MetalSoft

A MetalSoft resource handler connects Cloud Management Platform (CMP) to MetalSoft and provisions physical servers from its server types and OS templates

  3 minute read  

Each imported MetalSoft data center becomes a CMP environment. For each order, CMP deploys one server of the chosen type into an existing or new MetalSoft infrastructure. MetalSoft provisions physical servers only.

Before you begin

  • A MetalSoft user for CMP, with its email address and API key.
  • Network access from CMP to the MetalSoft API.

Add a MetalSoft resource handler

  1. Go to Admin > Resource Handlers, select Add, then select MetalSoft.
  2. Complete the credentials fields described below, then select Continue. CMP checks the connection, including that the API User Email belongs to the API key.
  3. Enter a Name, and optionally a Description and VM Names to Ignore, then select Done.
  4. On the handler’s Overview tab, select Verify Connection at any time to check the connection.
Field Description
IP address The host name or IP address of the MetalSoft controller.
Protocol Usually https. The dialog opens with http; change it.
Port The MetalSoft API port. The dialog opens with 443.
API User Email The email address of the MetalSoft user for CMP.
API Key That user’s API key. The API key includes the user ID before the colon; enter it in full. If the password vault feature is enabled, this field offers Locally Stored or Vault Managed. Select Vault Managed to read the secret from a configured vault provider. See Use password vaults.
Admin API Connection Info Optional. A Connection Info record holding a MetalSoft administrator’s email address and API key. Only records tagged metalsoft are listed.
SSL Verification Whether CMP verifies the MetalSoft controller’s SSL certificate.

Import data centers

A new handler has no environments until you import a data center. CMP creates one environment for each selected data center, named after the handler and the data center, for example (MetalSoft) ab-br-c1.

  1. On the handler, open the Datacenters tab and select Import Datacenter.
  2. Select data centers, then select Import selected endpoints.

To add another environment for an imported data center, select the plus icon beside it and select Create.

Import templates

An environment cannot provision until an OS template is imported and linked to it.

  1. On the handler, open the Templates tab and select Import Templates.
  2. Select templates, then select Import selected Templates.
  3. In the OS Build Environments column, select the edit icon for a template, choose the environments that may use it, then select Save changes.

Order a MetalSoft server

CMP creates the following parameters when a MetalSoft resource handler is saved. The order form offers these along with the OS template.

Parameter Description
Server Type Required. The MetalSoft server type to deploy. The options are the server types available in the environment’s data center, shown with their processor.
Reserved Server Type When selected, Server Type lists only the server types that have unused reservations.
Infrastructure Required. The MetalSoft infrastructure to deploy the server into: an existing infrastructure in the data center, or —– Auto Create Infrastructure —– to create a new one named after the server.

MetalSoft allows one active deployment per infrastructure, so an order into an infrastructure that is still deploying fails. Wait for the deployment to finish, then order again. The server’s hostname must not already be in use as a label in MetalSoft.

  • Environments: what CMP creates for each data center you import.
  • Use password vaults: store passwords in HashiCorp Vault, CyberArk, Keeper, AWS Secrets Manager, or Azure Key Vault.