Jean McCormack wrote: > 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?
Not sure, but I bet there could be a way for the host to communicate to the VM client what the hosts IP address is. I'll see if I can't figure that out. > > Jean >> >> Joe >
