Hrm.  Well, I made my block reservation, waited my 45 minutes, and still
no mention of it in the log.  I'll try again with a longer lead time.


On Thu, Oct 04, 2012 at 09:01:34AM -0500, Michael Jinks wrote:
> Thanks Aaron.
> 
> It looks like we're in good shape as far as this stuff is concerned...
> 
>  $ /usr/local/vcl/bin/perl -MRPC::XML -e 'print "success\n";'
>  success
> 
>  $ /usr/local/vcl/bin/perl -MLWP -e 'print LWP->VERSION ."\n";'
>  6.04
> 
> ...but I wonder if it's possible that under some circumstances vcld is
> calling a perl other than the one we purpose-installed for it.  vcld
> itself was adjusted to call that instance but a couple of other perl
> scripts in vcl/bin weren't, so I've fixed that and scheduled another
> reservation 45 minutes from now, will see if that makes any difference.
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Oct 04, 2012 at 01:42:47PM +0000, Aaron Coburn wrote:
> >    I have seen something like this before.
> > 
> >    I would recommend ensuring that the RPC::XML perl module is properly
> >    installed on the management node. Try this command:
> > 
> >    perl -MRPC::XML -e 'print "success\n";'
> > 
> >    If you get errors from this, try manually installing the RPC::XML
> >    module from here:
> > 
> >    [1]http://search.cpan.org/~rjray/RPC-XML-0.77/
> > 
> >    The only thing to note is that the current version of RPC::XML requires
> >    at least version 5.834 of LWP. To check which version of LWP you
> >    currently have installed, run this command:
> > 
> >    perl -MLWP -e 'print LWP->VERSION ."\n";'
> > 
> >    If this reports any version before 5.834 (as my system does), then you
> >    may need to use version 0.72 of the RPC::XML module, which requires
> >    only version 5.801 of LWP.
> > 
> >    Also, when I say 'manually install', I do not mean using the cpan
> >    interactive interface; rather, download the package with wget, and then
> >    use the standard perl installation sequence:
> > 
> >    perl Makefile.PL
> > 
> >    make
> > 
> >    make test
> > 
> >    make install
> > 
> >    Aaron
> > 
> >    --
> >    Aaron Coburn
> >    Systems Administrator and Programmer
> >    Academic Technology Services, Amherst College
> >    [2][email protected]
> >    On Oct 4, 2012, at 9:05 AM, Michael Jinks <[3][email protected]>
> >    wrote:
> > 
> >      Okay, this makes sense.  Thanks for clearing that up; I'd wondered
> >      if
> >      vcld had logic for ramping up to a reservation.
> >      I made a reservation last night, scheduled for 08:00 this morning.
> >      At
> >      02:00, I have errors in my log, which I'll paste below.  I haven't
> >      started trying to investigate what's wrong; the error suggests a bad
> >      cert.  Our cert is signed by Comodo, maybe that's the problem?  I
> >      don't
> >      know what vcld uses as a trust chain.
> >      There could be several other things going on too.  The reference to
> >      'Can't locate object method "type"' looks ugly, but I wonder if it's
> >      just a result of the SSL error further up?
> >      Log excerpt follows.
> >      [...]
> >      2012-10-04
> >      02:00:02|3322|blockrequest|blockrequest.pm:process(192)|processing
> >      blocktime_id= 15 pass 1
> >      2012-10-04
> >      02:00:02|3322|blockrequest|utils.pm:xmlrpc_call(9105)|argument_strin
> >      g= XMLRPCprocessBlockTime 15 1
> >      Can't locate object method "type" via package
> >      "RPC::XML::Client::send_request:
> >             HTTP server error: Can't connect to [4]vlab.uchicago.edu:443
> >      (certificate verify failed)" (perhaps you forgot to load
> >      "RPC::XML::Client::send_request: HTTP server error: Can't connect to
> >      [5]vlab.uchicago.edu:443 (certificate verify failed)"?) at
> >      /usr/local/vcl-2.2.1/bin/../lib/VCL/utils.pm line 9121 (#1)
> >      Uncaught exception from user code:
> >             Can't locate object method "type" via package
> >      "RPC::XML::Client::send_request: HTTP server error: Can't connect to
> >      [6]vlab.uchicago.edu:443 (certificate verify failed)" (perhaps you
> >      forgot to load "RPC::XML::Client::send_request: HTTP server error:
> >      Can't connect to [7]vlab.uchicago.edu:443 (certificate verify
> >      failed)"?) at /usr/local/vcl-2.2.1/bin/../lib/VCL/utils.pm line
> >      9121.
