Bare Metal (PC Farm)
While DaDesktop primarily operates using virtual desktops, specific tasks require direct access to physical hardware. With the bare metal solution, each participant is assigned a dedicated physical desktop or server, all centrally managed via DaDesktop.
Exclusive Physical Resources
Rather than sharing a virtual environment, every participant utilizes a dedicated physical machine.
Remote Classroom Administration
Integrate existing physical classrooms into DaDesktop to oversee the hardware infrastructure without needing to be present on-site.
When to Use Bare Metal
- Applications that are incompatible with virtualization, such as ONAP and OpenStack.
- Hardware components that cannot be virtualized, including specific GPUs, Mellanox cards, and other networking equipment.
- Training modules that require interaction with firmware or physical hardware as a core part of the curriculum.
- Physical classroom environments that necessitate remote administrative control.
Operational Overview
Physical machines interface with a DaDesktop node via a control cable known as ddnexus. To provision these resources, choose the "Metal PC" option when establishing a standalone or fresh-start desktop. The system then deploys the environment directly onto the physical hardware.
PC Farm Architecture
You can integrate existing office desktops to function as bare metal nodes. In this setup, each individual physical desktop is designated as a potato. The central server responsible for managing these nodes is referred to as a pumpkin (also known as a DaDesktop node, or ddnode). The USB cable linking each potato to the pumpkin is termed a potato stalk.
Potato stalk cables can be sourced from platforms like eBay and Alibaba.
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