Creating your Group and Rack Layout

To get started, you'll want to get the empty layout of the racks at your farm created in Foreman. CSV upload is the best way to add your entire farm layout across multiple groups and racks simultaneously. Click the 'Upload Layout' button and then 'Download' to generate a black CSV file.

In this instance, we will create a layout consisting of two containers or buildings, each containing 4 racks that are 10 miners wide and 4 tall. On the CSV, create your Groups by entering "group" in the 'type' column and add the name you'd like displayed for the group in the 'name' column. For groups, leave the 'row' column indexed at "0" and count up from "0" in the 'column' section. This will display your groups side by side on your Site Map page.

To add racks within each group, specify which group the rack belongs to in the 'group_name' column. Then enter "rack" in the 'type' column and give each rack a name. Starting with an index at (0,0), specify the location of each rack within the group using the 'row' and 'column' headers. When all info is added to the CSV file, it should look like this:

Uploading the Layout CSV

Once you've completed filling out the CSV with your preferred layout, click Upload Layout and choose the relevant file to upload it. Your Site Map page will now be populated with your empty rack layout.

Preparing a Temporary Pickaxe for Interactive Fill 

Since the IP Report button on your miner sends out a UDP broadcast, it will typically get dropped by most default networking configurations—unless your Pickaxe is on the same subnet and VLAN as the miners you are trying to add. This is because when you're doing an Interactive Add, Pickaxe enters a listen mode where it waits for these UDP broadcasts. When a miner's IP Report button is pressed, Pickaxe hears the broadcast and forwards that information to the dashboard.

Our recommended solution is to install a new, temporary Pickaxe on a Windows laptop, turn off the Windows firewall, and cable the laptop directly into the same local network or switch as the miners you are onboarding. This ensures that the UDP broadcasts from the miners are received successfully. This laptop will serve as an onboarding device only, meaning you'll only use it when you're creating your Site Map via the IP Report method.

By being on the same subnet as the miners, this temporary Pickaxe can reliably listen for the broadcast packets sent by the miners. Note that if the Pickaxe is not on the same subnet or VLAN, the UDP broadcasts will likely be dropped unless special routing is configured—which is not typically recommended for this setup.

Once you have completed the Interactive Fill using your temporary Pickaxe, you'll be prompted during the Finalize step to choose your permanent Pickaxe as the destination. This permanent Pickaxe is the one that will ultimately run the site; the temporary one is just a means to onboard your devices efficiently.

Using Interactive Fill

Now that you have a Pickaxe on the same subnet and VLAN as your miners, you can start the Interactive Fill process. Click on the gear icon in the top-right of the rack you want to fill and select Interactive Fill. Select the Pickaxe listening for the IP report broadcasts, then hit Go to be taken to the Interactive Miner Add page.

Since you have clicked through to this page from your Site Map, your Rack to Fill and Rack Size will be pre-populated. If you don't already have a saved profile for the miner type you are adding to the rack, create one by clicking the Add button and entering your miner details. Ensure to enter your custom username and password here if you have changed these settings on your miners. If you want to associate the serial number with each miner, toggle the Prompt for Serial slider.

Once your Current Profile is selected, click the Listen button to instruct Foreman to begin listening for Locate/IP Report button presses. Ensure you wait until the Listen command (visible in the Remote Commands dropdown top right) shows as In Progress.

Starting with the miner in the top left corner of your rack, press the physical Locate/IP Report button on the miner itself. Wait for the color of the box representing that miner to change, and then proceed with the miner immediately to the right. Optionally, you can scan serial numbers with an attached Bluetooth scanner as you proceed.

After you've added all of your miners with the steps above, click Finalize, select the destination Pickaxe (this should be the one that's running the rest of the site 24/7), and Save to finish the job. Navigate back to your Site Map tab to see your fully populated Site Map.

What if the Pickaxe finds the miner with the model number correctly but the Interactive Add does not find it?

1. IP Report in Interactive Add:
- During Interactive Add, the machine type is not identified by the IP Report, which only provides the IP and MAC address.

2. Profile Creation:
- The machine type is selected at the beginning of profile creation, where users specify the machine type along with username and password. There is an option to toggle on "Prompt for Serial" if required.

3. API’s Role in Enriching Miner Types:
- The API enhances the classification of miner types based on data observed. For instance, it will upgrade a miner identified as 'Antminer S19j Pro' to 'Antminer S19j Pro (96T)' once specific data is recognized.

4. Use of Generic Miner Types in Profiles:
- Users should initially use generic miner types (like 'Antminer S19j Pro') when creating profiles, rather than detailed nameplate types.

It is recommended to choose a generic profile based on the type of miner being used for the IP report. The system will auto-correct the specific type upon data validation. This approach ensures that miner types are accurately identified and classified.