HPS Container

This package contains the HPS container build environment, including the Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml needed to launch the Host Provisioning Service (HPS) for PXE boot and automated host configuration.

Deploy your sovereign private data space with hps-container plus hps-system.

Design principles - Base layer

• Everything does just one thing (Unix: Do one thing an do it well)
  • Applies to scripts, hardware, network etc
• Designed for business continuity
  • Any hardware failure does not affect operation
• Designed for (unanticipated and catastrophic) failure
  • Assume things will fail in ways that were not considered, make it easy to recover
• Provide flexible and secure back-up options
  • DR can be anywhere, make sure it can only be accessed as intended
• Ensure recovery from disaster is simple, robust and testable
  • Because we are not our best selves when it all falls to pieces
• Optimise both security and convenience
  • Strike the best of a difficult balance
• Make it simple, make it understandable
  • All written in Bash so that any sysadmin can understand what is going on
  • Easier to maintain and improve
  • Improve security - no external libraries to worry about
• Rebuild without Internet access
  • Assume the disaster means that all you have is the DR host and no Internet
• Segregate networks
  • Know what should be on each
• Make no hardware assumptions
  • The solution should work equally on Raspberry Pi's, JBOC (Just a Bunch Of Computers) or enterprise-grade servers
• Easy to test
  • Deploy just with VM's
• Installation is repeatable
  • Add future nodes without having to remember what you did last time
• Scalable performance and capacity
  • Increase network bandwidth, Compute Nodes, disk size and speed to grow the cluster
• Application agnostic
  • Put on it what you want
• Cluserable clusters
  • Add new clusters to create additional application planes
• Minimal documentation required
  • Maximal documentation available
• Welcomes hackers
  • You can add and update components, extend contribute
• Resists crackers
  • Others can't update components
• Freely available to all
  • Download, play, discover, test
• Professional services
  • If your time is more valuable than your money, experts are available at commercial rates
• Aim for perfection
  • Accept functional
• Any hardware can be replaced without affecting functionality
  • Hardware upgrades or repairs are not a reason to interrupt services
• No operational external dependencies
  • External paries can't interfere with services
• Optimise performance
  • Squeeze maximum performance out of resources
• Reduce waste
  • Reuse old hardware, even disks, make the most of hardware
• When your data becomes ransomed, make it easy to recover
  • Assume the bad actors get in, reduce the damage

Contents

• Dockerfile — Defines the container environment (Debian-based), installs necessary services (nginx, fcgiwrap, dnsmasq, tftpd-hpa), and sets up entrypoint.
• docker-compose.yml — Mounts /srv from the host, exposes ports for HTTP, DHCP, and TFTP.
• srv/ — Empty placeholder directory where hps-system should be placed and extracted.

Requirements

This container requires the hps-system package to be mounted at:

/srv/hps

How to Set Up

1. Extract hps-system.tar.gz into the included srv/ directory:

tar -xzf hps-system.tar.gz -C ./srv

This will create the necessary /srv/hps layout used by the container.

2. Build and launch the container:

docker compose build
docker compose up -d

The container will fail to start if /srv/hps/http/boot.ipxe is missing.

Documentation

After extracting hps-system, refer to /srv/hps/README.md inside the container (if provided) for full instructions.