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Join Up Architecture

Overview

The "Join Up" process enables existing machines—regardless of their initial provisioning method—to be integrated into Digital Rebar Provision (DRP) management. This approach is essential for brownfield environments, where machines are already deployed and cannot be reprovisioned via PXE or automated workflows.

Purpose

Join Up provides a mechanism for machines (Linux, Windows, ESXi) to self-register with a DRP endpoint. This registration process collects hardware, network, and OS inventory, and ensures the machine is represented as a managed resource within DRP. The process is designed to be secure, repeatable, and platform-agnostic.

Architectural Flow

  1. Join-up Script:
    The target machine downloads a platform-specific join-up script from the DRP endpoint. This script is available for Linux (join-up.sh), Windows (join-up.ps1), and (planned) ESXi.

  2. Execution:
    The script is executed with administrative privileges on the target machine. It requires network access to the DRP API and files service.

  3. Machine Registration:

  4. The script gathers system inventory (hardware, network, OS).
  5. It registers the machine with DRP via the API, creating a new machine record if one does not already exist.

  6. Metadata such as created-by-join-up is set to distinguish manually joined systems.

  7. Workflow Assignment:
    Upon registration, the machine is assigned a workflow as defined by the DRP defaultJoinUpWorkflow preference. The boot environment is set to local to prevent system modification.

  8. Post-Registration State:
    The machine is now fully managed by DRP. Administrators can assign additional profiles, parameters, or workflows as needed.

Design Considerations

  • Security:
    The join-up process assumes trust in the operator executing the script and administrative priveleges on the machine executing the script.

  • Idempotency:
    Running the join-up script multiple times on the same machine will not create duplicate records; the process is designed to be safe for repeated execution.

When to Use Join Up

Use Join Up When:

Adding pre-installed machines into DRP management without reprovisioning when PXE-based automated discovery workflows are impractical due to network or operational constraints.