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FEATURED PROJECT

Bare Metal Provisioning System

Automated bare metal server provisioning using PXE boot, Kickstart, and IPMI automation for datacenter deployments

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DatacenterAutomationPXEIPMIInfrastructure

Bare Metal Provisioning System

Fully automated bare metal server provisioning system that eliminates manual installation and configuration, enabling rapid datacenter deployments at scale.

Overview

This system automates the entire server provisioning workflow from power-on to production-ready state, handling hundreds of servers with zero manual intervention.

Features

  • PXE Boot Infrastructure: Network-based OS installation
  • IPMI Automation: Remote power control and console access
  • Kickstart Templates: Automated OS installation and partitioning
  • Post-Install Configuration: Ansible-based system hardening
  • Inventory Management: Automatic asset discovery and tracking
  • Zero-Touch Deployment: Fully automated from rack to production

Architecture

DHCP/TFTP Server → PXE Boot → Kickstart → Post-Install Scripts → Ansible Configuration
       ↓
   IPMI Control (Power, Console, BIOS)
       ↓
   Inventory Database (Asset Tracking)

Tech Stack

  • PXE/TFTP: Network boot infrastructure
  • Kickstart: Automated RHEL/CentOS installation
  • IPMI/Redfish: Out-of-band management
  • Ansible: Post-installation configuration
  • Python: Automation scripts and API
  • PostgreSQL: Inventory database

Key Components

PXE Boot Server

  • DHCP server with PXE options
  • TFTP server for boot images
  • HTTP server for installation media
  • Multi-OS support (RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu)

IPMI Automation

# Automated server provisioning
def provision_server(ipmi_ip, mac_address):
    # Set boot order to PXE
    ipmitool.set_boot_device(ipmi_ip, 'pxe')
    
    # Power on server
    ipmitool.power_on(ipmi_ip)
    
    # Monitor installation via SOL
    ipmitool.sol_activate(ipmi_ip)
    
    # Register in inventory
    inventory.add_server(mac_address, ipmi_ip)

Kickstart Configuration

# Automated partitioning and package selection
autopart --type=lvm
network --bootproto=dhcp --device=eth0
timezone America/New_York --utc
rootpw --iscrypted $encrypted_password

%packages
@core
@base
vim
wget
%end

%post
# Register with configuration management
curl -o /tmp/bootstrap.sh https://config.local/bootstrap.sh
bash /tmp/bootstrap.sh
%end

Workflow

  1. Discovery: Scan network for new servers via IPMI
  2. Preparation: Configure BIOS settings via IPMI
  3. Installation: PXE boot and automated OS installation
  4. Configuration: Ansible playbooks for system setup
  5. Validation: Automated testing and health checks
  6. Production: Add to monitoring and management systems

Performance Metrics

  • Provisioning Time: 15-20 minutes per server
  • Concurrent Deployments: 50+ servers simultaneously
  • Success Rate: 99.5% automated success
  • Manual Intervention: < 1% of deployments

Usage

# Provision single server
./provision.py --ipmi 10.1.1.100 --mac 00:11:22:33:44:55

# Provision rack of servers
./provision.py --rack rack-01 --count 42

# Bulk provisioning from CSV
./provision.py --import servers.csv

Advanced Features

  • Hardware Detection: Automatic CPU, memory, disk detection
  • RAID Configuration: Automated RAID setup via IPMI
  • Firmware Updates: Pre-installation firmware updates
  • Network Bonding: Automatic NIC bonding configuration
  • Custom Partitioning: Role-based disk layouts

Integration

  • DCIM Integration: Automatic asset registration
  • Monitoring: Auto-enrollment in Prometheus/Nagios
  • Configuration Management: Puppet/Ansible integration
  • Ticketing: ServiceNow integration for tracking

Results

Reduced server provisioning time from 2-3 hours manual work to 15 minutes automated deployment, enabling rapid datacenter buildouts and infrastructure scaling.

Technologies:
DatacenterAutomationPXEIPMIInfrastructure