RacksDB 0.1.0b0

Modelize your datacenters infrastructures in YAML database

RacksDB

Overview

RacksDB is an open source solution to modelize your datacenters infrastructures. It provides a simple database schema to store information about the equipments in your datacenters. This database can be used as reference source for many purposes in IT management.

• Inventory: Get permanent reference list of equipments charactistics and enable conformity testing.
• Automation: Adopt Infrastructure-as-Code by coupling generic configuration management logic with infrastructures model.
• Continuous deployment: Define advanced deployment rules based on nodes characteristics declared in RacksDB.
• Monitoring: Synchronize monitoring services with equipments database and define dynamic dashboard.
• Documentation: Get updated architecture diagrams and define generic adaptative procedures.

Generally speaking, RacksDB is a specialized CMDB dedicated to DCIM.

Compared to others products, RacksDB can be considered lightweight alternative to more advanced tools such as NetBox and RackTables.

The main characteristics of RacksDB that makes it unique among other solutions are the following:

• YAML based. The data are stored in plain files using human-readable YAML format, easily managed with Git.
• Simple and pragmatic. The database schema is intuitive and practical, infrastructures can be described in few minutes.
• Tag-based. Easy filtering of data and equipments based on associated tags.
• Decentralized architecture. RacksDB can be deployed without central server, just by replicating few plain YAML files.
• Extensibility. In addition to RacksDB simple format, custom schema extensions can be defined to store specific data.

RacksDB provides multiple interfaces to request the database with its CLI tool and a library API.

For more details, read the full description of RacksDB.

Status

RacksDB is currently in beta. It is totally ready to use but we expect more feedback from real users (database structure, API, CLI) before considering a stable release.

Quickstart

To install and start using RacksDB in a few steps, follow the quickstart guide!

Documentation

The full documentation of RacksDB is available online with complete database definition reference documentation, how-tos (extensions, positioning), CLI manpage and library API documentation.

Authors

RacksDB is developed and maintained by Rackslab. Please contact us for any questions or professionnal services.

License

RacksDB is distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later (GPLv3+).