Archive for the 'Open Source' Category

Ganeti Web Manager 0.7

Published on June 18, 2011 in Dev Front Page, django, ganeti, Open Source and python. 0 Comments

Ganeti Web ManagerWe’ve just release version 0.7 of Ganeti Web Manager. Ganeti Web Manager is a Django based web application that allows administrators and clients access to their ganeti clusters. It includes a permissions and quota system that allows administrators to grant access to both clusters and virtual machines. It also includes user groups for structuring access to organizations.

This is the fourth release of Ganeti Web Manager and it contains numerous new features.  It also includes various bug fixes and speed optimizations.  Here is the full CHANGELOG, or read on for the highlights.

Xen Support

Ganeti Web Manager now have full Xen support.  Prior versions could display Xen instances, but now you can create and edit them too.  This as an important addition because Xen is a widely used and mature project.  Now with full hardware virtualization in Linux 3.0, Xen will continue to be an important technology for virtualization.  This was our most often requested feature and we’re glad to have fulfilled it.

Internationalization

Thanks to a large community contribution, internationalization support was added for nearly all aspects of the interface.  Users can switch between their default language and any other.  Currently only a Greek translation is available, but we’d like to see many more languages. If you can read and write another language this is a great opportunity for you to get involved. We’re using Transifex to coordinate people who want to help translate.

Search & Improved Navigation

Administrators of larger cluster can now find objects easier with our search interface.  It includes an Ajax auto-complete feature, along with detailed results.

We’ve also added contextual links wherever we could.  This included ensuring breadcrumbs were properly formatted on each page.  Object Permissions and Object Log were updated to ensure navigating between those screens and Ganeti Web Manager is seamless.

Import Tools

There are now import tools for Nodes.  These work the same as for instances.  The cache updater has also been reworked to support both Nodes and Instances.  It’s now a twisted plugin with modest speed improvements due to Ganeti requests happening asynchronously.

Speed, Scalability, and Bugs

We’ve sought out places where we performed extra and or inefficient database queries.  We identified numerous places where database interaction could be reduced, and pages returned faster.  This is an ongoing process.  We’ll continue to optimize and improve the responsiveness as we find areas of the project we can improve.

Numerous bugs were fixed in both the user interface and the backend.  Notably, the instance creation interface has had several bugs corrected.

Module Releases

We’re building several modules along with Ganeti Web Manager.  The following projects have new releases coinciding with Ganeti Web Manager 0.7:

Django Object Permissions 1.4

  • improved user selection widget
  • speed improvements

Object Log 0.6

  • our first public release
  • speed, scalability, and flexibility improvements

Twisted VNC Auth Proxy

  • our first public release
  • added support for hixie 07 and latest noVNC version.

Want to learn more?

Lance Albertson and I will be speaking about Ganeti & Ganeti Web Manager at several conferences this summer.  Catch us at the following events:

Google I/O 2011

Published on May 18, 2011 in android, Dev Front Page, Open Source and Summer of Code. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Google I/O LogoFive OSUOSL co-workers and I recently finished a road trip to Google I/O 2011.  We took two cars on an 11 hour drive through scenic southern Oregon and northern California.  We learned more about Android and other technologies shaping the web.  It was also a great opportunity to spend time with each other outside the office.

Monday night we joined about 30 Google Summer of Code mentors for dinner and drinks hosted by the Google Open Source Programs Office.  We’re always grateful for events that bring together friends old and new.  One developer nervously sat down at our table, professing that he didn’t know anyone.  We might not work on the same project, but we’re all part of the open source community.

The highlight of the conference was the double announcement of Android Open Accessory program and Android @ Home.  Both open up Android to integration with third party devices.  These features coupled with near field communications (NFC) stand to dramatically change how we use our mobiles devices to interact with the world around us.  This is not a new idea.  X10 home automation has existed since 1975.  Zigbee and Z-wave are more modern protocols, but also available for years.  The difference here is 100 million Android users and a half million Arduino hackers.

As Phillip Torrone wrote on the Makezine Blog, “There really isn’t an easier way to get analog sensor data or control a motor easier and faster than with an Arduino — and that’s a biggie, especially if you’re a phone and want to do this.”

It won’t be a short road.  We still have obstacles such as higher costs.  A representative from Lighting Science I spoke to at their I/O booth quoted Android@Home enabled LED lights at $30 per bulb.  Android and Arduino might be the right combination of market penetration, eager hackers, and solid platforms for a more integrated environment.

