⁠5.2. Adding Hosts

The recommended method for adding hosts to the user interface is via discovery. With this function, machines in the private network that the installer defines are booted over the network using a discovery image, and are automatically registered in the user interface. During the registration process, details regarding the host such as the names of network interfaces attached to the host are also registered in the user interface, and are later used when configuring the host to act as a node in a RHEL OpenStack Platform environment.
It is also possible to add a host by manually entering the details of the host such as the MAC address and other networking details. However, details regarding the host are not automatically registered in the user interface as per discovery, and this method is not recommended in conjunction with the installer. For reference, see Section D.2, “Adding a Host Manually”.

Note

The discovery image is an ISO file that is installed alongside the rhel-osp-installer package. This ISO file is located in the /usr/share/foreman-discovery-image/ directory on the machine on which the user interface is installed. Access to the discovery image over the network is automatically configured when you install the user interface; no user input is required.

⁠5.2.1. Adding a Host via Discovery

Add a host to the user interface via the discovery function. This procedure assumes that the host is connected to the private network on which the installer provides the DHCP service.
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Procedure 5.1. Adding a Host via Discovery

  1. Start the host, and elect to start over the network from the boot options menu to start the host using the PXE service that the installer provides.
  2. Select Foreman Discovery from the PXE boot options menu. The host starts into the Foreman Discovery screen and is automatically registered in the user interface.
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    The Foreman Discovery screen

    Figure 5.1. The Foreman Discovery Screen

  3. Log in to the user interface and confirm that the host has been registered:
    1. Click Hosts → Discovered hosts.
    2. Click the name of the newly registered host to open the details page for the host, and review the details.
      ⁠
      The discovered host details page

      Figure 5.2. The Discovered Host Details Page

The host is added to the user interface, and is automatically included in the list of free hosts when you assign hosts to a deployment. Moreover, the host is automatically added to the discovery environment, which is the default Puppet environment for discovered hosts in which no Puppet classes are defined. This environment acts as a holding area that identifies hosts that have not yet been provisioned.