CloudOpen North America 2013: Vagrant & CFEngine

www.cfengine.com

Vagrant & CFEngine

CloudOpen North America 2013

Before we get started

Is everyone in the right place?

Has everyone installed Virtualbox 4.2.16 or later?VirtualBox --help | grep VirtualBox

Has everyone installed Vagrant 1.2.7 or later?

vagrant –version

I have USB keys with Installers and content for the tutorial, if you don't have it yet please let me know.

Get to know each other

Hi, I'm Nick

SysAdmin > 10 Years

Work at CFEngine

Live in Lawrence, KS

Twitter: @cmdln_

IRC: nickanderson

Blog: http://www.cmdln.org

Who are you?

What do you do?

Have you used Vagrant?

Have you used CFEngine?

Why did you choose this session and what do you hope to get from it?

9/17/13

What is Vagrant?

Tool to make working with development environments easy.

Create, configure, destroy lightweight, reproducible, and portable environments.

● Created by Mitchell Hashimoto

● @mitchelh

● http://www.vagrantup.com

9/17/13

How can it help?

Developer on-boarding

Quickly provision/decommission test environments in repeatable fashion

Bug Validation

Continuous Integration

Ad-hoc Demos

9/17/13

Provides common environment

Designers

Developers

Operations

QA

9/17/13

Portable

● VirtualBox● AWS● VMware● More● https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/wiki/Available-Vagrant-Plugins

9/17/13

So what's it made of?

9/17/13

Vagrantfile

9/17/13

Boxes

● Base operating system image● Provider specific

● http://www.vagrantbox.es● Use veewee or packer.io (build your own automatically)

– Kickstart/preseed, postinstall scripts

9/17/13

Magic

● Ssh port forwards● Shared project folder /vagrant

9/17/13

Useful Plugin

● vagrant-vbguest automatically installs the host's VirtualBox Guest Additions on the guest system.

● vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest

● https://github.com/dotless-de/vagrant-vbguest

9/17/13

CFEngine Provisioner: Currently Undocumented

● am_policy_hub● extra_agent_args

– Extra arguments to pass to cf-agent executions

● classes– Additional classes to define when running cf-agent

● deb_repo_file– The apt repository configuration file to use for configuring

the repository containing the CFEngine packages

● deb_repo_line– The line that specifys the repository to use for CFEngine

packages

● files_path– Directory to copy on top of the default masterfiles

● force_bootstrap– If true, bootstrap the host even if it has been bootstrapped

before

● install– Install CFEngine package from repository

● mode– “bootstrap” or “single_run”, determines whether CFEngine will

be bootstrapped or just executed once on the host

● policy_server_address● repo_gpg_key_url

– http location of GPG key used for checking package signatures

● run_file– Standalone CFEngine policy file to upload and execute

● upload_path– Path to upload run_file

● yum_repo_file– The yum repository file to use when configuring the repository

containing CFEngine packages

● yum_repo_url– The url of the repository containing the CFEngine packages

● package_name– The cfengine package name to install

9/17/13

CFEngine Provisioner: Example Use

9/17/13

Getting started

● vagrant box

● vagrant init

● vagrant status

● vagrant up

● vagrant ssh– vagrant ssh node

● vagrant destroy

9/17/13

Daily Use

vagrant upvagrant {destroy, halt, suspend}

!-2

9/17/13

This is fantastic!

9/17/13

Build base boxes for all the things!

Black Hole

9/17/13

Automating Vagrant Provisioning

● Ansible● CFEngine● Chef● Puppet● Salt Stack● Shell Scripts● MixnMatch!

9/17/13

CFEngine

● IT infrastructure automation, compliance, and knowledge management framework

● Opensource and Commercial Software

● Originally written by Mark Burgess

● @markburgess_osl

● http://www.cfengine.com

9/17/13

CFEngine History

● First released in 1993● CFEngine 2 released in 1998, self healing

computer immunology. Added machine learning and anomaly detection.

● 2003 Promise Theory work began● 2008 CFEngine 3 released. Integrates

knowledge management and discovery mechanisms.

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)● Portable

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)● Portable● Resilient

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)● Portable● Resilient● Declarative

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)● Portable● Resilient● Declarative

9/17/13

Bootstrap a test environment

9/17/13

Get Going

● Import vagrant basebox– cd resources/veewee

– vagrant box add CFEngine_Training CFEngine_Training.box

● Bring up environment– vagrant status

– vagrant up

– vagrant status

9/17/13

More Nodes!

