CLI composable machines management

This is a list of examples of pod-management tasks performed with the MAAS CLI. See MAAS CLI for how to get started with the CLI and Pods for an overview of the subject.

Add a pod

To add a pod:

maas $PROFILE pods create type=$POD_TYPE power_address=$POWER_ADDRESS \
    [power_user=$USERNAME] [power_pass=$PASSWORD] [zone=$ZONE] \
    [tags=$TAG1,$TAG2,...]

Note: Both USERNAME and PASSWORD are optional for the virsh power type. ZONE and TAGS are optional for all pods.

See the API reference for a listing of available power types.

For example, to create an RSD pod:

maas $PROFILE pods create type=rsd power_address=10.3.0.1:8443 \
    power_user=admin power_pass=admin

And to create a KVM host:

maas $PROFILE pods create type=virsh power_address=qemu+ssh://ubuntu@192.168.1.2/system

Create a KVM host with overcommitted resources:

maas $PROFILE pods create type=virsh power_address=qemu+ssh://ubuntu@192.168.1.2/system \
        power_pass=example cpu_over_commit_ratio=0.3 memory_over_commit_ratio=4.6

Create a KVM host that uses a default storage pool:

maas $PROFILE pods create type=virsh power_address=qemu+ssh://ubuntu@192.168.1.2/system \
        power_pass=example default_storage_pool=pool1

Find pod IDs

Here's a simple way to find a pod's ID by name using jq:

maas $PROFILE pods read | jq '.[] | select (.name=="MyPod") | .name, .id'

Note: jq is a command-line JSON processor.

Example output:

"MyPod"
1

List resources of all pods

maas $PROFILE pods read

A portion of sample output:

        "id": 93,
        "capabilities": [
            "composable",
            "fixed_local_storage",
            "iscsi_storage"
        ],
        "name": "civil-hermit",

List resources of a pod

To list an individual pod's resources:

maas $PROFILE pod read $POD_ID

Update pod configuration

Update overcommit ratios for a KVM host:

maas $PROFILE pod update $POD_ID power_address=qemu+ssh://ubuntu@192.168.1.2/system \
        power_pass=example cpu_over_commit_ratio=2.5 memory_over_commit_ratio=10.0

Update the default storage pool used by a KVM host:

maas $PROFILE pod update $POD_ID power_address=qemu+ssh://ubuntu@192.168.1.2/system \
        power_pass=example default_storage_pool=pool2

List pod connection parameters

To list a pod's connection parameters:

maas $PROFILE pod parameters $POD_ID

Example output:

{
    "power_address": "10.3.0.1:8443",
    "power_pass": "admin",
    "power_user": "admin"
}

Compose pod virtual machines

Basic

To compose a basic pod VM:

maas $PROFILE pod compose $POD_ID

Example output for default composing:

{
    "system_id": "73yxmc",
    "resource_uri": "/MAAS/api/2.0/machines/73yxmc/"
}

Set resources

Compose with resources specified:

maas $PROFILE pod compose $POD_ID $RESOURCES

Where RESOURCES is a space-separated list from:

cores=requested cores
cpu_speed=requested minimum cpu speed in MHz
memory=requested memory in MB
architecture= See Architecture below
storage= See Storage below
interfaces= See Interfaces below

Architecture

To list available architectures:

maas $PROFILE boot-resources read

Then, for example:

maas $PROFILE pod compose $POD_ID \
    cores=40 cpu_speed=2000 memory=7812 architecture="amd64/generic"

Storage

Storage parameters look like this:

storage="<label>:<size in GB>(<storage pool name>),<label>:<size in GB>(<storage pool name>)"

For example, to compose a machine with the following disks:

32 GB disk from storage pool pool1
64 GB disk from storage pool pool2

Where we want the first to be used as a bootable root partition / and the second to be used as a home directory.

First, create the VM:

maas $PROFILE pod compose $POD_ID "storage=mylabel:32(pool1),mylabel:64(pool2)"

Note that the labels, here mylabel, are an ephemeral convenience that you might find useful in scripting MAAS actions.

MAAS will create a pod VM with 2 disks, /dev/vda (32 GB) and /dev/vdb (64 GB). After MAAS enlists, commissions and acquires the machine, you can edit the disks before deploying to suit your needs. For example, we'll set a boot, root and home partition.

We'll start by deleting the / partition MAAS created because we want a separate /boot partition to demonstrate how this might be done.

maas admin partition delete $POD_ID $DISK1_ID $PARTITION_ID

Note: To find $DISK1_ID and $PARTITION_ID, use maas admin machine read $POD_ID.

Now, create a boot partition (~512MB):

maas admin partitions create $POD_ID $DISK1_ID size=512000000 bootable=True

We'll use the remaining space for the root partition, so create another without specifying size:

maas admin partitions create $POD_ID $DISK1_ID

Finally, create a partition to use as the home directory. Here we'll use the entire space:

maas admin partitions create $POD_ID $DISK2_ID

Note: To find $DISK2_ID, use maas admin machine read $POD_ID.

