Bare metal provisioning of software defined infrastructure

1. A method of operating a computer system, comprising:

sending, at a first baseboard management controller (BMC) of the computer system, hardware information of a first host of the first BMC, wherein the first host is a bare-metal machine without an operating system (OS) and including an installation agent;

receiving, at the first BMC, information of at least one program for installation on the first host, wherein the at least one program includes an OS image and one or more software packages;

emulating, by the first BMC, a media device to the first host;

requesting, by the first BMC, the first host to install the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program provided through the emulated media device; and

transferring, by the first BMC, the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program to the first host through the emulated media device, wherein the installation agent on the bare-metal machine installs the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program on the bare-metal machine to build, on the first host as the bare-metal machine, a target machine in a network of machines.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transferring the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program to the first host comprises:

redirecting the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program located on a remote device to the first host through the emulated media device.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

discovering, at a first device of the computer system and remote to the first BMC and the first host, the first BMC on a communication link out-of-band of the network of machines; and

requesting, by the first device, the first BMC to send hardware information of the first host of the first BMC.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

receiving, at the first device, the hardware information of the first host of the first BMC;

selecting, at the first device based on the received hardware information, the at least one program from a repository;

sending, by the first device, information of the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program to the first BMC; and

requesting, by the first device, the first BMC to redirect the at least one program to the first host.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first BMC is one of a plurality of BMCs discovered out-of-band by the first device, the method further comprising:

receiving, at the first device, hardware information of a host of each of the plurality of BMCs other than the first BMC;

obtaining information of a type of the target machine to be added in the network of machines; and

selecting, based on the type of the target machine and hardware information of the hosts of the plurality of BMCs, the first host from the hosts of the plurality of BMCs to build the target machine, wherein the target machine is built by the installing the at least one program on the first host.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising adding the target machine built on the first host to the network of machines.

7. A computer system, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

send, at a first baseboard management controller (BMC) of the computer system, hardware information of a first host of the first BMC, wherein the first host is a bare-metal machine without an operating system (OS) and including an installation agent;

receive, at the first BMC, information of at least one program for installation on the first host, wherein the at least one program includes an OS image and one or more software packages;

emulate, by the first BMC, a media device to the first host;

request, by the first BMC, the first host to install the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program provided through the emulated media device; and

transfer, by the first BMC, the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program to the first host through the emulated media device, wherein the installation agent on the bare-metal machine installs the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program on the bare-metal machine to build, on the first host as the bare-metal machine, a target machine in a network of machines.

8. The computer system of claim 7 , wherein to transfer the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program to the first host, the at least one processor is further configured to:

redirect the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program located on a remote device to the first host through the emulated media device.

9. The computer system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

discover, at a first device of the computer system and remote to the first BMC and the first host, the first BMC on a communication link out-of-band of the network of machines; and

request, by the first device, the first BMC to send hardware information of the first host of the first BMC.

10. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive, at the first device, the hardware information of the first host of the first BMC;

select, at the first device based on the received hardware information, the at least one program from a repository;

send, by the first device, information of the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program to the first BMC; and

request, by the first device, the first BMC to redirect the at least one program to the first host.

11. The computer system of claim 9 , wherein the first BMC is one of a plurality of BMCs discovered out-of-band by the first device, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive, at the first device, hardware information of a host of each of the plurality of BMCs other than the first BMC;

obtain information of a type of the target machine to be added in the network of machines; and

select, based on the type of the target machine and hardware information of the hosts of the plurality of BMCs, the first host from the hosts of the plurality of BMCs to build the target machine, wherein the target machine is built by the installing the at least one program on the first host.

12. The computer system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to add the target machine built on the first host to the network of machines.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code for operating a computer system, comprising code to:

send, at a first baseboard management controller (BMC) of the computer system, hardware information of a first host of the first BMC, wherein the first host is a bare-metal machine without an operating system (OS) and including an installation agent;

receive, at the first BMC, information of at least one program for installation on the first host, wherein the at least one program includes an OS image and one or more software packages;

emulate, by the first BMC, a media device to the first host;

request, by the first BMC, the first host to install the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program provided through the emulated media device; and

transfer, by the first BMC, the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program to the first host through the emulated media device, wherein the installation agent on the bare-metal machine installs the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program on the bare-metal machine to build, on the first host as the bare-metal machine, a target machine in a network of machines.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein to transfer the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program to the first host, the code is further configured to:

redirect the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program located on a remote device to the first host through the emulated media device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the code is further configured to:

discover, at a first device of the computer system and remote to the first BMC and the first host, the first BMC on a communication link out-of-band of the network of machines; and

request, by the first device, the first BMC to send hardware information of the first host of the first BMC.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the code is further configured to:

receive, at the first device, the hardware information of the first host of the first BMC;

select, at the first device based on the received hardware information, the at least one program from a repository;

send, by the first device, information of the OS image and the one or more software packages of the at least one program to the first BMC; and

request, by the first device, the first BMC to redirect the at least one program to the first host.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the first BMC is one of a plurality of BMCs discovered out-of-band by the first device, wherein the code is further configured to:

receive, at the first device, hardware information of a host of each of the plurality of BMCs other than the first BMC;

obtain information of a type of the target machine to be added in the network of machines;

select, based on the type of the target machine and hardware information of the hosts of the plurality of BMCs, the first host from the hosts of the plurality of BMCs to build the target machine, wherein the target machine is built by the installing the at least one program on the first host; and

add the target machine built on the first host to the network of machines.