Elastic Baremetal Management

What is Elastic Baremetal Management?

Elastic Baremetal Management provides dedicated physical servers for your applications to ensure high performance and stability. In addition, this feature allows elastic scaling. You can apply for and scale resources based on your needs. Elastic Baremetal Management integrates the benefits of hosts and VM instances. It delivers powerful and stable computing capacities of hosts and allows you to use primary storages, L3 networks, and other resources on the Cloud for your applications. This avoids virtualization overheads and improves the availability of cloud resources, allowing you to flexibly use cloud resources as well as physical resources. You can use this feature for application deployment in traditional non-virtualization scenarios.

The Elastic Baremetal Management feature is provided in a separate module. Before you can use this feature, you need to purchase the Plus License of Elastic Baremetal Management, in addition to the Base License.
A tenant can use an elastic baremetal offering shared by the admin to create an elastic baremetal instance.

Concepts

Provision network: A provision network is a dedicated network for PXE boot and image downloads while creating elastic baremetal instances.
- Before you can use Elastic Baremetal Management, you need to deploy an IPv4 provision network.
- Provision networks require high network performance. We recommend that you use at least 10 Gigabit NICs for your provision network.
- You can configure a gateway for your provision network. This way, the provision network can be connected to other networks. If you do not need to connect your provision network to other networks, you do not need to configure a gateway for your provision network.
Elastic baremetal cluster: An elastic baremetal cluster consists of elastic baremetal instances. You can manage elastic baremetal instances by managing an elastic baremetal cluster where the instances reside.
- You must attach a provision network to an elastic baremetal cluster to provide PXE services for baremetal nodes in the cluster.
- You can attach only one provision network to an elastic baremetal cluster. However, you can attach a provision network to multiple elastic baremetal clusters.
- You can attach an L2 network to an elastic baremetal cluster to provide an extended L2 business network for elastic baremetal instances in the cluster. Elastic baremetal instances and VM instances that share the same L2 network can access each other without using the gateway. The L2 network that you can attach to an elastic baremetal cluster can be of the VLAN or NoVLAN type.
Gateway node: A gateway node is a node where the ingress and egress traffic of the Cloud and elastic baremetal instances is forwarded.
- You can attach multiple gateway nodes to an elastic baremetal cluster. However, you can attach only one gateway node to an elastic baremetal cluster.
- A gateway node is used to take over primary storages and assign storage space for elastic baremetal instances.
- A gateway node provides iPXE, DHCP, and other services. It is used to deliver configuration settings to elastic baremetal instances.
Baremetal node: A baremetal node is used to create a baremetal instance and is identified based on the BMC interface and IPMI configuration setting.
- You can set the startup methods for the baremetal nodes. The following two startup methods are supported:
  - Startup from a volume: Uses a volume as the system volume of the baremetal node to install and deploy the operating system.
  - Startup form a local disk: Uses a local disk as the system volume of the baremetal node to install and deploy the operating system.
  - If you select to startup the baremetal node from a local disk, you can choose whether to take over the original operating system.
    - If you choose not to take over the original operating system, the Local Disk (Non Take-Over) is used. When you use the baremetal node to create an elastic baremetal instance, this method helps download an operating system from the Cloud and install it on the instance. Meanwhile, the local system volume is formatted.
    - If you choose to take over the original operating system, the Local Disk (Take-Over) method is used. The elastic baremetal instance created from the baremetal node used the original system operating system stored on the local disk directly.
- The management node must be connected to the IPMI network to remotely manage baremetal nodes.
- Baremetal nodes must be configured with the BMC interfaces, IPMI addresses, ports, usernames, and passwords, and be connected to the IPMI network.
- A baremetal node can be distributed to only one elastic baremetal instance and an elastic baremetal instance can only be assigned one baremetal node.
- You can provide compute resources for elastic baremetal instances by using a baremetal node or elastic baremetal offering.
Elastic baremetal instance offering: An elastic baremetal offering defines the number of vCPU cores, memory size, CPU architecture, CPU model, and other configuration settings of elastic baremetal instances.
- You can get elastic baremetal offerings of baremetal nodes by obtaining their hardware information. Baremetal nodes with the same offering can be managed in a unified way.
- The baremetal offerings obtained from the node hardware information can be classified into 3 types according to their startup methods: startup from a volume, startup from a local disk (take-over), and startup from a local disk (non take-over).
- You can use an elastic baremetal offering to create an elastic baremetal instance. You can also release the advanced settings of baremetal nodes to avoid resource idling.
- You can create a pricing list for elastic baremetal instances based on elastic baremetal offerings. Then bills are generated for the elastic baremetal instances based on their usage.
Elastic baremetal instance: An elastic baremetal instance has the same performance as physical servers and allows elastic scaling. You can apply for and scale resources based on your needs.
- The following two startup methods are supported for elastic baremetal instances:
  - Volume: Uses a volume as the system volume of the elastic baremetal instance to install and deploy the operating system.
  - Local Disk: Uses a local disk as the system disk of the elastic baremetal instance to install and deploy the operating system.
  - The Local Disk (Non Take-Over) and Local Disk (Take-Over) methods are supported:
    - Local Disk (Non Take-Over): When you use a baremetal node to create the elastic baremetal instance, the operating system is downloaded from the Cloud and installed on the elastic baremetal instance. This method will format the local system disk.
    - Local Disk (Take-Over): When you use a baremetal node to create the elastic baremetal instance, the original operating system on the local system disk is used as the operating system of the elastic baremetal instance.
- The following describes the resources supplied to elastic baremetal instances of different startup methods:
  - To elastic baremetal instances of both the volume startup method and local disk startup method, the compute resources are provided by corresponding baremetal nodes, and L3 networks on the Cloud are used as their business networks.
  - To elastic baremetal instances of the volume startup method, the storage resources are provided by SharedBlock or Ceph primary storage on the Cloud, and the PXE boots are supported by the provision network.
  - To elastic baremetal instances of local disk startup method, the storage resources are provides by their local disks. If you attach data volumes to the instances, they can use the storage resources provided by SharedBlock or Ceph primary storage on the Cloud.
- We recommend that you create an elastic baremetal instance by using an image that has installed the agent. Otherwise, you cannot perform the following actions on the instance: open the instance console, modify the instance password, attach a volume to or detach a volume from the instance, and attach a network to or detach a network from the instance.
- By default, you can you an image whose BIOS mode is UEFI to create an elastic baremetal instance. If you need to use an image with a Legacy BIOS mode, contact the official technical support.
- You can configure business networks for elastic baremetal instances. If you attach an L2 network to the cluster where your baremetal nodes reside, elastic baremetal instances and VM instances that share the same L2 network can access each other without using the gateway.
- You can enable the elastic baremetal instances of the volume startup method to automatically release the associated baremetal node when it is powered-off. The baremetal node released can be used by other elastic baremetal instances, thus avoiding the resource idling.

