A super privileged Puppet container

In this new crazy world of containers and immutable hosts, one might still want to run previous generation software such as Puppet on a current generation Atomic host. This article will explain how you can do that, and offer some proof of concept code.

The atomic host doesn’t provide a yum or dnf command, because the software is pre-baked into a read-only /usr/ partition. To “install” (to use) additional software, it usually needs to be distributed and run as a container.

The Dockerfile which describes the docker container that we will build, has two important sections:

ENV FACTER_fqdn=localhost
ENTRYPOINT ["puppet", "apply"]

The ENTRYPOINT verb causes docker to run the puppet command that we built into the container, when the container is run with externally provided arguments. The ENV verb causes some facter errors to be suppressed, since facter isn’t running on the host. The rest of the file contains boilerplate and other build/run dependencies.

You can build this container yourself manually, or if you are an Oh-My-Vagrant user, then you can use the supplied omv.yaml file to build the container automatically. A build with Oh-My-Vagrant looks like this:

$ time vup omv1
Bringing machine 'omv1' up with 'libvirt' provider...
==> omv1: Creating image (snapshot of base box volume).
==> omv1: Creating domain with the following settings...
==> omv1:  -- Name:              omv_omv1
==> omv1:  -- Domain type:       kvm
==> omv1:  -- Cpus:              1
==> omv1:  -- Memory:            512M
==> omv1:  -- Base box:          centos-7.1-docker
==> omv1:  -- Storage pool:      default
==> omv1:  -- Image:             /var/lib/libvirt/images/omv_omv1.img
==> omv1:  -- Volume Cache:      default
==> omv1:  -- Kernel:            
==> omv1:  -- Initrd:            
==> omv1:  -- Graphics Type:     vnc
==> omv1:  -- Graphics Port:     5900
==> omv1:  -- Graphics IP:       127.0.0.1
==> omv1:  -- Graphics Password: Not defined
==> omv1:  -- Video Type:        cirrus
==> omv1:  -- Video VRAM:        9216
==> omv1:  -- Keymap:            en-us
==> omv1:  -- Command line : 
==> omv1: Starting domain.
==> omv1: Waiting for domain to get an IP address...
==> omv1: Waiting for SSH to become available...
==> omv1: Starting domain.
==> omv1: Waiting for domain to get an IP address...
==> omv1: Waiting for SSH to become available...
==> omv1: Creating shared folders metadata...
==> omv1: Setting hostname...
==> omv1: Rsyncing folder: /home/james/code/oh-my-vagrant/vagrant/ => /vagrant
==> omv1: Configuring and enabling network interfaces...
==> omv1: Updating /etc/hosts file on active guest machines...
==> omv1: Running provisioner: shell...
    omv1: Running: inline script
==> omv1: Running provisioner: shell...
    omv1: Running: inline script
==> omv1: Running provisioner: docker...
    omv1: Configuring Docker to autostart containers...
==> omv1: Running provisioner: docker...
    omv1: Configuring Docker to autostart containers...
==> omv1: Building Docker images...
==> omv1: -- Path: /vagrant/docker/spc-puppet-apply
==> omv1: Sending build context to Docker daemon 122.9 kB
==> omv1: Sending build context to Docker daemon 
==> omv1: Step 0 : FROM centos:7
==> omv1:  ---> 0114405f9ff1
==> omv1: Step 1 : MAINTAINER James Shubin <james@shubin.ca>
==> omv1:  ---> Running in 2dbdc37494e9
==> omv1:  ---> e154b3cfed7f
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container 2dbdc37494e9
==> omv1: Step 2 : RUN echo Hello from purpleidea and aweiteka > README
==> omv1:  ---> Running in 97475154152f
==> omv1:  ---> e4728d71caac
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container 97475154152f
==> omv1: Step 3 : ADD el7-puppet.repo /etc/yum.repos.d/
==> omv1:  ---> c591e0a9a54d
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container 24e55893313c
==> omv1: Step 4 : ADD RPM-GPG-KEY-puppetlabs /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/
==> omv1:  ---> 223549fbf661
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container 2bceb998f1c3
==> omv1: Step 5 : RUN yum install -y puppet
==> omv1:  ---> Running in e44c9cf55dc5
==> omv1: Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
==> omv1: Determining fastest mirrors
==> omv1:  * base: centos.mirror.vexxhost.com
==> omv1:  * extras: mirror.gpmidi.net
==> omv1:  * updates: centos.mirror.vexxhost.com
==> omv1: Resolving Dependencies
==> omv1: --> Running transaction check
==> omv1: ---> Package puppet.noarch 0:3.7.5-1.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: ruby >= 1.8 for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: facter >= 1:1.7.0 for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: ruby >= 1.8.7 for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: hiera >= 1.0.0 for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: rubygem-json for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libselinux-utils for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: ruby-augeas for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: ruby(selinux) for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: /usr/bin/ruby for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: ruby-shadow for package: puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Running transaction check
