Bcfg2 Configuration

This page documents the configuration and maintenance of the bcfg2 configuration management system used in the Fedora ARM build farm.

Server Side

The server is the element of bcfg2 that performs most of the heavy lifting. It is responsible for defining what is the appropriate configuration and hosts all of the necessary files. It can also handle package management across clients.

Server Install

To install the server component of bcfg2, run the command:

yum -y install bcfg2-server

Server Setup

The configuration file is generated by running the command:

bcfg2-server init

However, at the time of this writing, there is a bug where the program will not run unless given extra text at the end of the command. This bug manifests itself by outputting a line of text and then retuning to the prompt. To get around this, simply run:

 bcfg2-server init $HOSTNAME 

The output should prompt you for values, however the default values are sufficient, though when prompted for the OS type, select 1 for "Redhat/Fedora/RHEL/RHAS/Centos". It should look something like this:

[jordan@hongkong ~]$ sudo bcfg2-admin init
[sudo] password for jordan:
Store bcfg2 configuration in [/etc/bcfg2.conf]:
Location of bcfg2 repository [/var/lib/bcfg2]:
Directory /var/lib/bcfg2 exists. Overwrite? [y/N]:y
Input password used for communication verification (without echoing; leave blank for a random):
What is the server's hostname [hongkong.proximity.on.ca]:
Input the server location [https://hongkong.proximity.on.ca:6789]:
Input base Operating System for clients:
1: Redhat/Fedora/RHEL/RHAS/Centos
2: SUSE/SLES
3: Mandrake
4: Debian
5: Ubuntu
6: Gentoo
7: FreeBSD
: 1
Generating a 2048 bit RSA private key
..........................................................................................................+++
.........................................+++
writing new private key to '/etc/bcfg2.key'
-----
Signature ok
subject=/C=US/ST=Illinois/L=Argonne/CN=hongkong.proximity.on.ca
Getting Private key
Repository created successfuly in /var/lib/bcfg2

After this is done, a directory structure under /var/lib/bcfg2 should exist, as well as the files /etc/bcfg2.conf, /etc/bcfg2.cert and /etc/bcfg2.key.

Configuring Groups

The configuration for groups is in /var/lib/bcfg2/Metadata/groups.xml

Configuring Clients

Clients are defined in /var/lib/bcfg2/Metadata/clients.xml. For every client you wish to administer through bcfg2, you must have an entry in this file. Entries follow this format:

<Client profile='GROUP NAME' pingable='Y' pingtime='0' name='FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAME' />

The group name ultimately helps determine how the client is configured, as much of

Bundles

Bundles are a means of defining files to be pushed out to clients. Bundles are assigned in groups.xml file using the following entry placed within the group tags:

<bundle name="BUNDLE NAME" />

An additonal value, "path", may be specified to insert the file in a specific location. Bundles are defined in /var/lib/bcfg2/Bundler as XML files, the contents of which are the name of the file and where it located on the server. For example: if there is a bundle used named "hosts", there would need to be a file present in /var/lib/bcfg2/Bundler called "hosts.xml". The contents of such a file are as follows:

<Bundle name='BUNDLE NAME' version='2.0'>
  <Path name='/PATH/TO/FILE' />
</Bundle>

Bundles can contain different information, but this will be discussed further into this document.

Client Side

The client in a bcfg2 instance is simply responsible for accessing the configuration details on the remote server and changing the host so that it conforms with those details.

Client Install

At the time of this document's creation, there is one missing dependency of bcfg2 in the Fedora ARM repository. The packages themselves have been built in Koji, but are waiting on signing and final release. The location of this dependency, python-lxml is:

• For ARMv5TEL/ARMv7l builders: http://arm.koji.fedoraproject.org/packages/python-lxml/2.3/1.fc15/armv5tel/python-lxml-2.3-1.fc15.armv5tel.rpm
• For ARMv7HL builders: http://arm.koji.fedoraproject.org/packages/python-lxml/2.3/1.fc15/armv7hl/python-lxml-2.3-1.fc15.armv7hl.rpm

After installing this dependency, clients can be installed by running

yum -y install bcfg2 

Client Configuration

Bcfg2 requires the use of a key generated by the initialization of the server to run.

The bcfg2 service can be initialized via command line arguments, but the preferred way of of handling this is to use a configuration file. A configuration file should be created at /etc/bcfg2.conf and contain the following entries:

[communication]
protocol = xmlrpc/ssl
password = XXXXXX  #This should be set as the password from the server
ca = /etc/bcfg2.crt #Copied from the server


[components]
bcfg2 = https://hongkong.proximity.on.ca:6789 # This should be the fqdn and port of the server component.

Client Update

To force an update from the server, use the command:

bcfg2 -vq 

To ensure that a client is up to date, use the command:

bcfg2 -vqn 

Sources

http://docs.bcfg2.org/server/plugins/grouping/metadata.html

http://docs.bcfg2.org/server/plugins/generators/cfg.html#cfg

http://docs.bcfg2.org/dev/server/plugins/generators/tcheetah.html

http://docs.bcfg2.org/server/plugins/generators/tgenshi/index.html