Using boot disks to provision hosts

In environments without PXE boot or network boot, you can provision hosts by generating a boot disk ISO. The host uses the ISO to boot installation media, connect to orcharhino Proxy, and install the operating system.

Boot disk workflow

You can use orcharhino to perform boot disk-based host provisioning as an alternative to network booting methods.

Using a boot disk to provision a host involves the following steps:

Create a host entry in orcharhino.
Generate a boot disk ISO image.
Boot your host from the ISO image.
The host connects to Templates orcharhino Proxy and starts installing the operating system.
When the installation completes, the host registers to orcharhino Server by using an activation key, performs necessary configuration, and installs management tools from the orcharhino Client for Ubuntu repository.

Boot disk types

You can perform boot disk-based provisioning if your your network does not provide a DHCP service.

You can generate the following types of boot disks:

Full host image: A boot disk ISO that contains the installer kernel and initial RAM disk image for a specific host. The boot loader on this image chainloads the installer directly from the image. This image is useful if the host fails to chainload from orcharhino Server or orcharhino Proxy Server correctly. The provisioning template still downloads from orcharhino Server.

This image is based on SYSLINUX and GRUB2 and works with most network cards.

This image contains a provisioning security token, therefore the generated image has a limited lifespan.
Subnet image: A boot disk ISO that is not associated with a specific host. You can use this image if you have an environment with multiple subnets, where hosts do not have access to orcharhino Server but can access orcharhino Proxy in the particular subnet. You can use this image to boot multiple hosts on the same subnet. The boot loader on this image chainloads the installer from the TFTP orcharhino Proxy of the host.

The ISO sends the MAC address of the host to orcharhino Proxy, which matches the MAC address against the host entry. The image does not store IP address details and requires access to a DHCP server on the network to bootstrap. This image is generic to all hosts with a provisioning NIC on the same subnet.

This image is based on iPXE boot firmware. Only a limited number of network cards is supported.
Generic image: A boot disk ISO that is not associated with a specific host. The boot loader on this image chainloads the installer from orcharhino Server.

The ISO sends the MAC address of the host to orcharhino Proxy, which matches the MAC address against the host entry. The image does not store IP address details and requires access to a DHCP server on the network to bootstrap.

This image is based on iPXE boot firmware. Only a limited number of network cards is supported.

This image does not support UEFI systems.
Host image: A boot disk ISO for a specific host. This image contains only the boot files that are necessary to access the installation media on orcharhino Server. You define the subnet data in orcharhino and the image is created with static networking.

This image is based on iPXE boot firmware. Only a limited number of network cards is supported.

This image contains a provisioning security token, therefore the generated image has a limited lifespan.

This image does not support UEFI systems.

Additional resources

Enabling Bootdisk plugin

Enable the Bootdisk plugin to perform boot disk-based host provisioning. The plugin must be enabled before you can generate a boot disk on your orcharhino to provision hosts.

Procedure

Enable the Bootdisk plugin on your orcharhino Server:

$ orcharhino-installer --enable-foreman-plugin-bootdisk

Optional: Install the Bootdisk plugin for Hammer CLI on your orcharhino Server:
```
$ orcharhino-installer --enable-foreman-cli-bootdisk
```

Verification

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Administer > About.
On the System Status card, select the Plugins tab to verify that the Bootdisk plugin is installed.

Next steps

Continue with generating a boot disk on your orcharhino to provision hosts.

Generating a full host boot disk by using orcharhino management UI

Generate a boot disk ISO that contains the installer kernel and initial RAM disk for a specific host.

Prerequisites

An activation key must be available for your host. For more information, see Managing Activation Keys in Managing Content.
orcharhino Client for Ubuntu repository for the operating system version of the host is synchronized on orcharhino Server and enabled in the activation key you use.
Ensure that the operating system has PXELinux and PXEGrub2 templates associated. For more information, see Associating templates with operating systems by using orcharhino management UI.

Procedure

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > Create Host.
In the Name field, enter a name for the host.
Optional: Click the Organization tab and change the organization context to match your requirement.
Optional: Click the Location tab and change the location context to match your requirement.
From the Host Group list, select a host group that you want to assign your host to. That host group will populate the form.
Click the Interfaces tab, and on the interface of the host, click Edit.
Verify that the fields are populated with values. Note in particular:
- The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.
- Ensure that orcharhino automatically selects the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for the first interface on the host. If not, select them.
Click OK to save. To add another interface, click Add Interface. You can select only one interface for Provision and Primary.

For more information about network interfaces, see Configuring network interfaces in Managing Hosts.
Click the Operating System tab. Verify that all fields contain correct values.
Click Resolve in Provisioning Templates to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use.

For more information about associating provisioning templates, see Associating templates with operating systems by using orcharhino management UI.
On the Parameters tab, click Add parameter. Add a parameter named kt_activation_keys, select the string type, and enter the name of the activation key as the value. The activation key has to belong to the same organization as your host. You can also enter a comma-separated list of multiple activation keys.
Click Submit to save the host details. This creates a host entry and the host details page appears.
Download the boot disk from orcharhino Server. On the host details page, open the options menu and select Full host 'My_Host_Name' image.

