LinMin Screenshots
On this page:
- MAC-Specific ("Push") Provisioning
- MAC-Independent ("Pull") Provisioning
- Disk Imaging
- API: Application Programming Interface for Integration with your IT Software
- Remote System Rescue
- Virtualization Support
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The screenshots below are intended to illustrate the ease of use and power of LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning. View the most current list of supported operating systems and hypervisors.
MAC-Specific Provisioning, also called "Push Provisioning" is favored in data centers and environments where human hands rarely touch systems. MAC-Specific Provisioning uses a database to manage each system's attributes, including each system's MAC address, unique network settings, host name, time zone, password and the assigned Provisioning Role Template that directs what operating system and applications are to be installed. Also included in the database are "toggle" switches that give you control over if and when a system gets provisioned or repurposed.
MAC-Specific provisioning is a 2 step process. First, you create one or more Provisioning Role Templates that contain the name of the operating system and optionally applications and scripts. Second, you assign Provisioning Role Templates to individual systems.
- The LinMin Provisioning Roles Dashboard displays important information on all your system
- To get there, you need to first create Provisioning Role Templates:
- Create a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Provisioning Role Template: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to create a Template.
- Create an MS Windows Server Provisioning Role Template: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to create a Template.
- Create a Fedora Provisioning Role Template: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to create a Template.
- Create a CentOS Provisioning Role Template: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to create a Template.
- Create a Debian Provisioning Role Template: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to create a Template.
- Create a Novell SLES Provisioning Role Template: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to create a Template.
- Create an MS Windows 7 or XP Provisioning Role Template: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to create a Template.
- Create an OpenSUSE Provisioning Role Template: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to create a Template.
- Create an Ubuntu Provisioning Role Template: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to create a Template.
- So, now that we've created these Provisioning Role Templates, it's time to assign the templates to different systems. With LinMin, it's incredibly easy to provision a system with one OS, then re-provision it with an other OS when needs change: Windows Server this week, Red Hat Enterprise next week, and so on!
- Prepare a Red Hat Enterprise Linux system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Prepare a Windows Server 2008 system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Prepare a Debian system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Prepare a CentOS system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Prepare an Ubuntu system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Prepare a Windows 7 system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Prepare a Novell SLES system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Prepare a Windows Server 2003 system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Prepare a Fedora system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Prepare an OpenSUSE system: select a Template from the dropdown and click "OK" to assign the it to the system.
- Now you can see (and modify) all your systems at once with the Provisioning Roles Dashboard!
MAC-Specific Provisioning Tutorial
MAC-Independent Provisioning, also called "Pull Provisioning" lets the user selectsfrom a system's pre-OS screen what Operating system to "pull" from LinMin and install. You don't need to know the system's MAC address: just hit F12 to boot to the network and select your Provisioning Role specifying what OS and applications to install.
- Boot the system you want to provision, hit F12 (if you haven't changed BIOS settings) to boot to the network and select what OS to install
- How did the screen get built? Very easily, using the LinMin browser interface. Here the MAC-Independent Dashboard. We'll show you how to assemble it below.
- Add a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Provisioning Role: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to add it to the Dashboard.
- Add a Microsoft Windows Server Provisioning Role: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to add it to the Dashboard.
- Add a Fedora Provisioning Role: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to add it to the Dashboard.
- Add a CentOS Provisioning Role: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to add it to the Dashboard.
- Add a Debian Provisioning Role: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to add it to the Dashboard.
- Add a Novell SLES Provisioning Role: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to add it to the Dashboard.
- Add a Microsoft Windows 7 or XP Provisioning Role: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to add it to the Dashboard.
- Add an OpenSUSE Provisioning Role: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to add it to the Dashboard.
- Add an Ubuntu Provisioning Role: Select it from the dropdown, and click "OK" to add it to the Dashboard.
- Congratulations! You just assembled the MAC-Independent Dashboard!
- Now when you power up a system and hit F12, Install the OS of your choice with a keystroke!
MAC-Independent Provisioning Tutorial
Bare Metal Imaging is used to copy the entire contents of the disks of a Linux or Windows system, and store the contents on the network. Should the system get corrupted, you can restore the entire system to be exactly as it was when you captured the image (not just the applications and data, but the boot record, so the system is a fully working one). You can also quickly change what OS a system is running, and clone systems with the same hardware configuration.
- View the Imaging Dashboard and toggle the imaging function buttons "Backup", "Restore" and "Do nothing"...
- A typical Imaging System Profile
- Linux System Backup
- Create or edit an Imaging Profile and name the disk image backup snapshot
- Next, on the Dashboard, toggle the system to "Backup"
- When the system boots to the network, the Imaging module gets injected into the system's RAM
- The imaging module identifies all the disks and partitions
- The Linux system backup begins...
