2.4.1. Automated pre-configuration using Cloud-init

If you installed Turbo Router as a new Linux system, it includes a Day-1 configuration mechanism that starts a DHCP client on the first interface and enables a SSH server on it, so that the user can remotely access the console. This mechanism relies on cloud-init and can be customized as described in the following sections.

Cloud-init

Cloud-init is the defacto multi-distribution package that handles early initialization of a cloud instance. Using cloud-init, it is possible to preconfigure Turbo Router.

See also

For more information about Cloud-init, refer to https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Customizing the Turbo Router configuration files is possible only at first boot. The turbo service is started sooner in the next boots, before cloud-init.

Libvirt

The simpler way of using cloud-init with libvirt is to create an iso file labelled cidata.

See also

For more information, refer to https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/topics/datasources/nocloud.html

1. Write a user-data file and a meta-data file. In this example, we setup the root password.

   cat << EOF > /tmp/user-data
   #cloud-config
   chpasswd:
     list: |
       root:myrootpassword
   EOF
   
   cat << EOF > meta-data
   instance-id: turbo-vm
   local-hostname: turbo-vm
   EOF
   

2. Build an iso image with the cidata label containing the user-data and meta-data and put it in the libvirt images directory.

   apt-get install -y genisoimage
   genisoimage -output seed.iso -volid cidata \
                            -joliet -rock user-data meta-data
   cp seed.iso /var/lib/libvirt/images/
   

3. Add seed.iso as a disk to the virt-install command. For instance, for a VM with virtual NICs.

   virt-install --name vm1 --vcpus=3,sockets=1,cores=3,threads=1 \
                --os-variant ubuntu18.04 --cpu host --network=default,model=e1000 \
                --ram 8192 --noautoconsole --import \
                --disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/vm1.qcow2,device=disk,bus=virtio \
                --disk /var/lib/libvirt/images/seed.iso,device=disk,bus=virtio
   

OpenStack

Cloud-init is integrated within OpenStack.

1. Write a cloud-init user-data file. In this example, we setup the root password.

   cat << EOF > /tmp/user-data
   #cloud-config
   chpasswd:
     list: |
       root:myrootpassword
   EOF
   

2. Start the VM with the additional parameter --user-data.

   openstack server create --flavor turbo-router \
                           --image turbo-router \
                           --user-data /tmp/user-data \
                           turbo-router_vm
   

Examples

Here is a user-data example, where we upload a startup configuration for the CLI (you can also upload alternative configurations).

#cloud-config
write_files:
- path: /run/vrouter.startup
   content: |
      {
         "vrouter:config": {
            "vrf": [
               {
                  "name": "main",
                  "vrouter-interface:interface": {
                     "physical": [
                        {
                           "name": "pub1",
                           "port": "pci-b0s5",
                           "ipv4": {
                              "dhcp": {
                                 "enabled": true
                               }
                            }
                         }
                      ]
                   }
                }
             ],
             "vrouter-system:system": {
                "vrouter-fast-path:fast-path": {
                   "port": [
                      "pci-b0s5"
                   ]
                },
                "vrouter-license:license": {
                   "online": {
                      "serial": "xxx"
                   }
                }
             }
          }
       }
 runcmd:
   - [/usr/bin/sysrepocfg, -m, vrouter, -d, startup, -f, json, --import=/run/vrouter.startup]
   - [/usr/bin/sysrepocfg, -m, vrouter, -C, startup]