[one-users] [RFC] Release 1.4 - Context support

[Tino Vazquez]

CONTEXT SUPPORT
=================

Currently OpenNebula offers basic support to context the VMs. It'll be
useful to provide the users with a simple way to push context data in
the VM.

OpenNebula will use a context block device (CBD) for this (say, an iso
image) that is built on the fly with, for instance, the hostname, IP
address, the IP of other VMs, license for software installed in the VM
or SSH keys. The CBD will be built on-the-fly by the transfer manager
scripts, so you can easily adapt the process.

In this way, you only have to put a context script in your VMs that
mounts the CBD, access the data in it, and perform the configuration
actions.

Proposed format:

CONTEXT = [

    VARIABLES = <list of variables>
    FILE = <path to file to be included in the iso>
    DIRECTORY = <path to directory to be included in the iso>
    TARGET = <device to map the context block device>

]

VARIABLE: This will be a list of variables (comma separated)  from
this VM or others. A first approach for the format for selecting
attributes and setting others could be:


    * MY_IP   = nic.ip[NETWORK="BLUE"]

                          MY_IP will hold the value of the IP given to
this VM in its network interface bind to the "BLUE" network.

    * MASTER_IP = master.nic.ip[NETWORK="PUBLIC"]

                         MASTER_IP will hold the value of the IP given
to the VM with name "master" in its network interface bind to the
"PUBLIC" network.


FILE: A file to be included in the iso image
DIRECTORY: a directory to be included in the iso image

ISO image layout:

/

    |
    |- variables
    |- file1
    |- ...
    |- fileN
    |- dir1/
    |- ...
    |- dirM/


Please send your comments and thoughts to the mailing list or in the
following ticket: http://trac.opennebula.org/ticket/77

Best,

.Tino

-- 
Constantino Vázquez, Grid Technology Engineer/Researcher:
http://www.dsa-research.org/tinova
DSA Research Group: http://dsa-research.org
Globus GridWay Metascheduler: http://www.GridWay.org
OpenNebula Virtual Infrastructure Engine: http://www.OpenNebula.org