Building machines without hands.
WHAT THE STAGES ARE
Powering on and booting from the network Installing the operating system unattended Applying configuration Registering with monitoring and inventory Handing over as ready
WHAT NETWORK BOOTING PROVIDES
Installation without physical media or attendance.
WHAT AN UNATTENDED INSTALLATION FILE DOES
Answers every installer question in advance.
WHAT CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT DOES
Brings the machine to the defined state, and keeps it there.
WHAT THAT LAST POINT MEANS
Drift is corrected, not merely detected.
WHAT IMAGE-BASED PROVISIONING PROVIDES
Deploying a prepared image rather than installing.
WHAT IT SUITS
Identical machines, provisioned quickly.
WHAT TO REMOVE FROM ANY IMAGE
Host identity, keys, and anything that must be unique.
WHY
Duplicated identities cause confusing and damaging conflicts.
WHAT TO AUTOMATE BEYOND THE OPERATING SYSTEM
Firmware and controller configuration Network configuration Registration in inventory and monitoring
WHY INVENTORY REGISTRATION
Machines provisioned and never recorded are the origin of every stale asset register.
WHAT TO TEST
Provisioning from nothing, periodically.
