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Chapter 6. Provisioning Bare Metal Hosts

In this chapter, we explore four main ways to provision bare metal instances with Red Hat Satellite 6. These include:

  • Unattended Provisioning - You identify a host using a MAC address and the Satellite Server provisions it using a PXE boot process.
  • Unattended Provisioning with Discovery - New hosts use PXE boot to load the Satellite Discovery service. This service identifies hardware information about the host and lists it as an available host to provision.
  • PXE-less Provisioning - The ability to provision new hosts using a boot disk or PXE-less discovery image that the Satellite Server generates.
  • PXE-less Provisioning with Discovery - New hosts use an ISO boot disk that loads the Satellite Discovery service. This service identifies hardware information about the host and lists it as an available host to provision.
Note

Previous versions of Red Hat Satellite had a host group-based template rendering feature during provisioning. This feature allowed users to render templates for a host group instead of a single host. This feature is not supported for Red Hat Satellite {ProductVersion} because of certain limitations such as a lack of host records or audit trail. Use the Discovery features, which provide similar functionality.

6.1. Defining Requirements for Bare Metal Provisioning

The requirements for bare metal provisioning include:

For information about the security token for unattended and PXE-less provisioning, see Section 6.2, “Configuring the Security Token Validity Duration”.

6.2. Configuring the Security Token Validity Duration

When performing unattended and PXE-less provisioning, as a security measure, Satellite automatically generates a unique token and adds this token to the URL of the ISO image that downloads during the Kickstart provisioning process.

By default, the token is valid for 360 minutes. When you provision a host, ensure that you reboot the host within this time frame. If the token expires, it is deleted and you might receive a 404 error.

To adjust the token’s duration of validity, in the Satellite web UI, navigate to Administer > Settings, and click the Provisioning tab. Find the Token duration option, and click the edit icon and edit the duration, or enter 0 to disable token generation.

6.3. Creating Hosts with Unattended Provisioning

Unattended provisioning is the simplest form of host provisioning. This method requires you to enter the host details on the Satellite Server and boot your host. The Satellite Server automatically manages the PXE configuration, organizes networking services, and provides the operating system and configuration for the host. This method of provisioning hosts uses minimal interaction during the process.

This scenario demonstrates how to provision a host on ACME’s private network. In this example, the bare metal host connects to ACME’s private network at 192.168.140.0/24 and uses an interface with aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa as the MAC address.

For Web UI Users

Navigate to Hosts > Create host. The UI provides a set of fields where you can input details for the host.

  • In the Host tab:

    • Enter the Name of the host. For this example, enter baremetal-test1.
    • The provisioning context (Organization and Location) automatically sets to ACME and New York.
    • Select Base from the Host Group field. This should automatically populate most of the new host’s fields.
  • In the Interface tab:

    • Click Edit on the host’s interface.
    • Most of the fields should automatically contain values. Note in particular:

      • The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.
      • The Satellite Server automatically assigns an IP address for the new host.
    • Enter the MAC address for the host. In this example, the MAC address is aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa. This is important as it ensures the identification of the host during the PXE boot process.
    • The Satellite Server should automatically select the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for the first interface on the host. If not, select them.
  • In the Operating System tab:

    • All fields should automatically contain values. Confirm each aspect of the operating system.
    • Click Resolve in Provisioning template to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use. This should include:

      • PXELinux Template: Kickstart default PXELinux
      • provision Template: Satellite Kickstart Default

        If you want to use VLAN tagging, you must add the VLAN ID to the PXELinux or PXEGrub2 template. To the APPEND line, add vlanid=example_vlanid. For instructions on associating provisioning templates, see Section 3.5, “Creating Provisioning Templates”.

  • In the Parameters tab:

    • Confirm the kt_activation_keys parameter exists and is using the example activation key.

Click Submit.

For CLI Users

Create the host with the hammer host create command. For example:

# hammer host create --name "baremetal-test1" --organization "ACME" \
--location "New York" --hostgroup "Base" --mac "aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa" \
--build true --enabled true --managed true

Ensure our network interface options are set using the hammer host interface update command. For example:

# hammer host interface update --host "test1" --managed true \
--primary true --provision true

This creates the host entry and the relevant provisioning settings. This also includes creating the necessary directories and files for PXE booting the bare metal host. If you power the physical host and set its boot mode to PXE, the host detects the DHCP service of the Satellite Server’s integrated Capsule and starts installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 from its kickstart tree. When installation completes, the host also registers to the Satellite Server using the example activation key and installs the necessary configuration and management tools from the Red Hat Satellite Tools repository.

