ctys-uc-XEN

June, 2010



.

NAME

ctys-uc-XEN - XEN Use-Cases


REMARK

The XEN plugin is going to be reviewed now. The current description is still the first, even though still functional, some general enhancements are foreseen in order to harmonise the XEN plugin with the QEMU/KVM plugin and introduce a seamless integrated and conformant VirtualBox plugin. This particularly include a common installation and configuration interface.


USE-CASES

CREATE a session

CREATE a session with CONSOLE:CLI

This call creates a new session by starting a DomU on the host lab00 and opening a CLI console access with the -c option within the caller's shell.

Due to pyGRUB an ANSI capable terminal seems to be required, thus starting it within EMACS shell will not work.

  
  ctys  -t xen \
    -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:cli \
    -z 2 -b 0,2 lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


REMARK: Once a CLI console is attached from a caling shell, the focus might be released by shutdown of the attached VM only, or closing the window containing the session. In X11 environments a graphical console might be preferred for tests. Using CONSOLE:NONE for delayed attachement of a console is another option.

The local -z 2 option forces a PTY to be created in any case by calling ssh -t -t .... This avoids the remote TERM=dumb causing an error of pyGRUB. This is forced by default.

The local -b 0,2 option forces a serial and non-background mode for interactive shells. Otherwise the console might not work. This is forced by default.

The Remote option -Z KSU raises permission by Kerberos on target machine, which is particularly required for the 'xm create ...' call. This has to be set as required and may vary for sudo or native root-permissions.

So, using defaults the required call is:

  
  ctys -t xen \
    -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:cli \
    lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


The CONSOLE:NONE suboption just creates a server in so called headless-mode.

  
  ctys -t xen -a create=l:tst100,CONSOLE:none lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


The following calls just connect to a running instance. In this case the pathname is used.

  
  ctys -t xen \
    -a create=p:$HOME/xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:cli,connect \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


As a variation a relative filename for comparison of "find" results could be used in variable length, as long as the match is unambiguous.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:cli,connect \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


Same result with:

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=f:tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:cli,connect \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


Another call variation:

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=f:tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:cli,connect \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


In this case the id, which is for Xen id==pathname, is used.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=i:$HOME/xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:cli,connect \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


In the next case the label is used.

  
  ctys -t xen -a create=l:tst100,CONSOLE:cli,connect lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


The following call just connects to a running instance too, but uses the UUID.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=u:6842caf91e3e43249ed596b8b9f2c5c2,CONSOLE:cli,connect \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


The same when using MAC address.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=m:00:50:56:13:11:40,CONSOLE:cli,connect \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


The same when using IP address.

  
  ctys -t xen \
      -a create=t:192.168.1.220,CONSOLE:cli,connect \
      lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


This call creates a new session by starting a DomU on the host lab00 and opening a CLI console access with the "-c" option within a newly created xterm window.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:xterm \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


The creation of PTY is not required. The Remote option "-Z KSU" raises permission by Kerberos, which is particularly required for the "xm create ..." call.


CONSOLE:GTERM

Almost the same as XTERM, but a "gnome-terminal" is created instead.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:gterm \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


CONSOLE:EMACS

The EMACS console starts an EMACS and executes the call within a shell buffer named with LABEL of current XEN instance. The ansi-term is for now supported only when ctys is executed within as native call. The only drawback for the shell buffer is the lack of ansi-color support by ctys s and some restrictions due to lack of some ANSI terminal functions.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:emacs \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


The following image shows an EMACS variant, where the ANSI-TERM mode is choosen and the window is slitted by the call automatically into two parts. The lower displays and prompt for the <exec-target>, whereas the top-window shows the prompt of a shell access into the GuestOS, which is given by the <machine-address> of the call.


CONSOLE:VNC

This call creates a session with an attached VNC viewer as a console. Therefore it is highly recommended to set the "vncunused=1" value in order to use a free port. When this is set to "vncunused=0" interference with native VNC servers might occur. The complete set of recommended VNC settings are:

  
  vnc = 1
  vncconsole = 1
  vncunused = 1
  


The attachement of the console by a vncviewer is in ctys processed as a seperate step. Due to the asynchronous start of the DomU a timeout is implemented, which delays the start of the VNC console. This value coudl be configured by the user.

The resulting call for starting the session is:

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:vnc \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


The previous call implies the "-L DF" option for DISPLAYFORWARDING, the same call could be performed with -L CF for CONNECTIONFORWARDING.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:vnc \
     -L CF \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


Now the advantage of a formal split for Client and Server, where the client is attached by a seperate step, should be clear. The result could be verified by calling

  ctys -a list

on the client machine, which results e.g. to:

  
      TCP-container |TCP-guest |label   |sesstype|c|user |group     
      --------------+----------+--------+--------+-+-----+----------
      ws2.soho      |-         |tst100  |VNC     |C|acue |ldapusers 
      ws2.soho      |ws2.soho. |ws2     |PM      |S|-    |-         
      ws2.soho      |-         |tst100  |SSH(XEN)|T|acue |ldapusers 
  


The previous output is the standard table displayed, but could be completely customized by the user.