==> omv1: ---> Package facter.x86_64 1:2.4.3-1.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: net-tools for package: 1:facter-2.4.3-1.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: virt-what for package: 1:facter-2.4.3-1.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: pciutils for package: 1:facter-2.4.3-1.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: dmidecode for package: 1:facter-2.4.3-1.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: ---> Package hiera.noarch 0:1.3.4-1.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package libselinux-ruby.x86_64 0:2.2.2-6.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package libselinux-utils.x86_64 0:2.2.2-6.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package ruby.x86_64 0:2.0.0.598-24.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: ruby-libs(x86-64) = 2.0.0.598-24.el7 for package: ruby-2.0.0.598-24.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: rubygem(bigdecimal) >= 1.2.0 for package: ruby-2.0.0.598-24.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: ruby(rubygems) >= 2.0.14 for package: ruby-2.0.0.598-24.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libruby.so.2.0()(64bit) for package: ruby-2.0.0.598-24.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: ---> Package ruby-augeas.x86_64 0:0.4.1-3.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: augeas-libs >= 0.8.0 for package: ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libaugeas.so.0(AUGEAS_0.8.0)(64bit) for package: ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libaugeas.so.0(AUGEAS_0.1.0)(64bit) for package: ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libaugeas.so.0(AUGEAS_0.12.0)(64bit) for package: ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libaugeas.so.0(AUGEAS_0.10.0)(64bit) for package: ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libaugeas.so.0(AUGEAS_0.11.0)(64bit) for package: ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libaugeas.so.0()(64bit) for package: ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: ---> Package ruby-shadow.x86_64 1:2.2.0-2.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package rubygem-json.x86_64 0:1.7.7-24.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Running transaction check
==> omv1: ---> Package augeas-libs.x86_64 0:1.1.0-17.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package dmidecode.x86_64 1:2.12-5.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package net-tools.x86_64 0:2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package pciutils.x86_64 0:3.2.1-4.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: pciutils-libs = 3.2.1-4.el7 for package: pciutils-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libpci.so.3(LIBPCI_3.2)(64bit) for package: pciutils-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libpci.so.3(LIBPCI_3.1)(64bit) for package: pciutils-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libpci.so.3(LIBPCI_3.0)(64bit) for package: pciutils-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: hwdata for package: pciutils-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libpci.so.3()(64bit) for package: pciutils-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: ---> Package ruby-libs.x86_64 0:2.0.0.598-24.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package rubygem-bigdecimal.x86_64 0:1.2.0-24.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package rubygems.noarch 0:2.0.14-24.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: rubygem(rdoc) >= 4.0.0 for package: rubygems-2.0.14-24.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: rubygem(psych) >= 2.0.0 for package: rubygems-2.0.14-24.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: rubygem(io-console) >= 0.4.2 for package: rubygems-2.0.14-24.el7.noarch
==> omv1: ---> Package virt-what.x86_64 0:1.13-5.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Running transaction check
==> omv1: ---> Package hwdata.noarch 0:0.252-7.5.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package pciutils-libs.x86_64 0:3.2.1-4.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package rubygem-io-console.x86_64 0:0.4.2-24.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package rubygem-psych.x86_64 0:2.0.0-24.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: libyaml-0.so.2()(64bit) for package: rubygem-psych-2.0.0-24.el7.x86_64
==> omv1: ---> Package rubygem-rdoc.noarch 0:4.0.0-24.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Processing Dependency: ruby(irb) = 2.0.0.598 for package: rubygem-rdoc-4.0.0-24.el7.noarch
==> omv1: --> Running transaction check
==> omv1: ---> Package libyaml.x86_64 0:0.1.4-11.el7_0 will be installed
==> omv1: ---> Package ruby-irb.noarch 0:2.0.0.598-24.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Finished Dependency Resolution
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Dependencies Resolved
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: ================================================================================
==> omv1:  Package            Arch   Version                    Repository           Size
==> omv1: ================================================================================