6.4. Configuring Red Hat Satellite’s Discovery Service

Red Hat Satellite provides a method to automatically detect blank hosts on a network. These hosts boot the discovery image that performs hardware detection and relays this information back to Satellite Server. This method creates a list of ready-to-provision hosts in Satellite Server without needing to enter the MAC address of each host.

PXE mode

Installation

The Discovery service is enabled by default on Satellite Server. To use Satellite Server to provide the Discovery image, install the following packages:

# yum install foreman-discovery-image rubygem-smart_proxy_discovery
  • The foreman-discovery-image package installs the Discovery ISO to the /usr/share/foreman-discovery-image/ directory and also creates a PXE boot image from this ISO using the livecd-iso-to-pxeboot tool. The tool saves this PXE boot image in the /var/lib/tftpboot/boot directory.
  • The rubygem-smart_proxy_discovery package configures a Capsule Server, such as the Satellite Server’s integrated Capsule, to act as a proxy for the Discovery service.

When the installation completes, you can view the new menu option by navigating to Hosts > Discovered hosts.

Enabling Discovery service on a Capsule Server

Complete the following procedure to enable the Discovery service on a Capsule Server.

  1. Enter the following commands on the Capsule Server:

    # yum install foreman-discovery-image rubygem-smart_proxy_discovery
    # katello-service restart
  2. In the Satellite web UI, navigate to Infrastructure > Capsule.
  3. Click the Capsule Server and select Refresh from the Actions list. Locate Discovery in the list of features to confirm the Discovery service is now running.

Provisioning Templates

The PXELinux global default template in the Hosts > Provisioning templates section includes a snippet pxelinux_discovery. The snippet includes the following lines:

LABEL discovery
  MENU LABEL Foreman Discovery Image
  KERNEL boot/fdi-image-rhel_7-vmlinuz
  APPEND initrd=boot/fdi-image-rhel_7-img rootflags=loop root=live:/fdi.iso rootfstype=auto ro rd.live.image acpi=force rd.luks=0 rd.md=0 rd.dm=0 rd.lvm=0 rd.bootif=0 rd.neednet=0 nomodeset proxy.url=<%= foreman_server_url %> proxy.type=foreman
  IPAPPEND 2

The KERNEL and APPEND options boot the Discovery image and ramdisk. The APPEND option contains a proxy.url parameter, with the foreman_server_url macro as its argument. This macro resolves to the full URL of the Satellite Server.

To use a Capsule to proxy the discovery steps, edit /var/lib/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default or /var/lib/tftpboot/grub2/grub.cfg and change the URL to the FQDN of the Capsule Server you want to use.

The global template is available on Satellite Server and all Capsules that have the TFTP feature enabled.

Changing Templates and Snippets

Templates and snippets are locked to prevent changes. If you want to edit a template or snippet, clone it, save it with a unique name, and then edit the clone.

You can change the proxy.url argument to the IP address or FQDN of another provisioning Capsule that you want to use, but remember to append the port number, 9090. For example:

proxy.url=https://capsule.example.com:9090

In this scenario, it is the Satellite Server’s integrated Capsule, accessed using proxy.url=https://satellite.example.com:9090, that is used.

You can change the Discovery service to be the default service that boots for blank hosts. Edit the ONTIMEOUT value in the PXELinux global default to the following

ONTIMEOUT discovery

When you change the PXELinux global default template or a snippet it includes, the changes must be propagated to the Satellite Server’s default PXE template. Navigate to Hosts > Provisioning templates and click Build PXE Default. This refreshes the default PXE template on the Satellite Server.

Tagged VLAN Provisioning

If you want to use tagged VLAN provisioning, and you want the discovery service to send a discovery request, add the following information to the KERNEL option in the discovery template:

fdi.vlan.primary=example_VLAN_ID

Subnets

All subnets with discoverable hosts require an appropriate Capsule Server selected to provide the Discovery service. To do this, navigate to Infrastructure > Capsules and verify if the Capsule Server that you want to use lists the Discovery feature. If not, click Refresh features and it appears immediately.

