IC Rack Management Unit (RMU) description and example usage

For the Gen1 IC nodes, each rack has a Rack Management Unit (RMU), which is a server that was used for remotely redeploying IC nodes. The RMU is not a particularly powerful server, but has proven to be of high value. The RMU had an Ubuntu OS, and a MaaS instance running on it. With the change to the new USB-based IC node deployment method, the RMU unit essentially went out of service, since the MaaS instance isn't utilized anymore.

Purpose and scope of the document

This document describes how the RMU can still be used by the NPs to simplify node management and allow the NPs to perform more activities remotely, without having to go to the Data Center (DC) or equivalently arrange the remote hands to perform all activities.

Disclaimer

Note: the instructions in this document are purely descriptive and illustrative and DFINITY does not provide any support for the operations described in this document. For any questions or comments, please reach out to the Node Provider community channel here: https://app.element.io/#/room/#ic-node-providers:matrix.org

Current and recommended setup

In the near future, both gen1 and gen2 Node Providers will have complete (100%) ownership of the complete hardware platform. This includes the public (and if so desired private) internet connectivity, the Board Management Computer, hardware and firmware updates, etc.

Figure 1: Recommended setup with the RMU having access to the BMC ports