The sesstype representing the session type SSH(XEN) displays the tunnel created by the internal DIGGER plugin and charachterizes it by T as a tunnel. The label is here the same as for the the VNC session, which is characterized by C as a client, attached to the sessions server, the Xen DomU tst100 on the remote machine lab00. The client(tst100) and server(tst100) are interconnected via the tunnel tst100. For additional customization, e.g. the SORT attribute refer to LIST action.

The following output shows both machines, the localhost as client and the lab00 as the server. The call is varied to

  
  ctys -a list localhost lab00
  


and displays:

  
      TCP-container |TCP-guest  |label   |sesstype|c|user |group     
      --------------+-----------+--------+--------+-+-----+----------
      ws2.soho      |-          |tst100  |VNC     |C|acue |ldapusers 
      ws2.soho      |ws2.soho.  |ws2     |PM      |S|-    |-         
      ws2.soho      |-          |tst100  |SSH(XEN)|T|acue |ldapusers 
      lab00.soho    |-          |Domain-0|XEN     |S|-    |-         
      lab00.soho    |tst100     |tst100  |XEN     |S|-    |-         
      lab00.soho    |lab00.soho.|lab00   |PM      |S|-    |-         
  


CONSOLE:NONE

This call enters so called "headless-mode".

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:none \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


CREATE a session with RESUME from stat-file

  
  ctys -t xen -a create=l:tst100,RESUME:mystate.stat lab01
  


CREATE a session with RESUME with VNC

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a create=l:tst100,RESUME,CONSOLE:VNC \
     lab01
  


CREATE a session with RESUME with EMACS

  
  ctys -t xen -a create=l:tst100,RESUME,CONSOLE:EMACS lab01
  


CREATE multiple sessions

The following call creates two sessions with one call. Both sessions are here located on the physical machine lab00 and use ksu for raise of access permissions.

  
  ctys -t xen -- '(-Z KSU)' \
   lab00'( -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:none )' \
   lab00'( -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst101/tst101.conf,CONSOLE:none )'
  


The same could be varied for example to use different "-Z" options with KSU as default:

  
  ctys -t xen -- '(-Z KSU)' \
   lab00'(-a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:none )' \
    lab00'(-a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst101/tst101.conf,CONSOLE:none -Z SUDO)'
  


The same could be varied for example to use different "-Z" options with none as default:

  
  ctys -t xen -- \
   lab00'(-a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:none -Z KSU )'
   lab00'( -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst101/tst101.conf,CONSOLE:none -Z SUDO )'
  


It might be obvious howto use different physical hosts:

  
  ctys -t xen -- \
    lab00'( -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf,CONSOLE:none -Z KSU )'
    lab01'( -a create=f:xen/tst-ctys/tst101/tst101.conf,CONSOLE:none -Z SUDO )'
  


CANCEL a session

CANCEL a session with POWEROFF

This call stops the DomU addressed by it's PATHNAME.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a cancel=poweroff:0,p:/homen/acue/xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf \
     lab00'(-Z KSU)'
  


For the following calls caching is used by default, which could lead to errors when ambiguity of addressed targets occur. When ambiguity occurs, additional <machine-address> parts might resolve this.

As a work around for handling multiple copies, such as backups, with identical address contents, one of the following approaches might help:

The actual internal call of ctys-vhost is displayed within the trace output including the actual used parameters and could be called and varied after cut-and-paste to command line for validation purposes. A listing of all actual contained instances with ambiguous addresses is listed by the -M all .

Same by using the LABEL as address.

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,POWEROFF:0 lab01
  


When ambiguity occurs, e.g. like depicted by followin example:

  
  ctys-vhost -o machine -s -M all lab00 XEN tst100
  
  lab00.xyz;XEN;tst100;\
      /root/xen/tst100/tst100.conf;\
      6842caf91e3e43249ed596b8b9f2c5c2;\
      00:50:56:13:11:40;192.168.1.220;;;;CentOS;Linux;5;;PM
  
  lab00.xyz;XEN;tst100;\
      /root/xen/tst100/tst100-inst.conf;;\
      00:50:56:13:11:40;192.168.1.220;;;;;;;;;
  
  lab00.xyz;XEN;tst100;\
      /homen/chkusr/xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf;\
      6842caf91e3e43249ed596b8b9f2c5c2;\
      00:50:56:13:11:40;192.168.1.220;;;;CentOS;Linux;5;\
      20080427002200;VM
  


The following call resolves ambiguity by deactivating cached operations:

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,POWEROFF:0 -C off lab01
  


Similar with additional deactivation of nameservice caching, which anyhow is used sparsely for LIST action in current version.