Navigate to Infrastructure > Subnets, select a subnet, click the Capsules tab, and select the Discovery Proxy that you want to use. Perform this for each appropriate subnet.

Testing

Test the Discovery service and boot a blank bare metal host on the 192.168.140.0/24 network. A boot menu displays and shows two options:

  • (local), which boots from the hard disk
  • (discovery), which boots to the Discovery service

Select (discovery) to boot the Discovery image. After a few minutes, the Discovery image completes booting and shows a status screen.

Navigate to Hosts > Discovered hosts and the list includes the newly discovered host. The discovered hosts automatically define their host name based on their MAC address. For example, Satellite sets a discovered host with a MAC address of ab:cd:ef:12:34:56 to have macabcdef123456 as the host name. You can change this host name when provisioning the host.

Note

The Satellite Server assigns organization and location to discovered hosts according to the following rules from top to bottom:

  • Setting the Discovery organization or Discovery location, if present. These can be set under Administer > Settings > Discovered.
  • Setting foreman_organization or foreman_location facts for a host. The fact names that are looked up can be configured in Administer > Settings > Puppet section as the Default organization and Default location fact setting.
  • If a discovered host uses a subnet defined in Satellite, use the first organization and location associated with the subnet.
  • Select the first Organization and Location ordered by name.

Organization or Location can be changed using the bulk actions menu of the Discovered hosts page. Select the discovered hosts to modify and select Assign Organization or Assign Location from the Select Action menu.

6.5. Creating New Hosts from Discovered Hosts

Provisioning discovered hosts follows a provisioning process that is similar to PXE provisioning. The main difference is that instead of manually entering the host’s MAC address, you can select the host to provision from the list of discovered hosts.

For Web UI Users

Navigate to Hosts > Discovered host. This displays a list of ACME’s discovered hosts. Select one and click Provision on the right side of the list. The UI provides a set of fields where you can input details for the host.

  • In the Host tab:

    • Enter a new Name of the Host. This becomes the provisioned system’s host name. For this example, enter baremetal-test2.
    • The provisioning context (Organization and Location) should automatically set to ACME and New York.
    • Select Base from the Host Group field. This should automatically populate most of the new host’s fields.
  • In the Interface tab:

    • Click Edit on the host’s interface.
    • Most of the fields should automatically contain values. Note in particular:

      • The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.
      • The Satellite Server automatically assigns an IP address for the new host.
      • The Satellite Server automatically populates the MAC address from the Discovery results.
    • Confirm these details.
    • The Satellite Server should automatically select the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for this host. If not, select them.
  • In the Operating System tab:

    • All fields should automatically contain values. Confirm each aspect of the operating system.
    • Click Resolve in Provisioning template to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use. This should include:

      • PXELinux Template: Kickstart default PXELinux
      • provision Template: Satellite Kickstart Default

    For instructions on associating provisioning templates, see Section 3.5, “Creating Provisioning Templates”.

  • In the Parameters tab:

    • Confirm the kt_activation_keys parameter exists and is using the example activation key.
    • Click Submit.

For CLI Users

  1. Identify the discovered host to use for provisioning:

    # hammer discovery list
  2. Select a host and provision it using the Base host group. Set a new host name with the --new-name option:

    # hammer discovery provision --name "macaaaaaaaaaaaa" \
    --new-name "baremetal-test2" \
    --hostgroup "Base" --build true \
    --enabled true --managed true

    This removes the host from the discovered host listing and creates a host entry with the relevant provisioning settings. The Discovery image automatically resets the host so that it can boot to PXE. The host detects the DHCP service on the Satellite Server’s Integrated Capsule and starts installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 from its kickstart tree. When installation completes, the host also registers to the Satellite Server using the example activation key and installs the necessary configuration and management tools from the Red Hat Satellite Tools repository.

6.6. Creating Discovery Rules

As a method of automating the provisioning process for discovered hosts, Red Hat Satellite 6 provides a feature to create discovery rules. These rules define how discovered hosts automatically provision themselves, based on the assigned host group. For example, you might aim to automatically provision hosts with a high CPU count as hypervisors. Likewise, you might aim to provision hosts with large hard disks as storage servers.