● Increase nodes in Vagrantfile● vagrant up● vagrant ssh node00{1,2}

9/17/13

CFEngine Design Center

● Community contributed reusable policy

● Curated Repository● Cli and GUI (enterprise) clients

9/17/13

Using cf-sketch to configure infrastructure

● Log in to your policy hub, locate the design center repository and access the cf-sketch shell– vagrant ssh hub

– sudo -i – cd /vagrant/resources/design-center/tools/cf-sketch

– ./cf-sketch.pl

9/17/13

Configure Timezones

● search time● info -v tzconfig● install System::tzconfig● define paramset System::tzconfig

– Name: NO_Oslo_TZ

– Timezone: Europe/Oslo

– Zoneinfo: /usr/share/zoneinfo

9/17/13

Configure Timezones

● search time● install System::tzconfig● define paramset System::tzconfig

– Name: NO_Oslo_TZ

– Timezone: Europe/Oslo

– Zoneinfo: /usr/share/zoneinfo

9/17/13

Configure Timezones Cont.

● define paramset System::tzconfig– Name: US_Central_TZ

– Timezone: US/Central

– Zoneinfo: /usr/share/zoneinfo

9/17/13

Activate and Deploy Timezone Configuration

● activate System::tzconfig NO_Oslo_TZ hub

● activate System::tzconfig US_Central_TZ node001

● deploy

9/17/13

Editor War!

● Which side are you on?● services/editor_war.cf

9/17/13

Wage War

● Remove Disallowed Packages– vagrant ssh hub

– watch rpm -q emacs-nox

– Uncomment disallowed_packages to activate policy. Watch it get fixed.

● Install Required Packages– watch rpm -q vim-enhanced

– Uncomment required_packages to activate policy

9/17/13

The Books

● Learning CFEngine 3– Diego Zamboni

● Vagrant Up and Running– Mitchell Hashimoto

9/17/13

Questions/Discussion?

9/17/13

Thank You!

www.cfengine.com

Vagrant & CFEngine

CloudOpen North America 2013

Before we get started

Is everyone in the right place?

Has everyone installed Virtualbox 4.2.16 or later?VirtualBox --help | grep VirtualBox

Has everyone installed Vagrant 1.2.7 or later?

vagrant –version

I have USB keys with Installers and content for the tutorial, if you don't have it yet please let me know.

Get to know each other

Hi, I'm Nick

SysAdmin > 10 Years

Work at CFEngine

Live in Lawrence, KS

Twitter: @cmdln_

IRC: nickanderson

Blog: http://www.cmdln.org

Who are you?

What do you do?

Have you used Vagrant?

Have you used CFEngine?

Why did you choose this session and what do you hope to get from it?

9/17/13

What is Vagrant?

Tool to make working with development environments easy.

Create, configure, destroy lightweight, reproducible, and portable environments.

● Created by Mitchell Hashimoto

● @mitchelh

● http://www.vagrantup.com

Questions? Stop me

9/17/13

How can it help?

Developer on-boarding

Quickly provision/decommission test environments in repeatable fashion

Bug Validation

Continuous Integration

Ad-hoc Demos

9/17/13

Provides common environment

Designers

Developers

Operations

QA

Really any person that needs to have a functional test environment.

9/17/13

Portable

● VirtualBox● AWS● VMware● More● https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/wiki/Available-Vagrant-Plugins

Take it with you (offline) VirtualBox VmwareUse someone else's infrastructure AWS Rackspace

9/17/13

So what's it made of?

9/17/13

Vagrantfile

●Vagrantfile describes machine configurations●Syntax is Ruby, but knowledge of the Ruby language is not necessary. It's mostly simple variable assignment.

9/17/13

Boxes

● Base operating system image● Provider specific

● http://www.vagrantbox.es● Use veewee or packer.io (build your own automatically)

– Kickstart/preseed, postinstall scripts

Veewee written by Patrick DeboisPacker.io written by Mitchell Hashimoto

Leverage your existing infrastructure. Use the same (or very similar) kickstart/preseed and postinstall scripts that you use in your production env.

9/17/13

Magic

● Ssh port forwards● Shared project folder /vagrant

Automatically forwards Local port to 22 on the hostAutomatically mounts the directory that the Vagrantfile lives in (Vagrant Project Dir) on each host.

Add your own custom

Problems with automagic? Check the tools version. Not required to match but it helps

9/17/13

Useful Plugin

● vagrant-vbguest automatically installs the host's VirtualBox Guest Additions on the guest system.

● vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest

● https://github.com/dotless-de/vagrant-vbguest

● Sometimes there are issues if the version of virtualbox tools does not match the currently running version.

● This plugin will detect if the guest tools are outdated, download build, install, restart the guest

● If you're lucky, vagrant-vbguest does not require any configurations.