- When the backup is done, the Linux system boots
- Windows System Backup
- Create or edit an Imaging Profile and name the disk image backup snapshot
- Next, on the Dashboard, toggle the system to "Backup"
- When the system boots to the network, the Imaging module gets injected into the system's RAM
- The Windows system backup begins...
- When the backup is done, the Windows system boots
- Linux System Restore: roll a Linux system back to a known good state, OR, overwrite an other OS (for example, reconfigure a system running Windows to run Linux in about 5 minutes)
- Create or edit an Imaging Profile and name the disk image snapshot to be restored
- Next, on the Dashboard, toggle the system to "Restore" the Linux snapshot
- When the system boots to the network, the Imaging module gets injected into the system's RAM
- The Linux system restore begins...
- When the backup is done, the Linux is ready for use
- Windows System Restore: roll a Windows system back to a known good state, OR, overwrite an other OS (for example, reconfigure a system running Linux to run Windows in about 5 minutes)
- Create or edit an Imaging Profile and name the disk image snapshot to be restored
- Next, on the Dashboard, toggle the system to "Restore" the Windows snapshot
- When the system boots to the network, the Imaging module gets injected into the system's RAM
- The Windows system restore begins...
- When the backup is done, the system boots
- And the Windows is ready for use
- You have now seen how easy it is to backup, restore and clone Windows and Linux systems
API - Application Programming Interface to add Automated Provisioning to your IT Application The LinMin API is used by customers to integrate LinMin's provisioning functionality into their applications(Control Panels, Orchestrators, etc.). Such applications include web hosting or dedicated server control panels, load balancing/system monitoring software, and other IT applications where systems need to be changed from one operating system to another, or where new systems need to be brought from a spare pool of servers into production without being touched by human hands. In fact, the end users of our customers' applications don't even know that LinMin is powering the application they're using. Perhaps you use LinMin today and don't realize it!
- Many hosting companies integrate LinMin into their control panels. SeFlow.net is a leading Italian hosting company with thousands of systems being regularly provisioned and repurposed using LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning. SeFlow.net offers dedicated servers, virtual private servers and managed services and empowers its dedicated server customers to reprovision systems 24x7 with different types of Linux and Windows operating systems with no manual intervention by SeFlow.net staff, providing best-in-class Quality of Service. Below are a few screenshots showing SeFlow.net's customers' experience:
- SeFlow.net customers securely access their systems with strong authentication
- From the customized Valhalla control panel, SeFlow.net customers can elect to reprovision their server"
- First they select the new Linux distribution or Windows operating system...
- Then confirm all the system settings
- The system will be re-provisioned by LinMin when the customer reboots the system
- But if the customer doesn't want to repurpose the system after all, the operation can be cancelled and LinMin will not provision the server
- If the customer can't access or reboot the system, the system can be power-cycled and provisioned by LinMin automatically
- LinMin's API comes standard with the product, and offers a very easy way to develop, integrate and debug API calls to other applications with a GUI-Triggered Dynamic API Code Generator that lets the developer quickly see working code, return codes and everything need to integrate LinMin in a few hours.
Application Programming Interface Tutorial
Remote System Rescue is a very useful practice when a remote system is behaving unexpectedly and you can't physically go to the system to insert a rescue CD. LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning can easily deploy a RAM-based rescue system to enable an administrator to troubleshoot and remedy remote systems. The example below is for preparing and deploying a Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS-based rescue system.
To prepare a provisioning role with a Rescue System, follow the same steps as you would to create a regular Red Hat or CentOS provisioning role, but simply enter a kernel parameter instead of leaving it blank: it's that simple! In the example below we are using CentOS 5.4 and the MAC-Specific provisioning mode.
- Create a CentOS Rescue System Provisioning Role Template: select a standard CentOS or Red Hat Linux from the dropdown, then rename it to "System Rescue"
- Now simply enter the kernel parameters and save the template.
- Next, from the Provisioning Dashboard, select then edit the system you need to rescue and assign it a System Rescue template from the dropdown and click "OK" to prepare the system for rescue. That's it! This took you only 1 or 2 minutes.
- After booting the distressed system to the network, select the rescue mode.
- If it is not a Linux system, or if Linux cannot be located, start a shell in RAM.
- If Linux system can be located on disk, your system will be mounted before giving you shell access.
- Congratulations! You now have full access to a shell. From the prompt you can run useful commands such as ssh, scp, ping, fdisk, restore and rpm to rescue your system.
LinMin also makes it possible to remotely deploy Live CDs.
Virtualization Support: click on the links below to see the provisioning of VMware Virtual Machines. In this case, we're using "MAC-Independent", meaning OS is selected from the client and pulled down.
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