Now, format the partitions. This requires three commands:

maas admin partition format $POD_ID $DISK1_ID $BOOT_PARTITION_ID fstype=ext2
maas admin partition format $POD_ID $DISK1_ID $ROOT_PARTITION_ID fstype=ext4
maas admin partition format $POD_ID $DISK2_ID $HOME_PARTITION_ID fstype=ext4

Note: To find the partition IDs, use maas admin partitions read $POD_ID $DISK1_ID and maas admin partitions read $POD_ID $DISK2_ID

Before you can deploy the machine with our partition layout, you need to mount the new partitions. Here, we'll do that in three commands:

maas admin partition mount $SYSTEM_ID $DISK1_ID $BOOT_PARTITION_ID "mount_point=/boot"
maas admin partition mount $SYSTEM_ID $DISK1_ID $ROOT_PARTITION_ID "mount_point=/"
maas admin partition mount $SYSTEM_ID $DISK2_ID $HOME_PARTITION_ID "mount_point=/home"

Finally, we deploy the machine. MAAS will use the partitions as we have defined them, similar to a normal Ubuntu desktop install:

maas admin machine deploy $SYSTEM_ID

Interfaces

Using the interfaces constraint, you can compose virtual machines with interfaces, allowing the selection of pod NICs.

If you don't specify an interfaces constraint, MAAS maintains backward compatibility by checking for a maas network, then a default network to which to connect the virtual machine.

If you specify an interfaces constraint, MAAS creates a bridge or macvlan attachment to the networks that match the given constraint. MAAS prefers bridge interface attachments when possible, since this typically results in successful communication.

Consider the following interfaces constraint:

interfaces=eth0:space=maas,eth1:space=storage

Assuming the pod is deployed on a machine or controller with access to the maas and storage spaces, MAAS will create an eth0 interface bound to the maas space and an eth1 interface bound to the storage space.

Another example tells MAAS to assign unallocated IP addresses:

interfaces=eth0:ip=172.16.99.42

MAAS automatically converts the ip constraint to a VLAN constraint (for the VLAN where its subnet can be found -- e.g. 172.16.99.0/24.) and assigns the IP address to the newly-composed machine upon allocation.

See the MAAS API documentation for a list of all constraint keys.

Compose and allocate a pod VM

In the absence of any nodes in the 'New' or 'Ready' state, if a pod of sufficient resources is available, MAAS can automatically compose (add), commission, and acquire a pod VM. This is done with the allocate sub-command:

maas $PROFILE machines allocate

Note that all pod resource parameters are available to the allocate command, so based on the example above, the following works:

maas $PROFILE machines allocate "storage=mylabel1:32(pool1),mylabel2:64(pool2)"

Once commissioned and acquired, the new machine will be ready to deploy.

Note: The labels (i.e. mylabel1, mylabel2) in this case can be used to associate device IDs in the information MAAS dumps about the newly created VM. Try piping the output to: jq '.constraints_by_type'.

List machine parameters

MAAS VM parameters, including their resources, are listed just like any other machine:

maas $PROFILE machine read $SYSTEM_ID

Libvirt storage pools

Composing VMs with storage pool constraints

See Compose pod virtual machines.

Usage

Retrieve pod storage pool information with the following command:

maas $PROFILE pod read $POD_ID

Example:

Success.
Machine-readable output follows:
{
    "used": {
        "cores": 50,
        "memory": 31744,
        "local_storage": 63110426112
    },
    "name": "more-toad",
    "id": 5,
    "available": {
        "cores": 5,
        "memory": 4096,
        "local_storage": 153199988295
    },
    "architectures": [],
    "cpu_over_commit_ratio": 1.0,
    "storage_pools": [
        {
            "id": "pool_id-zvPk9C",
            "name": "name-m0M4ZR",
            "type": "lvm",
            "path": "/var/lib/name-m0M4ZR",
            "total": 47222731890,
            "used": 17226931712,
            "available": 29995800178,
            "default": true
        },
        {
            "id": "pool_id-qF87Ps",
            "name": "name-ZMaIta",
            "type": "lvm",
            "path": "/var/lib/name-ZMaIta",
            "total": 98566956569,
            "used": 15466229760,
            "available": 83100726809,
            "default": false
        },
        {
            "id": "pool_id-a6lyw5",
            "name": "name-RmDPfs",
            "type": "lvm",
            "path": "/var/lib/name-RmDPfs",
            "total": 70520725948,
            "used": 30417264640,
            "available": 40103461308,
            "default": false
        }
    ],
    "total": {
        "cores": 55,
        "memory": 35840,
        "local_storage": 216310414407
    },
    "tags": [],
    "type": "virsh",
    "memory_over_commit_ratio": 1.0,
    "pool": {
        "name": "default",
        "description": "Default pool",
        "id": 0,
        "resource_uri": "/MAAS/api/2.0/resourcepool/0/"
    },
    "zone": {
        "name": "default",
        "description": "",
        "id": 1,
        "resource_uri": "/MAAS/api/2.0/zones/default/"
    },
    "capabilities": [
        "dynamic_local_storage",
        "composable"
    ],
    "host": {
        "system_id": null,
        "__incomplete__": true
    },
    "default_macvlan_mode": null,
    "resource_uri": "/MAAS/api/2.0/pods/5/"
}

Delete a pod VM

maas $PROFILE machine delete $SYSTEM_ID

After a machine is deleted, the machine's resources will be available for other VMs.

Delete a pod

maas $PROFILE pod delete $POD_ID

Warning: Deleting a pod will automatically delete all machines belonging to that pod.