> >      at /usr/local/vcl-2.2.1/bin/../lib/VCL/utils.pm line 9121
> >             VCL::utils::xmlrpc_call('XMLRPCprocessBlockTime', 15, 1)
> >      called at /usr/local/vcl-2.2.1/bin/../lib/VCL/blockrequest.pm line
> >      373
> >             VCL::blockrequest::process_block_time(15) called at
> >      /usr/local/vcl-2.2.1/bin/../lib/VCL/blockrequest.pm line 193
> >             VCL::blockrequest::process('VCL::blockrequest=HASH(0x358bb68)
> >      ') called at /usr/local/vcl/bin/vcld line 568
> >             VCL::vcld::make_new_child('HASH(0x34740f0)') called at
> >      /usr/local/vcl/bin/vcld line 448
> >             VCL::vcld::main() called at /usr/local/vcl/bin/vcld line 98
> >      2012-10-04
> >      02:00:02|3322|blockrequest|State.pm:DESTROY(829)|VCL::blockrequest
> >      destructor called, address: 358bb68
> >      2012-10-04 02:00:02|3322|blockrequest|State.pm:DESTROY(848)|number
> >      of database handles state process created: 1
> >      2012-10-04 02:00:02|20597|vcld:REAPER(718)|VCL process exited for
> >      reservation <unknown>, PID: 3322, signal: CHLD
> >      On Thu, Oct 04, 2012 at 08:48:34AM -0400, Aaron Peeler wrote:
> > 
> >      Hello Michael,
> >      The start time for block allocations need to be requested > 30
> >      minutes
> >      in advance.
> >      If folks think this should be adjusted let us know. The original
> >      thinking was to allow the enough time for the machines to get
> >      prepared
> >      for 30+ machines, which is what we've experienced for the average
> >      number of machines for Blocks allocations.
> >      Aaron
> >      On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 6:03 PM, Michael Jinks
> >      <[8][email protected]> wrote:
> > 
> >      Thanks, Aaron and Josh.
> >      I did have some problems in my vcld.conf; the vclsystem account
> >      hadn't
> >      been properly configured.  So that was clearly part of my trouble.
> >      Having fixed that, though, I'm still not getting a successful block
> >      reservation.  Based on Josh's remarks about vcld reserving the slots
> >      "several hours" in advance, I wonder if that's an issue.  In order
> >      to
> >      test this in a reasonable amount of time, I've been creating a time
> >      slot
> >      a few minutes in the future, which then comes and goes with no
> >      activity
> >      in the vcld log except 'lastcheckin' lines.  I also find, in the
> >      database:
> >      mysql> select processed from blockTimes;
> >      +-----------+
> >      | processed |
> >      +-----------+
> >      |         0 |
> >      |         0 |
> >      +-----------+
> >      2 rows in set (0.00 sec)
> >      How far advance do I need to do a block allocation in order for it
> >      to
> >      take effect?
> >      On Wed, Oct 03, 2012 at 03:03:46PM -0400, Josh Thompson wrote:
> > 
> >      -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> >      Hash: SHA1
> >      Michael,
> >      Aaron gave some good info.
> >      One thing I'll point out is that when you view the status of a block
> >      allocation through the web interface as you've described, the number
> >      listed for "Failed" comes from
> >      (number of computers for block allocation) - (number of computers in
> >      blockComputers table)
> >      It doesn't necessarily reflect that VCL attempted to load the
> >      machines
> >      and that those loads failed.  If vcld never processes the block
> >      allocation, it will always show the full count in the Failed row.
> >      When the block allocation is created, an entry is created in the
> >      blockTimes table for each time slot in which the block allocation
> >      will
> >      occur.  However, no computers are actually allocated for each time
> >      slot until several hours before a time slot starts.  Several hours
> >      before any block time, vcld processes that block time to allocate
> >      the
> >      computers and populate the blockComputers table for that blockTimes
> >      entry.  It does this by making an XMLRPC call to the web code.  You
> >      can check that vcld has actually processed a block time entry by
> >      looking at the blockTimes.processed field in the database for a
> >      given
> >      time slot.
