Quick start

If you have installed the dependencies described in section Dependencies, you are ready to deploy a DISCOS environment.

Clone the repository

Download the DISCOS deployment repository:

$ git clone git@github.com:discos/deployment.git
$ cd deployment

Note

Authentication to GitHub requires a valid SSH key.

Install the package

Install Python dependencies:

$ pip install -r requirements.txt

Install the deployment package:

$ python setup.py install

Alternatively:

$ python setup.py install --user
$ source ~/.bashrc

Deployment model

The deployment procedure is handled by the discos-deploy script.

It uses Ansible to configure a set of target machines. These machines can be:

• physical machines

• virtual machines

• Docker containers

The same procedure is applied in all cases.

Command syntax

The discos-deploy command has the following form:

discos-deploy <target>:<environment> [options]

Where:

• <target> is a machine or a cluster

• <environment> identifies the Ansible inventory

Common options include:

• --docker: use Docker containers

• --no-vagrant: deploy on existing machines

• --branch / --tag: select DISCOS version

• --station: required in development environments

Provision a development environment

Docker-based deployment (recommended)

The recommended way to deploy a development environment is using Docker:

$ discos-deploy manager:development --docker

This command will:

• create a Docker container

• configure networking

• inject SSH keys

• apply the full Ansible configuration

This approach provides fast and reproducible environments and is suitable for development and testing.

Virtual machine deployment

You can also deploy the environment using virtual machines:

$ discos-deploy manager:development

This will create and provision a virtual machine using Vagrant and VirtualBox.

Note

Virtual machines are kept for compatibility, but Docker is the recommended approach for development.

Physical machines

If you already have a set of machines available, you can deploy DISCOS directly on them:

$ discos-deploy manager:development --no-vagrant

In this case, the machines must be reachable via SSH.

Understanding the command

The argument:

manager:development

means:

• manager → target machine or cluster

• development → environment (Ansible inventory)

The deployment process is idempotent: running the command multiple times will not change the final result, and subsequent runs are usually faster.

Access the system

Once the deployment is complete, access the machine via SSH:

$ ssh discos@<manager IP address>

Alternatively, you can use the discos-login script described in Useful scripts.

Get a DISCOS branch

After login, no DISCOS branch is active yet:

(branch?) discos@manager ~ $

To download and activate a branch:

$ discos-get master --station SRT

The environment will be configured accordingly.

Install DISCOS

To build and install DISCOS:

$ make
$ make install

Note

The build process may take a long time depending on the system.

Next steps

This quick start covers a minimal development setup.

For more advanced scenarios:

• multiple machines → see Development

• production systems → see Production