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,POWEROFF:0 -c off -C off lab01
  


Similar call to previous, but reboots after resetting hypervisor. When SELF is selected the hosting machine will be RESET too, else the GuestOS within the hypervisor only.

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,RESET -c off -C off lab01
  


The following call ignores the eventual contained VMs within a stacked XEN instance. Actually the only VM supported to be executed nested within another is of type QEMU.

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,FORCE,RESET -c off -C off lab01
  


CANCEL a session with REBOOT

Similar call to previous, but reboots after shutdown.

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,REBOOT -c off -C off lab01
  


The following call ignores the eventual contained VMs within a stacked XEN instance. Actually the only VM supported to be executed nested within another is of type QEMU.

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,FORCE,REBOOT -c off -C off lab01
  


Same with pathname, should be used for tests, due it's evaluation means for a missing label.

  
  ctys -t xen \
     -a cancel=FORCE,REBOOT,p:/homen/chkusr/xen/tst-ctys/tst100/tst100.conf \
     -c off -C off lab01
  


CANCEL a session with PAUSE

Currently not yet available.

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,PAUSE lab01
  


  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,FORCE,PAUSE lab01
  


CANCEL a session with SUSPEND

Currently not yet available.

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,SUSPEND lab01
  


  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,FORCE,SUSPEND lab01
  


CANCEL a session with INIT

Calls UNIX init call with provided level. This call is somewhat limited for now, RESET and REBOOT should be preferred.

  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,INIT:0 lab00
  


  
  ctys -t xen -a cancel=l:tst100,FORCE,INIT:6 lab00
  


LIST sessions

List sessions. The following call lists all sessions as MACHINE format raw records, a prefix title with given raw indexes is displayed. The provided indexes are the values to be used to define custom tables to be stored as macros.

  
  ctys -t xen -a list=machine,titleidx lab00
  


A simple call with default values displays the standard output.

  
  ctys -a list lab01
  


The following result is displayed.

  
      TCP-container|TCP-guest  |label   |sesstype|c|user|group     
      -------------+-----------+--------+--------+-+----+-----
      lab00.soho   |-          |LAB00   |VNC     |C|root|root      
      lab00.soho   |-          |LAB00   |VNC     |S|root|root      
      lab00.soho   |-          |Domain-0|XEN     |S|-   |-         
      lab00.soho   |tst100     |tst100  |XEN     |S|-   |-         
      lab00.soho   |tst101     |tst101  |XEN     |S|-   |-         
      lab00.soho   |lab00.soho.|lab00   |PM      |S|-   |-         
  


When the subsystem XEN is selected the output is reduced to XEN only.

  
  ctys -t xen -a list lab01
  


The following result is displayed.

  
      TCP-container|TCP-guest  |label   |sesstype|c|user|group     
      -------------+-----------+--------+--------+-+----+-----
      lab00.soho   |-          |Domain-0|XEN     |S|-   |-         
      lab00.soho   |tst100     |tst100  |XEN     |S|-   |-         
      lab00.soho   |tst101     |tst101  |XEN     |S|-   |-         
  


A running configuration with two XEN sessions, where one session tst101 is connected by and a second tst100 is connected by is displayed with the call

  
  ctys -t xen -a list localhost lab01
  


as follows.

  
      TCP-container|TCP-guest  |label   |sesstype|c|user|group     
      -------------+-----------+--------+--------+-+----+---------
      ws2.soho     |-          |tst100  |VNC     |C|acue|ldapusers 
      ws2.soho     |ws2.soho.  |ws2     |PM      |S|-   |-         
      ws2.soho     |-          |tst100  |SSH(XEN)|T|acue|ldapusers 
      lab00.soho   |-          |tst101  |VNC     |C|acue|ldapusers 
      lab00.soho   |-          |LAB00   |VNC     |C|root|root      
      lab00.soho   |-          |LAB00   |VNC     |S|root|root      
      lab00.soho   |-          |Domain-0|XEN     |S|-   |-         
      lab00.soho   |tst100     |tst100  |XEN     |S|-   |-         
      lab00.soho   |tst101     |tst101  |XEN     |S|-   |-         
      lab00.soho   |lab00.soho.|lab00   |PM      |S|-   |-         
  


The next call lists all communication related informations by usage of the predefined custom table stored as macro 'TAB_CPORT'

  
  ctys -a list=macro:TAB_CPORT localhost lab00
  


results to:

  
      Label     |stype   |cport|PM        |MAC              |TCP            
      ----------+--------+-----+----------+-----------------+---------------
      tst100    |VNC     |     |ws2.soho  |                 |               
      ws2       |PM      |     |ws2.soho  |00:1D:60:A5:89:06|192.168.1.70   
      tst100    |SSH(XEN)|5950 |ws2.soho  |                 |               
      tst101    |VNC     |     |lab00.soho|                 |               
      LAB00     |VNC     |     |lab00.soho|                 |               
      LAB00     |VNC     |5901 |lab00.soho|                 |               
      Domain-0  |XEN     |     |lab00.soho|                 |               
      tst100    |XEN     |5900 |lab00.soho|00:50:56:13:11:40|               
      tst101    |XEN     |5902 |lab00.soho|00:50:56:13:11:41|               
      lab00     |PM      |     |lab00.soho|00:0E:0C:35:F8:48|192.168.1.71   
  


As could be recognized, the VMs tst100 and tst101 has no TCP values displayed, even though these are present. The reason is simply the decision to only display data which could be fetched easily unambiguously. The TCP address is only in a simple 1-to-1 relation, when no additional interfaces are present, and when the mapping information of the actual TCP stack and the ctys configuration including it's cacheDB are consistent. Additionally all services has to be setup properly, e.g. when using host or dig. Another point is that the VM has to be connected to the managing nameservices. Thus the complete automatic implementation is somewaht advanced and is shifted for now. In current version the user has to poll the missing information by additional tools, such as ctys-vhost, ctys-macmap, or ctys-dnsutil, or simply by host or dig.

Anyhow, the ENUMERATE action displays the TCP addresses as they are configured within the configuration file, refer for the output of the same common generic table TAB_CPORT by ENUMERATE as an complementary example. Additionally the same table could be used for ctys-vhost with a similar result to ENUMERATE: TAB_CPORT by VHOST.



ENUMERATE sessions

The following call enumerates all VMs

  
  ctys -t xen -a enumerate=machine,title,b:xen localhost lab00
  


The complementary example for the common generic table TAB_CPORT by LIST could be generated by the call

  
  ctys -a enumerate=macro:TAB_CPORT,b:xen%/etc/ctys.d localhost lab00 
  


and displays some of the basic differences in the output strategy. As the following output depicts, here the fields for the TCP address are filled, whereas no cport is displayed.

The TCP addresses are ere displayed as statically configured within the configuration file. The cport is the communications port for the client processes, in this case the VNC port, which is dynamically allocated due to preconfigured vncunused=1. Thus the value is defined during runtime only, so it is not displayed by ENUMERATE, which displays the statically configured data.

  
  
      Label |stype|cport|PM        |MAC              |TCP            
      ------+-----+-----+----------+-----------------+-------------
      tst100|XEN  |     |ws2.soho  |00:50:56:13:11:40|192.168.1.220  
      tst101|XEN  |     |ws2.soho  |00:50:56:13:11:41|192.168.1.221  
      tst104|XEN  |     |ws2.soho  |00:50:56:13:11:44|192.168.1.224  
      ws2   |PM   |     |ws2.soho  |00:1D:60:A5:89:06|192.168.1.70   
      tst100|XEN  |     |lab00.soho|00:50:56:13:11:40|192.168.1.220  
      tst101|XEN  |     |lab00.soho|00:50:56:13:11:41|192.168.1.221  
      tst104|XEN  |     |lab00.soho|00:50:56:13:11:44|192.168.1.224  
      lab00 |PM   |     |lab00.soho|00:0E:0C:35:F8:48|192.168.1.71   
  


Additionally the same table could be used for ctys-vhost with a similar result to ENUMERATE: TAB_CPORT by VHOST.



SHOW

Lists the dynamic global envvironement data on the target.

  
  ctys -t xen -a show lab00
  


Same result with

  
  ctys -a show lab00
  



INFO

Lists static data for configured UnifiedSessionsManager with configuration relevant resource data.

The following call lists the initialized XEN plugin with implicitly loaded additional uninitialized plugins.

  
  ctys -t xen -a info lab01
  


The following call lists all available plugings with their resulting init states on the target.

  
  ctys -a info lab01
  



SEE ALSO

ctys(1) , ctys-CLI(1) , ctys-configuration-XEN(7) , ctys-createConfVM(1) , ctys-plugins(1) , ctys-uc-XEN(7) , ctys-vhost(1) , virsch(18) , ctys-VNC(1) , ctys-X11(1) , xm(1)




AUTHOR

Written and maintained by Arno-Can Uestuensoez:

Maintenance: <<acue_sf1 (a) users sourceforge net>>
Homepage: <https://arnocan.wordpress.com>
Sourceforge.net: <http://sourceforge.net/projects/ctys>
Project moved from Berlios.de to OSDN.net: <https://osdn.net/projects/ctys>
Commercial: <https://arnocan.wordpress.com>




COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Ingenieurbuero Arno-Can Uestuensoez

For BASE package following licenses apply,

This document is part of the DOC package,

For additional information refer to enclosed Releasenotes and License files.