Glossary¶

Definitions of the Digital Rebar Provision (DRP) terms and abbreviations used throughout this documentation, plus the background the docs assume. It is a reference to level the playing field for readers new to DRP. Terms are grouped the way the RackN portal's left-nav groups them, and each links to the page that is the single source of truth for its full definition — the line beneath is a short gloss for quick scanning. Many of these terms also appear as inline tooltips as you read.

Assumed knowledge¶

This documentation is written for an operator who is comfortable running a Linux server, and it builds on that baseline rather than teaching it. It assumes familiarity with:

The Linux command line, including running commands as root or through sudo.
Installing and troubleshooting a Linux server — managing services (usually systemd), reading logs, file ownership and permissions, and opening ports through a firewall.
Basic networking — IP addresses and subnets, and the roles of DHCP, DNS, and PXE/TFTP in network booting (each defined under Abbreviations below).
For bare-metal provisioning, server out-of-band management — a BMC accessed over IPMI or Redfish (for example iDRAC, iLO, or XCC).

Where a section of the docs assumes more than this, that is a gap worth reporting.

Platform & concepts¶

DRP (Digital Rebar Provision): The infrastructure-automation and bare-metal provisioning platform this documentation describes.
Endpoint: A running dr-provision server that manages machines and serves boot and install content.
Runner: The agent that executes a machine's Tasks and reports Job status back to the endpoint.
Discovery: Network-booting a new machine into Sledgehammer to inventory it and register it as a Machine.
Sledgehammer: DRP's discovery OS — a minimal Linux that runs entirely in RAM and is never installed to disk.
High Availability (HA): An active-passive RAFT-consensus cluster with automated failover; an enterprise-licensed feature.
Universal: The default RackN workflow content — pipelines that perform most common data-center operations.

Resources¶

Machine: A physical or virtual server under management, with an associated Runner.
Cluster: A managed collection of infrastructure treated as a unit, with an associated Runner.
Resource Broker: An interface that allocates and releases infrastructure (cloud or virtual) via pools or external systems.
Pool: An elastic group of Machines with automatic in/out allocation.
Rack: Physical machine placement and equipment manifests.

Networking¶

Subnet: DRP's DHCP configuration for a network range — the address pool, options, and boot settings.
Lease: An IP address the DHCP system has assigned to a client.
Reservation: A permanent DHCP assignment binding a specific client to a fixed IP address.
DNS Zone: A DNS zone served by DRP's DNS server.
IPMI Scan Result: The record of an IPMI/BMC network scan used to find and enroll out-of-band controllers.

Provisioning¶

Boot Environment (BootEnv): The kernel, initrd, and templates DRP serves to network-boot a machine.
Context: A containerized agent in which a Task can run instead of on the target machine or the endpoint.
Param: A typed, validated variable used during template expansion and to control workflow behavior.
Profile: A named, reusable collection of Params applied across machines and other objects.
Template: Reusable text expanded with the Go text/template engine to render files and scripts.
RAID: Hardware RAID configuration applied to a machine's controllers during provisioning.

Automation & control¶

Pipeline: A configuration + workflow chain that drives a machine end-to-end to a desired state.
Workflow: A multi-step (Stage) automation process for configuring a machine.
Stage: A reusable set of Tasks, Params, Profiles, and Templates that a Workflow runs.
Task: The unit of work run within a Stage or Work Order.
Job: The record and logs of a single Task's execution on a Machine.
Classifier: Rules that classify a machine and assign profiles/workflows based on what it reports about itself.
Filter: A saved, reusable expression that selects or groups objects.

Services (day-2)¶

Work Order: An on-demand or scheduled request to run a set of tasks on a resource, after initial provisioning.
Blueprint: A reusable task/param specification that a Work Order runs — an IaC pattern for day-2 operations.
Trigger: Automatically creates Work Orders in response to events, webhooks, or schedules.
Trigger Provider: The interface (timer or external event source) a Trigger uses to fire.
Batch: A group of Work Orders submitted and tracked together.

Multi-site¶

Manager: A DRP endpoint that manages other endpoints as a single control plane.
Version Set: A versioned collection of content, plugins, and configuration assigned to managed endpoints.

Content & catalog¶

Content Pack: A versioned bundle of DRP objects installed and upgraded from a catalog (often just "content").
Catalog: The remote index of content bundles DRP installs, upgrades, and removes content from.
Boot ISO: Installation media used for network booting with BootEnvs.
File: General-purpose file storage DRP serves for automation.
Plugin / Plugin Provider: Binary extensions that add objects and actions; the Provider is installed, a Plugin is a configured instance of it.

Access & security¶

User: An operator login to the system.
Role: A named set of permissions (claims) granted to Users.
Tenant: A group of Users and objects with restricted, scoped access.
Identity Provider: External authentication — SAML, Active Directory, and similar.
UX View: A role-based set of portal UI overrides and behaviors.

Operations, licensing & audit¶

Alert: An operational alert raised for the system.
Activity: A record of an operation performed in the system.
Audit: Log entries recording user and system actions for compliance.
Preference: A global DRP configuration setting.
License: The RackN entitlements that enable licensed features (HA, secure boot, air-gap, and more).
Backup: A saved copy of an endpoint's data used to restore it.

AI¶

AI Agent Session: A saved AI Agent chat session you can view, resume, or remove.
AI Agent Skill: A reusable capability an AI Agent can perform.

Abbreviations¶

AWS: Amazon Web Services.
BMC: Baseboard Management Controller.
DHCP: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
DNS: Domain Name System.
FTP: File Transfer Protocol.
GCE: Google Cloud Engine.
HTML: Hyper Text Markup Language.
IaC: Infrastructure as Code.
iDRAC: integrated Dell Remote Access Controller.
iLO: HPE's Integrated Lights-Out.
IPMI: Intelligent Platform Management Interface.
PXE: Preboot Execution Environment.
RAID: Redundant Array of Independent Disks.
SSO: Single Sign-On.
TFTP: Trivial File Transfer Protocol.
W3C: World Wide Web Consortium.
WSL: Windows Subsystem for Linux.
XCC: Lenovo's Xclarity Controller.