Scenarios

Scenarios that require high security and strict monitoring:
The financial and insurance industries have high requirements over business deployment compliance and data security. In these scenarios, you can use Baremetal Management to secure dedicated resources, data isolation, easy management, and operation-tracking. This way, you can ensure the reliability and security compliance of your key business system and data.
High-performance computing scenarios:
Supercomputing, genome sequencing, and other high-performance computing scenarios have high requirements over the computing performance, stability, and timeliness. However, the virtualization may cause performance losses and hyperthreading may negatively influence the business. Deploying a reasonable number of baremetal clusters can solve these problems, meeting the high-performance computing requirements.
Key database scenarios:
To meet business requirements, you may not want to deploy some key databases on VM instances while want to deploy the databases on physical servers that feature dedicated resources, network isolation, and guaranteed performance. In these scenarios, you can use Baremetal Management to provide dedicated high-performance physical servers for your applications.

Advantages

Elastic Baremetal Management has the following advantages:

Integration of high performance and scalability:
Elastic Baremetal Management provides dedicated physical servers for your applications to ensure high performance and stability. In addition, this feature allows elastic scaling. You can apply for and scale resources based on your needs.
Strong scalability:
A single management node allows you to manage 10,000 baremetal nodes and scale-out according to your needs.
Strong compatibility:
An elastic baremetal instance no longer depends on IPMI/BMC network (optional), and the NIC can be used as a baremetal node as long as it supports PXE boot. The realization of the elastic baremetal instance does not associate any CPU or virtualization technology. As long as there is a system image that can be started, and no matter if it is an ISO, qcow2, or raw image, it can be used as a virtual hard disk by an elastic baremetal instance. That is, the elastic baremetal can be directly used on domestic servers.
In addition, the elastic baremetal management feature can be achieved by software only, without purchasing any proprietary hardware. It is compatible with all x86 and most of domestic ARM CPU architectures and supports mainstream x86 operating systems and some ARM operating systems.
Advanced technology:
In addition to turn on/off baremetal servers and deploy system, elastic baremetal management also supports the use of virtual resources on the Cloud, including VPC/flat/public networks, volumes, primary storage and other resources, which seamlessly connects physical resources and cloud resources, and greatly improves the availability of cloud resources.
Consistency in operation experience:
All features of a VM instance can be directly operated on an elastic baremetal instance. And an elastic baremetal instance can use any advanced network services without purchasing additional network hardware.
Flexible deployment:
An elastic baremetal instance supports both volume deployment method and local disk deployment method, respectively using the primary storage resource and the local disk on the Cloud, which combines the scalability of resources on the Cloud with the stable I/O and high throughput of local disks.
The primary storage resources used by an elastic baremetal instance can be shared by the KVM clusters of the Cloud, which relieves you from deploying additional storage resources. In addition, local disk deployment method supports take over the original system, which effectively ensures the business continuity.