==> omv1: Installing:
==> omv1:  puppet             noarch 3.7.5-1.el7                puppetlabs-products 1.5 M
==> omv1: Installing for dependencies:
==> omv1:  augeas-libs        x86_64 1.1.0-17.el7               base                332 k
==> omv1:  dmidecode          x86_64 1:2.12-5.el7               base                 78 k
==> omv1:  facter             x86_64 1:2.4.3-1.el7              puppetlabs-products  98 k
==> omv1:  hiera              noarch 1.3.4-1.el7                puppetlabs-products  23 k
==> omv1:  hwdata             noarch 0.252-7.5.el7              base                2.0 M
==> omv1:  libselinux-ruby    x86_64 2.2.2-6.el7                base                127 k
==> omv1:  libselinux-utils   x86_64 2.2.2-6.el7                base                135 k
==> omv1:  libyaml            x86_64 0.1.4-11.el7_0             base                 55 k
==> omv1:  net-tools          x86_64 2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7   base                304 k
==> omv1:  pciutils           x86_64 3.2.1-4.el7                base                 90 k
==> omv1:  pciutils-libs      x86_64 3.2.1-4.el7                base                 45 k
==> omv1:  ruby               x86_64 2.0.0.598-24.el7           base                 67 k
==> omv1:  ruby-augeas        x86_64 0.4.1-3.el7                puppetlabs-deps      22 k
==> omv1:  ruby-irb           noarch 2.0.0.598-24.el7           base                 88 k
==> omv1:  ruby-libs          x86_64 2.0.0.598-24.el7           base                2.8 M
==> omv1:  ruby-shadow        x86_64 1:2.2.0-2.el7              puppetlabs-deps      14 k
==> omv1:  rubygem-bigdecimal x86_64 1.2.0-24.el7               base                 79 k
==> omv1:  rubygem-io-console x86_64 0.4.2-24.el7               base                 50 k
==> omv1:  rubygem-json       x86_64 1.7.7-24.el7               base                 75 k
==> omv1:  rubygem-psych      x86_64 2.0.0-24.el7               base                 77 k
==> omv1:  rubygem-rdoc       noarch 4.0.0-24.el7               base                318 k
==> omv1:  rubygems           noarch 2.0.14-24.el7              base                212 k
==> omv1:  virt-what          x86_64 1.13-5.el7                 base                 26 k
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Transaction Summary
==> omv1: ================================================================================
==> omv1: Install  1 Package (+23 Dependent packages)
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Total download size: 8.6 M
==> omv1: Installed size: 27 M
==> omv1: Downloading packages:
==> omv1: warning: /var/cache/yum/x86_64/7/puppetlabs-products/packages/hiera-1.3.4-1.el7.noarch.rpm: Header V4 RSA/SHA512 Signature, key ID 4bd6ec30: NOKEY
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Public key for hiera-1.3.4-1.el7.noarch.rpm is not installed
==> omv1: warning: /var/cache/yum/x86_64/7/base/packages/dmidecode-2.12-5.el7.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA256 Signature, key ID f4a80eb5: NOKEY
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Public key for dmidecode-2.12-5.el7.x86_64.rpm is not installed
==> omv1: Public key for ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64.rpm is not installed
==> omv1: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
==> omv1: Total                                              811 kB/s | 8.6 MB  00:10     
==> omv1: Retrieving key from file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-7
==> omv1: Importing GPG key 0xF4A80EB5:
==> omv1:  Userid     : "CentOS-7 Key (CentOS 7 Official Signing Key) <security@centos.org>"
==> omv1:  Fingerprint: 6341 ab27 53d7 8a78 a7c2 7bb1 24c6 a8a7 f4a8 0eb5
==> omv1:  Package    : centos-release-7-1.1503.el7.centos.2.8.x86_64 (@CentOS/$releasever)
==> omv1:  From       : /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-7
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Retrieving key from file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-puppetlabs
==> omv1: Importing GPG key 0x4BD6EC30:
==> omv1:  Userid     : "Puppet Labs Release Key (Puppet Labs Release Key) <info@puppetlabs.com>"
==> omv1:  Fingerprint: 47b3 20eb 4c7c 375a a9da e1a0 1054 b7a2 4bd6 ec30
==> omv1:  From       : /etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-puppetlabs
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Running transaction check
==> omv1: Running transaction test
==> omv1: Transaction test succeeded
==> omv1: Running transaction