> >      Josh
> >      On 10/03/12 13:59, Aaron Coburn wrote:
> > 
> >      Michael,
> >      You should make sure that /etc/vcl/vcld.conf has the proper values
> >      set for:
> >      xmlrpc_username xmlrpc_pass xmlrpc_url
> >      xmlrpc_username should be set as vclsystem@Local xmlrpc_url should
> >      be something like:
> >      [9]https://vcl.myinstitution.edu/index.php?mode=xmlrpccall
> >      This is all described in the vcld.conf file as well as on this
> >      page:
> >      https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/VCL/VCL+2.3+Management+N
> >      ode+Installation#VCL2.3ManagementNodeInstallation-Configurevcld.conf
> >      Then be sure to set the password for the user identified above
> >      (e.g. vclsystem@Local). Instructions are here:
> >      https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/VCL/VCL+2.3+Management+N
> >      ode+Installation#VCL2.3ManagementNodeInstallation-Setthevclsystemacc
> >      ountpasswordforxmlrpcapi
> >      (The instructions are for version 2.3, but they will work for
> >      2.2.1 as well)
> >      Finally, restart vcld so that it can pick up the new information.
> >      If that doesn't help, then try inspecting the vcld logfile -- it
> >      will tell you more about why the reservations fail.
> >      Aaron
> >      -- Aaron Coburn Systems Administrator and Programmer Academic
> >      Technology Services, Amherst College [email protected]
> >      On Oct 3, 2012, at 1:30 PM, Michael Jinks <[email protected]>
> >      wrote:
> > 
> >      Hi List.
> >      We have a VCL 2.2 instance running, most things work, but one
> >      glaring problem is still thwarting me.  When I try to create a
> >      block allocation, the computers always come up "Failed"; this in
> >      spite of the fact that I can reserve the same image individually
> >      with no issues.
> >      I've tried this so far with the admin@Local account, as well as
> >      my user account which has full admin privileges (or at least as
> >      close as we can get by assigning rights in the Privileges page).
> >      I go to the "Block Allocations" page, click "Create New Block
> >      Allocation", fill in the form, choosing a known-working image in
> >      the "Environment" dropdown, and a "List of Dates/Times" with one
> >      time span in the near future.  "Submit New Block Allocation" pops
> >      up a confirmation window, that goes fine, and I have an entry
> >      "Block Allocations" page under "Manage Block Allocations".  Looks
> >      fine.
> >      But, if I click an entry under "Your Active Block Allocations",
> >      under "Current status of computers," the number by "Failed" is
> >      equal to the number of seats I reserved, and as far as I can tell
> >      the system never tries to deploy a VM.
> >      I'm guessing that there is some permission setting or some other
> >      item within the management node that I've overlooked.  Any hints
> >      on where to look?
> >      Thanks, -j
> >      -- Michael Jinks :: [email protected] University of Chicago IT
> >      Services
> > 
> >      - --
> >      - -------------------------------
> >      Josh Thompson
> >      VCL Developer
> >      North Carolina State University
> >      my GPG/PGP key can be found at [10]pgp.mit.edu
> >      All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
> >      are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
> >      Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
> >      -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> >      Version: GnuPG v2.0.17 (GNU/Linux)
> >      iEYEARECAAYFAlBsjBIACgkQV/LQcNdtPQOcyQCfTQE1TzGXVFsIqitpPFrzJrM/
> >      SoIAn3p/PMlH+mjI0jWpHdwOC12/hwyu
> >      =gnM2
> >      -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> > 
> >      --
> >      Michael Jinks :: [11][email protected] :: 773-469-9688
> >      University of Chicago IT Services
> > 
> >      --
> >      Aaron Peeler
> >      Program Manager
> >      Virtual Computing Lab
> >      NC State University
> >      All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
> >      are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
> >      Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
> > 
> >      --
> >      Michael Jinks :: [12][email protected] :: 773-469-9688
> >      University of Chicago IT Services
> > 
> > References
> > 
> >    1. http://search.cpan.org/~rjray/RPC-XML-0.77/
> >    2. mailto:[email protected]
> >    3. mailto:[email protected]
> >    4. http://vlab.uchicago.edu/
> >    5. http://vlab.uchicago.edu/
> >    6. http://vlab.uchicago.edu/
> >    7. http://vlab.uchicago.edu/
> >    8. mailto:[email protected]
> >    9. https://vcl.myinstitution.edu/index.php?mode=xmlrpccall
> >   10. http://pgp.mit.edu/
> >   11. mailto:[email protected]
> >   12. mailto:[email protected]
> 
> -- 
> Michael Jinks :: [email protected] :: 773-469-9688
> University of Chicago IT Services

-- 
Michael Jinks :: [email protected] :: 773-469-9688
University of Chicago IT Services

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