Elastic Baremetal Management

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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 way, it avoids virtualization overheads and allows flexible use of cloud resources and physical resources, thus promoting the availability of cloud resources. You can use this feature to deploy applications for 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 with 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 with the elastic baremetal instances 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.
- The management node must be connected to the IPMI network to remotely manage baremetal nodes.
- Baremetal nodes must be configured with the BMC interface, IPMI address, port, username, and password, 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 based on the baremetal node or 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.
- After you obtain the hardware information of a baremetal node on the UI, you can obtain the corresponding elastic baremetal offering. The Cloud allows you to manage baremetal nodes of the same elastic baremetal offering in a unified way.
- 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:
  - For elastic baremetal instances of both the volume startup method and local disk startup method, baremetal nodes provide compute resources and L3 networks on the Cloud are used as the business networks.
  - For elastic baremetal instances of the volume startup method, SharedBlock or Ceph primary storages on the Cloud provide storage resources and the provision network provides support for PXE boot.
  - For elastic baremetal instances of local disk startup method, the local disks of the instances provide storage resources. If you attach data volumes to the instances, SharedBlock or Ceph primary storages on the Cloud also provides storage resources
- We recommend that you create an elastic baremetal instance by using an image that has installed the agent. 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.
- 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 with the elastic baremetal instances can access each other without using the gateway.
- Elastic baremetal instances of the volume startup method allow you to release the associated baremetal node upon instance power-off. If you enable this feature, when an elastic baremetal instance of the volume startup method is powered off, the associated baremetal node is automatically released and can be used by another elastic baremetal instance. This mechanism avoids 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:
In supercomputing, genome sequencing, and other high-performance computing scenarios, the requirements over the computing performance, stability, and timeliness of the server are very high. The Baremetal Management feature is fitting for these scenarios. In addition, the feature can be used for scenarios that require high throughput or high computing performance that can accommodate changing access requests and scenarios. Virtualization and hyperthreading may compromise some performance. Deploying a reasonable number of baremetal clusters can meet 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.

Considerations

When you use the Elastic Baremetal Management feature, note that:

The server that you use as a baremetal node must have at least one PXE boot NIC used for network management. Make sure the first port of the first NIC of the server is used as the provision NIC.
You can use x86 servers and Kunpeng and other China localized mainstream ARM servers as baremetal nodes.
You can use x86 servers as gateway nodes. If you use an ARM server as a baremetal node, you need to add ARM repos for gateway nodes.
Physical network environments include management network, storage network, provision network, IPMI network, and business network. The provision network requires high performance. We recommend that you configure a 10-Gigabit network.
To avoid DHCP conflict, make sure that you do not configure an additional DHCP service.
You can use a flat network, public network, and VPC network as a business network.
Windows-based elastic baremetal instances only support L2 networks of the NoVLAN type.
You need to install the agent or relevant dependency packages on the elastic baremetal image. Otherwise, some features of elastic baremetal instances cannot work as expected.
You can use a Shared Block primary storage and Ceph Enterprise primary storage for elastic baremetal instances. Note that the version of Ceph Enterprise must be later than 4.2.0.300.
If you use a Ceph Enterprise primary storage, you need to login to the Ceph Enterprise management node, choose Setting > Access Token, and obtain an access token generated by using the admin account. Then you need to add the access token when you add a Ceph primary storage.
Note: Make sure that the license of the Ceph Enterprise storage is valid.

Figure 1. Obtain Access Token

Figure 2. Add Ceph Enterprise Primary Storage

The following table describes the limits on the primary storage that you can attach to an elastic baremetal cluster.

Table 1. Relationship of Elastic Baremetal Cluster and Primary Storage
Primary Storage	Elastic Baremetal Cluster
Ceph	You can attach only one Ceph primary storage to an elastic baremetal cluster.
Shared Block	You can attach one or more Shared Block primary storage to an elastic baremetal cluster.
Ceph + Shared Block	You can attach one Ceph primary storage (excluding Ceph Enterprise) and one or more Shared Block primary storage to an elastic baremetal cluster.

You can install mainstream x86 operating systems (OSs) and some ARM OSs on elastic baremetal instances.

