Bare Metal (PC Farm)
While DaDesktop primarily functions using virtual desktops, specific tasks require access to actual physical hardware. The bare metal solution ensures that each participant is allocated a dedicated physical desktop or server, all centrally administered via DaDesktop.
Dedicated hardware per user
Rather than relying on virtual environments, each participant is assigned their own distinct physical machine.
Remote management of physical spaces
Integrate existing classroom infrastructure into DaDesktop to oversee the machines without requiring physical presence on site.
Situations requiring bare metal
- Applications that are incompatible with virtualization, such as ONAP and OpenStack.
- Physical hardware that cannot be effectively virtualized, including specific GPUs, Mellanox cards, and other networking devices.
- Training modules where interacting with firmware or tangible hardware is an integral part of the curriculum.
- On-premise classroom configurations that require centralized remote administration.
Operational overview
Physical machines establish a connection to a DaDesktop node via a control cable known as ddnexus. To initiate this process, choose the "Metal PC" option when setting up a standalone or fresh-start desktop, which allows the environment to be deployed directly onto the physical hardware.
PC Farm architecture
Existing office desktops can be integrated to act as bare metal nodes. Within this framework, each physical desktop is designated as a potato. The central server responsible for overseeing these nodes is referred to as a pumpkin (specifically a DaDesktop node, or ddnode). The USB cable that links each potato to the pumpkin is technically termed a potato stalk.
These Potato stalk cables can be sourced from eBay or Alibaba.
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