To manage a machine, MAAS must be able to power cycle it, usually through the machine’s BMC card. Until you configure the power type, a newly-added machine can’t be enlisted and used by MAAS.
Four questions you may have:
- How do I configure a machine’s power type?
- Show me a catalogue of power parameters, by type.
- Can you give me an example of the virsh power type?
- Which BMC drivers are supported?
To configure a machine’s power type, click on the machine from the ‘Machines’ page of the web UI, then select its ‘Configuration’ tab. Scroll down until you find the Power configuration. If the power type is undefined, the following will be displayed:
Choose a type in the drop-down menu that corresponds to the machine’s underlying machine’s BMC card.
Fill in the resulting form; the information required will depends on the power type:
CLI power_type code |
Description |
amt |
Intel AMT |
apc |
American Power Conversion (APC) PDU |
dli |
Digital Loggers, Inc. PDU |
hmc |
IBM Hardware Management Console (HMC) |
ipmi |
IPMI |
manual |
Manual power configuration |
moonshot |
HP Moonshot - iLO4 (IPMI) |
mscm |
HP Moonshot - iLO Chassis Manager |
msftocs |
Microsoft OCS - Chassis Manager |
nova |
OpenStack Nova |
openbmc |
OpenBMC Power Driver |
recs_box |
Christmann RECS-Box Power Driver |
redfish |
Redfish |
sm15k |
SeaMicro 15000 |
ucsm |
Cisco UCS Manager |
virsh |
libvirt KVM |
vmware |
VMware |
wedge |
Facebook’s Wedge |
Click ‘Save changes’ to finish. Once that’s done, MAAS performs a power check on the machine. A successful power check is a good indication that MAAS can properly communicate with the machine, that is, it should quickly result in a power status of “Power off”. A failed attempt will show:
If you see this error, double-check your entered values by editing the power type, or consider another power type altogether.
Another possible cause for this error may be the networking: traffic may be getting filtered between the rack controller and the BMC card.
The following catalogue helps to explain the fields in the “create machine” dialogue above. Note that most of the multiple-choice fields have drop-down menus to assist with your choice.
Form field |
Description |
Required |
Power password |
Password to access unit |
Optional |
Power address |
IP address of unit |
Required |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
IP for APC PDU |
IP address of unit |
Required |
APU PDU node outlet number (1-16) |
PDU node outlet number |
Required |
Power ON outlet delay (seconds) |
outlet power ON delay |
Optional, default=5 |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
Outlet ID |
outlet ID |
Required |
Power address |
IP address of unit |
Required |
Power user |
Username to login |
Optional |
Power password |
Password to access unit |
Optional |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
IP for HMC |
IP address of unit |
Required |
HMC username |
Username to login |
Optional |
HMC password |
Password to access unit |
Optional |
HMC Managed System server name |
HMC managed server name |
Required |
HMC logical partition |
HMC logical partition of unit |
Required |
Some of the fields for this power type have fixed choices, indicated in the “Choices” column.
Form field |
Description |
Choices |
Required |
Power driver |
Power driver |
LAN [IPMI 1.5] |
Required |
|
|
LAN_2_0 [IPMI 2.0] |
|
Power boot type |
Boot type |
Automatic |
Required |
|
|
Legacy boot |
|
|
|
EFI boot |
|
Manual power configuration means exactly that – manually configured at the unit – hence there are no parameters to set in the “create machine” UI.
Form field |
Description |
Required |
Power address |
IP address of unit |
Required |
Power user |
Username to login |
Optional |
Power password |
Password to access unit |
Optional |
Power hardware address |
Hardware address of unit |
Required |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
IP for MSCM CLI API |
IP address of unit |
Required |
MSCM CLI API user |
Username to login |
Optional |
MSCM CLI API password |
Password to access unit |
Optional |
Node ID |
cXnY |
Required |
- where |
X = cartridge number |
|
|
Y = node number |
|
Form field |
Description |
Required |
Power address |
IP address of unit |
Required |
Power port |
Port where unit is attached |
Optional |
Power user |
Username to login |
Optional |
Power password |
Password to access unit |
Optional |
Blade ID |
Blade ID (usu. 1-24) |
Required |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
Host UUID |
Host UUID |
Required |
Tenant name |
Tenant name |
Required |
Username |
Username to login |
Required |
Password |
Password to access unit |
Required |
Auth URL |
URL to access unit |
Required |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
OpenBMC address |
IP address of unit |
Required |
OpenBMC user |
Username to login |
Required |
OpenBMC password |
Password to access unit |
Required |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
Node ID |
Node ID |
Required |
Power address |
IP address of unit |
Required |
Power port |
Port where unit is attached |
Optional |
Power user |
Username to login |
Optional |
Power password |
Password to access unit |
Optional |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
Redfish address |
IP address of unit |
Required |
Redfish user |
Username to login |
Required |
Redfish password |
Password to access unit |
Required |
Node ID |
Node ID |
Optional |
Some of the fields for this power type have fixed choices, indicated in the “Choices” column.
