[xen-tools-dev] What's the install method "image-server"?

[Steve Kemp]

On Tue May 18, 2010 at 16:06:35 +0200, Axel Beckert wrote:

> while updating the docs with regards to valid install-methods, I
> noticed that there is a valid install-method "image-server". A comment
> in the source code of xt-install-image says "Note: NON-Advertised".

  Ahah.  Yes.

> So for what kind of image server is this install method? Is that
> server also software written by you? (Haven't found anything which
> looks like this on http://www.steve.org.uk/Software/linux.html.) Or is
> it some API of some Xen hoster?

  This is something that was written for Bytemark, and it was added
 to xen-tools at a time when Bytemark were offering a pre-cooked
 Xen system.  (ie. A dedicated host configured iwth LVM and a couple
 of simple shell-scripts to be used to add/remove/list/update xen
 guests for non-technical users.)

> "fetch.cgi" and "create.cgi" are file names used in UserMin according
> to Aunt Google, but I suspect this is a coincidence.

  You could probably work out the API but mostly it was of the form:

    1.  Send a request to http://server:5000/create.cgi with details
       of distribution, password, root_device, etc.

        Receive back a token of the form "XXX-XXX-XXX-XXX-XX";

    2.  Repeatedly call http://server:5000/fetch.cgi?token=XX-XX"
       this would either return "not ready" or a 2Gb .tar file which
       you would unpack over your volume.

  There was more to it than that, but the details are hazy and
  semi-proprietry.  These days we still use this "image-server" for
  provisioning all dedicated hosts and virtual machines at Bytemark,
 but the Xen offering is no more, and the service is mostly
 internal-only.

  In short - rip it out and nobody will notice, or care.

Steve
--
Debian GNU/Linux System Administration
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