cloudbroker README

Extends an Apache VCL cloud to enable brokering computing resources from Terremark vCloud Express.

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Prerequisites

• You will need an account on Terremark vCloud Express: https://signup.vcloudexpress.terremark.com/

  You will also need a key for logging into the VMs. The key can be created under the Key Management menu.

• The following Perl modules are directly referenced by the provisioning module:

  HTTP::Request
  HTTP::Request::Common
  HTTP::Cookies
  LWP::UserAgent
  XML::LibXML

  Additionally, there are indirect dependencies on the following:

  Net::SSLeay
  LWP::Protocol::https
  XML::LibXML::XPathContext
  Hash::FieldHash

  cpanm is recommended to install the modules. To install cpan, type:

  cpan App::cpanminus

  This will take several minutes. Then install the following Perl libraries by typing...

  cpanm Net::SSLeay
  cpanm LWP::Protocol::https
  cpanm XML::LibXML
  cpanm XML::LibXML::XPathContext
  cpanm Hash::FieldHash

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Installation Instructions

1. Download the key you created on the Terremark web interface to the server where the management node will be running. It should be named vcloud.pem. Edit the management node via the web interface and set the 'End Node SSH Identity Key Files' to the location of the key file (e.g. /etc/vcl/vcloud.pem).

   Add your account username and password to /etc/vcl/vcld.conf as follows:

   tmrkUser=
   tmrkPass=

2. Install the new provisioning and OS modules, and the updated utils module.

3. Run the MySQL script to add the new images and modules to the database. Make sure the ids used in the script aren't in use already in your database.

   Go into the web interface and create an image group and computer group for Terremark. Map them together. Add the images to the image group.

   Create as many computers as you want. Name them something like tmrk1, tmrk2, etc., but don't use any special characters in the name. Use type 'blade'. Make sure you add the computers to the Terremark computer group.

   Give yourself or whomever privilege to the new computer and image groups.

4. Restart vcld

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Limitations and Issues

• Linux OS support only
• VMs are not deleted from Terremark at the end of the reservation if the user never logs in - VCL will 'sanitize' the OS instead.
• The management node must be dedicated for Terremark provisioning since it is setup to use the key from vcloud.
• Management node communication with the VM is done over the public IP. Support is there for doing it over the private IP (see comments in the provisioning module) but it is commented out - requires Cisco VPN agent to be running.
• Only TCP port 22 (SSH) is opened on the Public IP. Could be extended to include port 80 (HTTP), etc.
• Frequently, we are unable to log into the VM created via the API (SSH PermissionDenied error) and consequently the reservation fails, leaving the VM running. Manually issue a 'reload' via the VCL administrator menu to invoke the provisioning module again, which will delete the VM. The root cause of this issue is unknown.

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Copyright 2012 Mike Roda

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at

http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.