Lab Deployment Staging — primer¶
Help Center primer for the 8-phase deployment wizard (Wave 6, LDS-17).
What it does¶
A guided wizard for first-time operators to get from "a pile of UCS boxes" to a deployed bench in a single session. Constraint: infra stability > horse power — defaults are conservative.
The 8 phases¶
| # | Phase | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inventory | Add UCS hosts + NGFW DUT to the worksheet |
| 2 | OOBI discovery | Wait for hosts to announce via mDNS, confirm matches |
| 3 | Credentials | Drop SSH/REST/SNMP secrets into the vault |
| 4 | Role assignment | Drag-drop UCS → role (single/dual/tri/multi) |
| 5 | Capacity check | Wizard estimates max agents/personas for your HW |
| 6 | Production cabling | Mermaid diagram + RJ45 checklist |
| 7 | Auto-config | Generates platform/topology.yaml per ADR 0011 |
| 8 | Deploy | Shell preview + apply via dashboard |
Common questions¶
Can I resume mid-wizard? Yes — wizard state persists across sessions via the snapshot system (LDS-11). Versioned with migration support.
What if my role combination is unusual? Validation falls back to
unknown mode and asks you to pick one of single / dual / tri / multi.
Extending modes is a code change (see affinity.ts).
Will the wizard touch the network? Phases 1-5 are read-only. Phases 6-7 generate artifacts but don't apply. Phase 8 deploys.
Can I reuse a wizard run as a template? Yes — cloneAsTemplate
(LDS-15) produces a new snapshot referencing the source label.
Does my data go anywhere? Wizard telemetry is opt-in (LDS-16).
When disabled, NullSink no-ops. Credentials never leave the vault.
Common warnings + fixes¶
| Warning | Suggested fix |
|---|---|
| no UCS hosts | Provision a UCS C-series + add to Phase 1 |
| no NGFW DUT | Add the device under test + creds (Phase 3) |
| total CPU cores < 16 | Add compute OR reduce agents (Phase 5) |
| usable RAM < 8 GB | Add memory OR reduce personas (Phase 5) |
| missing hostkey | ssh-keyscan -t rsa <host> + paste fingerprint |
What gets generated¶
platform/topology.yaml(ADR 0011 axes)- Cabling checklist (printable for the racking binder)
- Deploy plan (shell preview before apply)
Related¶
- ADR 0011 — deployment_nodes × l2_fabric × dut_type
- Wizard route — operator entry point
dashboard/src/lib/lab-staging/— all wizard helpers