This page describes how to do various administrative tasks associated with the HP Labs Tycoon cluster.

Setting Up User Accounts

This section describes the steps for an administrator to setup a user's Tycoon account. To access Tycoon, users need a Linux account, but most HP Labs users do not have one. To get around this, we have set up one Tycoon machine (tycoon-55-05) to provide Linux accounts. After logging into this machine, users can create virtual machines on other machines, change their bids, etc.

1. Get user information. Users must convey the following information: email address, preferred Linux login name, and an ssh public key.
2. Set up Linux account on 15.0.114.50. Using the user's preferred Linux login name, create a Linux account on 15.0.114.50. Su to the new user's account, create an ˜/.ssh directory and ˜/.ssh/authorized_keys file, generate a public/private DSA key pair, and add both his/her ssh public key and the new DSA public key to the ˜/.ssh/authorized_keys file. Chmod 600 the /.ssh/authorized_keys file.
3. Configure the user's Tycoon account. On 15.0.114.50, su to the new user's account and run the following command:

   $ tycoon user setup alice.smith@hp.com asmith ˜/.ssh/authorized_keys 
   

   where "alice.smith@…", "asmith", and "˜/.ssh/authorized_keys" are the user's email address, Linux account name, and the authorized_keys file containing both ssh public keys, respectively.
4. Setup the user's bank account. On 15.0.114.50, run the following as root:

   $ tycoon bank admin create_account \
     alice.smith@hp.com 5 \
     /home/asmith/.tycoon/alice.smith@hp.com/bank_account_public_key
   

   where "alice.smith@…", "asmith", and 5 are the user's email address, Linux account name, and initial bank balance, respectively.
5. Verify correct setup. Su to the new user account on 15.0.114.50 and run the following:

   $ tycoon bank get_balance
   

   This should return the initial balance that was specified.
6. Notify the user of account setup completion.

Changing File System Size

The default file system size for host accounts is 1GB, of which about 500MB is initially free. For users who require more, use procedure below to change the size of the file system for one host account. All commands must be executed as root. In this example, the user's account name is alice and the new file system size is 2GB.

$ xm destroy alice
$ /bin/cp -a /home/alice/default.ext3 /home/alice/new.ext3
$ dd if=/dev/null of=/home/alice/new.ext3 bs=1M seek=1999 count=1
$ e2fsck -f /home/alice/new.ext3
$ resize2fs /home/alice/new.ext3
$ mv /home/alice/default.ext3 /tmp/alice.ext3
$ mv /home/alice/new.ext3 /home/alice/default.ext3
$ xm create /var/lib/tycoon/aucd/Xen2/accounts/alice.conf

In case something goes wrong, this procedure leaves the original file system in /tmp/alice.ext3.

This procedure will eventually be added to the auctioneer and integrated with the economic mechanisms so that users can bid for more resources.

Setting Up a Wiki User Account

The Wiki can only be modified by users with accounts. Currently, Trac only allows the admin to create accounts. The following is the process to do so (on tycoon.hpl.hp.com):

$ htpasswd /home/tycoon/trac/.htaccess AliceSmith

Create a strong password and send both the account name and password to the user.

Configuring a Providing Host for the HP Cluster

For the most part, this process is the same as the generic directions for configuring a providing host. The differences are described below:

1. Configure the web proxy. If this isn't done, then yum won't work. Install /etc/profile.d/http_proxy.csh and /etc/profile.d/http_proxy.sh.
2. Configure a Fedora yum repositories. This forces yum to use a known good repository instead of picking a random one. Install /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-updates.repo and /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora.repo
3. Install Fedora key.

   $ rpm --import /usr/share/rhn/RPM-GPG-KEY-fedora
   

4. Update Fedora packages.

   $ yum -y update
   

5. Turn on automatic yum updating.

   $ chkconfig yum on
   

6. Turn off non-essential services.

   $ chkconfig cups off; chkconfig sendmail off; chkconfig xinetd off; \
   chkconfig portmap off; chkconfig nfslock off; chkconfig gpm off; \
   chkconfig xfs off; chkconfig isdn off; chkconfig iiimf-le-chinput off; \
   chkconfig rhnsd off; chkconfig rpcidmapd off; chkconfig pcmcia off; \
   chkconfig rpcsvcgssd off; chkconfig rpcgssd off; chkconfig mDNSResponder off; \
   chkconfig nifd off; depmod -a
   

7. Install and configure NTP.
   1. Install NTP.

      $ yum -y install ntp
      

   2. Install /etc/ntp.conf
   3. Start NTP, make sure it starts on reboot, and sync it now.

      $ chkconfig ntpd on; service ntpd start; ntpd -q
      

8. Continue in the Administrator's Guide with the following differences:
   1. We are using the standard bank and SLS, so skip steps 6 and 7.
   2. The keys to be installed in steps 8 and 9 will be sent separately.
   3. Instead of step 10, install /etc/tycoon/tycoon_aucd_local.conf.
   4. In step 11, verify the accessibility of the ports, but do not configure the proxy because the file installed in the previous step already does that.
9. Security check. Verify that no extraneous services or possibly insecure services are running.

   $ lsof -i tcp
   $ lsof -i udp
   

10. Usability check. Verify that the auctioneer is available.

    $ tycoon get_host_list
    

The output should include the IP address of the new providing host.