Bare Metal (PC Farm)
While DaDesktop primarily utilises virtual desktops, specific workloads necessitate physical hardware. Bare Metal provisioning enables each participant to be assigned a dedicated physical desktop or server, all orchestrated and managed via DaDesktop.
Dedicated physical hardware per participant
Instead of sharing virtual resources, each user receives access to their own distinct physical machine.
Remote management of physical classrooms
Integrate existing classroom setups with DaDesktop to oversee hardware operations without requiring on-site presence.
Scenarios requiring Bare Metal
- Applications incompatible with virtualisation, such as ONAP and OpenStack.
- Hardware components that cannot be virtualised, including specific GPUs, Mellanox cards, and other specialised network equipment.
- Training modules that involve firmware manipulation or direct interaction with physical hardware.
- Physical classroom environments that require centralised remote administration.
Operational Mechanism
Individual physical machines link to a DaDesktop node using a control cable known as ddnexus. When configuring a standalone or fresh-start environment, the "Metal PC" option should be selected, allowing the desktop image to be deployed directly onto the physical hardware.
PC Farm Architecture
Existing office desktops can be integrated as Bare Metal nodes. Within this architecture, each physical desktop is referred to as a potato. The central server responsible for managing these nodes is designated as a pumpkin (also known as a DaDesktop node or ddnode). The USB cable connecting each potato to the pumpkin is termed a potato stalk.
These Potato Stalk cables can be procured from suppliers such as eBay and Alibaba.
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