Note

Auto provisioning does not currently allow configuring NICs; all systems are being provisioned with the NIC configuration that was detected during discovery. However, NIC can be set in an Anaconda kickstart, scriptlet, or using configuration management later on.

For Web UI Users

To create a rule, navigate to Configure > Discovery rules. This displays a list of existing rules. Select New Rule and the UI provides a set of fields for the rule details:

  • Name - A plain text name to represent the rule. For example: Hypervisor
  • Search - The rules to determine whether to provision a host. This field provides suggestions for values you enter and allows operators for multiple rules. For example: cpu_count > 8
  • Host Group - The host group to use as a template for this host.
  • Hostname - The pattern to determine host names for multiple hosts. This uses the same ERB syntax that provisioning templates use. The host name can use the @host attribute for host-specific values and the rand function for a random number. For example:

    • myhost-<%= rand(99999) %>
    • abc-<%= @host.facts['bios_vendor'] + '-' + rand(99999).to_s %>
    • xyz-<%= @host.hostgroup.name %>
    • srv-<%= @host.discovery_rule.name %>
    • server-<%= @host.ip.gsub('.','-') + '-' + @host.hostgroup.subnet.name %>

    Note the rand() function returns an integer which cannot be concatenated with string and therefore a call to the to_s function is required in this example. When creating host name patterns, make sure the resulting host names are unique, do not start with numbers, do not contain underscores or dots. A good approach is to use unique information provided by Facter, such as the MAC address, BIOS, or serial ID.

  • Hosts limit - The maximum hosts you can provision with the rule. Use 0 for unlimited.
  • Priority - The precedence the rule has over other rules. Rules with lower values have a higher priority.
  • Enabled - To enable the rule.

The Satellite Server uses current provisioning context for the rule. You can select additional contexts from the Organizations and Locations tabs.

Click Submit to save your rule.

Navigate to Hosts > Discovered host and select either:

  • Auto-Provision from a discovered host’s menu on the right. This automatically provisions a single host.
  • Auto-Provision All from the top-right of the table. This automatically provisions all hosts.

For CLI Users

Create the rule with the hammer discovery_rule create command:

# hammer discovery_rule create --name "Hypervisor" \
--search "cpu_count  > 8" --hostgroup "Base" \
--hostname "hypervisor-<%= rand(99999) %>" \
--hosts-limit 5 --priority 5 --enabled true

Automatically provision a host with the hammer discovery auto-provision command:

# hammer discovery auto-provision --name "macabcdef123456"

6.7. Creating New Hosts with PXE-less Provisioning

Some hardware does not provide a PXE boot interface. Red Hat Satellite 6 provides a PXE-less discovery service that operates without the need for PXE-based services (DHCP and TFTP). You can provision a new host without the need for PXE boot. This is also known as PXE-less provisioning and involves generating a boot ISO that hosts can use. Using this ISO, the host can connect to Satellite Server, boot the installation media, and install the operating system.

There are four types of boot ISOs:

Host image - A boot ISO for the specific host. This image contains only the boot files that are necessary to access the installation media on Satellite Server. The user defines the subnet data in Satellite and the image is created with static networking.

Full host image - A boot ISO that contains the kernel and initial RAM disk image for the specific host. This image is useful if the host fails to chainload correctly. The provisioning template still downloads from Satellite Server.

Generic image - A boot ISO that is not associated with a specific host. The ISO sends the host’s MAC address to Satellite Server, which matches it 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 also available from the /bootdisk/disks/generic URL on your Satellite Server, for example, https://satellite.example.com/bootdisk/disks/generic.

Subnet image - A boot ISO that is similar to the generic image but is configured with the address of a Capsule Server. This image is generic to all hosts with a provisioning NIC on the same subnet.

For Web UI Users

Navigate to Hosts > Create host. The UI provides a set of fields where you can input details for the host.

