Management

Managing Eucalyptus Images (1.6)

First, be sure to source your 'eucarc' file before running the commands below. Note that all users may upload and register images (depending on access granted to them by the Eucalyptus administrator), but only the admin user may ever upload/register kernels or ramdisks.

Second, the instructions below rely on the euca2ools command-line tools distributed by the Eucalyptus Team. Please, install them if you haven't done so already.

1. Adding Images

To enable a VM image as an executable entity, a user/admin must add a root disk image, a kernel/ramdisk pair (ramdisk may be optional) to Walrus and register the uploaded data with Eucalyptus. Each is added to Walrus and registered with Eucalyptus separately, using three EC2 commands. The following example uses the test image that we provide. Unpack it to any directory:

Add the kernel to Walrus, and register it with Eucalyptus (WARNING: your bucket names must not end with a slash!):

euca-bundle-image -i <kernel file> --kernel true
euca-upload-bundle -b <kernel bucket> -m /tmp/<kernel file>.manifest.xml
euca-register <kernel-bucket>/<kernel file>.manifest.xml

Next, add the root filesystem image to Walrus:

euca-bundle-image -i <vm image file> 
euca-upload-bundle -b <image bucket> -m /tmp/<vm image file>.manifest.xml
euca-register <image bucket>/<vm image file>.manifest.xml

Our test kernel does not require a ramdisk to boot. If the administrator would like to upload/register a kernel/ramdisk pair, the procedure is similar to the above:

euca-bundle-image -i <initrd file> --ramdisk true
euca-upload-bundle -b <initrd bucket> -m /tmp/<initrd file>.manifest.xml
euca-register <initrd bucket>/<initrd file>.manifest.xml

2. Associating kernels and ramdisks with instances

There are three ways that one can associate a kernel (and ramdisk) with a VM instance.

  1. A user may associate a specific kernel/ramdisk identifier with an image at the 'euca-bundle-image' step
    euca-bundle-image -i <vm image file> --kernel <eki-XXXXXXXX> --ramdisk <eri-XXXXXXXX>
    
  2. A user may choose a specific kernel/ramdisk at instance run time as an option to 'euca-run-instances'
    euca-run-instances --kernel <eki-XXXXXXXX> --ramdisk <eri-XXXXXXXX> <emi-XXXXXXXX>
    
    
  3. The administrator can set 'default' registered kernel/ramdisk identifiers that will be used if a kernel/ramdisk is unspecified by either of the above options. This is accomplished by logging in to the administrative interface (https://your.cloud.server:8443), clicking on the 'Configuration' tab and adding an <eki-xxxxxxxx> and optionally an <eri-xxxxxxxx> as the defaults kernel/ramdisk to be used.

3. Deleting Images

In order to delete an image, you must first de-register the image:

euca-deregister <emi-XXXXXXXX>

Then, you can remove the files stored in your bucket. Assuming you have sourced your 'eucarc' to set up EC2 client tools:

euca-delete-bundle -a $EC2_ACCESS_KEY -s $EC2_SECRET_KEY --url $S3_URL -b <bucket> -p <file prefix>

If you would like to remove the image and the bucket, add the '--clear' option:

euca-delete-bundle -a $EC2_ACCESS_KEY -s $EC2_SECRET_KEY --url $S3_URL -b <bucket> -p <file prefix> --clear

Examples


Following is an example using the Ubuntu pre-packaged image that we provide using the included KVM compatible kernel/ramdisk (a Xen compatible kernel/ramdisk is also included). See this page to get more pre-packaged images.

tar zxvf euca-ubuntu-9.04-x86_64.tar.gz

euca-bundle-image -i euca-ubuntu-9.04-x86_64/kvm-kernel/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic --kernel true
euca-upload-bundle -b ubuntu-kernel-bucket -m /tmp/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic.manifest.xml
euca-register ubuntu-kernel-bucket/vmlinuz-2.6.28-11-generic.manifest.xml
(set the printed eki to $EKI)

euca-bundle-image -i euca-ubuntu-9.04-x86_64/kvm-kernel/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic --ramdisk true
euca-upload-bundle -b ubuntu-ramdisk-bucket -m /tmp/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic.manifest.xml
euca-register ubuntu-ramdisk-bucket/initrd.img-2.6.28-11-generic.manifest.xml
(set the printed eri to $ERI)

euca-bundle-image -i euca-ubuntu-9.04-x86_64/ubuntu.9-04.x86-64.img --kernel $EKI --ramdisk $ERI
euca-upload-bundle -b ubuntu-image-bucket -m /tmp/ubuntu.9-04.x86-64.img.manifest.xml
euca-register ubuntu-image-bucket/ubuntu.9-04.x86-64.img.manifest.xml

Now, the newly uploaded image(s) should be ready to start using (see User's Guide for more information on using Eucalyptus).

Eucalyptus Management (1.6)

This part of the Administrator's Guide describes tasks that can be performed on a completed Eucalyptus installation, whether it was installed from source or from packages.

1. Image Management

To use Eucalyptus, images must be added and registered with the system. We have a document detailing the steps of this process in Image Management.

2. Node Management

Once you have a running Eucalyptus system you can add and remove nodes (systems running Node Controllers) using

$EUCALYPTUS/usr/sbin/euca_conf --register-nodes "<nodename1> ... <nodenameN>"

you will be asked for password to login to <nodenameX>: this is needed to propagate the cryptographic keys. Similarly to remove a node

$EUCALYPTUS/usr/sbin/euca_conf --deregister-nodes "<nodename1> ... <nodenameN>"

3. User Management

3.1 User sign-up

Users interested in joining the cloud should be directed to the front-end Web page (note the https prefix!):

https://your.front.end.hostname:8443/

As soon as the administrator logs in for the first time and enters the email address to be used for application requests, thus activating the Web site for use by others, the login box of the Web site will have an "Apply for account" link underneath it. After a user fills out the application form, an email is sent to the administrator, containing two URLs, one for accepting and one for rejecting the user.

Note that there is no authentication performed on the people who fill out the form. It is up to the administrator to perform this authentication! The only "guarantee" the administrator has is that the account will not be active unless the person who requested the account (and, hence, knows the password) can read email at the submitted address. Therefore, if the administrator is willing to give the account to the person behind the email address, it is safe to approve the account. Otherwise, the administrator may use the additional information submitted (such as the telephone number, project PI, etc.) to make the decision.

Accepting or rejecting a signup request causes an email message to be sent to the user who made the request. In the case of an acceptance notification, the user will see a link for activating the account. Before activating the account, the user will have to log in with the username and password that they chose at signup.

3.2 Adding users

Users can be added by the administrator explicitly by logging into the Eucalyptus web interface, as an administrative user, clicking the 'Users' tab, clicking on the 'Add User' button, and filling out the same user form that a user would fill out if they applied themselves. The user will be automatically 'approved' using this method, but their account will not be active until the user clicks the link that is sent via email similar to the above method.

3.3 Managing users

If the administrator wishes to disable or delete a user, they can do so through the web interface, as an administrative user, clicking the 'Users' tab, and clicking either the 'disable' or 'delete' link respectively.