==> omv1:   Installing : ruby-libs-2.0.0.598-24.el7.x86_64                           1/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : 1:dmidecode-2.12-5.el7.x86_64                               2/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : virt-what-1.13-5.el7.x86_64                                 3/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : libyaml-0.1.4-11.el7_0.x86_64                               4/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : rubygem-psych-2.0.0-24.el7.x86_64                           5/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : rubygem-bigdecimal-1.2.0-24.el7.x86_64                      6/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : rubygem-io-console-0.4.2-24.el7.x86_64                      7/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : ruby-irb-2.0.0.598-24.el7.noarch                            8/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : ruby-2.0.0.598-24.el7.x86_64                                9/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : rubygems-2.0.14-24.el7.noarch                              10/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : rubygem-json-1.7.7-24.el7.x86_64                           11/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : rubygem-rdoc-4.0.0-24.el7.noarch                           12/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : hiera-1.3.4-1.el7.noarch                                   13/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : 1:ruby-shadow-2.2.0-2.el7.x86_64                           14/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : hwdata-0.252-7.5.el7.noarch                                15/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : libselinux-utils-2.2.2-6.el7.x86_64                        16/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : pciutils-libs-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64                           17/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : pciutils-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64                                18/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : augeas-libs-1.1.0-17.el7.x86_64                            19/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64                             20/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : net-tools-2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7.x86_64                  21/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : 1:facter-2.4.3-1.el7.x86_64                                22/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : libselinux-ruby-2.2.2-6.el7.x86_64                         23/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Installing : puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch                                  24/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : libselinux-ruby-2.2.2-6.el7.x86_64                          1/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : rubygem-json-1.7.7-24.el7.x86_64                            2/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : ruby-irb-2.0.0.598-24.el7.noarch                            3/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : ruby-libs-2.0.0.598-24.el7.x86_64                           4/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : net-tools-2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7.x86_64                   5/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : augeas-libs-1.1.0-17.el7.x86_64                             6/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : pciutils-libs-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64                            7/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : rubygem-psych-2.0.0-24.el7.x86_64                           8/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : 1:facter-2.4.3-1.el7.x86_64                                 9/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : pciutils-3.2.1-4.el7.x86_64                                10/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : puppet-3.7.5-1.el7.noarch                                  11/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : hiera-1.3.4-1.el7.noarch                                   12/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : rubygem-rdoc-4.0.0-24.el7.noarch                           13/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : virt-what-1.13-5.el7.x86_64                                14/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : rubygems-2.0.14-24.el7.noarch                              15/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : libselinux-utils-2.2.2-6.el7.x86_64                        16/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : 1:ruby-shadow-2.2.0-2.el7.x86_64                           17/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : rubygem-bigdecimal-1.2.0-24.el7.x86_64                     18/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : 1:dmidecode-2.12-5.el7.x86_64                              19/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : hwdata-0.252-7.5.el7.noarch                                20/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : libyaml-0.1.4-11.el7_0.x86_64                              21/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : rubygem-io-console-0.4.2-24.el7.x86_64                     22/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : ruby-augeas-0.4.1-3.el7.x86_64                             23/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : ruby-2.0.0.598-24.el7.x86_64                               24/24
==> omv1:  
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Installed:
==> omv1:   puppet.noarch 0:3.7.5-1.el7                                                   
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Dependency Installed:
==> omv1:   augeas-libs.x86_64 0:1.1.0-17.el7                                             
