Bare Metal (PC Farm)
While DaDesktop primarily delivers virtual desktops, specific tasks require the performance and direct hardware access of a physical machine. With the bare metal option, every participant is allocated a dedicated physical desktop or server, all centrally administered through the DaDesktop platform.
Dedicated Hardware Allocation
Rather than sharing virtual resources, each user is assigned an exclusive physical machine, ensuring full access to underlying hardware capabilities.
Remote Classroom Administration
Integrate existing physical classrooms into DaDesktop to oversee and manage hardware assets seamlessly, without the need for on-site presence.
Scenarios Requiring Bare Metal
- Applications that are incompatible with virtualized environments, such as ONAP and OpenStack.
- Specific hardware components that resist virtualization, including certain GPU models, Mellanox network cards, and other specialized networking gear.
- Training modules where interacting with firmware or physical hardware components is central to the curriculum.
- Physical lab or classroom environments that require centralized, remote management capabilities.
Operational Mechanics
Every physical device interfaces with a DaDesktop node via a dedicated control cable known as ddnexus. When provisioning a standalone or fresh-start desktop, select the "Metal PC" option. This directs the deployment process to instantiate the desktop environment directly on the physical hardware.
PC Farm Architecture
Existing office desktops can be repurposed to function as bare metal nodes. In this configuration, each physical endpoint is referred to as a potato. The central server responsible for managing these endpoints is known as a pumpkin (the DaDesktop node, or ddnode). The USB cable linking each potato to the pumpkin is termed a potato stalk.
Potato stalk cables can be sourced from marketplaces like eBay and Alibaba.
Start Your Free Trial Today
Run seamless virtual IT training with cloud-based labs, no downtime, just scalable learning that works.