[Planetlab-devel] node groups & conf files

[Marc E. Fiuczynski]

Hi Faiyaz,

I'd like to think of MyPLC as a framework within which we plug in  
other well documented and maintained components.

What I don't like about is us (re)inventing wheels multiple times.  
E.g., the config.$pldistro/*.pks files and their corresponding .post  
files.  Our NM maintained conf_file mechanism.  They are ok as of  
now, but if there is a peephole optimization that we can apply, then  
I'm all for doing that instead.

As for the current conf_file mechanism, I think it is fine.  It could  
probably benefit from a few optimizations. E.g., we shouldn't need to  
download a file to see whether it is identical to the one we've  
already downloaded.  While most files are relatively small, this  
doesn't scale to larger files, lots of conf_file entries, and/or lots  
of nodes.  Would be better if there was an option to use rsync for  
the transfer or to compute the fingerprint on the server side.

Marc

On May 12, 2008, at 12:27 PM, Faiyaz Ahmed wrote:

> Hi Marc,
>
> Although CfEngine does copy files, it's main purpose is to  
> administer a large group of machines autonomously using a cfengine- 
> centric scripting language.
>
> The development effort involved, in my opinion, is larger than than  
> of maintaining the current conf_files mechanism.  I don't see where  
> conf_files is lacking if all you need is a file transfer mechanism  
> with post/pre install procedures.
>
> What about conf_files do you not like/ not understand?
>
>
> Faiyaz
>
> Marc E. Fiuczynski wrote:
>> Was just having a discussion with Stephen about what was needed  
>> for the 4.2 release in terms of conf file updates for different  
>> node groups (e.g., populating /etc/yum.repos.d with, say, an alpha  
>> nodegroup specific planetlab.repo file).  During this discussion  
>> we came to the realization that the conf file support, while it  
>> works, is just a poor man's reinvention of other configuration  
>> management systems (e.g., cfengine).  We should consider looking  
>> into switching the whole conf file support in myplc to simply use  
>> something like cfengine, with the goal of having MyPLC+NM just  
>> setting up cfengine with the correct parameters and letting it do  
>> what it does best.
>> Marc
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