3 Provisioning Linux

This chapter provides step by step instructions on using the bare metal application in Enterprise Manager to provision Linux on bare metal servers.

3.1 Accessing the Bare Metal Provisioning Application

To access the Bare Metal Provisioning Application, do the following:

Log in to Oracle Enterprise Manager.
The Provisioning application can be accessed by going to the Deployments Tab and then to the Provisioning sub tab, as shown below.

Figure 3-1 Accessing the Provisioning Application

Tip:

Before you begin provisioning of Linux on bare metal boxes, make sure that preferred credentials are set for the Stage server and Reference Host. If not, follow instructions in Setting Up Preferred Credentials in Enterprise Manager to set up preferred credentials.

3.2 Creating a Default Image

Provisioning only Linux Operating system on target servers involves creation of a Default Image. A Default Image is a special type of image that installs operating system based on a reference Linux installation. It then deploys an Oracle Management Agent on the bare metal box so that it can subsequently be managed as an Enterprise Manager target. A default image can be created for a particular IP prefix or MAC address and provisioned on bare metal boxes as they are added to a given subnet.

The Default Image setup consists of following steps:

Go to the Images tab and click Create Image. The following page is displayed:

Figure 3-2 Create Image: Describe Page

In the Describe step, choose appropriate type of Default Image depending on the Operating System that needs to be provisioned on the bare metal servers. Enter a name for the image and other information that you may want to associate with it. Click Next.
The Configuration step comes up as shown in Figure 3-3.

Figure 3-3 Create Image: Configure Page

The Configure step depends on the type of the type of Image selected in the earlier step and is different for different types of Images. On this page, specify the following details:

Reference Installation is the Reference Host or gold host used for creating OS components for this image.

RPM repository allows you to choose an RPM repository from a list of RPM repositories configured for use with the provisioning application.

Additional RPM allows you to add RPMs for installation on the servers to be provisioned.

Exclude RPM allows you to specify the RPMs to be excluded from the image.

Time Zone and UTC Clock are used for setting the time zone of the bare-metal boxes after provisioning the operating system on them.

Root Password is the MD5 encrypted version of the root password that needs to be set for the newly provisioned Linux box. One way to encrypt is by using the /sbin/grub-md5-crypt command in Linux.

Following is an example with password 'manager1':

/sbin/grub-md5-crypt
Password: <type manager1>
Retype password: <re-type manager1>
$1$oONqW$wWSUsgzFdMMv5i2pQSqzY0

The utility will check that the same unencrypted password is encrypted twice. The result of the encryption is the string returned by the utility on the standard output.

Clicking Next brings up the Customize and Set Directives steps. These are optional for Default Image case and can be skipped. Directives are supported out-of-the-box for the Default Image case.

Final step is the Review step where all the entries made in the earlier steps can be reviewed. Clicking Finish on the review page kicks off a job to create the necessary components and directives required for the Default Image as shown in Figure 3-4.

Figure 3-4 Image Creation Confirmation

Clicking on the job link will show the various steps executed by the job.

Once the job is finished a new Image can be seen in the Images table on the Images tab. This Image is created with version 0.1 is in Ready state for use. Any subsequent changes to the Image will lead to an increment of 0.1 in revision. Select the Image and Click Activate to change the state of the Image to Active. An Image cannot be used for provisioning if it is not is Active state.

As a check, go to the components tab to check the components that have been created automatically created for the Default Image under the node "Oracle Components". The components created for the Default Image are non-editable as shown in Figure 3-5:

Figure 3-5 Components Tab

Note:

If you want to remove an existing image from the Software Library, do the following:

Make sure the Image is not set as a default image in the Deployments->Administration->Default Images section. If it is, remove the entry from the table.
Remove the assignments (if any) for the image from the Deployment->Provisioning->Assignments table.
Remove the image from the Software Library by removing it from Deployment->Provisioning->Images table.
Remove the components associated with this image from the Software Library by removing it from the Deployments->Provisioning->Components->Oracle Components section.

3.3 Setting Up a Default Image

Go to the Administration tab and click Add in the Default Images section on the Administration tab as shown below.

Figure 3-6 Default Images Section
The Add Default Image page shown in Figure 3-7 is displayed.

Figure 3-7 Add Default Image Page

Enter the following values on this page:
- IP Address Prefix or MAC Address:
  - IP Address Prefix is used to specify the IP prefix of subnet where the bare-metal machines would be added.
  - MAC Address is used to specify the MAC addresses of the bare metal machines to be added.
- Choose a desired Boot Server and Stage Server from the list of servers configured with the provisioning application.
- Specify the Image name to be used as the Default Image, preferred credentials for the Stage server.
  
  Do not select anything for the Network Profile. For the bare metal machines the application automatically chooses DHCP to assign IP addresses and host names.
- Click Edit Advanced Properties to view the page shown in Figure 3-8.
Figure 3-8 Edit Advanced Properties Page

You can provide the following properties:
- In the Agent Settings section, specify the agent user, group, and Oracle home for the install, and the location of the agent RPM. If the agent RPM location is not specified, the RPMs will be picked up from the stage location.
- In the Security Settings section, you can add a script in the Security Parameters field. You can enable or disable SELinux.
- In the Kernel Settings section, you can add a script in the Kernel Parameters field.
- In the Mount Point Settings section, you can specify entries for the /etc/fstab file. You can specify mount points on the newly provisioned Linux machine. By default, mount point settings from the reference Linux machine are inherited.
- In the NTP Settings section, you can specify entries for the /etc/ntp.conf file. You can specify NTP settings for the newly provisioned Linux machine. By default, NTP settings from the reference Linux machine are inherited.
- In the NIS Settings section, specify entries for the /etc/yp.conf file. You can specify NIS settings for the newly provisioned Linux machine. By default, NIS settings from the reference Linux machine are inherited.
- In the Post section, specify any set of commands that need to be executed on the newly provisioned machine. These commands will be appended to the post section of the kickstart file
Note:
If setting up of the default image fails, delete the image, delete the component, purge the software library and retry.
Running this job may take a few minutes.

3.4 Staging the Default Image

Once the Image is created, click Stage in the Default Images section and select the Image created earlier.

Figure 3-9 Default Images

This prepares the default image ready for installation on the staging server. One will be asked to enter the OMS registration password before staging starts.

An Enterprise Manager job is submitted to do the staging of default image. The on-going status can be seen using the Enterprise Manager job console.

Note:

If staging of the image fails, correct the pre-requisite failures mentioned in the failed job and retry the staging operation. Click Edit in the Default Images section and re-submit the staging job by clicking Finish.

You can also clean up the image from the Default Images table and try again.

Running this job may take a few minutes.

3.5 Ready to Go

After completing the above steps, one is ready to go. Plug in the bare metal boxes in the subnet and the provisioning application will automatically provision them to have the default image and management agent on it.

Note:

Once Linux is provisioned on the bare metal box, out-of-box Deployment Procedures can be used to provision Database and other Oracle products on the server. See "Using Enterprise Manager For Grid Automation With Deployment Procedures" in the Enterprise Manager Advanced Configuration Guide for more information on how to use Deployment Procedures.