Quick Start

On the main menu of ZStack Cloud, choose Resource Center > Elastic Baremetal Management > Guide Center > Quick Start Wizard. Then, you are redirected to the Quick Start Wizard page.

You can follow the following steps to quick start Elastic Baremetal Management.

Preparation
Elastic Baremetal Management provides dedicated physical servers for your applications to ensure high performance and stability. In addition, this feature allows elastic scaling. You can apply for and scale resources based on your needs.
Before you can use Elastic Baremetal Management, you need to complete the following preparations:
- Understand Basics
  You can refer to the working principal diagram in Introduction and understand what resources are needed and what is the relationship between these resources.
- Deploy Physical Network
  Make sure that you have deployed IPv4 physical networks, including management networks, storage networks, provision networks, business networks, IPMI networks. We recommend that you use at least 10 Gigabit NICs for your provision network.
- Prepare Basic Resource:
  Make sure that you have deployed the basic resources required by Elastic Baremetal Management, such as Ceph or Shared Block primary storage and business networks.
- Create Image:
  Prepare elastic baremetal images with the agent installed, and add these images to the Cloud. Otherwise, you cannot open the console, change the password of the elastic baremetal instance, attach/detach volumes or networks, or view monitoring data.
Figure 1. Preparation
Provision Network
Provision Network：A provision network is a dedicated network for PXE boot and image downloads while creating elastic baremetal instances.
- Before you can use Elastic Baremetal Management, you need to deploy an IPv4 provision network.
- Provision networks require high network performance. We recommend that you use at least 10 Gigabit NICs for your provision network.
- You can configure a gateway for your provision network. This way, the provision network can be connected to other networks. If you do not need to connect your provision network to other networks, you do not need to configure a gateway for your provision network.
On the displayed page, set the following parameters:
- Name: Set a name for the provision network.
  The name must be 1 to 128 characters in length and can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, spaces, hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), parenthesis (), colons (:), and plus signs (+) and cannot begin or end with spaces.
- Description: Optional. Enter a description for the provision network.
- NIC: Enter the name of the NIC on the provision network. The NIC name must be consistent with the NIC name in the actual deployment environment.
  Note:
  
  The server that you use as a baremetal node must have at least one PXE boot NIC used for network management. We recommend that you use the first NIC of the server as the provision NIC to improve the deployment efficiency.
  
  Make sure that no other DHCP service is deployed in the provision network. This avoids DHCP conflicts.
- Network Range Method: Select a method to add a network range for the provision network. You can select IP Range or CIDR.
  If you select IP Range, you need to set the following parameters:
  
  Start IP: Set a start IP address for the network range, for example, 192.168.0.2.
  
  End IP: Set an end IP address for the network range, for example, 192.168.0.254.
  
  Netmask: Set a netmask for the network range, for example, 255.255.0.0.
  
  Gateway: Set a gateway for the provision network, for example, 192.168.0.1.
  Note: If you do not need to connect to other networks, you do not need to configure a gateway.
  If you select CIDR, you need to set the following parameters:
  
  CIDR: Set a CIDR block for the provision network, for example, 192.168.0.0/24.
  
