A series of similarly themed blueprints from UDS-Natty in Orlando were subsequently combined into a single blueprint [1] in the Natty cycle.
As of 11.04, we have several of the key building blocks now packaged in the Ubuntu archive (cobbler, mcollective, etc). And we have a branch at lp:orchestra that provides the basic meta packaging for pieces we want to implement using the best of free software: * Provisioning / Installation Services * Configuration Management * Monitoring * Orchestration There are several limitations to stock ISO-based installs (eg, another thread here raises the issue of the limited ISO capacity). A complete network installation service is essential to the future of Ubuntu Server efforts. I envision a situation where the first step in deploying a set of Ubuntu Servers is to install the Ubuntu Orchestra Provisioning server (apt-get install ubuntu-orchestra-provisioning-server, or perhaps run a temporary deploy server from a LiveUSB). Subsequent installations in the hundreds or thousands are rapidly and flexibly bootstrapped directly from the provisioning server. Our OpenStack integration efforts for 11.10 will require some installation modifications similar to what we did in 9.10 for Eucalyptus and UEC. Rather than hacking through the guts of the debian-installer again for this work, I suggest that we build OpenStack's installation on top of a modern network installation service, as serious cloud deployments necessarily require the installation of more than one system. (Note that OpenStack already has a prototype of such a service with the Crowbar project.) A web/network-based installation service would allow the Ubuntu Server to modernize its interface and handle far more installation modes and workloads than an 80x25 teletype terminal can deliver. It would give the Server Team the ability to integrate new software stacks such as OpenStack easily within a single Ubuntu development cycle, something that's simply not possible when integral debian-installer changes are required (the tasksel menu is the only hook really at our disposal right now). The combination of dynamically generated preseed configurations coupled with config-management based post installation handling would provide a modern, DevOps-style interface to Ubuntu Server installations, and is key to our future. [1] https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/cloud-server-n-install-service -- :-Dustin Dustin Kirkland Ubuntu Core Developer -- ubuntu-server mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-server More info: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam
