Stacki Overview- Anoop Rajendra, Director of Enterprise Software Development at StackIQ StackiFest March 24, 2016

1. Introduction to Stacki
Anoop Rajendra!
Director, Enterprise Software Development!

2. Open Source Stack Installer
Stacki is a very fast and ultra reliable Linux server provisioning tool … at scale. !
With zero prerequisites for taking systems from bare metal to a ping and prompt. !

3. History

4. History
§ Roots in Open Source!
§ Started life as the Rocks Project at UCSD!
§ Started in May ’00.!
§ 6 month project going on ~16 years!
§ Roots in the HPC world!

5. What Problem are we trying to Solve?!

6. Problem
§ OS Provisioning
§ Disk Configuration
§ Disk Controller Configuration
§ Disk Partitioning
§ Network Configuration
§ Services configuration
§ Application Deployment
§ Life-cycle management of the cluster
Server Provisioning

7. Problem – Contd. …
Datacenter Provisioning
§ Server Provisioning
§ Heterogeneous Hardware
§ Complex Network Configuration
§ Bonding
§ Bridging
§ VLANs
§ Combinations of the above

8. Network Architecture
Frontend
Network
Backend Backend Backend Backend
em1 em1
em1
em1
em1

9. Network Architecture
Frontend
Private Network
Backend Backend Backend Backend
em1 em1
em1
em1
em2
em1
Public Network

10. Datacenter Architecture
Frontend!
Network 1! Network 2! Network 3! Network 4!

11. Challenge
§ Fast!
§ Correct
§ Consistent
§ Repeatable

12. How We Solve the Problem!

13. From Bare Metal Up
Take complete control of the Stack
§ Modified CentOS Installer!
§ Parallel package sharing installer!
§ Database to keep persistent data about the System!
§ Command Line to interact with Stacki!
§ Dynamic Kickstart File Generation!

14. Frontend Services
Services to build backend nodes
§ DHCP – MAC to IP address Mapping
§ TFTP – Serve out PXE files, Installation Kernel, and RAM Disk
§ Apache – Serve Kickstart files
§ DNS (optional)
Services to access backend nodes
§ SSH key management
§ Parallel execution shell
!!

15. Stacki Positioning
DevOps / Configuration Tool
DHCP /
DNS / TFTP
NetworkDiskOS
In-house
developed
deployment
tools
- Disk Array Controller Configuration
- Disk Partitioning Configuration

16. Download and Boot the ISO
Go to www.stacki.com and download the
ISO
◦ It’s 1.2 GB
◦ “stacki” pallet plus stripped down CentOS
6.7
Boot the ISO on the host that will be your
frontend
!!

17. Timezone
!!

18. Network Configuration
!!

19. Root Password
!!

20. Partitioning
!!

21. Pallet Selection
!!

22. Summary
!!

23. Installation

24. Installation

25. Adding Hosts
Method 1: Discovery
Advantages
§ Prior knowledge of MAC addresses Not Required!
§ Automatic Sensible Hostname, IP address assignment!
Disadvantages!
§ Automatic Sensible Hostname, IP address assignment!
§ Complex network configuration has to be done post-installation!
Run!
# insert-ethers

26. Discovery

27. Discovery

28. Discovery

29. Adding Hosts
Method 2: Host Configuration Spreadsheet
Advantages
§ Complete control of Hostname, IP address, and network assignments!
§ Easy to make changes!
§ Fits very well with existing datacenter management processes.!
Disadvantages!
§ A little tedious the first time around!
§ Requires prior knowledge of!
§ MAC addresses,!
§ IP address assignments!
§ Physical location of machines (Rack & Position)!

30. Host Configuration Spreadsheet
!!

31. Frontend
Network
Backend Backend Backend Backend
em1 em1
em1
em1
em1
Backend Installation
§ Save your Host Configuration spreadsheet as a CSV
§ Import CSV on frontend
§ # stack load hostfile file=hosts.csv
§ Tell backend nodes to install on their next PXE boot
§ # stack set host boot backend action=install
§ PXE boot all backend nodes
§ Go!
!!

32. BitTorrent-Inspired Package Installation
!!
Stacki!

33. Advanced Networking

34. Host Configuration Spreadsheet
!!

35. Advanced Networking
Advanced Network Configuration
§ Bonded interfaces!
§ VLANs!
§ Bridging!
§ Any combo of the above!
Multiple Subnets
§ Build a single cluster from hosts in multiple subnets!
§ Manage hosts in multiple datacenters!
!
!!

