The Provisioner project aims to develop a comprehensive provisioning sharing application for common u-boot based boards. This application is designed to be self-contained, providing a seamless experience for efficiently managing and provisioning resources.
Key functionalities of the final tool are outlined below:
The application takes ownership of the serial connection to the serial console of the board and extends access externally through SSH.
A control plane accessible through SSH is implemented, serving as a CLI for board management. Additionally, it facilitates various utilities, including power management controls for the board.
Incorporates a TFTP service within the application to facilitate efficient provisioning of kernel images. This service ensures seamless transfer and deployment of kernel images to the respective boards.
Integration of a per-user HTTP service dedicated to serving binary artifacts such as root file system (rootfs) images, kernel images, and device trees. This service enhances accessibility and facilitates the distribution of essential resources required for board provisioning.
Implementation of integration with Google Calendar to enable access control and reservations. This functionality ensures efficient resource allocation and scheduling, enhancing the overall management of board provisioning processes.
Crafts a kernel image that embeds the initram equipped with scripts capable of flashing a new kernel image and/or rootfs image, driven by kernel arguments.
The successful implementation of these features will result in a robust provisioning sharing application tailored specifically for common u-boot based boards. This tool will streamline provisioning processes, enhance accessibility, and improve overall management efficiency.
The final product is meant to interact with the board using expect-based scripts and a companion application acting as an init Linux prepared to act as a flasher agent within the board.