I, Frode Nordahl, apply for per-package upload rights for the openvswitch and ovn packages.

I am applying because:

• I'd like to reduce the burden on my sponsors.

Who I am

Developer of software for ease of deployment and operations at scale, core developer in OpenStack Charms project, contributor to Open vSwitch, OVN and various OpenStack projects.

Worked on development and scaling of systems, networking and virtualization since 2000.

My Ubuntu story

Back in 2010 I remember making Ubuntu the platform of choice for any software development and deployment projects.

In 2016 I joined Canonical to work on Ubuntu and adjacent technologies and I have been part of the OpenStack Engineering team since 2017, OVN Engineering since 2021.

My involvement

Examples of my work / Things I'm proud of

Add separate record hostname service to our Open vSwitch package, consuming our upstream contribution allowing systems with a Netplan configured Open vSwitch bridge as the only connection to function properly.

Fix critical issue in the OVN version distributed with Ubuntu by backporting a large set of patches. We subsequently got this set of patches backported upstream so that we could remove the patches from our packages in a point release update.

Change service to allow OVN package upgrades with minimal dataplane outage.

Areas of work

Networking related work has been my focus since as far as I can remember. In 2021 I was one of the founding members of a focused OVN Engineering team which is organized as a sub-team under the OpenStack Engineering team.

Both the openvswitch and ovn package have a relatively low number of bugs in the queue, and we frequently work to iterate on and move those to completion.

I participated in detailing the specification, as well as providing input throughout the development process, for the Open vSwitch support in Netplan.

Had the privilege of working with the Netplan team again for the SmartNIC eswitch support.

I have also worked with the Server team on updates to the libvirt package..

Things I could do better

While working on a complicated backport to the libvirt package , a corner case error slipped through leading to a regression. The regression was reported and resolved by a colleague in the SEG team while I was offline after hours.

From this experience I learned that I should be even more diligent in my pre-upload testing.

Plans for the future

General

I am dedicated to maintaining and further developing the upstream Open vSwitch and OVN projects. A part of that work is to maintain the distribution of those projects in Ubuntu.

What I like least in Ubuntu

With an outside in view, the Ubuntu development process is not that transparent.

There are many pages that give overview of queues and statistics for package migrations and uploads, but it is not apparent where to find those. I would like to contribute by documenting my journey discovering the non-transparent details of the development process.

Comments

If you'd like to comment, but are not the applicant or a sponsor, do it here. Don't forget to sign with @SIG@.

Lukas 'slyon' Märdian

I have not sponsored any packages for Frode, so I can not provide an endorsement of his packaging work. However, I know Frode as a reviewer of several Netplan specifications, where he's always given quick and high quality feedback. And I've also worked with him in our "Converged Networking" cross team efforts, where he demonstrated knowledge across the stack. I fully trust in him making decisions in the best interest of the Ubuntu community. -- slyon 2022-02-18 13:03:55

Endorsements

Christian Ehrhardt

General feedback

This can't be a "full" endoresement, since I haven't sponsored/reviewed enough for a full one. But I can say with confidence that all that I've seen was good. Even in the case he mentions that later on turned out to include a regression I can say that it was something rather easy to miss and hard to spot. Since this is "just" a PPU for OVS/OVN I think we can trust him on that - he does most of the work there already anyway.

Specific Experiences of working together

As I said the list of (https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi?render=html&sponsor=*Ehrhardt*&sponsor_search=name&sponsoree=*Nordahl*&sponsoree_search=name) sponsored packages isn't too long. But I see him engaging with people in channels like #field-support and such as well as in design discussions and his expertise in all of those is great.

Areas of Improvement

So far when working on "the next versions of OVS" I still usually work with James Page. I'd recommend to Frode to also have a look at that - it will extend his packaging experience as well as allowing James to focus on one of his other 1001 tasks.

This isn't so much "Frodes fault" more a "We can't find enough time for it", but we wanted to work closer with Debian on OVS/OVN in many occasions. It never got much further than intend though. Maybe finally getting that to work out could further increase not only collaboration but also be another chance forFrode to get more packaging experience.

-- paelzer 2022-02-18 06:22:59

Corey Bryant

General feedback

Frode is an OpenStack networking specialist and is very skilled/experienced with the Ubuntu, OpenStack, openvswitch, OVN, and OpenStack Charms projects. He is not only skilled as a developer, he is also skilled as an operator, helping to maintain the serverstack cloud at Canonical. I've worked with Frode for several years now. Frode is passionate about his work and as a teammate you can always count on him. He always makes himself available to help when someone needs help or when a fix is needed. Frode is a regular contributor to upstream OVN/openvswitch/neutron projects and has been contributing to packages such as ceph, openvswitch, OVN, and neutron. I endorse Frode for per-package upload rights for the openvswitch and OVN packages.

Specific Experiences of working together

I have reviewed or sponsored a handful of package changes for Frode for neutron, python-os-vif, and octavia. With his background and experience, he had no problem coming up to speed and navigating package source. I have also picked up a number of his upstream patches in various OpenStack projects, and have reviewed many of his changes to various projects such as the OpenStack charms.

Areas of Improvement

As I recommend to anyone who is applying for upload rights, be very careful with the changes that you upload, as package uploads do not require peer review. I trust that if Frode is unsure about a change that he will ask for a peer review before uploading.

James Page

General feedback

Frode is a fantastic source of expertise and knowledge around networking both in and outside of the context of OpenStack. His upstream contributions in OVS/OVN and Neutron are notable as well as his care of these projects in Ubuntu (see below).

I endorse Frode for per-package upload rights for the openvswitch and OVN packages. From my experience he will always ask for help when unsure so any minor knowledge gaps should be filled quickly!

Specific Experiences of working together

I've worked extensively with Frode around OVS and OVN - he has a great depth and breadth of knowledge in this area and has applied this effectively - the most recent experience being a good example of this depth when Frode was involved with testing and debugging of OVS hardware offload which required both OVS and kernel knowledge.

In addition to this I've sponsored a few uploads for him around OVS/OVN - general packaging and cherry picking skills all LGTM.

Areas of Improvement

Nothing technically - more just to be aware of the general Ubuntu development process and where we are in the development cycle when considering uploads.

-- james-page 2022-03-14 09:39:23

As a sponsor, just copy the template below, fill it out and add it to this section.

TEMPLATE

== <SPONSORS NAME> ==
=== General feedback ===
## Please fill us in on your shared experience. (How many packages did you sponsor? How would you judge the quality? How would you describe the improvements? Do you trust the applicant?)

=== Specific Experiences of working together ===
''Please add good examples of your work together, but also cases that could have handled better.''
## Full list of sponsored packages can be generated here:
##  https://udd.debian.org/cgi-bin/ubuntu-sponsorships.cgi
=== Areas of Improvement ===