrumentality or aggregation of instrumentalities that may retain data and/or instructions for a period of time. Computer-readable media may include, without limitation, storage media such as a direct access storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive or floppy disk), a sequential access storage device (e.g., a tape disk drive), compact disk, CD-ROM, DVD, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and/or flash memory; communications media such as wires, optical fibers, microwaves, radio waves, and other electromagnetic and/or optical carriers; and/or any combination of the foregoing.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the term “management controller” may broadly refer to an information handling system that provides management functionality (typically out-of-band management functionality) to one or more other information handling systems. In some embodiments, a management controller may be (or may be an integral part of) a service processor, a baseboard management controller (BMC), a chassis management controller (CMC), or a remote access controller (e.g., a Dell Remote Access Controller (DRAC) or Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC)).

FIG.1illustrates a block diagram of an example information handling system102, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, information handling system102may comprise a server chassis configured to house a plurality of servers or “blades.” In other embodiments, information handling system102may comprise a personal computer (e.g., a desktop computer, laptop computer, mobile computer, and/or notebook computer). In yet other embodiments, information handling system102may comprise a storage enclosure configured to house a plurality of physical disk drives and/or other computer-readable media storing for data (which may generally be referred to as “physical storage resources”). As shown inFIG.1, information handling system102may comprise a processor103, a memory104communicatively coupled to processor103, a BIOS105(e.g., a UEFI BIOS) communicatively coupled to processor103, a network interface108communicatively coupled to processor103, and a management controller112communicatively coupled to processor103.

In operation, processor103, memory104, BIOS105, and network interface108may comprise at least a portion of a host system98of information handling system102. In addition to the elements explicitly shown and described, information handling system102may include one or more other information handling resources.

As shown inFIG.1, memory104may have stored thereon an operating system106. Operating system106may executable comprise any program of instructions (or aggregation of programs of executable instructions) configured to manage and/or control the allocation and usage of hardware resources such as memory, processor time, disk space, and input and output devices, and provide an interface between such hardware resources and application programs hosted by operating system106. In addition, operating system106may include all or a portion of a network stack for network communication via a network interface (e.g., network interface108for communication over a data network). Although operating system106is shown inFIG.1as stored in memory104, in some embodiments operating system106may be stored in storage media accessible to processor103, and active portions of operating system106may be transferred from such storage media to memory104for execution by processor103.

Network interface108may comprise one or more suitable systems, apparatuses, or devices operable to serve as an interface between information handling system102and one or more other information handling systems via an in-band network. Network interface108may enable information handling system102to communicate using any suitable transmission protocol and/or standard. In these and other embodiments, network interface108may comprise a network interface card, or “NIC.” In these and other embodiments, network interface108may be enabled as a local area network (LAN)-on-motherboard (LOM) card.

Management controller112may be configured to provide management functionality for the management of information handling system102. Such management may be made by management controller112even if information handling system102and/or host system98are powered off or powered to a standby state. Management controller112may include a processor113, memory, and a network interface118separate from and physically isolated from network interface108.

As shown inFIG.1, processor113of management controller112may be communicatively coupled to processor103. Such coupling may be via a Universal Serial Bus (USB), System Management Bus (SMBus), and/or one or more other communications channels.

Network interface118may be coupled to a management network, which may be separate from and physically isolated from the data network as shown. Network interface118of management controller112may comprise any suitable system, apparatus, or device operable to serve as an interface between management controller112and one or more other information handling systems via an out-of-band management network. Network interface118may enable management controller112to communicate suitable using any transmission protocol and/or standard. In these and other embodiments, network interface118may comprise a network interface card, or “NIC.” Network interface118may be the same type of device as network interface108, or in other embodiments it may be a device of a different type.

Information handling system102may be a bare metal server in some embodiments. As discussed above, embodiments of this disclosure provide improvements in the provisioning of information handling systems102with a desired stack. It should be noted that while the scenario of an information handling cluster such as an HCl system in an on-premises cloud-native deployment is discussed in detail herein for the sake of concreteness, other embodiments are also specifically contemplated within scope the of this disclosure.

In one embodiment, a role for information handling system102may be defined in a variable stored in BIOS105or a non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) accessible by BIOS105. This role may be set in a factory environment prior to delivery of information handling system102in one embodiment. In another embodiment, subsequent to delivery, a user of information handling system102may boot it to a command shell (e.g., a UEFI shell) and execute one or more commands to set the role variable.

During a UEFI boot after the role has been set, an EFI boot loader referred to as a cloud-native boot loader which includes zeroconf functionality may be initialized. The boot loader may first read the system's role from NVRAM, and it may then publish and identify the role to the on-premises network using the zeroconf networking functionality. Based on the role identified, the boot loader may then provision information handling system102via a network boot such as a Preboot Execution Environment (PXE) boot. Thus a user can order a bare metal server, and once it arrives at the premises, it may be automatically provisioned for its role by a cloud-native bootloader.

Turning now toFIG.2, a system is shown for provisioning information handling system202via a PXE server250. In this example, information handling system202is to be provisioned as an EKS-D control plane node. As one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, Amazon EKS Distro (EKS-D) is a Kubernetes distribution based on Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) that may be used to create Kubernetes clusters.

In this example, information handling system202arrives at the on-premises location with no role predefined. A role may then be set by a user via a UEFI shell command. For example, a UEFI shell command for identifying the role in this example might be as follows:set server_role aws_eksd_admin_control_plane

When information handling system202is first booted, the boot loader with zeroconf networking may read the role from NVRAM, and then publish and identify the role to the on-premises subnetwork. After the role is identified, the network bootloader may connect to PXE server250to allow it to be provisioned with the desired stack. Based on the defined role that has been broadcast to the subnetwork, PXE server250may then transmit all of the needed stack components to information handling system202for installation. For example, PXE server250may cause information handling system202to boot to a small provisioning operating system, which may then download and install the correct software stack to the storage resources of information handling system202. When information handling system202next reboots, it may initialize the desired stack.

Accordingly, information handling system202may be provisioned to any desired stack based on its defined role additional manual configuration during the without provisioning phase.

Further, reciting in the appended claims that a structure is “configured to” or “operable to” perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112 (f) for that claim element. Accordingly, none of the claims in this application as filed are intended to be interpreted as having means-plus-function elements. Should Applicant wish to invoke § 112 (f) during prosecution, Applicant will recite claim elements using the “means for [performing a function]” construct.