Appendix A. Bare Metal Drivers

A bare metal node can be configured to use one of the drivers enabled in the Bare Metal service. Each driver is made up of a provisioning method and a power management type. Some drivers require additional configuration. Each driver described in this section uses PXE for provisioning; drivers are listed by their power management type.

You can add drivers with the IronicEnabledHardwareTypes parameter in your ironic.yaml file. By default, ipmi, redfish, idrac and ilo are enabled.

For the full list of supported plug-ins and drivers, see Component, Plug-In, and Driver Support in Red Hat OpenStack Platform.

A.1. Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)

IPMI is an interface that provides out-of-band remote management features, including power management and server monitoring. To use this power management type, all Bare Metal service nodes require an IPMI that is connected to the shared Bare Metal network. Enable the ipmi driver, and set the following information in the node’s driver_info:

  • ipmi_address - The IP address of the IPMI NIC.
  • ipmi_username - The IPMI user name.
  • ipmi_password - The IPMI password.

A.2. Redfish

A standard RESTful API for IT infrastructure developed by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)

  • redfish_username - The Redfish username.
  • redfish_password - The Redfish password.
  • redfish_address - The IP address of the Redfish controller.
  • redfish_system_id - The canonical path to the system resource. This path should include the root service, version, and the path/unqiue ID for the system. For example: /redfish/v1/Systems/CX34R87.
  • redfish_verify_ca - Either a Boolean value, a path to a CA_BUNDLE file, or a directory with certificates of trusted CAs. If set to True the driver verifies the host certificates. If False the driver ignores verifying the SSL certificate. If set to a path, the driver uses the specified certificate or one of the certificates in the directory. Defaults to True.

A.3. Dell Remote Access Controller (DRAC)

DRAC is an interface that provides out-of-band remote management features, including power management and server monitoring. To use this power management type, all Bare Metal service nodes require a DRAC that is connected to the shared Bare Metal network. Enable the idrac driver, and set the following information in the node’s driver_info:

  • drac_address - The IP address of the DRAC NIC.
  • drac_username - The DRAC user name.
  • drac_password - The DRAC password.

A.4. Integrated Remote Management Controller (iRMC)

iRMC from Fujitsu is an interface that provides out-of-band remote management features including power management and server monitoring. To use this power management type on a Bare Metal service node, the node requires an iRMC interface that is connected to the shared Bare Metal network. Enable the irmc driver, and set the following information in the node’s driver_info:

  • irmc_address - The IP address of the iRMC interface NIC.
  • irmc_username - The iRMC user name.
  • irmc_password - The iRMC password.

To use IPMI to set the boot mode or SCCI to get sensor data, you must complete the following additional steps:

  1. Enable the sensor method in ironic.conf: 

    $ openstack-config --set /etc/ironic/ironic.conf \
   irmc sensor_method METHOD

    Replace METHOD with scci or ipmitool.

  2. If you enabled SCCI, install the python-scciclient package: 

    # dnf install python-scciclient

  3. Restart the Bare Metal conductor service: 

    # systemctl restart openstack-ironic-conductor.service
Note

To use the iRMC driver, iRMC S4 or higher is required.

A.5. Integrated Lights-Out (iLO)

iLO from Hewlett-Packard is an interface that provides out-of-band remote management features including power management and server monitoring. To use this power management type, all Bare Metal nodes require an iLO interface that is connected to the shared Bare Metal network. Enable the ilo driver, and set the following information in the node’s driver_info:

  • ilo_address - The IP address of the iLO interface NIC.
  • ilo_username - The iLO user name.
  • ilo_password - The iLO password.

You must also install the python-proliantutils package and restart the Bare Metal conductor service: 

# dnf install python-proliantutils
# systemctl restart openstack-ironic-conductor.service

A.6. Converting to next generation power management drivers

Red Hat OpenStack Platform now uses next generation drivers, also known as hardware types, that replace older drivers.

The following table shows an analogous comparison between older drivers and their next generation hardware type equivalent:

Old DriverNew Hardware Type

pxe_ipmitool

ipmi

pxe_drac

idrac

pxe_ilo

ilo

pxe_ucs

cisco-ucs-managed

pxe_irmc

irmc

fake_pxe

fake-hardware

In OpenStack Platform 15, these older drivers have been removed and are no longer accessible. You must change to hardware types before upgrading to OpenStack Platform 15.

Procedure

  1. Check the current list of hardware types enabled: 

    $ source ~/overcloud
$ openstack baremetal driver list --type dynamic

  2. If you use a hardware type driver that is not enabled, enable the driver using the IronicEnabledHardwareTypes parameter in an environment file: 

    parameter_defaults:
  IronicEnabledHardwareTypes: ipmi,redfish,idrac

  3. Save the file and run your overcloud deployment command: 

    $ openstack overcloud deploy -e [ENVIRONMENT_FILE] -r [ROLES_DATA] -n [NETWORK_DATA]

    Ensure that you include all environment and data files relevant to your overcloud.

  4. Run the following commands, substituting the OLDDRIVER and NEWDRIVER variables for your power management type: 

    $ source ~/overcloud
$ OLDDRIVER="pxe_ipmitool"
$ NEWDRIVER="ipmi"
$ for NODE in $(openstack baremetal node list --driver $OLDDRIVER -c UUID -f value) ; do openstack baremetal node set $NODE --driver $NEWDRIVER; done