Provisioning on Eucalyptus

The following is a step-by-step tutorial to get you started with ComodIT and provision your first host on Eucalyptus. If you get into troubles while following this guide, have a look at our support section for help.

1. Pre-requisites

a. You have a ComodIT account

We assume that you already have created an account on ComodIT and verified your email by clicking the link we sent you. If you have issues subscribing to our service, please contact support.

In the following, we assume that you already have created an account on ComodIT.

b. You have setup an Eucalyptus infrastructure.

We also assume that you have configured an Eucalyptus infrastructure and are able to provision machines on it.

c. You have an access key and secret key

In order to allow a third party service like ComodIT to act on your behalf on Eucalyptus, you have to retrieve your access key and secret key from your Eucalyptus.

You can get it with euca_conf tool:

$ /usr/sbin/euca_conf --get-credentials admin.zip && unzip admin.zip
    Archive:  admin.zip
    To setup the environment run: source /path/to/eucarc
    inflating: eucarc
    inflating: iamrc
    inflating: cloud-cert.pem
    inflating: jssecacerts
    inflating: euca2-admin-9ba8b168-pk.pem
    inflating: euca2-admin-9ba8b168-cert.pem
$ cat iamrc
    AWSAccessKeyId=<The access key>
    AWSSecretKey=<The secret key>

2. Log-in ComodIT for the first time

When you log-in for the first time in ComodIT, a dialog pops up and invites you to create your first organization. It will keep on re-appearing as long as you don’t have at least one organization in your account (either you have created it, or someone adds you to an existing organization).

3. Create your first organization

If you don’t yet have one, you first have to create a new organization. This organization will act as a container for your hosts and applications recipes. The organization can be shared between multiple users. Pick a name (has to be unique within the whole of ComodIT) and enter a short description (this is not required). When your new organization is created, it will also be populated with a sample distribution and application so that you can quickly start provisioning your first host.

4. Create your Eucalyptus platform

Now that you have an organization, you can add an Eucalyptus platform to this organization. A platform describes a target (physical, virtual or cloud) where hosts can be deployed by ComodIT. To add a new one to your organization, go within the ‘Platforms’ section and click the Add button.

Pick a name and enter a description for this new platform. Then select the ‘Eucalyptus’ driver in the drop down list and add your Eucalyptus Access Key ID and Secret Access Key (see above on how to obtain them). You have to specify the EMI of the Comodit Bootstrap image. To import this image in your Eucalyptus, follow this guide:

How to import the Comodit Bootstrap Image in your Eucalyptus

You also have to pick an Eucalyptus region (Advanced section). If you want to work with multiple regions, you will have to create additional platform later. When done, click Add.

Warning! If you get an error message at this stage; it probably means that ComodIT failed to contact your Eucalyptus server on your behalf. Your Eucalyptus Access Key ID & Secret Access Key may be wrong.

5. Create a new host

You are now ready to provision your first host with ComodIT. Go to the ‘Hosts’ section and click the Add button. A wizard will guide you to prepare your host configuration.

You can leave the environment as Default, pick a name and enter a short description. Environments help you group hosts within your organization (e.g. by type, geographies, teams, etc.). The name of the host has to be unique within a given environment. When you are done, click Next.

6. Pick a platform

The next step in the host creation process is to decide where you want to deploy the machine and its hardware characteristics. In this case, pick the EC2 platform you have just created. You can leave the rest as default and click Next.

7. Pick a distribution

You must now pick an operating system distribution to install on this machine. We provide you with a sample CentOS 6 deployment, you can select it from the drop down menu. Set the root password and install tree URL (you should set this value in function of the geographical location of your Eucalyptus setup, see this page). When done, click Finish.

8. Deploy the host

Your host is now ‘defined’ within ComodIT. This means that the description (platform, distribution, settings) has been stored in your organization. The next step for you is to trigger the deployment process. To do so, click on the host and pick the ‘Deploy’ action from the ‘Host Actions’ menu. Click Ok and ComodIT will start the deployment process. Your host will change from the ‘defined’ State (white bullet) to the ‘provisioning’ State (clock icon). If you double check using the Eucalyptus command line, you should see a new host has been created.

9. Host is ready for use

At the end of the install process, the machine reboots. When ready, a green light appears in the State column and the host becomes ‘ready’. This means that the machine has been successfully deployed, our ComodIT agent has been installed, and is now connected. If we loose the connection, the State turns into a orange light. If compliance issues are detected on the host, it turns into a red light.

Note Normal provisioning time is about 10-15 minutes.