RackConnect Power Users Guide

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Applies to: RackConnect v2.0

This document is meant to be used by RackConnect "power users." Power
users typically use the API to build new servers and must be able to
create large numbers of servers quickly. For power users, the time it
takes to create many servers is important, thus build times and
build success rates are key success measurements.

How to increase build success rates

  1. Create servers in batches—A RackConnect configuration represents a
    deployment of the RackConnect solution. The configuration is composed
    of your Edge and Connected physical network devices, with one or
    more cloud accounts that you associate with the configuration. A single
    RackConnect configuration can support up to 200 cloud servers based
    on network device.

We recommend that you create no more than 20 Windows servers or 30 Linux servers at a time. It is best to create all 20 or 30 simultaneously, rather than issuing the API call to create one, waiting for a while, and then issuing the command for the next. If you need to build more than 20 or 30 servers, wait until the first batch is complete before starting the next batch. RackConnect has an API that you can use to determine when the last server is fully deployed. More information about how to determine the RackConnect automation status for cloud servers is available at Programmatically determine the RackConnect automation status of your cloud servers.

  1. Test the image—After the basic cloud server build has completed,
    RackConnect logs in to the newly created server and performs some
    configuration changes. For RackConnect v2.0 customers, the automation
    creates a RackConnect "user", disables the public interface,
    reconfigures the private interface so that it can connect to your
    dedicated environment, and configures the software firewall according to
    your network policies. If you are not using a standard Rackspace image
    that has been verified to work with RackConnect, there are a number of
    configuration changes that could be made that might prevent RackConnect
    automation from running successfully. For example, images that have SSH
    disabled, have SSH configured for a non-standard port, or prevent root
    login via SSH fail to build correctly. For more information about image
    configuration, see RackConnect best
    practices
    .

  2. Allow Rackspace automation to complete—If you are running your own
    automation scripts after the cloud server build is complete, be sure to
    allow all Rackspace automation to complete before running your scripts.
    If your automation and Rackspace automation run at the same time, one or both might fail. For customers with a Managed Operations
    service level, there are two automation passes that Rackspace
    runs: one for RackConnect and one for the Managed Operations servers. If
    you are not a Managed Operations service level customer, you need
    to wait only for the RackConnect automation to complete before running your
    own. To programmatically determine when Rackspace automation is complete, see Programmatically determine the
    RackConnect automation status of your cloud
    servers

  3. Build cloud servers in the correct region—Ensure that you create
    your cloud servers in the same region as your RackConnect configuration.
    For example, if your dedicated environment is in the Rackspace DFW
    region, build any cloud servers you want to connect to RackConnect
    in the same region. Servers built in a different region will not be
    accessible from your dedicated environment.

How to decrease build times

Use manual disk mode. The Rackspace Cloud Servers API has an extension called diskConfig that enables you to control how the cloud server disk is partitioned when servers are created, rebuilt, or resized. There are two modes: manual and auto.

  • Auto: The server is built with a single partition the size of the
    target disk. The file system is automatically adjusted to fit the
    entire partition. AUTO is
    valid only for images and servers with a single partition that use
    the EXT3 file system. This is the default setting for applicable
    Rackspace base images.
  • Manual: The server is built using whatever partition scheme and file
    system is in the source image. If the target disk is larger, the
    remaining disk space is left unpartitioned. This enables images to
    have non-EXT3 file systems, multiple partitions, and so on, and
    enables you to manage the disk configuration.

Manual disk mode creates a 20 GB partition for the OS. Unless you need
more than 20 GB of space, use manual mode because it decreases
the server build time significantly. If necessary, you can extend the partition
manually post-build.