[pve-devel] rfc : qemu fw_cfg as alternative to cloudinit

[Thomas Lamprecht]

Hi,

On 10/04/2017 08:14 AM, Alexandre DERUMIER wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I just discover a new qemu feature : qemu fw_cfg
> 
> http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~somlo/QEMU_fw_cfg/
> 

Here the up-to-date specification:
<https://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu.git;a=blob_plain;f=docs/specs/fw_cfg.txt;h=08c00bdf44a2cca1064356470af2d5438d44e3c9;hb=HEAD>

> 
> It's allow to add a custom firmware, from a host file
> 
> like "-fw_cfg name=opt/GuestInfo,file=/etc/pve/qemu-server/100.conf"  , for example
> 
> 
> Then it's possible to read this file in guest in 
> 
> "/sys/firmware/qemu_fw_cfg/by_name/opt/GuestInfo/raw"
> 
> This need a new module include in guest kernel 4.6 (CONFIG_FW_CFG_SYSFS), 
> but the module is also available out of kernel tree here:
> http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~somlo/QEMU_fw_cfg/qemu_fw_cfg_kmod.tgz
> 
> (really small, it's simply extend standard firmware , so it's work with old kernel too)
> 
> for windows, seem that they are working on it (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1375444)
> 
> 
> Advantage vs cloudinit: 
> 
> - no need to pass cdrom, no extra pci device.(it's simply a firmware)
> - you can use it in initramfs. (format disk, do mount point,...)
> 
> 
> disavantage vs cloudinit:
> 
> - read only (you can change it after boot, but it's really for vm init)

The writing part got reintroduced with QEMU 2.9, in another form,
your Article from above mentions that it was written during QEMU 2.6
release time so maybe even that could be done in some way (did not
tried it out)

> - no daemon or standard to parse the config, you need to do it yourself.
>   But coreos for example, have a projet "ignition", 
>   https://coreos.com/ignition/docs/latest/
>   which can use it (it's working in initramfs)
> 
> 
> 
> I think it should be possible to provide qemu linux distro template like lxc, format the disk in initramfs, do the mount point, deploy source for example.
> Maybe also provide initramfs to qemu with -initrd, with an integrated custom config parser,to format the disk, do the mountpoint, deploy the template,set ssh keys, ....
> 
> What do you think about it ?
> 

I saw this pop up on qemu-devel and edk2 (OVMF) devel here and there
but never looked really specific at that time.
It could be promising, IMO. To allow it to work we need more current
OVMF images, but those are already underway :)

> 
> (
> I'm currently working on a terraform proxmox provider, to deploy vm, as we are looking to deploy Rancher next year (a kubernetes clusters managers),
> and I need to be able to create vm from outside proxmox, with ip configuration,hostname,...)
> 

Side question out of interest, whats your specific use for kubernetes/rancher?
Anything that could also be integrated in our ha-manager?
There are plans for basic (at first) load distribution of services with
the intend to make the ha-manager a general resource manager where
service can be ha-managed but also not. That this is not already done
is mostly my fault, duh - other things got in the way (as always).