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Published Apr 6, 2022

Episode 506: Rob Hirschfeld on Bare Metal Infrastructure

Rob Hirschfeld delves into the transformation of infrastructure with decentralized computing, the role of smart NICs and IPUs, and the complexities of managing bare metal systems. He provides expert insights on out of band management, infrastructure pipelines, and DevOps automation to optimize system efficiency and resilience.
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  • Out of Band

    Out of band management is crucial for server control, especially when the operating system is inaccessible. explains that this management involves a separate network access to the server's motherboard, allowing for actions like restarting the server or updating its BIOS without needing the operating system 1. This method is akin to a backdoor, providing essential control mechanisms in the absence of physical buttons or dials on the server.

    If your operating system crashed or the operating system isn't installed yet, or you might not have the access credentials to that system, you need another way to get access to it. And that's what out of band management is.

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    Hirschfeld also notes that out of band management is applicable in virtual environments, such as when interfacing with hypervisor control planes or cloud APIs 2.

       

    Pipelines

    Infrastructure pipelines play a pivotal role in automating and managing the provisioning and configuration of systems. highlights the importance of tools like Terraform and Pulumi, which provide a consistent interface for cloud APIs, facilitating seamless integration and management 3. These pipelines enable small, quick changes to be implemented efficiently, enhancing system resilience and agility.

    We're calling that process infrastructure pipelines. Some people would call it a continuous infrastructure pipeline.

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    Hirschfeld emphasizes that these pipelines should abstract the underlying infrastructure, allowing for a more dynamic and resilient system overall 4.

       

    DevOps

    DevOps tools and practices are integral to automating bare metal infrastructure management. discusses how DevOps automation aligns with infrastructure as code, enabling processes to control systems effectively once they are bootstrapped and installed 2. This approach allows DevOps tooling to interact with both bare metal and cloud APIs, streamlining the provisioning and configuration processes.

    DevOps automation from our perspective is really very much the same thing as what I would consider infrastructure as code automation.

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    Hirschfeld also points out the challenges in automating server management due to varying protocols and interfaces, stressing the need for secure and well-managed APIs 5.

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