cloud-init should support apt-proxy and hostname based mirror selection

[ubuntu-server-builder]

This bug was originally filed in Launchpad as LP: #897688

Launchpad details

affected_projects = []
assignee = smoser
assignee_name = Scott Moser
date_closed = 2012-04-11T04:09:50.500172+00:00
date_created = 2011-11-29T13:55:04.384203+00:00
date_fix_committed = 2011-12-16T21:44:40.918458+00:00
date_fix_released = 2012-04-11T04:09:50.500172+00:00
id = 897688
importance = medium
is_complete = True
lp_url = https://bugs.launchpad.net/cloud-init/+bug/897688
milestone = None
owner = smoser
owner_name = Scott Moser
private = False
status = fix_released
submitter = smoser
submitter_name = Scott Moser
tags = []
duplicates = []

Launchpad user Scott Moser(smoser) wrote on 2011-11-29T13:55:04.384203+00:00

currently, in EC2, there is logic to select a mirror based on existence of a dns name that matches the region. Ie
 * cloud-init checks ec2 metadata for availability zone (like us-east-1a)
 * take off the 'a',
 * check for dns name of us-east-1.ec2.archive.ubuntu.com
 * use that as mirror if available or fall back to default.

This is good enough for EC2, but not so good for private clouds.
A private cloud may have either a proxy or a full mirror, and want to use that without requiring custom user data on every launch or modifications to the stock images.

To support this, I propose:
 * if user-data specifies 'apt_mirror' or 'apt_proxy' use that.
 * if a dnsname exists for $availability-zone.archive in the default domain, use that.
 * if a dnsname exists in default domain for 'apt-proxy' then configure apt to use that as the proxy
 * if a dnsname exists in default domain for 'ubuntu-mirror' then configure apt to use that mirror

This allows the owner of a private cloud to set up dns entries so that cloud guest images "just work", but also allow for user configuration via cloud-config data like:
 apt_proxy: http://192.168.1.1:3128/

Related bugs:

• bug 974509: cloud-init selects wrong mirror with dns server redirection

[ubuntu-server-builder]

Launchpad user Scott Moser(smoser) wrote on 2011-12-16T21:44:40.534437+00:00

pushed up revision 486 for this.

[ubuntu-server-builder]

Launchpad user Andreas Hasenack(ahasenack) wrote on 2012-07-05T17:00:14.007899+00:00

This breaks those customers with (already broken) ISPs that have wildcard domains, because "ubuntu-mirror.localdomain" resolves to an actual internet IP, but it's just to show the user a nice html page saying that the domain was not found. Maybe with ads.

[ubuntu-server-builder]

Launchpad user Scott Moser(smoser) wrote on 2012-07-06T13:45:57.314030+00:00

The bug for Andreas's referenced issue is bug 974509.