==> omv1:   dmidecode.x86_64 1:2.12-5.el7                                                 
==> omv1:   facter.x86_64 1:2.4.3-1.el7                                                   
==> omv1:   hiera.noarch 0:1.3.4-1.el7                                                    
==> omv1:   hwdata.noarch 0:0.252-7.5.el7                                                 
==> omv1:   libselinux-ruby.x86_64 0:2.2.2-6.el7                                          
==> omv1:   libselinux-utils.x86_64 0:2.2.2-6.el7                                         
==> omv1:   libyaml.x86_64 0:0.1.4-11.el7_0                                               
==> omv1:   net-tools.x86_64 0:2.0-0.17.20131004git.el7                                   
==> omv1:   pciutils.x86_64 0:3.2.1-4.el7                                                 
==> omv1:   pciutils-libs.x86_64 0:3.2.1-4.el7                                            
==> omv1:   ruby.x86_64 0:2.0.0.598-24.el7                                                
==> omv1:   ruby-augeas.x86_64 0:0.4.1-3.el7                                              
==> omv1:   ruby-irb.noarch 0:2.0.0.598-24.el7                                            
==> omv1:   ruby-libs.x86_64 0:2.0.0.598-24.el7                                           
==> omv1:   ruby-shadow.x86_64 1:2.2.0-2.el7                                              
==> omv1:   rubygem-bigdecimal.x86_64 0:1.2.0-24.el7                                      
==> omv1:   rubygem-io-console.x86_64 0:0.4.2-24.el7                                      
==> omv1:   rubygem-json.x86_64 0:1.7.7-24.el7                                            
==> omv1:   rubygem-psych.x86_64 0:2.0.0-24.el7                                           
==> omv1:   rubygem-rdoc.noarch 0:4.0.0-24.el7                                            
==> omv1:   rubygems.noarch 0:2.0.14-24.el7                                               
==> omv1:   virt-what.x86_64 0:1.13-5.el7                                                 
==> omv1: Complete!
==> omv1:  ---> bf169104271a
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container e44c9cf55dc5
==> omv1: Step 6 : RUN yum install -y hostname
==> omv1:  ---> Running in 6e5bd5a59223
==> omv1: Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
==> omv1: Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
==> omv1:  * base: centos.mirror.vexxhost.com
==> omv1:  * extras: mirror.gpmidi.net
==> omv1:  * updates: centos.mirror.vexxhost.com
==> omv1: Resolving Dependencies
==> omv1: --> Running transaction check
==> omv1: ---> Package hostname.x86_64 0:3.13-3.el7 will be installed
==> omv1: --> Finished Dependency Resolution
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Dependencies Resolved
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: ================================================================================
==> omv1:  Package            Arch             Version               Repository      Size
==> omv1: ================================================================================
==> omv1: Installing:
==> omv1:  hostname           x86_64           3.13-3.el7            base            17 k
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Transaction Summary
==> omv1: ================================================================================
==> omv1: Install  1 Package
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Total download size: 17 k
==> omv1: Installed size: 19 k
==> omv1: Downloading packages:
==> omv1: Running transaction check
==> omv1: Running transaction test
==> omv1: Transaction test succeeded
==> omv1: Running transaction
==> omv1:   Installing : hostname-3.13-3.el7.x86_64                                   1/1
==> omv1:  
==> omv1:   Verifying  : hostname-3.13-3.el7.x86_64                                   1/1
==> omv1:  
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Installed:
==> omv1:   hostname.x86_64 0:3.13-3.el7                                                  
==> omv1: 
==> omv1: Complete!
==> omv1:  ---> 2a20361f2d9d
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container 6e5bd5a59223
==> omv1: Step 7 : ADD run.sh /
==> omv1:  ---> 5493e62ac377
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container 84c8b7677f72
==> omv1: Step 8 : ADD test.pp /
==> omv1:  ---> 4f4d0023e612
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container 84cb691304a3
==> omv1: Step 9 : ENV FACTER_fqdn localhost
==> omv1:  ---> Running in 104fe3925dd6
==> omv1:  ---> 864c113d54b5
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container 104fe3925dd6
==> omv1: Step 10 : ENTRYPOINT puppet apply
==> omv1:  ---> Running in f6fe26141b19
==> omv1:  ---> cd19e4344bf1
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container f6fe26141b19
==> omv1: Step 11 : USER root
==> omv1:  ---> Running in 435752b9fb17
==> omv1:  ---> 86193e9815a8
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container 435752b9fb17
==> omv1: Step 12 : LABEL INSTALL docker run --rm -it --privileged -v /etc:/etc -v /var:/var -v /run:/run --net=host IMAGE
==> omv1:  ---> Running in d24f98a56936
==> omv1:  ---> 72f2dfbc4e07
==> omv1: Removing intermediate container d24f98a56936
==> omv1: Successfully built 72f2dfbc4e07

