PXEN: infrastructure orchestration

PXEN is a server management system that serves as a one-stop-shop for managing on-premise infrastructure - from baremetal OS installations to VM configuration and container orchestration. Placing an emphasis on simplicity, determinism, and security, PXEN minimizes the complexities often associated with large-scale orchestration systems.

current features

• extreme determinism via diskless hypervisors and centralized architecture
• eliminates entire classes of security vulnerabilities via in-ram OS
• plug-and-play integration with existing network infrastructure
• simple per-node config format with change tracking & easy reversion
• centralized configuration and secrets management
• reboot to update os and kernel

demo

Four virtual machines with a core node (upper left) hosting three diskless nodes, one of which (upper right) has a unique hardware fingerprint that's been assigned a custom configuration.

planned features

• autodetection of new diskless nodes from the host node
• full disk encryption on local node storage with centralized keys
• centralized management of VMs, micro-VMs, unikernels, and containers with dynamic migration and virtual networking
• desktop app for system management and generating host node images
• web interface for remote management with optional self-hosting
• multi-region networking with per-region host nodes
• secure, encrypted configuration distribution augmented with TPM integration

tech stack

• Alpine Linux
• Xen hypervisor
• PXE netbooting
• TCL, bash & python

inquiries

PXEN is currently in pre-release status. To be notified when it is available, or for any other inquiries, contact sales@pxen.io