With regard to the point on libvirt, I can't see OVM listed as a supported
hypervisor on the project page. 

Is there an argument to suggest it would be better placed within libvirt in
the first place rather than be engineered in CloudStack? I know it's a
separate project - it's just an open question.



Alex Hitchins | 07788 423 969 | 01892 523 587
---------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Donal Lafferty [mailto:donal.laffe...@citrix.com] 
Sent: 24 April 2014 22:33
To: dev@cloudstack.apache.org
Cc: f...@barred.org
Subject: RE: Oracle VM (OVM) Server support

Start with something stable, yet recent, e.g. 4.3  and not Master.  A lot of
developers use existing tools such as DevCloud or their local test bed.  As
a consequence, Master is not used nearly often as you'd expect.  For
instance, in the summer of 2013, I would see Master not run, not build
according to instructions, and sometimes not build at all.  Work with Master
if you want to do QA or you understand CloudStack/Maven/Java and our pom.xml
enough to make fixes.  However, you want something recent to catch subtle
changes.  For instance, JSON instruction serialisation changed midway
through 4.2.  If your tests targeted 4.1, they have been broken by the end
of 4.2.

Start with the most common hardware architecture for CloudStack developers.
Otherwise no one can duplicate the problem you are seeing.  Also, you really
need a DevCloud for your development to scale well.  I haven't seen a lot of
SPARC laptops, so I'd guess you will want to pursue x86 :)

WRT system VMs, it sounds like you can run the existing Xen system VMs as is
provided the template is converted to RAW.  Since you're using NFS, you'll
have to seed the system templates, which suggests that the conversion is in
the bash script that sets up the system VMs.  Is that correct?

WRT supported environment, I suggest simply trying to start a VM on a basic
network.  To start that VM you will have implemented support discovery
(handshaking required to create an agent that will communicate with the
hypervisor), storage (primary storage setup / secondary storage setup boils
down to a mount command), and interface with the OVM API.  The network
should be free, since basic networking will make use of your start VM
instructions.  I would guess the hard bit is interfacing with the OVM API,
since it might use a different schema for VM configuration and startup.  

WRT agent architecture, since OVM's agent talks XML-RPC, you should try a
direct connect agent.  Direct connection agent handle remote communications.
Where the remote API cannot handle CloudStack commands, they include a
translation layer to convert between CloudStack's RPC and the remote API.
In contrast, a "connected agent" is a bare proxy for the CloudStack Agent,
which uses the CloudStack message bus for communications.   For example, the
Hyper-V plugin implements a direct connect agent, which allows it to send
JSON-RPC via HTTP requests.  The XenServer plugin is also a direct connect
agent, but it also includes a data translation layer to convert from
CloudStack commands to XAPI.  I suggest looking at the Hyper-V agent to
understand the instructions you have to implement, because they are all in
one place.  In contrast, XenServer agent's implementation is implemented in
five or so classes that inherit from each other.  Where you interact with
the OVM API, it might be useful to see what the XenServer instruction is
doing.  They're trying to control the same hypervisor, no?

But... can you control OVM with libvirt?  If so, could you simply reuse the
KVM agent instead of writing your own?  It's a lot easier to reuse than
write from scratch :)


