ServerLucidCloudConfig

Launchpad Entry: server-lucid-ec2-config
Created: 2009-11-24
Contributors: Scott Moser
Packages affected:

Summary

Ubuntu Cloud images are generic "fresh install" disk images that are started up on various clouds and configured at boot time. Previous releases only allowed customization via a user provided script. That script would run at S99 (similar to traditional rc.local).

Instead of requiring the user to write a script to customize the image, we would like to provide a configuration file syntax to support common customization, such as installing additional packages, installing all updates ...

Release Note

Ubuntu Cloud Images can now be configured via a human readable config file syntax. Previously customization could only be done via provided scripts.

Rationale

Previous Ubuntu releases only supported customization via a script file running late in the boot process. This had many problems:

writing shell scripts is complex, easy to screw up
only 16k of user data can be passed in a ec2 user-data script
script based customization means that the script-provider must maintain their scripts themselves.

By providing a Config syntax with a limited number of options, we can make sure that a given config file behaves the same on different versions of the OS. For some users the config syntax may provide all the customization they need.

User stories

As a system administrator, I want to deploy an AMI based on the latest Ubuntu Server Edition in EC2. I run the example commands provided, and my instance is started with the latest Ubuntu updates automatically applied. I can confidently allow public access to the instance, knowing that it is always up to date, and I do not accrue any data transfer charges on account of the update process.
As a casual user of EC2, I would like to easily make small changes to my instance in its first boot, without having to know details of how the boot process works. I'd like to install some extra packages from the archive and some from my own ppa.

Assumptions

Design

On first boot, the boot hooks implementation (server-lucid-ec2-boothooks,ServerLucidCloudBoothooks) dumps the user data to a local file and then emits a cloud-config event with the CFGFILE environment variables pointing to the config.yaml file. Upstart jobs will then read the configuration file to configure the running instance.

The following is a list of configuration items that we would like to support:

update the instance (apt-get upgrade)
add additional packages (apt-get install)
adding repositories (with shortcuts for a ppa) and installation of packages from these repositories.
mount EBS volumes at specified location
configure ephemeral storage usage
- RAID 0 or LVM to give improved speed and size
- define mount locations (/dev/sda2 on /var/log, /dev/sdb on /mnt ...)
'runurl' support

Upstart jobs

Jobs depend on at least cloud-config event:

 start on cloud-config

The following upstart jobs are available:

apt_conf: configures apt
pkg_install: installs packages after apt_conf

Sample YAML configuration file

Please see ec2-init/doc subdirectory for maintained examples, and more tools/write-mime-multipart for a utility to write mime-multi-part files from a list of files.

#cloud-config
# if user data is not multi-part mime, in order to be recognized
# as cloud-config, it must start with "#cloud-config"

# Update apt database on first boot
# (ie run apt-get update)
#
# Default: true
#
apt_update: false

# Upgrade the instance on first boot
# (ie run apt-get upgrade)
#
# Default: false
#
apt_upgrade: true

# Add apt repositories
#
# Default: none
#
apt_sources:

 # PPA shortcut:
 #  * Setup correct apt sources.list line
 #  * Import the signing key from LP
 #
 #  See https://help.launchpad.net/Packaging/PPA for more information
 #
 - source: "ppa:user/ppa"    # Quote the string

 # Custom apt repository:
 #  * Creates a file in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ for the sources list entry
 #  * [optional] Import the apt signing key from the keyserver 
 #  * Defaults:
 #    + keyserver: keyserver.ubuntu.com
 #    + filename: 00-boot-sources.list
 #
 #    See sources.list man page for more information about the format
 #
 - source: "deb http://archive.example.org lucid main restricted" # Quote the string
   keyid: 12345678 # GPG key ID published on a key server
   keyserver: keyserver.example.org
   filename: 01-mirror-example.org.list

 # Custom apt repository:
 #  * The apt signing key can also be specified 
 #    by providing a pgp public key block
 #  
 #  The apt repository will be added to the default sources.list file:
 #  /etc/apt/sources.list.d/00-boot-sources.list
 #
 - source: "deb http://mirror.example.net/karmic/ ./" # Quote the string
   key: | # The value needs to start with -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
      -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
      Version: SKS 1.0.10

      mI0ESXTsSQEEALuhrVwNsLIzCoaVRnrBIYraSUYCJatFcuvnhi7Q++kBBxx32JE487QgzmZc
      ElIiiPxz/nRZO8rkbHjzu05Yx61AoZVByiztP0MFH15ijGocqlR9/R6BMm26bdKK22F7lTRi
      lRxXxOsL2GPk5gQ1QtDXwPkHvAhjxGydV/Pcf81lABEBAAG0HUxhdW5jaHBhZCBQUEEgZm9y
      IE1hdGhpYXMgR3VniLYEEwECACAFAkl07EkCGwMGCwkIBwMCBBUCCAMEFgIDAQIeAQIXgAAK
      CRANXKLHCU0EIIJHBAC1NCwdLwchCPIQU2bd562/YWcB7QSgYD3j+Llqm8v6ghFQ0Bdygbn1
      M6tzpwDiPxXQfZRqGhJsluCVHGLCQYNm0HDNisP4+YrZF3UkmAXDwZuh8K3LmvUPM+lLY8YJ
      1qnFHp3eN9M8/SYEFN0wlaVAurZD13NaU34UePd46vPtzA==
      =eVIj
      -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

