Grendel

Spec sheet

Purpose

Grendel is a bare-metal provisioning system for High Performance Computing Linux clusters.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Intended users

The documentation assumes HPC, Linux, and networking knowledge and describes administrators using Grendel to deploy physical compute clusters.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Deployment

The project provides precompiled Linux tar.gz, deb, and rpm packages, plus a container image.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Security

The TCP API listener uses token authentication with role-based access control; HTTPS is recommended for remote access.Read 2 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Headquarters

Buffalo, NYRead 28 Sep 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Access controls

The TCP listener uses token authentication and role-based access control, with built-in admin, user, and read-only roles.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

API and interface

An HTTP API powers both the Grendel CLI and built-in Web UI.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Boot images

Grendel supports booting Linux kernel and initrd images, including LiveOS images.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Database persistence

Unless installed with an rpm or deb package, the database is in memory by default and changes are lost on restart unless disk persistence is configured.Read 2 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

DNS limit

Grendel is not a recursive DNS resolver; the production deployment guide recommends running it behind a stub resolver such as unbound.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

DNS limitation

Grendel is not a recursive DNS resolver; production deployments are recommended to run it behind a stub resolver such as unbound.Read 2 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Hardware control

It supports BMC/iDRAC control via RedFish and IPMI.Read 2 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Hardware management

It supports BMC and iDRAC control through RedFish and IPMI.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Host discovery

It can discover hosts by querying a switch, snooping DHCP packets, reading a dhcpd.leases file, or importing a tab-delimited file.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

HTTPS

The API can use HTTPS when a key and certificate are configured, and provisioning over HTTPS and signed boot images are also documented.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Installation

The documentation provides Linux tar.gz, deb and rpm packages, plus a container image.Read 2 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Integration

Grendel can serve as a group source for ClusterShell clush, using tags to filter nodes.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Maker and use

Grendel is developed by the University at Buffalo Center for Computational Research and the docs say it runs CCR production clusters ranging from 200 to 1500 nodes.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Persistence limit

Unless installed from an rpm or deb package, its database is in memory by default and changes are lost on restart unless persistence is configured.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Provisioning

It provides DHCP, PXE, TFTP, DNS, and HTTP services for provisioning Linux systems over a network.Read 3 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Provisioning modes

It supports diskful and stateless live-image provisioning.Read 2 Oct 2026 · grendel.readthedocs.io

Where Specifiction places it

• Bare Metal Provisioning Software#17 of 287.5