Form field |
Description |
Choices |
Required |
Power control type |
Password to access unit |
IPMI |
Required |
|
|
REST API v0.9 |
|
|
|
REST API v2.0 |
|
Form field |
Description |
Required |
Server UUID |
Server UUID |
Required |
URL for XML API |
XML API URL |
Required |
API user |
API user |
Optional |
API password |
API password |
Optional |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
Address |
URL of VM |
Required |
Password |
API password |
Optional |
Virsh VM ID |
libvirt VM UUID |
Required |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
VM Name |
VM name (if UUID unknown) |
Optional |
VM UUID |
VM UUID (if known) |
Optional |
VMware IP |
IP address of VM |
Required |
VMware username |
Username to access VM |
Required |
VMware password |
Password to access VM |
Required |
VMware API port |
VMware API port number |
Optional |
VMware API protocol |
VMware API protocol |
Optional |
Form field |
Description |
Required |
IP address |
IP address of unit |
Required |
Power user |
Username to access unit |
Optional |
Power password |
Password to access unit |
Optional |
Consider a machine backed by VM. Below, a ‘Power type’ of Virsh
has been selected, and the ‘Power address’ of qemu+ssh://ubuntu@192.168.1.2/system
has been entered (replace values as appropriate). The value of ‘Power ID’ is the VM domain (guest) name, here node2
.
The machine’s hostname – according to MAAS – is a randomly chosen string (here dear.ant
). You should change this hostname to something descriptive, that helps you remember why this machine is in your MAAS network.
MAAS supports many types of BMC hardware, though not all the drivers have the same capabilities. See the below table for a feature comparison of the BMC drivers currently supported by MAAS.
Tell me about BMC
BMC, or “Baseboard Management Controller,” is an extra micro-controller on the motherboard of a server which forms the interface between system-management software and the device’s hardware. The BMC can collect data from attached sensors, alert administrators to issues, and respond to remote-control commands to control system operation or power state, independent of the system’s CPU.
In the context of MAAS, the BMC is generally controlled by SNMP commands. Any given BMC will function in the context of one or more “power types,” which are physical interfaces that permit use of the IPMI (“Intelligent Platform Management Interface”) protocol. Each power type has a different set of expected parameters required to access and command the BMC.
Power Driver (X=supported) |
PXE Next Boot |
Power Querying |
Chassis/Pod Configuration |
Enhanced UI Error Reporting |
BMC Enlistment |
American Power Conversion (APC) - PDU |
|
|
|
|
|
Cisco UCS Manager |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
Digital Loggers, Inc. - PDU |
|
|
|
|
|
Facebook's Wedge *
|
|
|
|
|
|
HP Moonshot - iLO Chassis Manager |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
HP Moonshot - iLO4 (IPMI) |
X |
X |
|
|
X |
IBM Hardware Management Console (HMC) |
X |
X |
|
|
|
IPMI |
X |
X |
|
X |
X |
Intel AMT |
X |
X |
|
X |
|
Manual |
|
|
|
|
|
Microsoft OCS - Chassis Manager |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
OpenStack Nova |
|
X |
|
|
|
Rack Scale Design |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
SeaMicro 15000 |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
Sentry Switch CDU - PDU |
|
|
|
|
|
VMWare |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
Virsh (virtual systems) |
X |
X |
X |
|
|
*
The ‘Facebook’s Wedge’ OpenBMC power driver is considered experimental at this time.