  Gateway; Optional. Set a gateway for the provision network, for example, 192.168.108.1.
  Note: If you do not need to connect to other networks, you do not need to configure a gateway.
Figure 2. Create Provision Network
Elastic Baremetal Cluster
Elastic Baremetal Cluster: An elastic baremetal cluster consists of elastic baremetal instances. You can manage elastic baremetal instances by managing an elastic baremetal cluster where the instances reside.
- You must attach a provision network to an elastic baremetal cluster to provide PXE services for baremetal nodes in the cluster.
- You can attach only one provision network to an elastic baremetal cluster. However, you can attach a provision network to multiple elastic baremetal clusters.
- You can attach an L2 network to an elastic baremetal cluster to provide an extended L2 business network for elastic baremetal instances in the cluster. Elastic baremetal instances and VM instances that share the same L2 network can access each other without using the gateway. The L2 network that you can attach to an elastic baremetal cluster can be of the VLAN or NoVLAN type.
On the displayed page, set the following parameters:
- Name: Set a name for the elastic baremetal cluster.
  The name must be 1 to 128 characters in length and can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, spaces, hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), parenthesis (), colons (:), and plus signs (+) and cannot begin or end with spaces.
- Description: Optional. Enter a description for the elastic baremetal cluster.
- CPU Architecture: The CPU architecture of the elastic baremetal cluster. The available architectures include x86_64 and aarch64.
  - If you need to add only baremetal nodes with the x86_64 architecture to the elastic baremetal cluster, select x86_64.
  - If you need to add only baremetal nodes with the aarch64 architecture to the elastic baremetal cluster, select aarch64.
  Note: Make sure that the CPU architecture of the elastic baremetal cluster is consistent with that of baremetal nodes and gateway node.
- Provision Network: Select a provision network that you need to attach to the cluster.
- Primary Storage: Select a primary storage that you need to attach to the cluster. You can select a primary storage of the SharedBlock or Ceph type.
- iSCSI Storage: If you select a primary storage of the SharedBlock type, you need to attach the iSCSI storage to the cluster.
- L2 Network: Select an L2 network that you need to attach to the cluster.
Figure 3. Create Elastic Baremetal Cluster
Gateway Node
Gateway Node: A gateway node is a node where the ingress and egress traffic of the Cloud and elastic baremetal instances is forwarded.
- You can attach multiple gateway nodes to an elastic baremetal cluster. However, you can attach only one gateway node to an elastic baremetal cluster.
- A gateway node is used to take over primary storages and assign storage space for elastic baremetal instances.
- A gateway node provides iPXE, DHCP, and other services. It is used to deliver configuration settings to elastic baremetal instances.
On the displayed page, set the following parameters:
- Name: Set a name for the gateway node. A name can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), parenthesis (), colons (:), and plus signs (+).
- Description: Optional. Enter a description for the gateway node.
- Elastic Baremetal Cluster: Select an elastic baremetal cluster to which you need to attach the gateway node.
- IP Address: Enter an IP address for the gateway node based on your actual scenario.
- SSH Port: Enter an SSH port for the gateway node based on your actual scenario. Default: 22
- Username: Enter the username of the gateway node.
- Password: Enter the password of the username.
Figure 4. Add Gateway Node
Baremetal Node
Baremetal Node: A baremetal node is used to create a baremetal instance and is identified based on the BMC interface and IPMI configuration setting.
- You can set the startup methods for the baremetal nodes. The following two startup methods are supported:
  - Startup from a volume: Uses a volume as the system volume of the baremetal node to install and deploy the operating system.
  - Startup form a local disk: Uses a local disk as the system volume of the baremetal node to install and deploy the operating system.
  - If you select to startup the baremetal node from a local disk, you can choose whether to take over the original operating system.
    
    If you choose not to take over the original operating system, the Local Disk (Non Take-Over) is used. When you use the baremetal node to create an elastic baremetal instance, this method helps download an operating system from the Cloud and install it on the instance. Meanwhile, the local system volume is formatted.
    
    If you choose to take over the original operating system, the Local Disk (Take-Over) method is used. The elastic baremetal instance created from the baremetal node used the original system operating system stored on the local disk directly.
- The management node must be connected to the IPMI network to remotely manage baremetal nodes.
- Baremetal nodes must be configured with the BMC interfaces, IPMI addresses, ports, usernames, and passwords, and be connected to the IPMI network.
- A baremetal node can be distributed to only one elastic baremetal instance and an elastic baremetal instance can only be assigned one baremetal node.
- You can provide compute resources for elastic baremetal instances by using a baremetal node or elastic baremetal offering.
On the displayed page, set the following parameters:
- Name: Set a name for the baremetal node.
  The name must be 1 to 128 characters in length and can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, spaces, hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), parenthesis (), colons (:), and plus signs (+) and cannot begin or end with spaces.
- Description: Optional. Enter a description for the baremetal node.
- CPU Architecture: The CPU architecture of the elastic baremetal cluster. The available architectures include x86_64 and aarch64.
  Note: Make sure that the CPU architecture of the elastic baremetal cluster is consistent with that of baremetal nodes and gateway node.
- Elastic Baremetal Cluster: Select an elastic baremetal cluster where the baremetal node resides.
- Start Method: The startup method of the elastic baremetal instance. The following two startup methods are supported:
  - Volume: Uses a volume as the system volume of the elastic baremetal instance to install and deploy the operating system.
  - Local Disk: Uses a local disk as the system disk of the elastic baremetal instance to install and deploy the operating system.
    
    Take Over Original System: The Local Disk (Non Take-Over) and Local Disk (Take-Over) methods are supported.
    
