Joseph J. VLcek wrote: > Jean McCormack wrote: >> Glenn Lagasse wrote: >>> * Dave Miner (Dave.Miner at Sun.COM) wrote: >>> >>>> Jean McCormack wrote: >>>> >>>>> Jens Deppe wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Jean McCormack wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> Jens Deppe wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Jean McCormack wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Jens Deppe wrote: >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Hi Jean, >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> One comment inline... >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> On 05/21/09 14:19, Jean McCormack wrote: >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Progress Reporting: >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> The output to the console to reflect the progress of the >>>>>>>>>>> auto-install should be of the format: >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> (pseudo progress bar) High level description of current >>>>>>>>>>> functionality >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> Example (general idea, wording is not exact) : >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> (.....................) Discovering available services >>>>>>>>>>> (..... ) Choosing service >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> The .'s indicate percentage completion. This means we have a >>>>>>>>>>> dependency upon IPS to supply size information for the >>>>>>>>>>> packages. >>>>>>>>>>> A return is only implemented when the install moves from one >>>>>>>>>>> major block of functionality to the next. Otherwise, the >>>>>>>>>>> text is overwritten with updates to the dots to indicate >>>>>>>>>>> progress. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>>> The use of virtual console was considered as a possibility >>>>>>>>>>> if a more detailed progress >>>>>>>>>>> is required. Preliminary investigation indicates that this >>>>>>>>>>> currently is not in our microroot and would >>>>>>>>>>> be too large to include there. >>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>>> Please consider enabling the log file to be >>>>>>>>>> retrieved/accessed remotely. Simply exposing it via an http >>>>>>>>>> service would be a *big* help. Especially when installing >>>>>>>>>> systems remotely. >>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> Does this meet your needs? >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> The log file will also be written to the AI server at >>>>>>>>> /var/ai/client_logs/ip_address/install_log. >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Not really as we are (for now) not using the AI server to >>>>>>>> provision clients and deliver the manifests. (We're using a >>>>>>>> Begin service to derived the manifest). >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> So, what mechanism/protocol will be used to move the install >>>>>>>> log from client to server? Will it be streamed during the >>>>>>>> install or only sent once the install completes? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> Streamed during the install. >>>>>>> >>>>>> So is the source exposed on the client via http or some other >>>>>> common means whereby we could monitor it without relying on the >>>>>> AI server? >>>>>> >>>>> At this point, there's no plan for that. You could build a custom >>>>> ai image with ssh enabled and ssh to the system. However, be >>>>> aware there are security concerns with doing so. See the >>>>> caiman-discuss discussion with respect to this. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> Recall that ssh isn't enabled because the use of well-known >>>> passwords makes the system essentially wide open to compromise >>>> during the installation period, but allowing some *controlled* >>>> means of monitoring the installation directly with the client >>>> seems worth considering. >>>> >>> >>> I apologize being late to this discussion. The VM constructor project >>> is planning to make use of an AI client to perform a hands-off >>> automated >>> install inside a virtual machine in order to provide pre-constructed vm >>> images. To support this, we'll need a bootable automated installer >>> image that doesn't require a webserver setup. That's not really >>> relevant to this discussion, what is relevant is in the area of >>> observability. Ideally we would like to be able to monitor and >>> react to >>> events going on inside the VM while the AI client is performing it's >>> installation. In a hands-off manner of course. Things like error >>> conditions, progress reporting, and completion status so that we can >>> report to the user running the distribution constructor what's going on >>> and react appropriately to problems. So we would need something like >>> what Dave proposes for allowing some controlled means of monitoring the >>> installation directly with the client. Perhaps that's some 'server' >>> like process running on the client that interested parties can connect >>> to and receive data or something else. Whatever the implementation, we >>> would need the data presented in such a way as that we can easily >>> (relative term) relay that information to the user (and the DC logs) >>> about what's going on as well as dealing with any errors that crop up >>> during the various steps of the installation. >>> >> Glenn and I talked today about this requirement. >> >> The basics are in this case the VM is the AI client and there is no >> AI server. >> The DC is running the VM but the VM knowns nothing about DC. However, >> he would like the DC to be able to monitor what is going on. The more >> generic >> case of this was brought up by Jens Deppe on the caiman-discuss alias >> last week. >> (Subject: AI client redesign for progress reporting and error >> reporting/logging) >> >> We talked about some general ideas: >> >> 1) ssh - no due to security issues >> 2) Have the DC start up a webserver - no, too complicated and might >> not work for the >> generic case which doesn't have DC running >> 3) Glenn's idea to have a deamon running on the client which could be >> connected to from the outside >> to receive data. >> >> Glenn will send a more detailed write up on #3. >> >> 4) Jens broached the idea of exposing the source on the client via >> http or something similar. >> >> >> We'd like to get feedback on these iitems and solicit input for more >> ideas. >> >> Jean >> > I thought, even without ssh enable I was able to scp files off the VM > to the VM host. I believe Glenn said that the VM knows nothing about the DC. Do I have that correct Glenn? > > The AI client is going to log to the usual install logs. Wouldn't it > be possible to pull the log file, or better yet push it from the VM > running the AI client when specific events occurred? That's the goal. But push to where is the question. In the case of a server/client setup, you know where to push because the webserver channel is already set up. If you don't have that, how do you know where to push to?
Jean > > Joe