  • In the Host tab:

    • Enter the Name of the Host. This becomes the provisioned system’s host name. For this example, enter baremetal-test3.
    • The provisioning context (Organization and Location) should automatically set to ACME and New York.
    • Select Base from the Host Group field. This should automatically populate most of the new host’s fields.
  • In the Interface tab:

    • Click Edit on the host’s interface.
    • Most of the fields should automatically contain values. Note in particular:

      • The Name from the Host tab becomes the DNS name.
      • The Satellite Server automatically assigns an IP address for the new host.
    • Enter the MAC address for the host. In this example, the MAC address is aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa.
    • The Satellite Server should automatically select the Managed, Primary, and Provision options for this host. If not, select them.
  • In the Operating System tab:

    • All fields should automatically contain values. Confirm each aspect of the operating system.
    • Click Resolve in Provisioning template to check the new host can identify the right provisioning templates to use. This should include:

      • bootdisk Template: Boot disk iPXE - host
      • kexec Template: Discovery Red Hat kexec
      • provision Template: Satellite Kickstart Default

    For instructions on associating provisioning templates, see Section 3.5, “Creating Provisioning Templates”.

  • In the Parameters tab:

    • Confirm the kt_activation_keys parameter exists and is using the example activation key.

Click Submit.

This creates a host entry and the host details page appears. The options on the top-right of the page show a Boot disk menu, which provides one of the following images available for download: Host image, Full host image, Generic image, and Subnet image.

Note

The Full host image is based on SYSLINUX and works with most hardware. When using an iPXE-based boot disk (Host image, Generic image, or Subnet image), see http://ipxe.org/appnote/hardware_drivers for a list of hardware drivers expected to work with an iPXE-based boot disk.

For CLI Users

Create the host with the hammer host create command. For example:

# hammer host create --name "baremetal-test3" --organization "ACME" \
--location "New York" --hostgroup "Base" --mac "aa:aa:aa:aa:aa:aa" \
--build true --enabled true --managed true

Ensure our network interface options are set using the hammer host interface update command. For example:

# hammer host interface update --host "test3" --managed true \
--primary true --provision true

Download the boot disk from Satellite Server with the hammer bootdisk host command:

  • For Host image:

    # hammer bootdisk host --host test3.example.com
  • For Full host image:

    # hammer bootdisk host --host test3.example.com --full true
  • For Generic image:

    # hammer bootdisk generic
  • For Subnet image:

    # hammer bootdisk subnet --subnet subnetName

This creates a boot ISO for your host to use. Write the ISO to an USB storage device using the dd utility or livecd-tools if required. When you power the physical host and boot from the ISO or the USB storage device, the host connects to the Satellite Server and starts installing Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 from its kickstart tree. When installation completes, the host also registers to the Satellite Server using the example activation key and installs the necessary configuration and management tools from the Red Hat Satellite Tools repository.

6.8. Implementing PXE-less Discovery

Red Hat Satellite 6 provides a PXE-less Discovery service that operates without the need for PXE-based services (DHCP and TFTP). You accomplish this using the Satellite Server’s Discovery image.

PXEless mode

If you have not yet installed the Discovery service or image, follow the "Installation" section in Section 6.4, “Configuring Red Hat Satellite’s Discovery Service”.

The ISO for the Discovery service resides at /usr/share/foreman-discovery-image/ and is installed using the foreman-discover-image package.

Attended Use

This ISO acts as bootable media. Copy this media to either a CD, DVD, or a USB stick. For example, to copy to a USB stick at /dev/sdb:

# dd bs=4M \
if=/usr/share/foreman-discovery-image/foreman-discovery-image-3.1.1-10.iso \
of=/dev/sdb

Insert the Discovery boot media into a bare metal host, start the host, and boot from the media. The Discovery Image displays an option for either Manual network setup or Discovery with DHCP:

  • If selecting Manual network setup, the Discovery image requests a set of network options. This includes the primary network interface that connects to the Satellite Server. This Discovery image also asks for network interface configuration options, such as an IPv4 Address, IPv4 Gateway, and an IPv4 DNS server. As an example, ACME might use the following details:

    • IPv4 Address: 192.168.140.20
    • IPv4 Gateway: 192.168.140.1
    • IPv4 DNS: 192.168.140.2 (The Satellite Server’s integrated Capsule)

      After entering these details, select Next.

  • If selecting Discovery with DHCP, the Discovery image requests only the primary network interface that connects to the Satellite Server. It attempts to automatically configure the network interface using a DHCP server, such as one that a Capsule Server provides.