Table 2. Operating Systems
CPU Architecture	OS Type	OS
x86	Windows	Windows 2012 Windows 2016 Windows 2019
x86	Linux	CentOS 7 CentOS 8 Ubuntu 18LTS Ubuntu 20LTS
ARM	Linux	CentOS 7 Kylin V10

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 the relationship between the 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 storages 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 with 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. A name can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), parenthesis (), colons (:), and plus signs (+).
- Description: Optional. Enter a description for the provision network.
- NIC: Enter the name of the NIC in the provision network. The NIC name must be consistent with the NIC name in the actual deployment environment.
  Note:
  
  Make sure that the first NIC of the server is connected to the provision network. Otherwise, baremetal nodes cannot be started.
  
  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 with the elastic baremetal instances 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. A name can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), parenthesis (), colons (:), and plus signs (+).
- 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.
- The management node must be connected to the IPMI network to remotely manage baremetal nodes.
- Baremetal nodes must be configured with the BMC interface, IPMI address, port, username, and password, 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 based on the baremetal node or baremetal offering.
On the displayed page, set the following parameters:
- Name: Set a name for the baremetal node. A name can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), parenthesis (), colons (:), and plus signs (+).
- 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.
- Startup 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 took-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 consistent with each other.
  
  Password: Enter the password of the IPMI username. Make sure that the passwords of the IPMI range are consistent with each other.
- Obtain Hardware Information: Reboot the baremetal node and obtain hardware information. By default, the switch is turned off.
  Note: If you add a new baremetal node, you must turn on the switch 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 want to add an access token for the ZStack Ceph Enterprise storage, you need to login to the management node of the ZStack Ceph Enterprise storage as the admin in advance, choose Setting (icon) > Access Token, and obtain an access token of th 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
- Make sure that the NIC name of the L2 network is consistent with the NIC name of the gateway node.

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:
- For elastic baremetal instances of both the volume startup method and local disk startup method, baremetal nodes provide compute resources and L3 networks on the Cloud are used as the business networks.
- For elastic baremetal instances of the volume startup method, SharedBlock or Ceph primary storages on the Cloud provide storage resources and the provision network provides support for PXE boot.
- For elastic baremetal instances of local disk startup method, the local disks of the instances provide storage resources. If you attach data volumes to the instances, SharedBlock or Ceph primary storages on the Cloud also provides storage resources
We recommend that you create an elastic baremetal instance by using an image that has installed the agent. 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.
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 with the elastic baremetal instances can access each other without using the gateway.
Elastic baremetal instances of the volume startup method allow you to release the associated baremetal node upon instance power-off. If you enable this feature, when an elastic baremetal instance of the volume startup method is powered off, the associated baremetal node is automatically released and can be used by another elastic baremetal instance. This mechanism avoids resource idling.

On the displayed page, set the following parameters:

Name: Set a name for the elastic baremetal instance. A name can contain Chinese characters, letters, digits, hyphens (-), underscores (_), periods (.), parenthesis (), colons (:), and plus signs (+).
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 Architecture	OS
x86	Windows 2012 Windows 2016 Windows 2019 Ubuntu 18 LTS Ubuntu 20 LTS CentOS 8
ARM	Kylin V10 CentOS 7

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.

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, a disk offering is not selected.
- Storage Allocation Policy: Optional. Select a primary storage where the root volume and data volume of elastic baremetal instance reside. Default: Random.
- 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 Architecture	OS
x86	Windows 2012 Windows 2016 Windows 2019 Ubuntu 18 LTS Ubuntu 20 LTS CentOS 8
ARM	Kylin V10 CentOS 7

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.

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 Architecture	OS
x86	Windows 2012 Windows 2016 Windows 2019 Ubuntu 18 LTS Ubuntu 20 LTS CentOS 8
ARM	Kylin V10 CentOS 7

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.

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, a disk offering is not selected.
- Storage Allocation Policy: Optional. Select a primary storage where the root volume and data volume of elastic baremetal instance reside. Default: Random.
- 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 Architecture	OS
x86	Windows 2012 Windows 2016 Windows 2019 Ubuntu 18 LTS Ubuntu 20 LTS CentOS 8
ARM	Kylin V10 CentOS 7

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.

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.

Figure 8. Create Elastic Baremetal Instance

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