Setup Bare-metal¶
We are going to install ESX on our IPMI/AMT device. First we need vmware blueprints:
sudo respkg -i contractor-vmware-base_*.respkg
Next we need to extract is ESXi installer. First you need to get the ESXi installer .iso, it will be named something like VMware-VMvisor-Installer-6.7.0.update01-10302608.x86_64.iso. You can get it from VMware’s web site, by signing up for the esx/vcenter demo. To extract the iso execute:
sudo /usr/lib/contractor/resources/esxExtractISO <path to .iso> /var/www/static
Before we can install anything, we first need to figure out how we are going to identify our hardware. There are a few options for this. One way is to identify our hardware by the LLDP information. LLDP is something a switch can make visible on it’s ports. There are two ways to identify via LLDP. The first is ‘<name>-<slot>-<port>-<subport>’, the second is ‘<switch mac>-<slot>-<port>-<subport>’. In this example, the machine is pluggined into a Unifi swich named ‘DevSwitch’ in port 7, so the ‘link_name’ is ‘DevSwitch-0-7-0’. Generally the slot and support are 0, unless you are using a large switch/router with blades and/or port split outs.:
export IFIDENT=', "link_name": "<link name>"'
If you are installing to an IPMI Device, replace the username, password with the username and password to access the ipmi interface. The ip will be set by the bootstrap PXE. Eventually bootstrap will set the username and password as well. For now, I would recommend use the manifacture’s default username and password here.:
export FBP="/api/v1/BluePrint/FoundationBluePrint:ipmi-base:"
export FMDL="/api/v1/IPMI/IPMIFoundation"
export FDATA=', "ipmi_username": "< Username >", "ipmi_password": "< Password >", "ipmi_ip_address": "< ip of IPMI interface >"'
or AMT, replace the username, password and ip. The default username is ‘admin’ in thoes cases where you do not know what it is. The Bootstrap PXE profile can not curently re-configure the username, password nor ip address, so you will need to do this manually.:
export FBP="/api/v1/BluePrint/FoundationBluePrint:amt-base:"
export FMDL="/api/v1/AMT/AMTFoundation"
export FDATA=', "amt_username": "< Username >", "amt_password": "< Password >", "amt_ip_address": "< ip of AMT interface >"'
Now to load up our ESX host into contractor. First we create the Foundation of our host:
cat << EOF | curl "${COPS[@]}" --data @- -X CREATE $CHOST/$FMDL
{ "site": "$SITE", "locator": "esx01", "plot": "/api/v1/Survey/Plot:test:", "blueprint": "$FBP" $FDATA }
EOF
result:
{"locator": "esx01", "site": "/api/v1/Site/Site:site1:", "blueprint": "/api/v1/BluePrint/FoundationBluePrint:amt-base:", "id_map": null, "located_at": null, "built_at": null, "updated": "2020-01-05T00:51:07.330119+00:00", "created": "2020-01-05T00:51:07.330135+00:00", "amt_username": "admin", "amt_password": "asdQWE1@3", "amt_ip_address": "192.168.200.95", "plot": "/api/v1/Survey/Plot:test:", "state": "planned", "type": "AMT", "class_list": "['Physical', 'AMT']"}
create the interface:
cat << EOF | curl "${COPS[@]}" --data @- -X CREATE $CHOST/api/v1/Utilities/RealNetworkInterface
{ "foundation": "/api/v1/Building/Foundation:esx01:", "name": "vmnic0", "physical_location": "eth0", "network": "$NETWORK", "is_provisioning": true $IFIDENT }
EOF
result:
{"name": "vmnic0", "is_provisioning": true, "network": "/api/v1/Utilities/Network:2:", "updated": "2019-11-05T04:39:27.042076+00:00", "created": "2019-11-05T04:39:27.042113+00:00", "mac": null, "foundation": "/api/v1/Building/Foundation:esx01:", "physical_location": "eth0", "link_name": null, "pxe": null}
Now to create the structure, using the ESX blueprint:
cat << EOF | curl -i "${COPS[@]}" --data @- -X CREATE $CHOST/api/v1/Building/Structure
{ "site": "$SITE", "foundation": "/api/v1/Building/Foundation:esx01:", "hostname": "esx01", "blueprint": "/api/v1/BluePrint/StructureBluePrint:vmware-esx-base:" }
EOF
result:
{"hostname": "esx01", "site": "/api/v1/Site/Site:site1:", "blueprint": "/api/v1/BluePrint/StructureBluePrint:vmware-esx-base:", "foundation": "/api/v1/Building/Foundation:esx01:", "config_uuid": "bf2ce43e-76c1-4b58-b825-dc6e91521d8c", "config_values": {}, "built_at": null, "updated": "2019-11-05T04:41:06.904005+00:00", "created": "2019-11-05T04:41:06.904020+00:00", "state": "planned"}
once again take node of the structure id. Now we assign and ip address, we are going to set it at offset 30 which will result in 10.0.0.30. Replace < structure id > with the structure id from the previous call:
cat << EOF | curl "${COPS[@]}" --data @- -X CREATE $CHOST/api/v1/Utilities/Address
{ "networked": "/api/v1/Utilities/Networked:< structure id >:", "address_block": "$ADRBLK", "interface_name": "vmnic0", "offset": 30, "is_primary": true }
EOF
result:
{"address_block": "/api/v1/Utilities/AddressBlock:1:", "offset": 30, "updated": "2019-11-05T04:44:05.444313+00:00", "created": "2019-11-05T04:44:05.444336+00:00", "networked": "/api/v1/Utilities/Networked:2:", "interface_name": "vmnic0", "sub_interface": null, "pointer": null, "is_primary": true, "type": "Address", "ip_address": "10.0.0.30", "subnet": "10.0.0.0", "netmask": "255.255.255.0", "prefix": "24", "gateway": null}
And finally, create the create jobs. Replace the structure id as you did for the address creation:
curl "${COPS[@]}" -X CALL "${CHOST}/api/v1/Building/Foundation:esx01:(doCreate)"
curl "${COPS[@]}" -X CALL "${CHOST}/api/v1/Building/Structure:< structure id >:(doCreate)"
Now power up the machine, it will PXE boot the bootstrap. After that loads it will send it’s information to Contractor, which in turn will reply back with the configuration for esx01. After the IPMI(if being used) is configured, it will power off. After a few seconds, the foundation job will run. Then the Structure job will run and install ESX. Now that you have an ESX server, let’s install some VMs to it.
NOTE: Contractor has allready set up the internal network on the ESX server, you should be able to continue on with the next step of setting up the complex host and install away.
Next Steps¶
Skip past the Place Holder host, you use the stucture id from this host for the vcenter host. You also skip the final step in the VCenter host setup of assigning and ip address, we have allready done that. Use the value ha-datacenter for the datacenter and esx01.site1.test for the cluster in the next section. The username is root the password is root.