Controllers

There are two types of controllers: a region controller and a rack controller. The region controller deals with operator requests while one or more rack controllers provide the high-bandwidth services to multiple server racks, as typically found in a data centre.

A region controller consists of:

• REST API server (TCP port 5240)
• PostgreSQL database
• DNS
• caching HTTP proxy
• web UI

A region controller can be thought of as being responsible for a data centre, or a single region. Multiple fabrics are used by MAAS to accommodate subdivisions within a single region, such as multiple floors in a data centre.

A rack controller provides:

• DHCP
• TFTP
• HTTP (for images)
• power management

A rack controller is attached to each "fabric". As the name implies, a common setup is to have a rack controller in each data centre server rack. The rack controller will cache large items for performance, such as operating system install images, but maintains no exclusive state other than the credentials required to talk to the region controller.

Both the region controller and the rack controller can be scaled-out as well as made highly available. See MAAS HA for high availability.