Welcome to the second installment of this article series. In the first part of this article we installed an Ubuntu server instance, made sure it became an orchestra installation server. If this is new to you, Orchestra is a new Oneiric server feature that enables admins to very easily deploy fleets of Ubuntu servers. Let's pick up where the first article stopped
First, let's check where we are. You see installing the orchestra server, it automatically downloads and imports various Ubuntu server ISOs and creates all the needed structure (distros, profiles ...etc) in the underlying cobbler system. Let's see what have we
Let's create a new virtual box VM, to serve as our new "server" that needs to be installed. Here's how it looks for me
![12-oneiric01-vboxsettings]()
One thing is worth noting however, it's that the NIC is placed on the "intnet" network, which has the IP range 192.168.77.0/24 that we configured in the first part of this article
![13-vbox-natty01-netsettings]()
now the only "real" thing you have to do, is to add a profile on the orchestra server for your new bare server. The profile binds its mac address, to a name and an installation profile (think OS to install, kickstart ..etc)
![14-natty-PXEbooting]()
Watch the installer fly by (look ma hands free)
![15-installer-running]()
and your box is ready!
![16-Oneiric01-ready]()
That's how easy it is to install a fresh server off your orchestra box! So basically the only thing you need to do per server, is to attach it to a profile and that's it. Boot it and it installs whatever you provisioned for it. Of course any good admin already did that manually before, but it took effort and it wasn't standardized. Now you can count on Ubuntu server covering your back when you're tasked with installing a hundred servers
How cool was that! Got thoughts, comments or rotten tomatoes ? Shoot me a comment
First, let's check where we are. You see installing the orchestra server, it automatically downloads and imports various Ubuntu server ISOs and creates all the needed structure (distros, profiles ...etc) in the underlying cobbler system. Let's see what have we
$ sudo cobbler listwoah! that sure makes my life easier. If you're interested to see where the isos were downloaded (like I was) here you are
distros:
hardy-i386
hardy-x86_64
lucid-i386
lucid-x86_64
maverick-i386
maverick-x86_64
natty-i386
natty-x86_64
oneiric-i386
oneiric-x86_64
profiles:
hardy-i386
hardy-i386-juju
hardy-x86_64
hardy-x86_64-juju
lucid-i386
lucid-i386-juju
lucid-x86_64
lucid-x86_64-juju
maverick-i386
maverick-i386-juju
maverick-x86_64
maverick-x86_64-juju
natty-i386
natty-i386-juju
natty-x86_64
natty-x86_64-juju
oneiric-i386
oneiric-i386-juju
oneiric-x86_64
oneiric-x86_64-juju
systems:
repos:
hardy-i386
hardy-i386-security
hardy-x86_64
hardy-x86_64-security
lucid-i386
lucid-i386-security
lucid-x86_64
lucid-x86_64-security
maverick-i386
maverick-i386-security
maverick-x86_64
maverick-x86_64-security
natty-i386
natty-i386-security
natty-x86_64
natty-x86_64-security
oneiric-i386
oneiric-i386-security
oneiric-x86_64
oneiric-x86_64-security
images:
mgmtclasses:
orchestra-juju-acquired
orchestra-juju-available
ls /var/lib/cobbler/isos/
hardy-i386-mini.iso lucid-i386-mini.iso maverick-i386-mini.iso natty-i386-mini.iso oneiric-i386-mini.iso
hardy-x86_64-mini.iso lucid-x86_64-mini.iso maverick-x86_64-mini.iso natty-x86_64-mini.iso oneiric-x86_64-mini.iso
Let's create a new virtual box VM, to serve as our new "server" that needs to be installed. Here's how it looks for me

One thing is worth noting however, it's that the NIC is placed on the "intnet" network, which has the IP range 192.168.77.0/24 that we configured in the first part of this article

now the only "real" thing you have to do, is to add a profile on the orchestra server for your new bare server. The profile binds its mac address, to a name and an installation profile (think OS to install, kickstart ..etc)
sudo cobbler system add --name="oneiric01.ubuntu.lan" --mac-address="08:00:27:B7:76:2A" --ip-address="192.168.77.33" --dns-name="oneiric01.ubuntu.lan" --hostname="oneiric01.ubuntu.lan" --profile="oneiric-x86_64-juju" --mgmt-classes="orchestra-juju-available" --kopts=" DEBCONF_DEBUG=developer netcfg/dhcp_timeout=120 netcfg/choose_interface=eth0"Boot the server, choose PXE (For vbox that's F12 then "l" that's an L)

Watch the installer fly by (look ma hands free)

and your box is ready!

That's how easy it is to install a fresh server off your orchestra box! So basically the only thing you need to do per server, is to attach it to a profile and that's it. Boot it and it installs whatever you provisioned for it. Of course any good admin already did that manually before, but it took effort and it wasn't standardized. Now you can count on Ubuntu server covering your back when you're tasked with installing a hundred servers
How cool was that! Got thoughts, comments or rotten tomatoes ? Shoot me a comment