PlanetLab Software Overview. Mark Huang

1
PlanetLab Software Overview

• Mark Huang
• mlhuang_at_cs.princeton.edu

2
PlanetLab CVS

• http//cvs.planet-lab.org/cvs/
• pserveranon_at_cvs.planet-lab.org/cvs
• CVS_RSHssh extcvs.planet-lab.org/cvs

3
PlanetLab Build

• http//build.planet-lab.org/build/
• /nightly/
• /planetlab-3_3-rc1/

4
Node Software

• Boot
• Boot CD
• Boot Manager
• Virtualization
• Linux kernel
• VServer
• VNET
• Node Management
• Node Manager
• NodeUpdate
• PlanetLabConf
• Slice Management
• Slice Creation Service
• Proper
• Monitoring
• PlanetFlow
• pl_mom

5
PLC Software

• Database server
• pl_db
• PLCAPI server
• plc_api
• Web server
• Website PHP
• Scripts
• Boot server
• PlanetLabConf scripts
• PlanetFlow archive
• Mail, Support (RT), DNS, Monitor, Build, CVS, QA

6
Boot CD

• Version 3 Boot CD
• bootcd_v3/conf_files/
• Hardware, network, system initialization
• bootcd_v3/configurations/
• CD customization
• Two-stage build
• bootcd_v3/prep.sh
• Prepares basic filesystem
• bootcd_v3/build.sh
• Prepares overlay filesystem which customizes the
  Boot CD

7
Boot Manager

• Boot Manager
• bootmanager/source/
• Main BootManager class, authentication, utility
  functions, configuration, etc.
• bootmanager/source/steps/
• Individual steps of the install/boot process
• bootmanager/support-files/
• Bootstrap tarball generation
• Legacy support for old Boot CDs
• To Do
• Get out of the hardware and installation business
  (Anaconda?)
• Support distributed boot and install (signed
  packages?)

8
Virtualization

• Linux kernel
• linux-2.6/
• Fedora Core 4 kernel
• VServer patch
• AndySched, VNET, Proper, BCM5700, GRE/PPTP, other
  miscellaneous patches
• VServer
• util-vserver/
• Userspace VServer management utilities and
  libraries
• VNET
• Linux kernel module
• Intercepts bind(), other socket calls
• Intercepts and marks all IP packets
• Implements TUN/TAP, proxy socket extensions

9
Node Management

• Node Manager (pl_nm)
• sidewinder/
• Thin XML-RPC shim around VServer (or other VMM)
  syscalls, and other knobs
• util-python/
• Miscellaneous Python utility functions
• util-vserver/python/
• Python bindings for VServer syscalls
• Node Update
• NodeUpdate/
• Wrapper around yum for keeping node RPMs
  up-to-date
• PlanetLabConf
• PlanetLabConf/
• Pull-based configuration file distribution
  service
• Most files dynamically generated on a per-node or
  per-node group basis

10
Slice Management

• Slice Creation Service (pl_conf)
• sidewinder/
• Runs in a slice
• Periodically downloads slices.xml from boot
  server
• Local XML-RPC API for delegated slice creation,
  query
• Proper
• proper/
• Simple local interface for executing privileged
  operations
• Bind mount(), privileged port bind(), root read()

11
Administration and Monitoring

• PlanetFlow (pl_netflow)
• netflow/
• MySQL schema and initialization/maintenance
  scripts
• netflow/html/
• PHP frontend
• netflow/pfgrep/
• Console frontend
• ulogd/
• Packet header collection, aggregation, and
  insertion
• PlanetLab Monitor (pl_mom)
• pl_mom/swapmon.py
• Swap space monitor and slice reaper
• pl_mom/bwmon.py
• Average daily bandwidth monitor

12
Database and API

• Database
• pl_db/
• PostgreSQL schema generated from XML
• PLCAPI
• plc_api/specification/
• XML specification of API functions
• plc_api/PLC/
• mod_python implementation

13
Web Server

• PHP, Static, Generated
• plc_www/includes/new_plc_api.php
• Auto-generated PHP binding to PLCAPI
• plc_www/db/
• Secure portion of website
• plc_www/generated/
• Generated include files
• plc/scripts/
• Miscellaneous scripts

14
Boot Server

• Secure Software Distribution
• Authenticated, encrypted with SSL
• /var/www/html/boot/
• Default location for Boot Manager
• /var/www/html/install-rpms/
• Default /etc/yum.conf location for RPM updates
• /var/www/html/PlanetLabConf/
• Server-side component
• Mostly PHP