Prepare a deployment host

Prepare a local CRADLE host before running the complete deployment workflow. This is normally a one-time administrator task.

Host preparation uses `sudo` and installs system software. Review the selected
deployment profile and run it only on an authorized host.

Supported host

The current managed-host baseline is:

• Ubuntu 24.04;
• x86-64 architecture;
• hardware virtualization enabled; and
• an administrator account that can run sudo.

The host must also have sufficient CPU, memory, storage, and network capacity for the intended scenarios.

Select a provider

libvirt is the default local provider. VirtualBox is also supported by the managed deployment.

Choice	Intended use
libvirt	Install and validate libvirt only.
virtualbox	Install and validate VirtualBox only.
both	Install and validate both local providers.

See Supported platforms before choosing a provider.

Run host preparation

From the CRADLE project root, install libvirt:

$ ./deployment/deploy.sh --provider libvirt

For VirtualBox or both providers:

$ ./deployment/deploy.sh --provider virtualbox
$ ./deployment/deploy.sh --provider both

The deployment prepares an isolated Ansible environment, configures the host, creates the default runtime account, and runs a generation smoke test. It does not replace the operating-system Python.

Configure the runtime account

The default profile creates the cdl account without assigning a password. Set its initial password from the administrator account when password-based login or sudo access is required:

$ sudo passwd cdl

Start a fresh login session so new provider-group memberships take effect:

$ sudo --login --user cdl
$ id

For libvirt, the account should have the configured libvirt and kvm memberships. For VirtualBox, confirm the configured vboxusers membership.

Check the deployment key

The managed deployment creates the RSA key pair expected by generated Vagrantfiles. Confirm that the public key exists:

$ ls ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

If an administrator intentionally bypassed both managed setup and the generated bootstrap fallback, follow the organization's approved SSH-key procedure before deployment.

Review the deployment report

The smoke-test report is written to:

$ sudo cat /var/log/cradle/deployment-report.yml

The report covers provider regression checks, scenario compilation, deployment generation, generated-file syntax, provider isolation, and Vagrant validation.

What the smoke test does not verify

The managed-host smoke test does not boot the scenario VMs. It therefore does not prove that:

• a generated Vagrant box exists in Vagrant Cloud;
• the box supports the selected provider;
• required binaries, scripts, roles, or configuration files are available;
• proprietary software is licensed for the user;
• remote artifact locations are reachable; or
• a complete scenario can provision, execute, and extract evidence.

Verify these dependencies before running odyssey.sh.

Next step

Continue to the Quick start to generate and, on the prepared host, run Hello World.