real    2m46.515s
user    0m10.036s
sys    0m1.678s

Once you’ve built the container, you should confirm its existence:

$ vscreen root@omv1
# docker images | grep spc
spc-puppet-apply    latest              72f2dfbc4e07        7 minutes ago       314.5 MB

The project repository tries to make your life easier, so it comes with a test.pp file that you can run to confirm puppet is working correctly. If you are using a regular host (not Atomic) you can run:

# mkdir /var/tmp/spc-puppet-apply/
# cp -a /vagrant/docker/spc-puppet-apply/test.pp /var/tmp/spc-puppet-apply/

or if you’re using an Atomic host, you can run:

# mkdir /var/tmp/spc-puppet-apply/
# cp -a /home/vagrant/sync/docker/spc-puppet-apply/test.pp /var/tmp/spc-puppet-apply/

since Oh-My-Vagrant can’t put files in /vagrant on an immutable Atomic host.

Finally, run the application with this monster docker command:

# docker run --rm -it --privileged -v /etc:/etc -v /var:/var -v /run:/run --net=host spc-puppet-apply /var/tmp/spc-puppet-apply/test.pp
Notice: Compiled catalog for omv1.example.com in environment production in 0.02 seconds
Notice: This is a puppet test!

Notice: /Stage[main]/Main/Notify[hello]/message: defined 'message' as 'This is a puppet test!'
Notice: Finished catalog run in 0.06 seconds

Since remembering that monster each time you want to do a simple puppet run is a bit of a monster, the Atomic project provides labels which make it so you can use the atomic run command instead.

Future work:

Interested parties are encouraged to test this, find any issues, and become comfortable with the idea of applications running from within containers. If running puppet with a puppet master is desirable, an spc-puppet-agent would be needed.

