Onboard Edge Nodes#

This section describes high-level steps to perform Zero Touch Provisioning of Edge Nodes at scale with Edge Orchestrator.

Zero-Touch Provisioning with Edge Orchestrator consists of the following steps.

Note

Ensure you meet prerequisites (see Prerequisites).

Register Edge Nodes#

First, Edge Nodes must be registered to Edge Orchestrator via their Serial Number or UUID (make sure to grab these hardware identifiers from your Edge Nodes to proceed). This step also authorizes Edge Nodes with Edge Orchestrator.

See Register Edge Nodes in Edge Orchestrator.

Configure and boot Edge Nodes#

Note

Secure Boot (SB) is disabled by default. To enable it, follow the steps below to configure SB in the BIOS. After that, refer to the instructions in Secure Boot opt in feature for enabling SB in Edge Orchestrator.

Systems from different vendors may have different BIOS interfaces. Edge Orchestrator supports different boot methodologies, to flexibly support a variety of devices and vendors. As part of this documentation we describe generic boot options, together with examples of supported Edge Nodes from different vendors. Contact us on the community channels if you need help with onboarding your specific Edge Node.

As of now, Edge Orchestrator supports the following boot options:

  1. HTTPS-assisted boot leverages UEFI HTTP boot capabilities to download the iPXE bootloader from Edge Orchestrator and start the Edge Node onboarding process. Some of the Edge Node models supporting HTTPS-assisted boot are as follows:

    • Dell PowerEdge* XR12, R760 rack server

    • ASRock* iEP-7020E

    • ASUS* IoT PE3000G system

    • Lenovo* ThinkEdge servers

  2. USB-assisted boot uses the USB drive to store the iPXE bootloader and boots from the USB drive to start the Edge Node onboarding process. Some of the Edge Node models supporting HTTPS-assisted boot are as follows:

    • Dell PowerEdge XR12, R760 rack server

    • ASUS* IoT PE3000G system

    • ASRock* iEP-7020E

    • Lenovo ThinkEdge servers

  3. PXE-assisted boot leverages legacy PXE boot method to download iPXE bootloader from local DHCP/TFTP server and start the Edge Node onboarding process. It requires local Layer-2 network connectivity between Edge Nodes and local DHCP/TFTP server, and it’s primarily dedicated for the use with the OXM Deployment Profile.

  4. 3rd-party boot providers - Edge Orchestrator can also be integrated with 3rd-party boot providers. An example of 3rd-party provider is Lenovo* Open Cloud Automation (LOC-A) that can be used to simplify Edge Node onboarding of Lenovo ThinkEdge servers.

Observe Edge Node status#

Once Edge Nodes are booted, you can observe their status via Edge Orchestrator. See Verify Onboarding.