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+# MAAS Archive
+
+**Status: ABANDONED — May 23, 2026**
+
+These files are the final state of the MAAS PXE deployment effort for Iron Legion fleet nodes. MAAS was removed from Shield after repeated failures on isolated subnets, IP exhaustion, and general complexity. Replaced by USB autoinstall approach.
+
+## Files
+
+- `curtin_userdata_fleet_v5.yaml` — Fleet preseed targeting `/dev/nvme0n1`, no apt-get (isolated subnet safe), SSH enable only. Final working version before abandonment.
+
+## Lessons Captured
+
+1. MAAS ephemeral commissioning fails on subnets without internet (apt-get hangs)
+2. IP exhaustion on /27 pools after failed deployments (sticky reservations)
+3. G9 Intel I226-V NIC (enp5s0) drops link during Linux driver init
+4. Linux enumerates first NVMe as `nvme0n1`, not `nvme1`
+5. Cloud-init stomps hostname unless `preserve_hostname: true` is set
+
+## Replacement
+
+See `autoinstall/` in repo root for the USB-based replacement workflow.
diff --git a/preseeds/curtin_userdata_fleet_v5.yaml b/archive/maas/curtin_userdata_fleet_v5.yaml
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