LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning 5.1

  • What is LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning? LBMP is software that lets you remotely install Linux and Windows operating systems and applications onto servers, blades, PCs, appliances and virtual machines. LBMP can also do imaging (capture and restore entire disks) for Linux systems to help with disaster recovery and to give you flexibility in reducing energy consumption.


  • Why would I be interested in LBMP? If you have only a handful of systems, then LBMP probably isn't for you. However, if you find yourself frequently deploying new systems or repurposing others, and you find that it takes too much of your personal (and elapsed) time, or that sometimes mistakes just happen, then LBMP can really help you out.


  • How does LBMP work? First, you install LBMP on one of your systems. Then you upload all your Linux and Windows DVDs and CDs. Finally, you create "System Roles" that you find yourself installing from DVD/CDs and configuring by hand. You can set them up for casual or volume deployments ("On the Fly" provisioning) or for pinpoint accuracy ("Fire and Forget" provisioning). Here is what a typical environment looks like (click each image once to enlarge, and a second time to make crisper):
    • On the Fly Provisioning Fire and Forget Systems Dashboard Fire and Forget Systems Dashboard
    On the Fly Provisioning Fire and Forget Provisioning Disk Imaging
  • Can you give me some examples of "System Roles"? Sure... Examples would be "Red Hat Enterprise Server 5 with JBoss", "Novell SLES 10 with SAP", "Microsoft Windows 2003 Server", "CentOS 5 Web Hosting Server", "Ubuntu classroom desktop", and so on. Click on each of these "On the Fly" System Roles to see how simple it is to create them:


    • Novell SLES System Role Microsoft Windows Server Role Client-side menu
    Novell SLES 10 SP1 System Role Windows 2003 Server System Role Client-Side Menu: just press a key to provision!
  • And what about "Fire and Forget" Provisioning? First, create one or more templates (with the OS and applications you want to install), then assign each template to one or more systems, with unique MAC address, host name, nickname, password, network settings and so on:


    • Create RHEL template Assign a template to a system Fedora Appliance
    First, create Role Templates Next, assign Templates to one or more system Here's a ready-to-deploy "Fire and Forget" Role
  • Sounds very interesting! Where do I go from here? Very good! First, make sure that in our list of over 50 operating system and architecture combinations, we provision the systems you use, then go to our online store to purchase. But if you're still not sure, download a trial version and try LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning for yourself!

    May 14, 2008