36. Disk Configuration

37. Disk Controller Configuration
Disk Controller Support
§ LSI MegaRAID controller & derivatives!
§ Intel MegaRAID!
§ Dell MegaRAID!
§ Cisco SAS MegaRAID!
§ Any controller that supports the “storcli” or “megacli” command!
§ HP Smart Storage Controller!
§ Supports RAID 0,1,5,6,10,50,etc.!
§ Configure Controllers using Spreadsheets!
§ # stack load storage controller

38. Disk Controller Configuration Spreadsheet
!!

39. Disk Partitioning
§ Sensible Default Disk partitioning
§ Support for multiple disks
§ Support for file system options and mount options
§ Support for Software RAID configuration
§ Disk Partitioning through spreadsheets
§ # stack load storage partition

40. Disk Partition Configuration Spreadsheet
!!

41. Software Footprint
Controlling Packages and Configuration
§ Pallets!
§ Carts!
§ Boxes!
§ Distributions!
§ Appliances!

42. Pallets
Software Entity
§ Contains RPMS!
§ Contains Configuration in the form of XML!
§ Used for installation and configuration of an Application!
§ Can be applied during Frontend installation or after the fact.!
§ Each pallet functionally equal to a YUM repo with extra configuration!
Example: Cloudera Pallet
§ Contains RPMS required to install the Cloudera Distribution of Hadoop!
§ Contains scripts to configure and starts CDH!

43. Example: Stacki with Cloudera Pallet
Check namenodes are
empty!
Format/start HDFS!
Create all directories!
Create all metastores!
Start services (Hbase, Hive,
Oozie, Sqoop, Impala, etc)!
Deploy client configuration! Configure database!
Setup/assign monitors
(activity, services, and host)!
Test database connections!
Validate/resolve hostnames!Consistent host timezones!
No bad kernel versions
running!
(CDH) version consistency!
Java version consistency!
Daemons versions
consistency!
Mgmt Agents versions
consistency!
Host specification/SSH
ports!
MUCH MORE …!
DHCP Server/Client setup! TFTP/PXE configuration!
Server OS installation!
Node OS Install!
RAID configuration!
Boot configuration!
System/data disk
partitioning!
Monitoring system setup
and config!
Lights Out/IPMI setup!
User accounts added and
synced!
SSH keys on all hosts!
Network node configuration!
Config Mgmt install and
configuration!
Route configuration!OS upgrades/updates!
Site specific software and
configuration!
Host specification/SSH
ports!
Security!
Firewall setup!Cluster Mgmt utility! Database install and config!
Multiple network config!Package installation! MUCH MORE …!
App Config!
Site Config!
HW Install!
Without Stacki!
Stacki w/ Hadoop Pallet!

44. Carts
Site Specific Pallets
§ Contains site-specific RPM!
§ Contains site-specific configurations!
§ Structurally and Functionally equivalent to a Pallet!
!
Example: Client Cart
§ Contains RPMS to install DevOps tools!
§ Contains custom post-install scripts to configure DevOps tools!
§ Contains custom post-install scripts to run DevOps tools to bring system up to requisite
configuration.!

45. Boxes
Logical Entity
§ Loose collection of Pallets and Carts!
§ One-to-Many mapping to Backend Hosts!
OS Pallet!
Cloudera Pallet!
Stacki Pallet!
Pallets! Carts!
PayPal Cart!
Ansible Cart!
Boxes!
RedHat Pallet!
Stacki Pallet!
PayPal Cart!
Application!
RedHat Pallet!
Cloudera Pallet!
Ansible Cart!
OS Pallet!
Stacki Pallet!
PayPal Cart!
Default!

46. Boxes
OS Pallet!
Stacki Pallet!
PayPal Cart!
Default!
Stacki Pallet!
PayPal Cart!
Application!
RedHat Pallet!
Cloudera Pallet!
Ansible Cart!

47. Multiple Distributions
Default Distribution
§ Based on stripped down CentOS 6.7 or 7.2
§ Used to build backend nodes
Multiple Distributions on Frontend
◦ E.g., RHEL 6.x based distribution, CentOS 6.7, etc.
Backend Nodes ó Distribution Mapping
§ Any Node can be mapped to any distribution!
!!

48. Try it Out!
§ Website
www.stacki.com
§ Source Code
github.com/stackiq/stacki