After the primary interface configuration, the Discovery image requests the Server URL, which is the URL of the Satellite Server or Capsule Server offering the Discovery service. For example, to use the integrated Capsule on ACME’s Satellite Server, use the following URL:

https://satellite.example.com:9090

And set the Connection type to Proxy. When ready, select Next.

The Discovery image also provides a set of fields to input Custom facts for the Facter tool to relay back to the Satellite Server. These are entered in a name-value format. Provide any custom facts you require and select Confirm to continue.

The Satellite reports a successful communication with the Satellite Server’s Discovery service. Navigate to Hosts > Discovered hosts and the list includes the newly discovered host.

To provision discovered hosts, see Section 6.5, “Creating New Hosts from Discovered Hosts”.

Unattended Use and Customization

It is possible to create a customized Discovery ISO, which automates the process of configuring the image after booting. The Discovery image uses a Linux kernel for the operating system, which means you pass kernel parameters to the configure the image’s operating system. These kernel parameters include:

proxy.url
The URL of the Capsule Server providing the Discovery service.
proxy.type
The proxy type. This is usually set to proxy to connect to the Capsule Server. This parameter also supports a legacy foreman option, where communication goes directly to the Satellite Server instead of a Capsule Server.
fdi.pxmac
The MAC address of the primary interface in the format of AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF. This is the interface you aim to use for communicating with the Capsule Server. In automated mode, the first NIC (using network identifiers in alphabetical order) with a link is used. In semi-automated mode, a screen appears and requests you to select the correct interface.
fdi.pxip, fdi.pxgw, fdi.pxdns
Manually configures IP address (fdi.pxip), the gateway (fdi.pxgw), and the DNS (fdi.pxdns) for the primary network interface. If your omit these parameters, the image uses DHCP to configure the network interface.
fdi.pxfactname1, fdi.pxfactname2 …​ fdi.pxfactnameN
Allows you to specify custom fact names.
fdi.pxfactvalue1, fdi.pxfactvalue2 …​ fdi.pxfactvalueN
The values for each custom fact. Each value corresponds to a fact name. For example, fdi.pxfactvalue1 sets the value for the fact named with fdi.pxfactname1.
fdi.pxauto
To set automatic or semi-automatic mode. If set to 0, the image uses semi-automatic mode, which allows you to confirm your choices through a set of dialog options. If set to 1, the image uses automatic mode and proceeds without any confirmation.

The Satellite Server also provides a tool (discovery-remaster) in the foreman-discovery-image package. This tool remasters the image to include these kernel parameters. To remaster the image, run the discovery-remaster tool. For example:

# discovery-remaster ~/iso/foreman-discovery-image-3.1.1-10.iso \
"fdi.pxip=192.168.140.20/24 fdi.pxgw=192.168.140.1 \
fdi.pxdns=192.168.140.2 proxy.url=https://satellite.example.com:9090 \
proxy.type=proxy fdi.pxfactname1=customhostname \
fdi.pxfactvalue1=myhost fdi.pxmac=52:54:00:be:8e:8c fdi.pxauto=1"

The tool creates a new ISO file in the same directory as the original discovery image. In this scenario, it saves under /usr/share/foreman-discovery-image/.

Copy this media to either a CD, DVD, or a USB stick. For example, to copy to a USB stick at /dev/sdb:

# dd bs=4M \
if=/usr/share/foreman-discovery-image/foreman-discovery-image-3.1.1-10.iso \
of=/dev/sdb

Insert the Discovery boot media into a bare metal host, start the host, and boot from the media.

To provision discovered hosts, see Section 6.5, “Creating New Hosts from Discovered Hosts”.

Final Notes

The host needs to resolve to the following provisioning templates:

  • kexec Template: Discovery Red Hat kexec
  • provision Template: Satellite Kickstart Default

For instructions on associating provisioning templates, see Section 3.5, “Creating Provisioning Templates”.

6.9. Chapter Summary

This chapter explored bare metal host provisioning, which includes several different methods such as unattended provisioning, discovery-based provisioning, and PXE-less provisioning. You can use some of these same methods when provisioning hosts from virtualization infrastructure, such as Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) servers, Red Hat Virtualization, and VMware vSphere.

The next chapter explores methods of provisioning from a KVM server using libvirt virtualization.