compute-blade-agent

:warning: Beta Release: This software is currently in beta, and both configurations and APIs may undergo breaking changes. It is not yet 100% feature complete, but it functions as intended.

Quick Start

Install the agent with the one-liner below:

curl -L -o /tmp/compute-blade-agent-installer.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/compute-blade-community/compute-blade-agent/main/hack/autoinstall.sh
chmod +x /tmp/compute-blade-agent-installer.sh
/tmp/compute-blade-agent-installer.sh

Components

compute-blade-agent: Hardware Interaction & Monitoring

The agent runs as a system service and monitors various hardware states and events:

• Reacts to button presses and SoC temperature.
• Automatically enters critical mode (fan 100%, red LED) when overheating.
• Exposes system metrics via a Prometheus endpoint (/metrics).

The identify function can be triggered via bladectl or a physical button press. It makes the edge LED blink to assist locating a blade in a rack.

bladectl: User Command-Line Tool

bladectl is a CLI utility for remote or local interaction with the running agent. Example use cases:

bladectl set identify --wait    # Blink LED until button is pressed
bladectl set identify --confirm # Cancel identification
bladectl unset identify         # Cancel identification (alternative)

fanunit.uf2: Smart Fan Unit Firmware

This firmware runs on the fan unit microcontroller and:

• Controls fan speed via UART commands from blade agents.
• Reports RPM and airflow temperature back to the blade.
• Forwards button events (1x = left blade, 2x = right blade).
• Uses EMC2101 for optional advanced features like airflow-based fan control.

To install it, download the fanunit.uf2, and follow the firmware upgrade instructions here.

Installation

Install the agent with the one-liner below:

curl -L -o /tmp/compute-blade-agent-installer.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/compute-blade-community/compute-blade-agent/main/hack/autoinstall.sh
chmod +x /tmp/compute-blade-agent-installer.sh
/tmp/compute-blade-agent-installer.sh

Note: bladectl requires root privileges when used locally, due to restricted access to the Unix socket (/tmp/compute-blade-agent.sock).

Configuration

The default configuration file is located at:

/etc/compute-blade-agent/config.yaml

You can also override any config option via environment variables using the BLADE_ prefix.

Examples

YAML:

listen:
  metrics: ":9666"

Environment variable override:

BLADE_LISTEN_METRICS=":1234"

Common Overrides

Exposing the gRPC API for Remote Access

To allow secure remote use of bladectl over the network:

1. Update your config (/etc/compute-blade-agent/config.yaml):

listen:
  metrics: ":9666"
  grpc: ":8081"
  authenticated: true
  mode: tcp

2. Restart the agent:

systemctl restart compute-blade-agent

This will:

• Generate new mTLS server and client certificates in /etc/compute-blade-agent/*.pem
• Write a new bladectl config to: ~/.config/bladectl/config.yaml with the client certificates in place

Using bladectl from your local machine

1. Copy the config from the blade:

scp root@blade-pi1:~/.config/bladectl/config.yaml ~/.config/bladectl/config.yaml

1. Fix the server address to point to the blade:

yq e '.blades[] | select(.name == "blade-pi1") .blade.server = "blade-pi1.local:8081"' -i ~/.config/bladectl/config.yaml

Your bladectl tool can now securely talk to the remote agent via gRPC over mTLS.