Management Server Requirements

The Stack Automation Management Server is a lightweight, Docker-based execution component that handles deployment provisioning and lifecycle management. This page outlines the infrastructure requirements and specifications needed to run the Stack Automation management server.

Overview

The Stack Automation management server can be deployed on two types of infrastructure:

Docker Host - A standalone virtual machine or server running Docker
Kubernetes Cluster - A managed or self-hosted Kubernetes cluster

Both deployment models are lightweight and require minimal resources to operate efficiently.

Minimum Resource Requirements

Per Management Server Instance

The management server requires minimal compute and memory resources:

Resource	Minimum	Recommended
CPU	100m (0.1 vCPU)	200m (0.2 vCPU)
Memory	200Mi	512Mi
Storage	1GB	5GB

info

These requirements are for the management server container itself. Additional resources may be needed for workload execution depending on your blueprint complexity and concurrent deployments.

Infrastructure Requirements

Docker Host Deployment

For running the management server on a Docker host, you'll need:

Minimum VM Specifications:

vCPUs: 2 cores
Memory: 4GB RAM
Storage: 20GB disk space
Operating System: Linux (Ubuntu 20.04+, RHEL 8+, CentOS 8+, Amazon Linux 2)
Docker Version: 20.10 or later

Network Requirements:

Outbound HTTPS (port 443) access to Stack Automation SaaS
Internet connectivity for pulling Docker images
See Stack Automation Outbound Ports for detailed network requirements

Example VM Configuration:

Instance Type Examples:
  AWS: t3.medium (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)
  Azure: Standard_B2s (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)
  GCP: e2-medium (2 vCPU, 4GB RAM)

Kubernetes Cluster Deployment

For running the management server on Kubernetes, you'll need:

Cluster Requirements:

Kubernetes Version: 1.20 or later
Node Resources: At least one node with 2 vCPUs and 4GB RAM available
Storage Class: Default storage class configured for persistent volumes
RBAC: Enabled (required for management server permissions)

Supported Kubernetes Platforms:

Amazon EKS
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
Oracle Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE)
Self-managed Kubernetes clusters
OpenShift
Rancher

Network Requirements:

Outbound HTTPS (port 443) access to Stack Automation SaaS
Internet connectivity for pulling container images
See Stack Automation Outbound Ports for detailed network requirements

Kubernetes Management Server Manifest

When deploying to Kubernetes, the management server is installed using a manifest that includes the following components:

Core Components

Namespace - Dedicated namespace for management server isolation
ServiceAccount - Identity for the management server pods
ClusterRoles - Permissions for cluster-level and namespace-level operations
ClusterRoleBindings - Binding service account to required roles
Secret - Stores cluster token and logging configuration
Deployment - Manages management server replicas (default: 2 replicas for high availability)

Management Server Permissions

The management server requires two sets of permissions:

Cluster-Level Read Permissions:

List storage classes
List namespaces
List service accounts

Namespace-Level Permissions:

Full control over deployments, replicasets, and pods
Manage services, configmaps, secrets
Create and manage persistent volume claims
Manage ingresses and network policies
Access pod logs and events
Execute jobs

Example Deployment Specification

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: sa-mgmt-srv
  namespace: sa-mgmt-srv
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: sa-mgmt-srv
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: sa-mgmt-srv
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: sa-mgmt-srv-container
        image: quali/kubernetes-agent:latest
        imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
        resources:
          limits:
            cpu: 100m
            memory: 200Mi
          requests:
            cpu: 100m
            memory: 200Mi
        env:
        - name: AgentSettings__ClusterToken
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: sa-mgmt-srv-secret
              key: cluster-token
        - name: AgentSettings__ClusterId
          value: <your-cluster-id>
        - name: AgentSettings__ServerUrl
          value: https://stackautomation.cisco.com/hub/agent
      serviceAccountName: sa-mgmt-srvt-sa

Scaling Considerations

High Availability

For production deployments, consider:

Multiple Replicas: Deploy 2+ management server replicas for redundancy
Node Distribution: Use pod anti-affinity to distribute replicas across nodes
Resource Limits: Set appropriate limits to prevent resource contention

Workload Capacity

The management server capacity depends on:

Number of concurrent deployments
Complexity of blueprints (number of grains, resources)
Duration of provisioning operations

Scaling Guidelines:

Single management server: 5-10 concurrent deployments
Additional replicas: Linear scaling for concurrent capacity
Heavy workloads: Consider dedicated node pools or larger VM instances

Scaling Table (Quick Reference)

The table below provides recommended starting points for management server deployment sizing based on the number of concurrent deployments and average workload complexity. Use these as guidelines and adjust based on observed management server CPU/memory usage and provisioning times.

Concurrent Deployments	Tier	Management Server Replicas	Node Pool / VM Size Recommendation	Notes
1 - 10	Light	1 - 2	1 node, 2 vCPU / 4GB RAM	Light workloads; single replica acceptable for non-critical use.
11 - 100	Medium	2 - 4	2-3 nodes, each 2-4 vCPU / 4-8GB RAM	Medium concurrency; HA recommended and anti-affinity.
101 - 200	Increased parallelism	4 - 8	3-5 nodes, each 4 vCPU / 8GB RAM	Higher parallelism; consider dedicated node pools and tuned resource limits.
200+	High concurrency + Large	8+	4+ nodes, each 8+ vCPU / 16+GB RAM; autoscaling recommended	Very high concurrency; perform load testing and monitor closely.

Notes:

"Concurrent Deployments" refers to deployments actively provisioning or heavily operating at the same time.
Management Server replica counts assume default management server resource requests/limits (100m CPU / 200Mi memory). Increase per-server resources for heavy or long-running workloads.
For Kubernetes, use PodDisruptionBudgets, anti-affinity, and multiple replicas across failure domains to ensure availability.
Monitor management server pod CPU/memory and adjust cluster autoscaler and node sizes accordingly.

Getting Started

Once you've prepared your infrastructure, proceed with management server installation:

Docker Host: See Stack Automation Docker Management Server
Kubernetes Cluster: See Install and Connect Self-Hosted Management Server

Overview​

Minimum Resource Requirements​

Per Management Server Instance​

Infrastructure Requirements​

Docker Host Deployment​

Kubernetes Cluster Deployment​

Kubernetes Management Server Manifest​

Core Components​

Management Server Permissions​

Example Deployment Specification​

Scaling Considerations​

High Availability​

Workload Capacity​

Scaling Table (Quick Reference)​

Getting Started​

Additional Resources​