# Add apt configuration files
#  Add an apt.conf.d/ file with the relevant content
#
#  See apt.conf man page for more information.
# 
#  Defaults:
#   + filename: 00-boot-conf
#
apt_conf:

 # Creates an apt proxy configuration in /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/01-proxy
 - filename: "01-proxy"
   content: |
    Acquire::http::Proxy "http://proxy.example.org:3142/ubuntu";

 # Add the following line to /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/00-boot-conf
 #  (run debconf at a critical priority)
 - content: |
    DPkg::Pre-Install-Pkgs:: "/usr/sbin/dpkg-preconfigure --apt -p critical|| true";

# Provide debconf answers
#
# See debconf-set-selections man page.
#
# Default: none
# 
debconf_selections: |     # Need to perserve newlines
        # Force debconf priority to critical.
        debconf debconf/priority select critical

        # Override default frontend to readline, but allow user to select.
        debconf debconf/frontend select readline
        debconf debconf/frontend seen false
 
# Install additional packages on first boot
#
# Default: none
#
packages:
 - openssh-server
 - postfix

# Send pre-generated ssh private keys to the server
# If these are present, they will be written to /etc/ssh and
# new random keys will not be generated
ssh_keys:
  rsa_private: |
    -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
    MIIBxwIBAAJhAKD0YSHy73nUgysO13XsJmd4fHiFyQ+00R7VVu2iV9Qcon2LZS/x
    1cydPZ4pQpfjEha6WxZ6o8ci/Ea/w0n+0HGPwaxlEG2Z9inNtj3pgFrYcRztfECb
    1j6HCibZbAzYtwIBIwJgO8h72WjcmvcpZ8OvHSvTwAguO2TkR6mPgHsgSaKy6GJo
    PUJnaZRWuba/HX0KGyhz19nPzLpzG5f0fYahlMJAyc13FV7K6kMBPXTRR6FxgHEg
    L0MPC7cdqAwOVNcPY6A7AjEA1bNaIjOzFN2sfZX0j7OMhQuc4zP7r80zaGc5oy6W
    p58hRAncFKEvnEq2CeL3vtuZAjEAwNBHpbNsBYTRPCHM7rZuG/iBtwp8Rxhc9I5w
    ixvzMgi+HpGLWzUIBS+P/XhekIjPAjA285rVmEP+DR255Ls65QbgYhJmTzIXQ2T9
    luLvcmFBC6l35Uc4gTgg4ALsmXLn71MCMGMpSWspEvuGInayTCL+vEjmNBT+FAdO
    W7D4zCpI43jRS9U06JVOeSc9CDk2lwiA3wIwCTB/6uc8Cq85D9YqpM10FuHjKpnP
    REPPOyrAspdeOAV+6VKRavstea7+2DZmSUgE
    -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

  rsa_public: ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAGEAoPRhIfLvedSDKw7XdewmZ3h8eIXJD7TRHtVW7aJX1ByifYtlL/HVzJ09nilCl+MSFrpbFnqjxyL8Rr/DSf7QcY/BrGUQbZn2Kc22PemAWthxHO18QJvWPocKJtlsDNi3 smoser@localhost

  dsa_private: |
    -----BEGIN DSA PRIVATE KEY-----
    MIIBuwIBAAKBgQDP2HLu7pTExL89USyM0264RCyWX/CMLmukxX0Jdbm29ax8FBJT
    pLrO8TIXVY5rPAJm1dTHnpuyJhOvU9G7M8tPUABtzSJh4GVSHlwaCfycwcpLv9TX
    DgWIpSj+6EiHCyaRlB1/CBp9RiaB+10QcFbm+lapuET+/Au6vSDp9IRtlQIVAIMR
    8KucvUYbOEI+yv+5LW9u3z/BAoGBAI0q6JP+JvJmwZFaeCMMVxXUbqiSko/P1lsa
    LNNBHZ5/8MOUIm8rB2FC6ziidfueJpqTMqeQmSAlEBCwnwreUnGfRrKoJpyPNENY
    d15MG6N5J+z81sEcHFeprryZ+D3Ge9VjPq3Tf3NhKKwCDQ0240aPezbnjPeFm4mH
    bYxxcZ9GAoGAXmLIFSQgiAPu459rCKxT46tHJtM0QfnNiEnQLbFluefZ/yiI4DI3
    8UzTCOXLhUA7ybmZha+D/csj15Y9/BNFuO7unzVhikCQV9DTeXX46pG4s1o23JKC
    /QaYWNMZ7kTRv+wWow9MhGiVdML4ZN4XnifuO5krqAybngIy66PMEoQCFEIsKKWv
    99iziAH0KBMVbxy03Trz
    -----END DSA PRIVATE KEY-----

  dsa_public: ssh-dss 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 smoser@localhost


# remove access to the ec2 metadata service early in boot via null route
# default: false (service available)
disable_ec2_metadata: true

Implementation

This config syntax parser will be implemented as a plugin to the generic boot hooks implementation. It will be installed as part of the image.