9/17/13

CFEngine Provisioner: Currently Undocumented

● am_policy_hub● extra_agent_args

– Extra arguments to pass to cf-agent executions

● classes– Additional classes to define when running cf-agent

● deb_repo_file– The apt repository configuration file to use for configuring

the repository containing the CFEngine packages

● deb_repo_line– The line that specifys the repository to use for CFEngine

packages

● files_path– Directory to copy on top of the default masterfiles

● force_bootstrap– If true, bootstrap the host even if it has been bootstrapped

before

● install– Install CFEngine package from repository

● mode– “bootstrap” or “single_run”, determines whether CFEngine will

be bootstrapped or just executed once on the host

● policy_server_address● repo_gpg_key_url

– http location of GPG key used for checking package signatures

● run_file– Standalone CFEngine policy file to upload and execute

● upload_path– Path to upload run_file

● yum_repo_file– The yum repository file to use when configuring the repository

containing CFEngine packages

● yum_repo_url– The url of the repository containing the CFEngine packages

● package_name– The cfengine package name to install

The CFEngine provisioner is currently undocumented. This is a great opportunity for someone to contribute. I already did part of the work right here in this slide ;)

Options for Package Source/install Extra Arguments Bootstrap or Standalone oneshot policy

9/17/13

CFEngine Provisioner: Example Use

9/17/13

Getting started

● vagrant box

● vagrant init

● vagrant status

● vagrant up

● vagrant ssh– vagrant ssh node

● vagrant destroy

9/17/13

Daily Use

vagrant upvagrant {destroy, halt, suspend}

!-2

There are more commands, but you use vagrant up to bring up an environment, and vagrant destroy to delete the vms.

9/17/13

This is fantastic!

9/17/13

Build base boxes for all the things!

You can have too much of a good thing.

Black Hole

There are so many places where configurations can hide. I think of Vms as kind of a black hole of knowledge.

9/17/13

Automating Vagrant Provisioning

● Ansible● CFEngine● Chef● Puppet● Salt Stack● Shell Scripts● MixnMatch!

Automate configuration on top of base image.

There are valid reasons for baking config into a basebox, usually for speed of deployment. Not a replacement for good configuration management.

9/17/13

CFEngine

● IT infrastructure automation, compliance, and knowledge management framework

● Opensource and Commercial Software

● Originally written by Mark Burgess

● @markburgess_osl

● http://www.cfengine.com

9/17/13

CFEngine History

● First released in 1993● CFEngine 2 released in 1998, self healing

computer immunology. Added machine learning and anomaly detection.

● 2003 Promise Theory work began● 2008 CFEngine 3 released. Integrates

knowledge management and discovery mechanisms.

CFEngine has a solid history. Its been around for 20 years.

Runs on over 10 million servers in over 10 thousand companies

Promises are a declaration of intent

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small

CFEngine is written in C

~ 100k lines of code (remember its a 20 year old project)

~ 5M single package install

~ 15-25M memory consumption (depends on your policy of course)

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)

Security is a core focus. The voluntary cooperation principal of Promise Theory and the pull model are important for this.

Great track record

CFEngine hasn't had a published security vulnerability since 2005 (CFEngine 2)

0 since CFEngine 3 was released in 2009

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)● Portable

Because its written in C it runs on just about anything.

Linux, BSDs, AIX, HPUX, Solariseven Windows

Storage Devices (Qnap)Switches (Cisco, Arista, Juniper)Embedded Devices

Raspburry PiRobot bottom of the oceanWater testing devices in fields with cowsLaser cutters (that make puppets)

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)● Portable● Resilient

CFEngine works when other things are broken.CFEngine tries to fix itself – failsafe.cf

Decisions are made by the agents running on individual hosts.

If the network is down they continue to apply the policy they have. These policies can be extremely dynamic since all decisions are made by the individual agent. They can use external sources of information if desired or required.

Convergence – continual repair of system state toward desired specification

If something can't be fixed track it and move on (usually)If installing httpd fails, it could continue on and ensure that SSH is hardened. Or if you desire all execution could stop at that point.

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)● Portable● Resilient● Declarative

CFEngines policy language is declarative in nature.

This allows you to focus on the goals of how things should be and converge towards this desired state.

It works kind of like a GPS. It doesn't matter where you start, it will continually re-route to reach the destination.

For exampleApache promises to be installed on webservers. Not install apache on host x,y,z

Httpd process promises to be running in production during non maintenance hours

Sshd process promises to not be running, and completely fire-walled off when the number of SSH sessions into or out of a host are 3 standard deviations higher than normal

9/17/13

CFEngine Properties

● Small● Secure (http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/search)● Portable● Resilient● Declarative

CFEngines policy language is declarative in nature.

