How to deploy hundreds of rigs

If you own a large farm with hundreds or thousands of GPU rigs and you are planning to migrate to Hiveon OS, Hiveon OS Deploy PXE can significantly reduce migration time and gain complete control over the deployment process. Hiveon OS Deploy uses PXE Network Boot technology to deploy Hiveon OS to your rigs.

System and hardware requirements:

Any computer running Ubuntu 16.04 (tested)
Dual-core processor
Static IP address over cable Ethernet
At least 4 Gb of RAM
At least 6 Gb of free disk space

You must set up a DHCP server by adding next-server option to CLONEDEPLOY_SERVER_IP (static IP address of host where you install Hiveon OS Deploy PXE). Read more in “Network infrastructure configuration” section.

Network infrastructure configuration

Depending on the configuration of your local network, the clients in your network receive IP addresses and other necessary information either dynamically using DHCP or configured statically on each client.

LAN with dynamic IP addresses

This is the default case or when you plan to setup a DHCP server anywhere in your network. Please note you should provide a set of dhcp-options:

dhcp-server ip address. Example: 192.168.1.1
dhcp network address. Example: 192.168.1.0
dhcp addresses range OR network mask. Example: 192.168.1.10-192.168.1.200 OR 192.168.1.0/24 (NOTE: different tools and hardware (routers) has it own syntax)
dhcp broadcast address. Example: 192.168.1.255
gateway (also known as router in dnsmasq). Example: 192.168.1.1
tftp-root (your tftp folder for storing kernels, initrds, pxe configs and binaries). Example: /tftp
dhcp-boot (PXE binary file PATH relative to tftp-root). Must be ,,CLONEDEPLOY_SERVER_IP
dns-server
next-server (dhcp option 66)

NOTE: you must specify next-server with your CloneDeployServer IP address. It’s the only option that you must define if you have a DHCP-server already running. By default, most routers have predefined dhcp options and the ability to change them, so you must specify next-server option only.

LAN with static IP addresses

In case of STATIC network: you must configure dhcp-server and tftp-server anywhere in your network to use PXE technology. For example, you could use dnsmasq - lightweight DNS, DHCP and TFTP server.

DHCP configuration examples

See examples of configuration files in the examples/ folder

dnsmasq: example/dnsmasq.conf
dnsmasq : examples/same-server.dnsmasq.conf - all-in-one config example dhcp и deploy server on the same computer

Installation of deploy server

Installation procedure

All installation commands and scripts in shell must be executed with root credentials by using sudo command.

Download the installation package

apt update && apt install wget zip unzip -y cd /opt && wget https://download.hiveos.farm/hivedeploy.zip && unzip hivedeploy.zip && cd cd_package

Run the installation script

./install-ubuntu.sh -f

It will start the installation procedure by downloading and installing the necessary packages. During the installation, you should answer some questions. Follow these steps:

3.1. Enter the Deploy server’s IP address in prompt window pxe image

Let’s assume that our host has IP address 192.168.1.2 then you will see: pxe image

3.2. Prompt default DB connection string with pressing “Enter” pxe image

Default settings will be used if no custom DB is given. pxe image

3.3. Wait until mysql-server sets up, then prompt default root password by empty string (Press Enter). pxe image This screen can appear several times during this step.

3.4. Enter SMB passwords for read-only and read-write roles: password pxe image

3.5. Download and update Hiveon OS image The latest stable Hiveon OS image will be downloaded and extracted by default. pxe image

3.6. Wait until the installation finishes the setup and then confirm reboot in the prompt window by entering “y”.

The following steps are done through the web interface.

Browse to http://<server_ip>/clonedeploy for example if your server has ip address 192.168.1.2 then type in browser with http://192.168.1.2/clonedeploy and you will see the login screen:

Password: admin

Go to Admin → PXE and press Update PXE settings

Go to Admin → “Boot menu” and press “Create Boot Files”

Go to Groups → deploy → Computer Properties.

Change the following fields:

pxe image

Custom Attribute 2 - NETWORK. Enter your network with netmask, for example 192.168.1.0/24
Custom Attribute 3 - GATEWAY. Enter the gateway, for example 192.168.1.1
Custom Attribute 4 - HIVEOS_API. Enter hiveos-api url, for example http://api.hiveos.farm
Custom Attribute 5 - FARM_HASH. Enter your farm hash, for example 0a188b553e98efba264e7bc61dee

Note: Make sure the checkboxes near these fields are enabled. pxe image

and click on the “Update Properties” button pxe image

Now the server part installation is over.

Checking installation and services

Deploy server contains several packages including dhcp proxy, apache2, mysql and tftpd-hpa. Apache2 and MySQL - used for the web interface and tftpd-hpa used for TFTP server. So if you want to check the installation and make sure these services are running properly, use the following commands:

for DHCP Proxy: service cd_proxy status

for Apache2: service apache2 status

for MySQL server: service mysql status

for TFTP server: service tftpd-hpa status

Deploy Rigs

Prepare to Deploy

You can organize your network according to certain rules.

Assign rig name with MAC address
Assign rig name with MAC address and IP address

You can import a prepared rigs list. Go to “Computers” pxe image

and then click the “Upload” button pxe image

File format is: rig-001 08:00:27:4A:29:BB 192.168.1.19

Check imported rigs pxe image

Deploy Task

Click “Task” pxe image

Then “Click Computer Task” -> Start Computer Task -> select workers for Deploy pxe image

and press “Deploy Selected”.

Deploy process rig side pxe image

Progress can be followed through the browser pxe image

After downloading the necessary files, Hiveon OS Deploy will flash the Hive image to the storage device pxe image

After the flashing process, the rig will reboot automatically followed by a boot menu with default target “Boot To Local Machine” which will boot your rig after a 5 second delay pxe image