Happy Hacking,

James

Kubernetes clusters with Oh-My-Vagrant

I’ve added the ability to deploy a Kubernetes cluster with Oh-My-Vagrant (omv). I’ve also built an automated developer experience so that you can test your Kubernetes powered app in minutes. If you want to redeploy a new version, or see how your app behaves during a rolling update, you can use omv to test this out in minutes! I’ve recorded a screencast (~15 min), if you’d like to see some of this in action.

Background:

Kubernetes is a container cluster manager. It groups containers into pods, and those pods get scheduled to run on a certain machine in the cluster. We’ll be talking about Docker containers in this article, although there are lots of great new technologies such as nspawn.

An advantage of using Kubernetes is that it was created by a team at Google, who has a lot of experience running containers. A lot of smart folks (including many from Red Hat) are working on this project too! It is becoming the foundation for other software such as OpenShift v3. Google has released a paper on their earlier work (Borg), which is interesting, but lacks many details, and (unsurprisingly) no source code is present.

Some big disadvantages include the requirement of a CLA to contribute to the project, and the lack of good documentation and articles about it. Kubernetes itself, can’t yet be decentralized, but this might change in the future. It’s (currently) very difficult to construct the foo.json files required to build an application.

While the project is open source (ALv2) I’ve gotten the feeling that Google has a pretty strong hold on the project and has some changes to make before the community really trusts them. This can be a learning experience for any company where proprietary software is the culture. I wish them well on their journey!

Oh-My-Vagrant integration:

To deploy a Kubernetes cluster with omv, the kubernetes variable needs to be set to something meaningful. It’s also recommended that you boot up a minimum of three machines. Here is an except from an example omv.yaml config:

---
:domain: example.com
:network: 192.168.123.0/24
:image: centos-7.1-docker
:sync: rsync
:extern:
- type: git
  system: docker
  repository: https://github.com/purpleidea/docker-simple1
  directory: docker-simple1
- type: git
  system: kubernetes
  repository: https://github.com/purpleidea/kube-simple1
  directory: kube-simple1
:puppet: false
:docker: []
:kubernetes:
  applications:
  - kube-simple1/simple1.json
:vms: []
:namespace: omv
:count: 3

In the above example, you can see that we’ve only listed one Kubernetes application, but an arbitrary number can be included. The kubernetes variable can also accept a key named master if you’d like to choose which of your vm’s should be the primary. If you don’t specify this, the first vagrant machine will be chosen.

In the list of applications, instead of only specifying the .json file, you can instead specify a dictionary of key/value pairs. The .json key (file) is required, but you can also specify additional keys, such as the boolean key roll. When true, it will cause a rolling update to occur instead of a normal” update.

If you’re interested to see what needs to be done to set up Kubernetes, the bulk of the work was done by me in 1f26, but figuring out manual steps was only possible thanks to the work of my hacker friends: scollier and eparis.

Due to the power of the omv project, when you vagrant up, the necessary docker and Kubernetes projects listed in the extern variable will be automatically cloned and pulled into your omv environment.

Screencast:

You’re probably due for a screencast (~15 min). Have a watch, and then if you need review, go back and read what I’ve written above.

https://download.gluster.org/pub/gluster/purpleidea/screencasts/oh-my-vagrant-kubernetes-screencast.ogv

(Thanks to the Gluster community for generously hosting this video!)

Final thoughts:

I haven’t talked about networking, or actually building applications.

Container network might be a lot easier if you use an overlay network like flannel. Unfortunately, this isn’t yet built into Oh-My-Vagrant, but is in the list of feature requests if someone shows some interest.

Building useful applications is harder. In my screencast, you’ll see where to put the code, and how to iterate on it, but not what kind of code to write, or architecturally how your multi-container applications should work. Unfortunately this is out of scope for today’s article! My goal was to make it easy for you to focus on that topic, instead of having to figure out how to build the infrastructure. Hopefully Oh-My-Vagrant helps you accomplish that!

Happy hacking,

James