notes/Reqs.txt

   1 # General
   2
   3 Single-board computer running full GNU/Linux (any with USB / GPIO should work).
   4
   5 Dedicated Ethernet port for that SBC; connect over SSH the usual way. (Our code doesn't need to worry about authentication nor encryption).
   6
   7 Serial ports. Lots and lots of serial ports.
   8
   9 To manage an entire fleet by the same board, external USB->serial multiplexing adaptors can be used, so we can have e.g. 5 serial ports (5 servers) on the same port.
  10
  11 For power output and similar tasks, connect like a switch using the board GPIO. For a small number of servers, we can wire up directly to the board GPIO; for a larger number, I imagine USB->GPIO adaptors exist.
  12
  13 ---
  14
  15 # End deliverable
  16
  17 Instructions for setting up a generic GNU/Linux single-board computer for managament purposes. A standard headless Debian system should suffice as a base. Serial management is done with `screen`. A system for mapping human server names to TTY/GPIO numbers is setup (trivial), plus a simple script for sysadmin-friendly power management will be written, so instead of `echo 0 > /sys/class/gpio/gpio10/etc`, it's `libremanage web2 shutdown` on the machine.