DL



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Angus [mailto:paul.an...@shapeblue.com]
> Sent: 23 April 2014 19:08
> To: dev@cloudstack.apache.org
> Cc: f...@barred.org
> Subject: RE: Oracle VM (OVM) Server support
> 
> So the million euro question is... which CloudStack release are you 
> aiming for?
> 
> The 100,000 euro question is... are you looking at x86 and/or SPARC 
> architectures?
> 
> Regards
> 
> Paul Angus
> Cloud Architect
> S: +44 20 3603 0540 | M: +447711418784 | T: CloudyAngus 
> paul.an...@shapeblue.com
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Funs Kessen [mailto:]
> Sent: 23 April 2014 14:00
> To: dev@cloudstack.apache.org
> Cc: Donal Lafferty
> Subject: Re: Oracle VM (OVM) Server support
> 
> Hi Donal and others,
> 
> I've been working part timeon the code for literally a bit over a 
> month, based on snippets I had. The need for the OVM3 integration was 
> initially something that had quite some pressure behind it when the 
> discussion started, but unfortunately evaporated.
> The initial work I did started on the shoulders of the old Ovm plugin, 
> but changed partially, so the outline of the framework used there is 
> still visible in the ResourceBase, Discoverer, Helper, Guru and Fencer
although modified.
> The rest is not quite the same. I do have to say that some *cough* 
> refactoring *cough* is in order.
> 
> On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 09:24:02PM +0000, Donal Lafferty wrote:
> > I took this approach with the Hyper-V plugin.  Based on my 
> > experience, I
> think the following advice is of great value.  Could you please pass 
> it on to Funs.
> >
> Thanks for reaching out, it was the thing I needed to push me over the 
> edge and get it out there :)
> 
> > First, take Rajesh up on his request for information, because he can 
> > help
> with the systemVM.  Without a system VM, you can only run a QuickCloud 
> deployment, which lacks networking and secondary storage flexibility.  
> Also, rolling a system VM requires quite different expertise than 
> operating the hypervisor itself.  I don't think it's useful to learn 
> both when there are a few system VM experts already kicking around.
> >
> The Console Proxy, SSVM and RouterVM all work and run once the 
> template has been converted to RAW, which is the only format Ovm3 
> supports. RAW is only supported due to lack of the tapdisk kernel 
> module, the tools are there but the module is not.
> Under the hood Ovm3 is xen with a python agent combined with xm and a 
> couple of shared object libs. The agent is conceptually a pluggable 
> framework.
> 
> > Be clear on how you'll support the console VM.  It would be 
> > preferable to
> give someone a chance to amend an existing console VM than have to 
> write one from scratch.
> >
> The console VM works :).
> 
> > Make it clear what instructions you'll support.  A base plugin need 
> > only
> create/start/stop/delete, but maybe your users are expecting a richer 
> features set.  There seem to be four or so potential users on this mailing
list.
> Why not ask them what they need.
> >
> That is a good point indeed, for now I've kept our environement 
> partially in the back of my mind.
> * NFS for Primary and Secondary Storage
> * VLANs for VIFs on bridges (no OpenVswitch yet)
> * Native Pooling and loose CS clusters (native clusters are on the 
> list)
> * VM migrations
> The README.md on the github page, https://github.com/snuf/ovm3, has 
> more detail. I'm very open to suggestions on what should be in there, 
> some things are however "complicated" due to the limitations of what 
> is bundeled with dom0 and is natively supported by Oracle VM Manager. 
> Some form of keeping in line with regard to not modifying dom0 would 
> be required for the use case I have in mind.
> 
> > Get a sanity check on the agent architecture you're going to use.  
> > Will we
> have to install a remote agent?  Will it speak CloudStack message bus 
> or take HTTP requests?  It's worth checking with the community that 
> there won't be any breaking changes to this architecture when it comes
time to integrate.
> The same applies to storage.  In fact, the evolving storage model was 
> an issue faced by the Hyper-V plugin's storage architecture.
> >
> A long time ago I spoke to a couple of people on the mailinglist and 
> my idea was to do an as native as possible implementation, meaning 
> that I was going to levarage the Ovm3 agent, which talks XML-RPC, as 
> if Oracle VM Manager was talking to it. The plugin uses XML-RPC as 
> much as possible, but for some of the missing bits now ssh is used, 
> which should switch to either a shadow- agent, or augmenting the native
Ovm3 agent.
> In the future the native agent might be enriched so I do feel much for 
> keeping it as native as possible, also with respect to the initial use
case.
> 
> > Finally, crowd source your test cases.  Obviously, you want to have 
> > a test
> case for every instruction you're implemented and some functional 
> tests that cover a command sequence typical of a GUI operation.  
> What's more interesting is whether you can collaborate with existing 
> testers to speed up development time and increase reliability.  In 
> fact, I've some nice examples I'd like to pass on.
> >
> At the moment I have a build street that rebuilds either the module or 
> CS completely depending, and can blow away the existing cloud, clean 
> the hypervisors and roll out the entire thing from scratch. It will 
> wait till the systemVMs are deployed and deploy three VMs on it.
> A sheer lack of unit tests and just a few sanity checks are in but it 
> needs a bucket load more. The GUI has been tested a couple of times 
> before I decided to integrate the bits needed into the API.
> 
> > To summarise, try to collaborate.  There's a lot of expertise beyond
> operating the hypervisor that you can safely crowd source.
> >
> That is good advice, somehow I find it hard to put the code out there 
> as I feel I've not given the code the attention it deserves.
> 
> The code is on github: https://github.com/snuf/ovm3 for those interested.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Funs
> 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Daan Hoogland [mailto:daan.hoogl...@gmail.com]
> > > Sent: 22 April 2014 20:45
> > > To: dev
> > > Cc: fkes...@schubergphilis.com
> > > Subject: Re: Oracle VM (OVM) Server support
> > >
> > > He is implementing an ovm3 plugin + core patch. no support for the 
> > > old
> ovm.
> > > When He is done he'll publish and I'll be happy to integrate and 
> > > steal the
> > > credits;)
> > >
> > > On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 7:25 PM, Rajesh Battala 
> > > <rajesh.batt...@citrix.com>
> > > wrote:
> > > > Nice..
> > > > Can you share more details about the support of OVM?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks
> > > > Rajesh Battala
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Daan Hoogland [mailto:daan.hoogl...@gmail.com]
> > > > Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 9:52 PM
> > > > To: dev
> > > > Subject: Re: Oracle VM (OVM) Server support
> > > >
> > > > A schuberg philis colleague is working on it. Funs.
> > > >
> > > > mobile bilingual spell checker used Op 22 apr. 2014 18:18 
> > > > schreef "Chip Childers" <chipchild...@apache.org>:
> > > >
> > > >> On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 03:38:51PM +0000, Paul Angus wrote:
> > > >> > About a year ago there was some discussion around updating 
> > > >> > the Oracle VM
> > > >> Server support to the then current version.  The topic stopped 
> > > >> and I can't find anything in Jira for it.
> > > >> >
> > > >> > Is the support still being worked on?
> > > >> >
> > > >> > Regards
> > > >> >
> > > >> > Paul Angus
> > > >> > Senior Consultant / Cloud Architect
> > > >>
> > > >> Not AFAIK
> > > >>
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Daan
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