RacksDB

YAML-based Database for Datacenter Infrastructures

Software Information

  • Last Release : 0.4.0
  • Release Date : 2024-04-15
  • Technologies : Python, YAML
  • License : GNU GPL v3 (or later)

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, with tools and library to request this database. This database can be used as reference source for many purposes in IT management.

RacksDB overview
  • 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 CMDB1 dedicated to [DCIM](Data Center-Infrastructure Management)2.

Characteristics

The main characteristics of RacksDB 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.

Interfaces

RacksDB interfaces

Data can be searched in your database using the racksdb CLI. A modern and intuitive web UI is also available to explore its content.

RacksDB web UI screenshots

For full integration with your software, a Python library and a REST API can also be used to stay continuously synchronized with database content.

Diagrams

RacksDB can be used to generate diagrams of your datacenter rooms and the racks with all their equipments. The diagrams can be customized with many drawing parameters.

RacksDB diagrams

For more details, read the full description of RacksDB!

Ready to try? Follow the quickstart guide!

Commercial Support

Rackslab offers commercial support and professionnal services for RacksDB (eg. training, features development, etc). Please contact us for more details.

  1. Configuration Management Database ↩︎

  2. Data Center-Infrastructure Management ↩︎