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Provisioning a bare metal server

Use the Edge Services portal to provision Lumen® Edge Bare Metal servers (referred to as an instance in the portal). It takes approximately 30 minutes for a server to be provisioned. Once provisioned, you can view details for bare metal servers, edit information for a bare metal server, or delete bare metal servers you no longer need.

Important: Before you provision a server, you must add your credentials for the instance type (Linux or Windows) in your user profile. At deployment the applicable credentials for the provisioning user are added to the server by default. If you haven't added your credentials for the instance type to your profile, you will be locked out of accessing the server. To add your credentials, follow the instructions below. If you accidentally provision a server before adding your credentials, delete the server, set your credentials, and deploy a new server.

The user needs to add credentials for the instance type (Linux or Windows) in their profile.

At deployment the applicable credentials for the provisioning user are added to the server by default.

If you have yet to add credentials for the instance type (Linux or Windows) to your profile, please do that step now by following the steps below.

Important: Failure to add credentials for the instance type in the user profile will cause you to be locked out of accessing the server.

In the event that you accidentally provision a server prior to adding your credentials, please delete the server, set your credentials, and deploy a new server.

Operating system password requirements

Below are the password requirements, by operating system, as defined by each operating system vendor.

  • There are no password limitations on the clean install of Ubuntu and CentOS, however BAD PASSWORD message will show up while trying to set the password and whenever there is a BAD PASSWORD prompt for the following conditions, user-data script is not able to set the credentials properly and user will not be able to sign in.
  • Password must be minimum eight characters for all operating systems, must include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, a number ,and a special character.
  • Ubuntu 18 and 20—capital letters and email addresses are not allowed as username.
  • CentOS 7.9 and 8.3—email addresses are not allowed, dictionary words can’t be used as a password, and the password cannot contain username in any form.
     

Password requirements for CentOS

  • must be at least eight characters long
  • may contain numbers, letters (uppercase and lowercase), and symbols
  • is case-sensitive and should contain a mix of cases
  • should not be a word, abbreviation, or number associated with you, your organization, or found in a dictionary (including foreign languages)
     

Learn more about CentOS password requirements

Password requirements for Linux/Ubuntu

By default, Ubuntu requires a minimum password length of six characters, as well as some basic entropy checks. These values are controlled in the file /etc/pam.d/common-password and are outlined in the Linux/Ubuntu password guide.

To add your Linux and Windows credentials to your profile:

  1. Sign in to the Edge Services portal.
  1. In the top-right corner of the Edge Services portal, click on your name.
  1. Click User Settings.
  1. Type your Linux and Windows username(s) and password(s).
  1. Press Save.

To provision a bare metal server:

  1. Click Provisioning, then click Instances.

    The Edge Services portal shows the instances (e.g., bare metal servers, virtual machines) created for your organization.
Instances
  1. Click + ADD.

    This begins the process of provisioning a bare metal server.
Provisioning a bare metal server
  1. Select the operating system for the server, then click NEXT.

Note: For operating systems (OSs) that have a licensing fee the cost will be displayed in the portal prior to purchase. Currently, only free, open-source operating systems are available. Additional OSs will be made available in future releases and supporting documentation will be provided regarding how licensing costs are billed.

  1. Instance Summary. In this section, you will see multiple fields:

    • Group
      -Required field, pre-populated, no cost
      Currently, the only Group option available, Lumen Edge Computing Solutions, is pre-filled.
      As the platform evolves, you will have more group options to choose from.

    • Name
      -Required field, free text, no cost
      Name the servers as you see fit.

    • Environment
      -Required field, list, no cost
      Choose which environment they want the server to be hosted.
      The environment provides segmentation of server groups across environments.
      The Environments section is where you create and manage your environment labels, which are available in the environment list during instance or app provisioning.
      An instance’s environment label can be changed by editing the instance.

    • Label
      -Required field, free text, no cost
      You can add labels to the servers as you see fit.
      Labels provide a way to manage, report, or group servers.
Create Instance (showing Group tab)
  1. Configuration Options. In this section, you will see multiple fields. Once you have made selections for the required fields, review them for accuracy and click NEXT to proceed to the next steps. Note, there are some prerequisites and actions you must take for some fields below. Read this section carefully before moving on to step 7.
Create Instance (showing Configure tab)

The below section outlines the purpose of each field in the image above.

  • Version
    -Required field, list, cost based on OS
    Choose the version of the operating system you selected in step 4.

  • Layout
    -Required field, pre-populated, cost based on OS
    This field is pre-populated with the operating system you selected in step 4.

  • Plan
    -Required field, list, cost based on server configuration
    Use this field to select your bare metal server configurations.

Important: Currently, there are three server configurations available. Additional configurations will be available in future releases. View server configuration capacity per site.
For estimated costing of server configuration, use the Edge Price Estimator.
Under the plan field, the server configuration selection and the cost associated will populate. (e.g., Cores: 32; Memory: 768 GB; Price: $3,708.00 / Month)

  • Volumes
    -Required field, pre-populated
    This field shows the storage volumes for the related server plan selected.

Important: During provisioning only the primary disk on a bare metal server is preconfigured to give the user more control over the volume configuration. All additional disks are left in a raw state for configuration as you see fit.

  • Location
    -Required field, list, cost based on location selection
    Use this field to select which Lumen Edge data center you want to deploy your bare metal server in. To estimate the cost of the various locations where Edge Bare Metal is available, use the Edge Price Estimator.

  • Bandwidth
    Use this field to select your network bandwidth.

  • User Config
    -Required field, pre-populated, no cost
    This field applies the user configuration for access to the server.
     
  • Advanced Options
    -Optional fields, free text, no costs
    These fields are discretionary for you to use as you see fit.
  1. Automation > Lifecycle (Currently, this section is not functional. Click NEXT to proceed.)
  1. Review your selections for accuracy. This is the final screen to review all your selections from the previous steps. Once you click COMPLETE, the server begins provisioning. (To make a change to your selections, use the PREVIOUS button to go back and make changes.)
Create Instance (showing Review tab)
  1. To make multiple copies of the bare metal server, click Options, then use the COPIES field to type or select the number of copies you want to create. The copies will be built exactly as the original, with the same name but with “copy 1, copy 2” appended. You can then rename the copied servers as needed.
  1. When you have made your selections, reviewed them for accuracy and are ready to provision your server(s), click COMPLETE to provision your server(s) and start billing for services. Any billable components appear on the review screen.

    Once you click COMPLETE, your bare metal server begins to provision. The Edge Services portal shows a live tracker with the progression of your server build and an estimated completion time. On average, server configurations take up to 30 minutes to build. Once your bare metal server is active, you will receive an email alert.

    After the server is built, billing starts. You can manage your server by going to the INSTANCES section of your dashboard.

    Learn how to manage bare metal servers

Need help?

  • Access our knowledge base (this library) from the Edge Services portal by click Support, then Knowledge Base (in the upper-right corner).

  • For immediate live support (24/7), use the Chat with an Expert button in the bottom-right corner of the portal.

  • Prefer to contact us another way? Learn about additional support options for Edge Bare Metal