    Non Take-Over : When you create an elastic baremetal instance, the operating system is downloaded from the Cloud and installed on the elastic baremetal instance. This method will format the local system disk.
    
    Take-Over: When you create an elastic baremetal instance, the original operating system on the local system disk is used as the operating system of the elastic baremetal instance.
    
    Platform: Select the platform type based on the operating system that you take over. Supported types of platform: Linux and Windows.
    
    Note: If you take over the original system, note that:
    
    We recommend that you take over a system that has installed the agent. If the taken-over system does not have the agent installed, install the agent after the elastic baremetal instance is created. Otherwise, you cannot open the console of the elastic baremetal instance, modify the password of the instance, attach a volume to or detach a volume from the instance, or attach a network to or detach a network from the instance.
    
    By default, the supported BIOS mode of the image used to create an elastic baremetal instance is UEFI. To use an image whose BIOS mode is Legacy, contact the official technical support.
    
    Make sure that the operating system you take over is officially supported by Elastic Baremetal Management. Otherwise, you can perform very limited operations on the elastic baremetal instance created from the baremetal node. For more information, see Operating Systems.
- IPMI Information: Enter the IPMI information by using the IPMI address method or IPMI range method.
  If you use the IPMI address method, set the following parameters:
  
  IPMI Address: Enter an IPMI address.
  
  Port: Enter an IPMI port.
  
  User Name: Enter an IPMI username.
  
  Password: Enter the password of the IPMI username.
  If you use the IPMI range method, set the following parameters:
  
  IPMI Range: Enter an IPMI range.
  
  Port: Enter an IPMI port. Make sure that the ports of the IPMI range are consistent with each other.
  
  User Name: Enter an IPMI username. Make sure that the usernames of the IPMI range are the same.
  
  Password: Enter the password of the IPMI username. Make sure that the passwords of the IPMI range are the same.
- Obtain Hardware Information: Reboot the baremetal node and obtain hardware information. By default, the switch is turned on.
  Note: If you add a new baremetal node, you must reboot it to obtain hardware information. However, rebooting a baremetal node may affect business operations. Before you reboot baremetal nodes, make sure that this operation does not affect your business.
Figure 5. Add Baremetal Node
Check Configurations
After you complete the Quick Start Wizard, you can create an elastic baremetal instance. However, you need to check the following configurations due to deployment concerns before you create an instance:
- If you use ZStack Ceph Enterprise storage and do not add an access token for the ZStack Ceph Enterprise storage, you need to login to the management node of the ZStack Ceph Enterprise to add the gateway node as the gateway server. Follow these steps and make sure your configurations are correct:
  1. Login to the management node of ZStack Ceph Enterprise and add the gateway node as the gateway server.
  2. Make sure that the gateway node is connected on ZStack Cloud. Then, enter the gateway node system and run the following script to start the target core module:
    [root@172-25-13-12 ~ ]# if [ -f /etc/xdc/xdc.conf ]; then sed -i '/^xdc_proxy_feature/d' /etc/xdc/xdc.conf; echo xdc_proxy_feature = true >>/etc/xdc/xdc.conf; echo -e "iscsi_target_mod\ntarget_core_user\ntarget_core_iblock" > /etc/modules-load.d/target.conf; systemctl enable target; systemctl enable xdc; fi
    After running the script successfully, reboot the gateway node.
    Note: If you do not run the script manually, your first attempt to create an elastic baremetal instance with this storage will fail. You just need to manually reboot the gateway node and then the creation will be successful.
- If you use ZStack Ceph Enterprise storage and want to add an access token for the ZStack Ceph Enterprise storage, you need to login to the management node of ZStack Ceph Enterprise as the admin in advance, choose Setting (icon) > Access Token, and obtain an access token of the admin permission. Then you need to enter the acess token when you add Ceph primary storage on the Cloud.
  Note: Make sure that the license of the ZStack Ceph Enterprise storage is valid.
  
  Figure 6. Obtain Access Token
  
  Figure 7. Add ZStack Ceph Enterprise Primary Storage

Elastic Baremetal Instance

Elastic Baremetal Instance: An elastic baremetal instance has the same performance as physical servers and allows elastic scaling. You can apply for and scale resources based on your needs.

