In today’s world, agile and infrastructure management is paramount. Private companies and Federal Government/DoD organizations are always on the hunt for flexible, scalable, and cost-effective solutions. Enter Federal Frontier’s FleetEdge, a combination of low power and compact ARM64-based hardware and cloud-native software. Leveraging the power of Canonical’s MAAS, FleetEdge uses ARM64 NXP Layerscape LX2160a servers to create robust Kubernetes clusters on the edge. The FleetEdge hardware is available in regular, rugged, or ruggedized form factors in a short-depth 1u chassis.
Here’s a deeper dive into this transformative approach.
A Brief Introduction
FleetEdge: Software developed by Eupraxia Labs that facilitates the transformation of multiple Systems-on-a-Chip ( SoC)/Servers into bare metal or virtualized Kubernetes clusters. Using the power of Cluster API (CAPI)) at its heart, it streamlines the edge node provisioning process while ensuring optimized performance.
ARM64 NXP Layerscape LX2160a SoC/Servers: High-performance, efficient servers designed for a variety of applications, especially suitable for the cloud-native ecosystems.
Canonical’s MAAS (Metal as a Service): A dynamic tool for automating bare metal server provisioning and infrastructure management.
How It Works
1. MAAS Takes the First Step: When an ARM64 NXP Layerscape LX2160a SoC/Server is connected to a MAAS-enabled network, MAAS springs into action. Through a PXE boot process, the SoC/Server is quickly discovered, commissioned and prepared for deployment.
2. Transformation by FleetEdge: Post-MAAS commissioning, FleetEdge infrastructure and Kuberntes cluster creation processes takes over. With the Cluster API (CAPI) infrastructure provider for bare metal and selectable Kubernetes distributions , FleetEdge rapidly turns the server into a Kubernetes cluster for edge processing.
3. Network Integration with Calico: One of the challenges in setting up Kubernetes is networking. FleetEdge uses Kubernetes Calico networking and network policy rules to ensure seamless communication between pods across the cluster and network policies to produce a Zero Trust solution.
4. Comprehensive Storage, Monitoring, and Alerting: FleetEdge doesn’t stop at merely setting up a cluster. It goes many steps further by integrating storage solutions, monitoring tools, and alerting systems to ensure the cluster’s optimal performance and reliability.
5. Federal Frontier’s Terraform Scripts: To bring everything full circle, Federal Frontier employs Terraform scripts during the FleetEdge Node provisioning process. Terraform, an infrastructure-as-code (IaC) software tool, enables admins to define and provision data center infrastructure seamlessly. These scripts allow for the automatic setup, modification, and versioning of infrastructure safely and efficiently.
6. Immutable OS: Optionally, Immutable OSes are available for selection on the edge for the SoC/Servers as well as for any virtual machine (VM) workload on the FleetEdge Nodes.
7. Linkerd Service Mesh: Linkerd provides FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptographic operations for end-to-end encryption, including Mutual TLS (mTLS), with its highly secure sidecar (Rust-based Micro-Proxy). This contributes heavily to the Zero Trust solution for the Edge.
The Big Advantages
• Streamlined Process: With FleetEdge on MAAS, setting up Kubernetes clusters is no longer a complex, multi-step process. From server provisioning to cluster deployment, everything is handled with precision and efficiency.
• Optimized Performance: The combination of ARM64 NXP Layerscape LX2160a servers and FleetEdge ensures that clusters run at peak performance, effectively handling any workload thrown their way.
• Scalability: As your infrastructure needs grow, scaling becomes a breeze. Adding additional SoC/Servers to the cluster, or even setting up new clusters, is straightforward.
• Cost-Efficient: Through automation and the efficient use of resources, organizations can achieve significant cost savings, both in terms of operational costs and reduced downtime.
• High-Availability (HA): The FleetEdge nodes are fully redundant with multiple power supplies and multiple internal high-speed switches. A failure of any SoC/Server in the node will be fully recoverable by having Kubernetes starting up any failed services on remaining SoC/Servers.
Wrapping It Up
In an era where agility, scalability, and efficiency are not just buzzwords but critical business and mission needs, solutions like Federal Frontier’s FleetEdge powered by Canonical MAAS are pivotal. By harnessing the combined power of MAAS, ARM64 servers, Kubernetes, Calico networking and network policy management, Linkerd, and Terraform, Federal Frontier is truly shaping the future of infrastructure management.