This allows you to focus on the goals of how things should be and converge towards this desired state.

It works kind of like a GPS. It doesn't matter where you start, it will continually re-route to reach the destination.

For exampleHttpd config file promises to have this configuration for hosts running application x

Httpd process promises to be running on web servers

Sshd process promises to not be running when the number of SSH sessions into or out of a host are 3 standard deviations higher than normal

9/17/13

Bootstrap a test environment

Examine VagrantfileShell provisioner to prep the environment for

offline use.Dynamic multi-vm configurationHost only network for vms to communicaate onForward portsSynced files for hub masterfiles (normally, you

would update your masterfiles from a version control repository)

CFEngine policySplay set to 0Runs every minute (body executor control)Emails root@localhostPre-written demo policy

9/17/13

Get Going

● Import vagrant basebox– cd resources/veewee

– vagrant box add CFEngine_Training CFEngine_Training.box

● Bring up environment– vagrant status

– vagrant up

– vagrant status

We need to add it manually because conference INTERNET

9/17/13

More Nodes!

● Increase nodes in Vagrantfile● vagrant up● vagrant ssh node00{1,2}

Increase nodes to 1 or 2 (dependent on resources)

Verify that you can ssh to them

Check out shared directory supportLook in /vagrantUpdate a file from inside the vm, check from workstation, vice versa

9/17/13

CFEngine Design Center

● Community contributed reusable policy

● Curated Repository● Cli and GUI (enterprise) clients

When I am talking about paths to cfengine configuration files in these examples they are relative to masterfiles

So the synced vagrant directory is resources/synced_masterfiles

Edit there and the policy will get synchronized to the hubs masterfiles directory

9/17/13

Using cf-sketch to configure infrastructure

● Log in to your policy hub, locate the design center repository and access the cf-sketch shell– vagrant ssh hub

– sudo -i – cd /vagrant/resources/design-center/tools/cf-sketch

– ./cf-sketch.pl

When I am talking about paths to cfengine configuration files in these examples they are relative to masterfiles

So the synced vagrant directory is resources/overlay_var_cfengine/masterfiles

Edit there and the policy will get synchronized to the hubs masterfiles directory

9/17/13

Configure Timezones

● search time● info -v tzconfig● install System::tzconfig● define paramset System::tzconfig

– Name: NO_Oslo_TZ

– Timezone: Europe/Oslo

– Zoneinfo: /usr/share/zoneinfo

You may want to have terminal open

9/17/13

Configure Timezones

● search time● install System::tzconfig● define paramset System::tzconfig

– Name: NO_Oslo_TZ

– Timezone: Europe/Oslo

– Zoneinfo: /usr/share/zoneinfo

When I am talking about paths to cfengine configuration files in these examples they are relative to masterfiles

So the synced vagrant directory is resources/overlay_var_cfengine/masterfiles

Edit there and the policy will get synchronized to the hubs masterfiles directory

9/17/13

Configure Timezones Cont.

● define paramset System::tzconfig– Name: US_Central_TZ

– Timezone: US/Central

– Zoneinfo: /usr/share/zoneinfo

When I am talking about paths to cfengine configuration files in these examples they are relative to masterfiles

So the synced vagrant directory is resources/overlay_var_cfengine/masterfiles

Edit there and the policy will get synchronized to the hubs masterfiles directory

9/17/13

Activate and Deploy Timezone Configuration

● activate System::tzconfig NO_Oslo_TZ hub

● activate System::tzconfig US_Central_TZ node001

● deploy

When I am talking about paths to cfengine configuration files in these examples they are relative to masterfiles

So the synced vagrant directory is resources/overlay_var_cfengine/masterfiles

Edit there and the policy will get synchronized to the hubs masterfiles directory

9/17/13

Editor War!

● Which side are you on?● services/editor_war.cf

Stop here, take a look at the file.

Who can tell what the policy is doing without having it explained to them first?

9/17/13

Wage War

● Remove Disallowed Packages– vagrant ssh hub

– watch rpm -q emacs-nox

– Uncomment disallowed_packages to activate policy. Watch it get fixed.

● Install Required Packages– watch rpm -q vim-enhanced

– Uncomment required_packages to activate policy

How was this policy executed?See body common control inputs and

bundlesequence.

Try playing around and manually removing packages

9/17/13

The Books

● Learning CFEngine 3– Diego Zamboni

● Vagrant Up and Running– Mitchell Hashimoto

9/17/13

Questions/Discussion?

9/17/13

Thank You!