The following two startup methods are supported for elastic baremetal instances:
- Volume: Uses a volume as the system volume of the elastic baremetal instance to install and deploy the operating system.
- Local Disk: Uses a local disk as the system disk of the elastic baremetal instance to install and deploy the operating system.
- The Local Disk (Non Take-Over) and Local Disk (Take-Over) methods are supported:
  - Local Disk (Non Take-Over): When you use a baremetal node to create the elastic baremetal instance, the operating system is downloaded from the Cloud and installed on the elastic baremetal instance. This method will format the local system disk.
  - Local Disk (Take-Over): When you use a baremetal node to create the elastic baremetal instance, the original operating system on the local system disk is used as the operating system of the elastic baremetal instance.
The following describes the resources supplied to elastic baremetal instances of different startup methods:
- To elastic baremetal instances of both the volume startup method and local disk startup method, the compute resources are provided by corresponding baremetal nodes, and L3 networks on the Cloud are used as their business networks.
- To elastic baremetal instances of the volume startup method, the storage resources are provided by SharedBlock or Ceph primary storage on the Cloud, and the PXE boots are supported by the provision network.
- To elastic baremetal instances of local disk startup method, the storage resources are provides by their local disks. If you attach data volumes to the instances, they can use the storage resources provided by SharedBlock or Ceph primary storage on the Cloud.
We recommend that you create an elastic baremetal instance by using an image that has installed the agent. Otherwise, you cannot perform the following actions on the instance: open the instance console, modify the instance password, attach a volume to or detach a volume from the instance, and attach a network to or detach a network from the instance.
By default, you can you an image whose BIOS mode is UEFI to create an elastic baremetal instance. If you need to use an image with a Legacy BIOS mode, contact the official technical support.
You can configure business networks for elastic baremetal instances. If you attach an L2 network to the cluster where your baremetal nodes reside, elastic baremetal instances and VM instances that share the same L2 network can access each other without using the gateway.
You can enable the elastic baremetal instances of the volume startup method to automatically release the associated baremetal node when it is powered-off. The baremetal node released can be used by other elastic baremetal instances, thus avoiding the resource idling.

On the displayed page, set the following parameters:

Name: Set a name for the elastic baremetal instance.
The name must be 1 to 128 characters in length and can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, spaces, hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), parenthesis (), colons (:), and plus signs (+) and cannot begin or end with spaces.
Description: Optional. Enter a description for the elastic baremetal instance.
Tag: Optional. Attach a tag to the elastic baremetal instance.
Elastic Baremetal Cluster: Optional. Select an elastic baremetal cluster to filter baremetal nodes in the cluster.
Note: If you do not select an cluster, the cluster where the selected baremtal node resides is used.

Creation Mode: Select a creation mode. You can select Add By Baremetal Node or Add By Baremetal Offering.

If you select Add By Baremetal Node, set the following parameters:

Baremetal Node: Select a baremetal node based on the startup method. Three startup methods are supported: Volume, Local Disk (Non Take-Over), and Local Disk (Take-Over).

If you select the Volume startup method, configure the following parameters:

Power Off To Release Baremetal Node: When an elastic baremetal instance is powered off, the associated baremetal node is automatically released and can be used by another elastic baremetal instance. This mechanism avoids resource idling. By default, this feature is disabled.
Note: If you choose to release a baremetal instance upon power-off, note that:
- This feature may change the associated baremetal node. The operating system will clean up business NIC configurations of the elastic baremetal instance. If your resources are sufficient, we recommend that you do not use this feature.
- If you select Add By Baremetal Node and enable this feature, you need to manually select a baremetal node and configure the business NIC when you restart the elastic baremetal instance.
- If you select Add By Baremetal Offering and enable this feature, you do not need to manually select a baremetal node but need to configure the business NIC when you restart the elastic baremetal instance.

Image: Select an image to create the elastic baremetal instance. The mainstream x86_64 operating systems and some ARM operating systems are supported. The following table lists the supported OSs.

CPU Infrastructure	Type	Operating System
x86	Windows	Windows 2012 Windows 2016 Windows 2019 Windows 10
x86	Linux	CentOS 7 CentOS 8 Ubuntu 18LTS Ubuntu 20LTS
ARM	Linux	CentOS 7 KylinV10

Note: When you select an image, note that:

We recommend that you use images with the agent installed. Otherwise, you cannot launch the consoles, modify the password, attach or detach volumes, attach or detach networks, or view monitoring data of an elastic baremetal instance that uses the image.
By default, the BIOS of the image that you can use to create an elastic baremetal instance is in UEFI mode. If you need to use an image whose BIOS is in Legacy mode, contact the official technical support.
If you use a Windows image, we recommend that you choose the network safe mode when you start the elastic baremetal instance for the first time. In this mode, the drives can be automatically loaded, and you can avoid the instance start failure.