Generating a full host boot disk by using Hammer CLI

Generate a boot disk ISO that contains the installer kernel and initial RAM disk for a specific host.

Prerequisites

An activation key must be available for your host. For more information, see Managing Activation Keys in Managing Content.
orcharhino Client for Ubuntu repository for the operating system version of the host is synchronized on orcharhino Server and enabled in the activation key you use.
Ensure that the operating system has PXELinux and PXEGrub2 templates associated. For more information, see Associating templates with operating systems by using Hammer CLI.

Procedure

Create a host:

$ hammer host create \
--build true \
--enabled true \
--hostgroup "My_Host_Group" \
--location "My_Location" \
--mac "My_MAC_Address" \
--managed true \
--name "My_Host_Name" \
--organization "My_Organization"

Configure the network interface of your host:

$ hammer host interface update \
--host "My_Host_Name" \
--managed true \
--primary true \
--provision true

Download the Full host image boot disk from orcharhino Server:
```
$ hammer bootdisk host \
--full true \
--host My_Host_Name
```

Generating a subnet boot disk by using orcharhino management UI

Generate a boot disk ISO not associated with a specific host that chainloads the installer from TFTP orcharhino Proxy for a subnet.

Prerequisites

Ensure that the ipxe-bootimgs package is installed on your orcharhino Proxy.

Procedure

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Subnets.
Click the dropdown menu in the Actions column of the required subnet.
Select Subnet generic image.

Generating a subnet boot disk by using Hammer CLI

Generate a boot disk ISO not associated with a specific host that chainloads the installer from TFTP orcharhino Proxy for a subnet.

Prerequisites

Ensure that the ipxe-bootimgs package is installed on your orcharhino Proxy.

Procedure

Generate the Subnet image boot disk:

$ hammer bootdisk subnet --subnet My_Subnet_Name

Generating a generic boot disk by using orcharhino management UI

Generate a boot disk ISO not associated with a specific host that chainloads the installer from orcharhino Server.

This image is also available from the /disks/generic URL path on your orcharhino Server, for example, https://orcharhino.example.com/disks/generic.

Prerequisites

Ensure that the ipxe-bootimgs package is installed on your orcharhino Server.

Procedure

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Subnets.
Click the dropdown menu in the Actions column of the required subnet.
Select Generic image.

Generating a generic boot disk by using Hammer CLI

Generate a boot disk ISO not associated with a specific host that chainloads the installer from orcharhino Server.

This image is also available from the /disks/generic URL path on your orcharhino Server, for example, https://orcharhino.example.com/disks/generic.

Prerequisites

Ensure that the ipxe-bootimgs package is installed on your orcharhino Server.

Procedure

Generate the Generic image boot disk:
```
$ hammer bootdisk generic
```

Generating a host boot disk by using orcharhino management UI

Generate a boot disk ISO for a specific host that contains only the boot files necessary to access the installation media.

Prerequisites

An activation key must be available for your host. For more information, see Managing Activation Keys in Managing Content.
orcharhino Client for Ubuntu repository for the operating system version of the host is synchronized on orcharhino Server and enabled in the activation key you use.

Procedure

In the orcharhino management UI, navigate to Hosts > Create Host.
In the Name field, enter a name for the host.
Optional: Click the Organization tab and change the organization context to match your requirement.
Optional: Click the Location tab and change the location context to match your requirement.
From the Host Group list, select a host group that you want to assign your host to. That host group will populate the form.
Click the Interfaces tab, and on the interface of the host, click Edit.
Verify that the fields are populated with values. Note in particular:
- The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.
- Ensure that orcharhino automatically selects the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for the first interface on the host. If not, select them.
Click OK to save. To add another interface, click Add Interface. You can select only one interface for Provision and Primary.

For more information about network interfaces, see Configuring network interfaces in Managing Hosts.
Click the Operating System tab. Verify that all fields contain correct values.
Click Resolve in Provisioning Templates to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use.

For more information about associating provisioning templates, see Associating templates with operating systems by using orcharhino management UI.
On the Parameters tab, click Add parameter. Add a parameter named kt_activation_keys, select the string type, and enter the name of the activation key as the value. The activation key has to belong to the same organization as your host. You can also enter a comma-separated list of multiple activation keys.
Click Submit to save the host details. This creates a host entry and the host details page appears.
Download the boot disk from orcharhino Server. On the host details page, open the options menu and select Host 'My_Host_Name' image.

Generating a host boot disk by using Hammer CLI

Generate a boot disk ISO for a specific host that contains only the boot files necessary to access the installation media.

Prerequisites

An activation key must be available for your host. For more information, see Managing Activation Keys in Managing Content.
orcharhino Client for Ubuntu repository for the operating system version of the host is synchronized on orcharhino Server and enabled in the activation key you use.

Procedure

Create a host:

$ hammer host create \
--build true \
--enabled true \
--hostgroup "My_Host_Group" \
--location "My_Location" \
--mac "My_MAC_Address" \
--managed true \
--name "My_Host_Name" \
--organization "My_Organization"

Configure the network interface of your host:

$ hammer host interface update \
--host "My_Host_Name" \
--managed true \
--primary true \
--provision true

Download the Host image boot disk from orcharhino Server:
```
$ hammer bootdisk host --host My_Host_Name
```

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