Features of Image Streamer

Customization and deployment of Golden Image on compute modules

HPE OneView abstracts many aspects of a server configuration into server profiles and server profile templates.

A server profile can easily be associated with any compatible compute module. OS volumes are tied to server profiles and persist for the life of the server profile. Changing the OS deployment plan in the server profile results in redeployment.

A server profile template serves as a structural reference when creating a server profile. It provides a mechanism to store configurations for a server profile. Typically, you capture best-practice configurations in a server profile template, and then create and deploy server profiles.

All BIOS settings, network configuration, and connections to storage volumes are part of the server profile. To support server deployment using Image Streamer, we select the Deployment Plan as an attribute for the existing server profile. Based on the selected Deployment Plan, the specific deployment managers are invoked to process the deployment request. The Image Streamer appliance then extracts the details from the Deployment Plan and obtains the relevant Golden Image and associated OS Build Plan required for deployment. It then clones the Golden Image volume and applies the personalization information provided by the OS Build Plan to create an OS Volume. Image Streamer returns this OS volume to the server profile, which then associates this volume with the server and boots the compute module to complete the deployment process.

For more information on server profiles and server profile templates, see HPE OneView Help for HPE Synergy.

Customized configuration for compute module deployment

Image Streamer provides an intuitive user interface, where you can customize your deployments. Customizing a server deployment is based on a Deployment Plan, which specifies the settings to be provided from the server profile that is used for deployment of stateless servers. Image Streamer uses the following artifacts for deployment:
  • A Deployment Plan that defines the settings available in the server profile and specifies a Golden Image.

  • An OS Build Plan containing the Plan Scripts and various custom attributes specified during its creation. It also gives the recipe for personalizing the OS volume for a specific compute module based on the settings taken from the server profile.

Image Streamer compliant Golden Image from a deployed server

You can obtain a Golden Image from a compute module using the capture process where HPE OneView manages the compute module and Image Streamer.

The Capture process performs customized capture of an Image Streamer compliant Golden Image from a deployed server. Capture is the reverse process of deployment. This process uses an OS Build Plan (Type capture) which removes server-specific configuration content based on capture scripts.

One of the considerations for capture script design is to understand what OS configuration content must be removed. The Software administrator may want to allow some configurations to remain as part of the new Golden Image.

REST API calls to perform all of the functions available from the Image Streamer user interface

The appliance has a resource-oriented architecture that provides a uniform REST interface. Every resource has one URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) and represents a physical device or a logical construct. You can use REST APIs to perform all of the functions in the Image Streamer appliance user interface.

REST requests related to deployment are submitted to the HPE OneView API. REST requests related to Image Streamer artifacts are submitted to the deployment server. Access details and credentials come from the HPE OneView API.

To view a list of APIs and to find detailed specifications, see the REST API Reference , available from the Help panel of the appliance user interface.

High availability

The Image Streamer appliance works in clustered appliance device pairs, which to achieve high availability.

High availability for OS volumes

The Image Streamer appliance uses a virtual storage appliance to provide an Active-Active storage cluster for the compute modules. This Active-Active cluster uses an active-standby data path for the OS volumes that achieves high availability of OS volumes. The Image Streamer appliance uses alerts to notify the user, when any of the storage nodes in the cluster is not available.

High availability for appliance and artifact management

An HPE Synergy Composer domain can have multiple Image Streamer appliance pairs. An Image Streamer appliance pair serves a single logical enclosure, and a single logical enclosure can have at most one Image Streamer appliance pair. One of the Image Streamer appliance pair is designated as the primary appliance, and all other appliance pairs are designated as secondary appliances.

An Image Streamer appliance works as an Active-Standby appliance pair to achieve high-availability for appliance and artifact management through the user interface. If an active appliance fails, the standby appliance in the appliance pair can take over the user interface and artifact management in less than 3 minutes. If both the active and standby appliances of the primary appliance fail, then one of the available secondary appliances must be designated as the new primary appliance. To view the details of active and standby appliances in an appliance pair, navigate to the Deployment Appliances page on the Image Streamer user interface.

The Image Streamer appliance uses alerts to notify the user when the appliance is not highly available.

Scalability

An Image Streamer appliance can serve all the compute modules in the logical enclosure (a ring containing HPE OneView and Image Streamer appliances) where it is placed.

Each logical enclosure using Image Streamer deployment has a separate Image Streamer appliance. The Image Streamer deployment server manages the group of all Image Streamer appliances present in the HPE Synergy hardware, managed by that HPE OneView instance.

When more than a pair of Image Streamer appliances serve an enclosure ring, then one of the appliances is designated as a primary appliance. The primary appliance runs the entire Image Streamer user interface, database, and all the resource managers. Whereas, the secondary appliance can only run a small subset of the resource manager. Both the primary and secondary appliances host the boot and run volumes for compute modules.