The document describes how to automate server configuration using CSV-formatted spreadsheets with Stacki, enabling the installation of fully functional Linux servers without human intervention. It outlines the required spreadsheet fields, commands for uploading and loading the configuration, and provides examples of network interface setup. Additional resources for Stacki are included for further exploration of its capabilities.

1. Automate Server Configuration Using
Spreadsheets
Don MacVittie, Sr. Solutions Architect

2. Overview
• Stacki can use CSV-formatted
spreadsheets to automate server
configuration.
• Stacki installs everything necessary to
make a fully functional Linux server.
• Utilizing just two command lines,
spreadsheet configuration can install one
or many servers without human interaction.
• This means that an entire server farm can
be automatically installed (in parallel) while
you’re on a break.

3. Spreadsheet Configuration
The Spreadsheet format:
Name – server host name.
Appliance – the type of machine to install.
IP – the IP address to assign the primary NIC.
MAC – the MAC address to associate the IP with.
Rack – the rack this server resides in.
Rank – the location in the rack.
Subnet – the Stacki subnet the NIC we just defined should be defined on.

4. Tell Stacki About It
• Copy the spreadsheet out to the Stacki server.
• Issue the commands (in red) below to load the spreadsheet and validate that
Stacki now knows about your servers.
• Note in stack list host that the Stacki server (donrh7 in this sample) is in the host
list.
[root@donrh7 ~]# stack load hostfile file=stacki.cocoamaster.csv
/export/stack/spreadsheets/RCS/stacki.cocoamaster.csv,v <-- /export/stack/spreadsheets/stacki.cocoamaster.csv
initial revision: 1.1
done
/export/stack/spreadsheets/RCS/stacki.cocoamaster.csv,v --> /export/stack/spreadsheets/stacki.cocoamaster.csv
revision 1.1 (locked)
Done
[root@donrh7 ~]# stack list host
HOST RACK RANK CPUS APPLIANCE DISTRIBUTION RUNACTION INSTALLACTION
donrh7: 0 0 1 frontend default os install
backend-0-0: 0 0 1 backend default os install
cocoamaster357-storage: 0 1 1 backend default os install
[root@donrh7 ~]#

5. Telling Stacki it’s Time to Install
Just tell Stacki that is time to install
with the commands (in red) below,
and boot the servers. They’ll install,
no need to watch them.
But no matter how many servers
you’re installing, it’s fast, so feel free
to watch if you like.
[root@donrh7 ~]# stack set host boot cocoamaster357 action=install
[root@donrh7 ~]# stack set host attr cocoamaster357 attr=nukedisks value=true
[root@donrh7 ~]#

6. Multiple NICS
Notice our spreadsheet has two lines for
cocoamaster357? That’s because we’re
defining two Network Interface Cards
(NICs) for this server.
The first line defines the host and the
NIC on Stacki’s private network
The second line adds the information to
define a second NIC on the public
network.
That is all you need. Since we loaded
this spreadsheet and installed
Cocoamaster357, it now has two NICs
defined, one on each network.
To the right are the calls to show the
configuration.
[root@donrh7 ~]# ssh cocoamaster357
Last login: Wed Jul 22 15:28:50 2015
[root@cocoamaster357 ~]# ifconfig
eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 10.1.1.252 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 10.1.1.255
inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fe5f:121c prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether 08:00:27:5f:12:1c txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 62 bytes 10273 (10.0 KiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 84 bytes 9436 (9.2 KiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
eth1: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 192.168.0.218 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255
inet6 fe80::a00:27ff:fe98:268c prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
ether 08:00:27:98:26:8c txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 174 bytes 16219 (15.8 KiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 12 bytes 888 (888.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
loop txqueuelen 0 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

7. Stacki Resources
• There is a lot more to Stacki than this few slides can show. Join us at the links
below to explore Stacki’s rich command structure and see how it answers your
problems.
Quick access to Stacki resources:
• Visit www.Stacki.com to download a pre-build ISO for RHEL/CentOS 6 & 7 and to sign up
for our charter program
• Stacki source code is available on the StackIQ GitHub: https://github.com/StackIQ/stacki
• Engage with other users and developers in the Stacki Google Group: https://groups.google.c
om/forum/#!forum/stacki
Follow us on Twitter @StackIQ