Advanced: Configure advanced settings for the elastic baremetal instance.
- Data Disk Offering: Optional. Select a disk offering for the elastic baremetal instance. If you select a disk offering, a data volume is created and attached to the instance. By default, no disk offering is selected.
- Storage Allocation Policy: Optional. Select a primary storage where the root volume and data volume of elastic baremetal instance reside. Default: Random. You can also configure the primary storage manually and share the primary storage resources with KVM clusters on the Cloud.
- Gateway Node Allocation Policy: Optional. The policy that is used to allocate a gateway node when you create an elastic baremetal instance. Default: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy. Valid values: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy, LastGatewayPreferredAllocatorStrategy, and DefaultGatewayAllocatorStrategy.
- First Assigned Gateway Node: Optional. Select a gateway node for the first startup of the elastic baremetal instance. If you do not specify a gateway node, the gateway node selected based on the gateway node allocation policy is used.
  Note: This option takes effect only on the first start-up of the elastic baremetal instance. Afterwards, gateway nodes are assigned based on the gateway node allocation policy.

If you select the Local Disk (Non Take-Over) startup method, configure the following parameters:

System Disk: Select a local disk as the system disk of the elastic baremetal instance.
Note: Make sure that the local disk selected as the system volume of the elastic baremetal instance is set as the first boot device in the BIOS.

Image: Select an image to create the elastic baremetal instance. The mainstream x86_64 operating systems and some ARM operating systems are supported. The following table lists the supported OSs.

CPU Infrastructure	Type	Operating System
x86	Windows	Windows 2012 Windows 2016 Windows 2019 Windows 10
x86	Linux	CentOS 7 CentOS 8 Ubuntu 18LTS Ubuntu 20LTS
ARM	Linux	CentOS 7 Kylin V10

Note: When you select an image, note that:

We recommend that you use images with the agent installed. Otherwise, you cannot launch the consoles, modify the password, attach or detach volumes, attach or detach networks, or view monitoring data of an elastic baremetal instance that uses the image.
By default, the BIOS of the image that you can use to create an elastic baremetal instance is in UEFI mode. If you need to use an image whose BIOS is in Legacy mode, contact the official technical support.
If you use a Windows image, we recommend that you choose the network safe mode when you start the elastic baremetal instance for the first time. In this mode, the drives can be automatically loaded, and you can avoid the instance start failure.

Advanced: Configure advanced settings for the elastic baremetal instance.
- Gateway Node Allocation Policy: Optional. The policy that is used to allocate a gateway node when you create an elastic baremetal instance. Default: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy. Valid values: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy, LastGatewayPreferredAllocatorStrategy, and DefaultGatewayAllocatorStrategy.
- First Assigned Gateway Node: Optional. Select a gateway node for the first startup of the elastic baremetal instance. If you do not specify a gateway node, the gateway node selected based on the gateway node allocation policy is used.
  Note: This option takes effect only on the first start-up of the elastic baremetal instance. Afterwards, gateway nodes are assigned based on the gateway node allocation policy.

If you select the Local Disk (Take-Over) startup method, configure the following parameters:
- Advanced: Configure advanced settings for the elastic baremetal instance.
  - Gateway Node Allocation Policy: Optional. The policy that is used to allocate a gateway node when you create an elastic baremetal instance. Default: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy. Valid values: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy, LastGatewayPreferredAllocatorStrategy, and DefaultGatewayAllocatorStrategy.
  - First Assigned Gateway Node: Optional. Select a gateway node for the first startup of the elastic baremetal instance. If you do not specify a gateway node, the gateway node selected based on the gateway node allocation policy is used.
    Note: This option takes effect only on the first start-up of the elastic baremetal instance. Afterwards, gateway nodes are assigned based on the gateway node allocation policy.

If you select Add By Baremetal Offering, set the following parameters:

Baremetal Offering: Select a baremetal offering based on the startup method. Three startup methods are supported: Volume, Local Disk (Non Take-Over), and Local Disk (Take-Over).

If you select the Volume startup method, configure the following parameters:

Quantity: Enter the number of baremetal instances you need to create.
Power Off To Release Baremetal Node: When an elastic baremetal instance is powered off, the associated baremetal node is automatically released and can be used by another elastic baremetal instance. This mechanism avoids resource idling. By default, this feature is disabled.
Note: If you choose to release a baremetal instance upon power-off, note that:
- This feature may change the associated baremetal node. The operating system will clean up business NIC configurations of the elastic baremetal instance. If your resources are sufficient, we recommend that you do not use this feature.
- If you select Add By Baremetal Node and enable this feature, you need to manually select a baremetal node and configure the business NIC when you restart the elastic baremetal instance.
- If you select Add By Baremetal Offering and enable this feature, you do not need to manually select a baremetal node but need to configure the business NIC when you restart the elastic baremetal instance.

Image: Select an image to create the elastic baremetal instance. The mainstream x86_64 operating systems and some ARM operating systems are supported. The following table lists the supported OSs.

