MyDNS + MyDNSConfig software appliance

[voipfc]

Is it configured for logging in via SSH? I tried running an image I built using rBuilder online and I couldn't get it to run. The instance came up but SSH port did not respond.

I searched the filesystem for ssh and couldn't find out. I think I have to get to rBuilder to dig deeper on setting SSH start at runtime

Originally Posted by michaelkjohnson

Yes. The central location for information on rPath technologies is the rPath wiki, and there is whole section devoted to rBuilder. When the documentation is incomplete from your perspective, we want to know about it. You can ask questions in real time on the #conary IRC channel on the freenode IRC network to get quick responses. We consider bugs in documentation to be real bugs, and you can file those bugs in our Jira issue tracking system. Thanks for asking!

[voipfc]

I have just managed to add ssh to a package and modified it to login on EC2. Is it possible to make a copy , cook it and build it? I am joining the lochDNS group anyway, and see what I can do from there.

Great idea.

voipfc

Originally Posted by voipfc

Is it configured for logging in via SSH? I tried running an image I built using rBuilder online and I couldn't get it to run. The instance came up but SSH port did not respond.

I searched the filesystem for ssh and couldn't find out. I think I have to get to rBuilder to dig deeper on setting SSH start at runtime

[michaelkjohnson]

Originally Posted by voipfc

Is it configured for logging in via SSH?

No, I didn't include ssh because lochDNS was intended to provide the web interface without requiring a console login. The images do not include a root password (of course), so no network access is exposed that would be compromised by an unset root password. The idea is that if you have console access, you should set the root password after booting the image. And since the root password is empty, ssh wouldn't let you in anyway without setting a password.

However, you raise a good chicken-and-egg question; if you are deploying an image with a VPS provider, you don't have a good way of getting sshd running.

For future builds, I have added openssh-server and enabled the rAA plugin for setting the root password. After you set the root password for the instance, you will be able to ssh in. Updating a current installation of lochDNS will make this work, and that is something you can do without console access; you just need access to port 8003 for rAA, which you'll need for this anyway in order to set up the root password so that ssh can work.

Good point, and thanks for asking. Oh, and welcome to the lochDNS project!

[voipfc]

If package is released tar format with openssh added, login can be possible by copying a public key into root's .ssh folder and recreating the disk image. That way once the ssh server is started only the person with the private key can login.
That's how I set up a trial rpath package to launch on EC2.

Originally Posted by michaelkjohnson

No, I didn't include ssh because lochDNS was intended to provide the web interface without requiring a console login. The images do not include a root password (of course), so no network access is exposed that would be compromised by an unset root password. The idea is that if you have console access, you should set the root password after booting the image. And since the root password is empty, ssh wouldn't let you in anyway without setting a password.

However, you raise a good chicken-and-egg question; if you are deploying an image with a VPS provider, you don't have a good way of getting sshd running.

For future builds, I'll add openssh-server and enable the rAA plugin for setting the root password. Then, after you set the root password for the instance, you will be able to ssh in.

Good point, and thanks for asking. Oh, and welcome to the lochDNS project!

Thanks

[michaelkjohnson]

lochDNS 0.9 has all the latest system software updates, adds a VHD image to the published image types, and includes the latest rPath Appliance Agent (rAA) which provides a backup/restore system that can be used either in an automated or manual fashion. Backups will not be done until you configure them explicitly in the rAA console. The backups are conveniently small; about 100KB plus whatever data you have in the MySQL database. The backup provides just enough data to restore to a previous snaphot of the data (not the system software version) or to do a new installation and then restore the backup on it to return to the data available at the time of the backup.

Current users can update manually through the rAA console. If you have scheduled updates, your system will be updated to 0.9 during the next scheduled update. After the update, all the new features of rAA will be available to you.

Enjoy!

[FredZ]

I thought this was going to be something that would suit my technical ineptitude, thwated again. I downloaded the CD iso, burned it, went to install it, I get the splash screen, I press enter, and my pc reboots. I have had this with rPath before. For me rpath sux, and this was my final look at anything built on it. Sorry this is negative and I don't wish to detract from the fine effort made to create an appliance (something I am in favour of), but I thought I would just say that rpath seems to have some compatability issues with older equipment.
FYI: equipment was an old K6-2 350 with 128Mb ram on an MS-5187 (yes I am aware that this is not a server board). This was being used as a server and was retired and is now just a test unit for such things as this. Production units are Blade servers with dual CPUs and 16Gb ram.

Regards

Fred

[michaelkjohnson]

Originally Posted by FredZ

I thought this was going to be something that would suit my technical ineptitude, thwated again. I downloaded the CD iso, burned it, went to install it, I get the splash screen, I press enter, and my pc reboots. I have had this with rPath before...

FYI: equipment was an old K6-2 350 with 128Mb ram on an MS-5187...

All rPath-based appliances that use rPath's standard kernels require an i686-class CPU. The K6-2 is, despite the name, a 586-class CPU.

I'm sorry this bothers you; rPath chose to optimize for making better use of hardware that has been in general production in the past decade rather than much older hardware. For testing, rPath suggests virtualization, and appliances are available for most virtual "form factors".

[michaelkjohnson]

Originally Posted by voipfc

If package is released tar format with openssh added, login can be possible by copying a public key into root's .ssh folder and recreating the disk image. That way once the ssh server is started only the person with the private key can login.
That's how I set up a trial rpath package to launch on EC2.

The next release of lochDNS will include the amiconfig package, which will enable you to easily deploy AMIs in EC2, providing EC2 standard key information to a booting AMIs -- you can even share images. See rBuilder:Amazon_Elastic_Compute_Cloud for more information on how to boot rPath Xen images in the EC2 cloud.

[michaelkjohnson]

lochDNS has been updated to the recently-released MyDNSConfig 1.1.0 release.

lochDNS 0.10 has all the latest system software updates, and adds public Amazon EC2 AMI (AMI ID ami-f1806598), VMware ESX, and Virtual Iron VHD images.

Current users can update manually through the rAA console. If you have scheduled updates, your system will automatically be updated to 0.10 during the next scheduled update.

Enjoy!

[SyberWizard]

I have used the latest .10 version of the installation. I have web access to the "path appliance platform." I have completed all of the configuration steps, to include creating an additional user. Nowhere however, do I see anything for accessing MyDNS or MyDNSConfig in order to actually use the interface. Please tell me what I am missing.