Install MAAS

To best fit your requirements, MAAS offers several installation options:

• Snap. The quickest and easiest way to install MAAS. Benefits from autonomous upgrades and direct access to beta and developmental versions
• Packages. Versatile deb-based installation with manual control over where specific components are placed, when upgrades are applied, and where packages are installed from
• Ubuntu Server ISO. Conveniently install MAAS as you provision a new server

Additionally, you may want to consider an installation within LXD containers. This allows MAAS nodes to also run as local containers and is ideal for testing and experimenting with MAAS.

Install from snap

Snaps are containerised software packages. To install MAAS from a snap, simply enter the following:

sudo snap install maas --devmode --stable

After entering your password, the snap will download and install from the stable channel. However, MAAS needs initialising before it's ready to go.

Initialisation

The next step involves initialising MAAS with a run mode. Selecting one of the following modes dictates what services will run on the local system:

• all - All services
• region - A region API server only (no database)
• rack - A rack controller only
• region+rack - A region API server and a rack controller (no database)

This list is different from the installation scenarios covered in the package install method (see Install from packages) where the installation of a "region controller" will include a database.

To initialise MAAS and select a run mode, use the maas init command with the --mode argument.

Here, the typical all-in-one design (mode 'all') will be chosen as an example:

sudo maas init --mode all

A dialog will appear that will gather some basic information:

MAAS URL [default=http://10.55.60.1:5240/MAAS]: http://192.168.122.1:5240/MAAS
Create first admin account:       
Username: admin
Password: ******
Again: ******
Email: admin@example.com
Import SSH keys [] (lp:user-id or gh:user-id): lp:petermatulis

Each run mode will prompt for a MAAS URL. The 'all' mode will use this for the creation of a new region controller whereas the other three modes will interpret it as the URL for an existing region controller.

The 'rack' and 'region+rack' modes will additionally ask for the shared secret that will allow the new rack controller to register with the region controller.

The username and password will be used to access the web UI and if you enter a Launchpad or GitHub account name with associated SSH key, these will be imported into MAAS automatically.

A re-initialization is easily achieved. For example, to switch from one mode to another, say 'region', simply state it:

sudo maas init --mode region

Configuration verification

After a snap installation of MAAS, a verification of the currently running configuration can be done with:

sudo maas config

Sample output (for mode 'all'):

Mode: all
Settings:
maas_url=http://192.168.122.1:5240/MAAS

Service statuses

The status of running services can likewise be checked:

sudo maas status

Sample output (for mode 'all'):

bind9                            RUNNING   pid 7999, uptime 0:09:17
dhcpd                            STOPPED   Not started
dhcpd6                           STOPPED   Not started
ntp                              RUNNING   pid 8598, uptime 0:05:42
postgresql                       RUNNING   pid 8001, uptime 0:09:17
proxy                            STOPPED   Not started
rackd                            RUNNING   pid 8000, uptime 0:09:17
regiond:regiond-0                RUNNING   pid 8003, uptime 0:09:17
regiond:regiond-1                RUNNING   pid 8008, uptime 0:09:17
regiond:regiond-2                RUNNING   pid 8005, uptime 0:09:17
regiond:regiond-3                RUNNING   pid 8015, uptime 0:09:17
tgt                              RUNNING   pid 8040, uptime 0:09:15

With MAAS installed and initialised, you can now open the web UI in your browser. See Access the web UI for further details.