ServerMaintenance

ServerMaintenance represents a maintenance operation for a physical server. It transitions a Server from its current operational state (e.g., Available/Reserved) into a Maintenance state. Each ServerMaintenance object tracks the lifecycle of a maintenance task, ensuring servers are properly taken offline, updated, and restored.

Key Points

• ServerMaintenance is namespaced and may represent various maintenance operations.
• Only one ServerMaintenance can be active per Server at a time. Others remain pending.
• When the active ServerMaintenance completes, the next pending one (if any) starts.
• If no more maintenance tasks are pending, the Server returns to its previous operational state.
• policy determines how maintenance starts:
  • OwnerApproval: Requires a label (e.g., ok-to-maintenance: "true") on the ServerClaim.
  • Enforced: Does not require owner approval.

Workflow

1. A separate operator (e.g., foo-maintenance-operator) or user creates a ServerMaintenance resource referencing a specific Server.
2. If a Server is claimed, a label metal.ironcore.dev/maintanence-needed: "true" is added to the ServerClaim.
3. If policy is OwnerApproval and no ok-to-maintenance label is set on the ServerClaim, the ServerMaintenance stays in Pending. The Server also remains unchanged.
4. If policy is OwnerApproval and the ok-to-maintenance label is present (or if alwaysPerformMaintenance is enabled), or if the policy is Enforced, the metal-operator transitions the Server into Maintenance and updates the ServerMaintenance state accordingly.
5. The ServerMaintenanceReconciler creates a ServerBootConfiguration out of the ServerMaintenance's ServerBootConfigurationTemplate and applies it to the Server. The power state of the Server can set by providing the ServerPower field in the ServerMaintenance object. Once the maintenance task is complete, the maintenance operator sets the ServerMaintenance state to Completed.
6. (optional) In case no ServerBootConfigurationTemplate is provided, the maintenance operator powers off the Server, applies a ServerBootConfiguration (if needed), performs the maintenance, and sets ServerMaintenance to Completed.
7. The metal-operator transitions the Server back to its prior state. If additional ServerMaintenance objects are pending, the next one is processed.

Example

apiVersion: metal.ironcore.dev/v1alpha1
kind: ServerMaintenance
metadata:
  name: bios-update
  namespace: ops
  annotations:
    metal.ironcore.dev/reason: "BIOS update"
spec:
  policy: OwnerApproval
  serverRef:
    name: server-foo
  serverPower: On # or Off
  serverBootConfigurationTemplate:
    name: bios-update-config
    spec:
      image: "bios-update-image"
      serverRef:
        name: server-foo
      ignitionSecretRef:
        name: bios-update-ignition

If policy: OwnerApproval and no ok-to-maintenance label exists on the ServerClaim, this ServerMaintenance remains Pending, and the Server stays as is. Once the label is added (or if the operator setting alwaysPerformMaintenance is enabled), the metal-operator transitions the Server to Maintenance, and the maintenance operator performs the maintenance task.