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In a previous post, I discussed using cloud-init and Multipass as a method of provisioning virtual machines on a local computer with a cloud-like API. Today I am going to dive deeper with Ubuntu and how their autoinstall API can simplify on-premise host provisioning. autoinstall is a tool that allows for unattended installations of Ubuntu, ensuring consistency, reporducibility, and providing automation across a fleet of hosts. In this post I’ll walk through an example of using autoinstall to configure networking, local storage, and demonstrate shell command execution during provisioning. ...

Cloud compute companies like GCP, AWS, or Azure offer a management API for allocating resources. In the on-premise space, services such as Docker or Incus provide APIs for managing containers or virtual machines (VMs). But what about installing the operating system (OS) on bare-metal hosts? What API exists for this task? This is where cloud-init enters the picture, providing the ability to provision VMs or bare-metal hardware. cloud-init is a useful tool that doesn’t rely on network services like PXE as a dependency. Its simplicity saves time by removing the need to navigate OS installation menus, while ensuring user accounts and installed software packages are consistent across hosts. So why should one bother using cloud-init if they are managing a single host at home? In the event the OS needs to be reinstalled due to failure, cloud-init allows one to quickly restore the system to a known state. ...