NFC Sticker

My favorite session was How To NFC.   NFC (near field communication) is similar to RFID except it only works within a few centimeters.  Newer android phones can send and receive NFC messages any time except when the phone is sleeping.  NFC chips can also be embedded in paper, like the stickers that came in our I/O Badges.  An NFC enabled app can share data such as a url, or launch a multiplayer game with your friend.  It makes complex tasks as simple as “touch the phone here”.  Android is even smart enough to launch an app required for an NFC message, or send you to the market to install the app you need.  Only the Nexus-S supports NFC now, but this feature is so compelling that others will support it soon too.

The other technical sessions were very useful too, whether you were interested in Android, Chrome, or other Google technologies.  The speakers were knowledgeable on the subject areas they spoke on.  I attended mostly Android talks, and it was great hearing from the people who wrote the APIs we’re trying to use.  The sessions were all filmed and are worth watching online.

Ganeti Web Manager 0.6

Published on March 4, 2011 in django, ganeti, Open Source and python. 0 Comments

We’ve released Ganeti Web Manager 0.6.  Ganeti Web Manager is a Django based web application that allows administrators and clients access to their ganeti clusters. It includes a permissions and quota system that allows administrators to grant access to both clusters and virtual machines. It also includes user groups for structuring access to organizations.

This release comes after a short development cycle, with the goal of fixing critical bugs and providing important core features.  Check out the full change log, or read on for some highlights:

Virtual Machines

Ganeti Web Manager 0.6 includes multiple improvements to the virtual machine detail view.  We’ve added the complete list of virtual machine properties.  The layout has been updated to group properties into relevant sections, as well as make it more readable.

The following new controls were added for virtual machines:

  • Edit a virtual machine’s settings.
  • Rename a virtual machine.
  • Migrate a virtual machine to it’s secondary storage.

Ganeti Web Manager 0.6 also features improvements to the virtual machine deployment process.  It now detects and recovers from Ganeti errors better than before.  If a create job fails without ganeti deploying the virtual machine, you can edit the settings and re-submit the job.  All other failures will let you continue to the virtual machine detail view where you can use the provided admin tools to repair the virtual machine.

Nodes

node detail view

Nodes are now cached by Ganeti Web Manager.  This allows views using node data to be displayed faster. We now also provide Node views that allow an admin to issue commands on a node such as migration and changing the node role.  The node detail view also provides information from the perspective of a node including used resources and which virtual machines are deployed on it.

Logs

Ganeti Web Manager 0.6 now provides a log of actions performed on every object.  This will allow admins to see the history of every action taken on a VirtualMachine, Node, and Clusters.  It also shows every action a user account has performed.  The log is intended to aid auditing and troubleshooting.

Logging is provided by the newly branded Django Object Log app.  It is a reusable app that can log generic messages.  Each message can define it’s own rich format, including contextual links to the related objects.  Object Log will be developed in parallel with Ganeti Web Manager and future projects by the OSUOSL.

Ganeti Web Manager 0.5

Published on February 3, 2011 in django, ganeti, Open Source, python and twisted. 0 Comments

We’ve released Ganeti Web Manager 0.5.  Ganeti Web Manager is a Django based web application that allows administrators and clients access to their ganeti clusters. It includes a permissions and quota system that allows administrators to grant access to both clusters and virtual machines. It also includes user groups for structuring access to organizations.

Here are some notable changes in the second release of Ganeti Web Manager:

  • New status Dashboard
  • NoVNC Integration
  • Virtual Machine Re-installation
  • Numerous bug fixes and improvements.

Read the full change log for more details.

Status Dashboard

The front page of Ganeti Web Manager is now a status dashboard for both admins and users.  This is the first thing users will see when they log into Ganeti Web manager.  It enables them to quickly assess what is happening within their cluster, or their portion of it.  The information is filtered by permissions to give each user a custom view.  Here is a list of things it shows:

  • Cluster status – highlights running virtual machines, nodes, and resource usage.
  • Personal resource usage – a summary of resources used, and if applicable, remaining resource quota.
  • Errors – A single place to view any errors connecting to ganeti, or deploying and managing virtual machines.

NoVNC Integration


Our in browser console now uses NoVNC, an HTML5 VNC client.  This replaces an older applet, that required the java runtime be installed.  Now users will be able to view the console natively within their browser.  NoVNC uses web sockets for communication so it works best in Chrome, but Firefox is also supported through the use of a Flash applet.  We’re looking forward to Firefox 4.0 and it’s native web socket support.

Behind the scenes we use a VNC proxy that sits between our secure network and the web.  It securely handles connection requests from NoVNC.  This proxy allows you to keep your Ganeti cluster on a protected network, but expose secure access to a console as needed.