UI Changes

Newly developed programs under the server-lucid-xc2 (ServerLuciXc2) spec may expose supported config options as command line options when creating an instance.

Code Changes

A plugin to the boot hooks implementation will be implemented. It will be passed data that is determined to be intended for the plugin.

This new plugin will need to implement the parsing of the configuration, and acting on the supported configuration types. Most likely:

the plugin will be implemented in python
the config file format will be read by python ConfigParser

Migration

These changes will be done in a backwards compatible manner. Users that were creating scripts for customizing their images and passing those scripts to ec2 in user-data will see no changes.

Documentation will be provided on the wiki to point users to the more simplistic and user friendly configuration file syntax.

Test/Demo Plan

TODO

test cases will need to be developed and used that exercise the supported customization. The server-lucid-cloud-test spec (ServerLucidCloudImageTest) will implement the test infrastructure.

Unresolved issues

None.

BoF agenda and discussion

UDS discussion notes

The current method by which users can configure UEC/EC2 images is via 'user-data'. user-data that begins with #! is executed by the appropriate interpreter at S99 runlevel. This is a very effect method for customization but one that requires a fair amount of expertise to utilize.

It would be nice to provide a config file like syntax that would allow: - what mirrors to use / what additional repos to add - whether or not updates are installed on first boot - ssh private keys to use (allowing user to dictate them, rather than polling for random keys from ec2-console) - extra packages to install

Note: this differs from server-lucid-ec2-boothooks as this would provide only for specific/static function. [1] would provide a hook into the images that could allow for building this blueprint.

Problems with the status quo

writing shell scripts is complex, easy to screw up -- simple things should be simple
only 64k of user data can be passed
maintenance issues

Use cases

package installation (Ubuntu repositories) *simple*
- including tasks
- add specific apt repositories
package installation (custom repositories) *simple*
install latest updates *simple*
Pass more than 64k of user data
- landscape (registration data)
- puppet (bootstrap (certificate/private key, autoregistration))
- rightscale (rightscripts)
- other config mgmt system: cfengine, bcfg, spline, capistrano
Advertise specific features [don't know]
dynamic DNS
EBS mounting and snapshots *simple*
- udev script mounting of volume based on metadata in the volume
ephemeral storage mounting
- RAID *simple*
asynchronous notification that the instance is up and running:
- email
- jabber/XMPP
- simpledb, sqs
- rabbitmq (message queue)
- submission to a url *simple-low priority*
run custom scripts
- at what point in the boot process?
  - pass an upstart job
pass any type of credentials through user-data (AWS, certificates, keytabs, ssh keys)
- security issues
- all data should be kept as safe as possible
  - config option to set perms on said data

summary:

- as early as possible parses various souces of user data - acts on it

Implementation ideas

share syntax, semantics with d-i preseeding
use puppet - not a generic solution to the issue, requires infrastructure
Simple key/value pairs format, read by plugins
Core features: bootstrapping process -- package install, repository add
Section / key-value pair format where each section would get read by a specific plugin
Credentials transfer: use S3-backend "safe" storage
store scripts, data in S3, access via URL
- runurl run.alestic.com/apt/rightscale
- runurl run.alestic.com/apt/alestic
- runurl run.alestic.com/email/start me@example.com

Other Feedback

Notes from EricHammond regarding this snippet in the sample config file:
- ```
   # Update apt database on first boot
   # (ie run apt-get update)
   # Default: true
   apt_update: false
```
  - I am concerned about the implication that apt-get update might be run automatically on first boot even when the old style user-data script is provided or when users are configuring through automated ssh on startup. I understand and support the desire to make things easy for new users, but would also suggest that it is also important to let advanced users configure their new instances quickly and not get in their way. Here's a sample scenario:
```
    user-data script changes apt sources to a different repository,
    includes multiverse, and/or adds a PPA.  user-data script then
    runs apt-get update itself and starts installing software.
```
  - If apt-get update is run automatically before this starts, then the user-data script has to figure out how to wait for the (useless) update to complete, making the code more complex and delaying the startup of the instance. If the apt-get update were to default to false, then the new config file approach can easily switch it to true, not breaking the way that it currently works. The following proposal seemed to meet some level of agreement on the ubuntu-ec2 and ubuntu-cloud mailing lists (i.e., Mathias said it sounded good and nobody else objected):
```
  ec2init automatically runs apt-get update on first boot, UNLESS:

  1. a user-data script is provided by the user (starting with #!), OR
  2. the advanced user-data configuration format is provided by the user
     AND that configuration specifies that apt-get update should not be
     run.
```

CategorySpec

ServerLucidCloudConfig (last edited 2010-01-27 03:57:38 by d14-69-66-169)

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