Bootenv Operations¶

A bootenv is the primary component for an Operating System installation definition. A bootenv comprises two primary pieces:

A bootenv JSON/YAML specification
(usually) an ISO Image that installs that bootenv

The JSON/YAML specification will contain a set of definitions for the ISO image. The default distributed bootenv specs use the public mirror repos for the ISO images. You can create a customer bootenv with a pointer to your own hosted ISO images. An example looks something like:

root@demo:~$ drpcli bootenvs show ubuntu-16.04-install
{
"Available": true,
"Name": "ubuntu-16.04-install",
"OS": {
  "Family": "ubuntu",
  "IsoFile": "ubuntu-16.04.3-server-amd64.iso",
  "IsoSha256": "a06cd926f5855d4f21fb4bc9978a35312f815fbda0d0ef7fdc846861f4fc4600",
  "IsoUrl": "http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/16.04/ubuntu-16.04.3-server-amd64.iso",
  "Name": "ubuntu-16.04",
<...snip...>

This stanza shows the Ubuntu 16.04 bootenv along with the associated Mirror HTTP location the ISO will be installed from.

Installing a "Canned" BootEnv¶

Manipulating bootenv and template are handled by their own commands. There are some additional helpers especially when following the layout of the initial install.

To install a provided bootenv, do the following from the install location.

drpcli bootenvs uploadiso ubuntu-16.04-install

This is a CLI helper that is not in the API that will read the provided YAML bootenv file, upload the included or referenced template files (from the templates peer directory), upload the bootenv, and check for an existing ISO in the ISO repository. If an ISO is not present in the already uploaded list, it will check a local isos directory for the file. If that is not present and the bootenv contains a URL for the ISO, the ISO will attempt to be downloaded to the local isos directory and then uploaded into Digital Rebar Provision. Once upload, the ISO is "exploded" for access by machines in the file server file system space.

Listing Installed BootEnvs¶

A list of all existing bootenv installed on the DRP Endpoint can be obtained with the list command. However, you usually do not wish to see all the JSON values, and a simple jq filter can help output just the keys you are interested in, as follows:

drpcli bootenvs list | jq -r '.[].Name'

Outputs:
centos-7-install
centos-7.4.1708-install
debian-8-install
debian-9-install
discovery
ignore
local
sledgehammer
ubuntu-16.04-install

Cloning a BootEnv¶

Sometimes there is a bootenv but it is necessary to make changes. These can be handled by template inclusion, but for now let's just focus on basic "cut and paste" style editing.

drpcli bootenvs show ubuntu-16.04-install --format yaml > new-file.yaml
# Edit the file
# change the Name field to something new. *MUST DO THIS*
# change the OS->Name field to something new to avoid sharing an iso directory.
# Edit other parameters as needed
drpcli bootenvs create - < new-file.yaml

This is a shallow clone. It will reuse the templates unless they are explicitly modified. It is possible to use the * install command, but any new templates would need to be added to a templates* directory in the current directory.

Creating a BootEnv¶

It might be necessary to create an empty bootenv by doing the following:

drpcli bootenvs create emtpy_bootenv

This bootenv will not be Available, but will allow for additional editing.

Editing a BootEnv¶

It might be necessary to edit a bootenv. To do this, get the latest copy with the show command. Edit the file as needed. Then using the update command, put the value back. The --format=yaml is optional, but I find YAML easier to edit.

drpcli bootenvs show discovery --format=yaml > discovery.yaml
# Edit the discovery.yaml as needed
drpcli bootenvs update discovery - < discovery.yaml

Downloading ISOs by URL¶

While the uploadiso command for BootEnvs, Profiles, Stages, and Machines provides a mechanism to download ISOs to satisfy the ISO requirement of a BootEnv or its customization, it is sometimes helpful to pull the ISO and locally and distribute this. Often times wget or curl is used for this process. Some URLs require signatures by RackN to get access to the ISO. The CLI and UX handle this for you. If a signed URL is needed, the drpcli provides a sign URL feature to provide a limited time use URL for download purposes.

drpcli system signurl <url>

This will return if the URL needs to be signed or other errors on failure. If successful, a new URL with a signature will be provided that is valid for a limited about of time, usually an hour. The command requires access to DRP with a valid license.