CPU Infrastructure	Type	Operating System
x86	Windows	Windows 2012 Windows 2016 Windows 2019 Windows 10
x86	Linux	CentOS 7 CentOS 8 Ubuntu 18LTS Ubuntu 20LTS
ARM	Linux	CentOS 7 Kylin V10

Note: When you select an image, note that:

We recommend that you use images with the agent installed. Otherwise, you cannot launch the consoles, modify the password, attach or detach volumes, attach or detach networks, or view monitoring data of an elastic baremetal instance that uses the image.
By default, the BIOS of the image that you can use to create an elastic baremetal instance is in UEFI mode. If you need to use an image whose BIOS is in Legacy mode, contact the official technical support.
If you use a Windows image, we recommend that you choose the network safe mode when you start the elastic baremetal instance for the first time. In this mode, the drives can be automatically loaded, and you can avoid the instance start failure.

Advanced: Configure advanced settings for the elastic baremetal instance.
- Data Disk Offering: Optional. Select a disk offering for the elastic baremetal instance. If you select a disk offering, a data volume is created and attached to the instance. By default, no disk offering is selected.
- Storage Allocation Policy: Optional. Select a primary storage where the root volume and data volume of elastic baremetal instance reside. Default: Random.You can also manually configure the primary storgae and share the primary storage resources with the KVM clusters on the Cloud.
- Gateway Node Allocation Policy: Optional. The policy that is used to allocate a gateway node when you create an elastic baremetal instance. Default: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy. Valid values: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy, LastGatewayPreferredAllocatorStrategy, and DefaultGatewayAllocatorStrategy.
- First Assigned Gateway Node: Optional. Select a gateway node for the first startup of the elastic baremetal instance. If you do not specify a gateway node, the gateway node selected based on the gateway node allocation policy is used.
  Note: This option takes effect only on the first start-up of the elastic baremetal instance. Afterwards, gateway nodes are assigned based on the gateway node allocation policy.

If you select the Local Disk (Non Take-Over) startup method, configure the following parameters:

Quantity: Enter the number of baremetal instances you need to create.

Image: Select an image to create the elastic baremetal instance. The mainstream x86_64 operating systems and some ARM operating systems are supported. The following table lists the supported OSs.

CPU Infrastructure	Type	Operating System
x86	Windows	Windows 2012 Windows 2016 Windows 2019 Windows 10
x86	Linux	CentOS 7 CentOS 8 Ubuntu 18LTS Ubuntu 20LTS
ARM	Linux	CentOS 7 Kylin V10

Note: When you select an image, note that:

We recommend that you use images with the agent installed. Otherwise, you cannot launch the consoles, modify the password, attach or detach volumes, attach or detach networks, or view monitoring data of an elastic baremetal instance that uses the image.
By default, the BIOS of the image that you can use to create an elastic baremetal instance is in UEFI mode. If you need to use an image whose BIOS is in Legacy mode, contact the official technical support.
If you use a Windows image, we recommend that you choose the network safe mode when you start the elastic baremetal instance for the first time. In this mode, the drives can be automatically loaded, and you can avoid the instance start failure.

Advanced: Configure advanced settings for the elastic baremetal instance.
- Gateway Node Allocation Policy: Optional. The policy that is used to allocate a gateway node when you create an elastic baremetal instance. Default: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy. Valid values: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy, LastGatewayPreferredAllocatorStrategy, and DefaultGatewayAllocatorStrategy.
- First Assigned Gateway Node: Optional. Select a gateway node for the first startup of the elastic baremetal instance. If you do not specify a gateway node, the gateway node selected based on the gateway node allocation policy is used.
  Note: This option takes effect only on the first start-up of the elastic baremetal instance. Afterwards, gateway nodes are assigned based on the gateway node allocation policy.

If you select the Local Disk (Take-Over) startup method, configure the following parameters:
- Quantity: Enter the number of baremetal instances you need to create.
- Advanced: Configure advanced settings for the elastic baremetal instance.
  - Gateway Node Allocation Policy: Optional. The policy that is used to allocate a gateway node when you create an elastic baremetal instance. Default: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy. Valid values: LeastBmPreferredGatewayAllocatorStrategy, LastGatewayPreferredAllocatorStrategy, and DefaultGatewayAllocatorStrategy.
  - First Assigned Gateway Node: Optional. Select a gateway node for the first startup of the elastic baremetal instance. If you do not specify a gateway node, the gateway node selected based on the gateway node allocation policy is used.
    Note: This option takes effect only on the first start-up of the elastic baremetal instance. Afterwards, gateway nodes are assigned based on the gateway node allocation policy.