OVHcloud Bare Metal Installation

Plakar Control Plane can be deployed on an OVHcloud dedicated server using the official QCOW2 image. The image can be downloaded from the Downloads Page. Dedicated servers are available in the OVHcloud Control Panel under Bare Metal Cloud -> Dedicated Servers.

Ordering a Dedicated Server

Choose a server according to Appliance Sizing, which gives the CPU, memory and disks for each size of deployment. The server needs two disks: one for the appliance system, and one for the Plakar Control Plane data.

Installing the Appliance

The Plakar Control Plane appliance is distributed as a QCOW2 image. OVHcloud allows custom images to be installed through its custom OS flow. After ordering a dedicated server, the following setup is required.

OS Setup

Set Type of OS to Custom, then select Bring your own image.

Appliance Image

Provide a publicly accessible URL for the Plakar Control Plane QCOW2 image in Image URL. You can use the download link from the Downloads Page, or host the image yourself on publicly accessible storage such as an S3 bucket. Set the Image Type to qcow2.

You can optionally provide a checksum to verify the image during installation. The Downloads Page publishes a SHA-256 checksum for each image. If you provide a checksum, enter it in Image checksum and set the checksum type to SHA-256.

SSH Public Key

Leave SSH Public Key blank. OVHcloud’s SSH key configuration is not read by the appliance. If you need SSH access, provide your public key through Config Drive UserData. The appliance uses the plakar user for SSH access.

Config Drive UserData

Config Drive UserData contains the cloud-init configuration used by the appliance, such as SSH access, a proxy, registry mirrors or a static IP address. See Configuring the Appliance for more information.

EFI Bootloader

The appliance boots through UEFI. Set Path of the EFI bootloader from the OS installed on the server to:

\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI

Configuring the Appliance

The appliance reads its settings from the cloud-init document passed in Config Drive UserData during installation. The keys of that document are described in Appliance Configuration. Every key works on OVHcloud bare metal, including network for a static IP address, several interfaces or custom routes. Without it, the appliance uses DHCP.

If the appliance goes through a proxy or firewall, the hosts it has to reach are listed in required outbound access.

Writing the UserData

Paste the cloud-init document into Config Drive UserData. The document below sets every key. Remove the ones your environment does not need, each key is optional.

#cloud-config
ssh_authorized_keys:
  - ssh-ed25519 AAAA...

proxy:
  http: http://proxy.corp.example:3128
  https: http://proxy.corp.example:3128
  no_proxy: .corp.example

registry:
  mirrors:
    docker.io: harbor.corp.example/dockerhub-proxy
    ghcr.io: harbor.corp.example/ghcr-proxy
  insecure: false

releases:
  url: https://dist.corp.example/plakar/enterprise
  version: v1.1.2

ntp:
  servers:
    - 10.20.0.1
    - ntp.corp.example

network:
  ethernets:
    eth0:
      addresses: [10.0.1.5/24]
      gateway4: 10.0.1.1
      nameservers:
        addresses: [10.0.1.53]

Connect over SSH

If you configured an SSH public key, connect to the appliance using the plakar user:

ssh plakar@<server-ip-address>

Replace <server-ip-address> with the public IP address assigned to the dedicated server.

Accessing Plakar Control Plane

Once the installation settings are configured, confirm the order to start the installation.

Once the appliance has finished its first boot, Plakar Control Plane is reached from a browser at http://<server-ip-address>, the public IP address of the dedicated server. For first-time installations, you will be guided through the enrollment process to:

• Register the instance with Plakar services for licensing and billing
• Create the initial administrator account

See the enrollment documentation for more details.