Table of Contents
SlapOS Network Cache¶
The network cache is beneficial when used as download, binary (or proximity) cache .
Download Cache¶ allows to cache downloaded files like source code on the
internet. If the original website used to download the file is down, the downlaod
cache will serve as backup while the Binary Cache allows to download an
already-compiled software release (and Proxmity Cache may act as a very
simple CDN where files are downloaded from a nearby location).
Download Cache¶
SlapOS makes heavy use of the internet to download resources like source tarballs.
As it turns out, it happens very often that some websites which SlapOS has no
control over are not available, preventing download and compilation of a needed
part of a Software Release.
The goal of download cache is to make the project installation more reliable.
In this case, the network cache provides access to a HTTP service which caches
all the resources which are downloadable by the buildout. With that tool, we can
guarantee the availability of such resources without depending on third parties.
Here is a typical use case of the download cache:
- A trusted machine installs a Software Release. For each file downloaded from the internet, it will upload it to the network cache server.
- Another machine installs the same kind of Software Release. For each file it has to download, it will first look into the network cache to see if this file exists and has been signed with a trusted certificate. If so, it will download from cache. Otherwise, it will download from original location.
Note: The Download Cache is configured in the Buildout profile(s) of the Software Release.
Binary cache¶
Always recompiling every component of a Software Releases has the big
advantage of making the Software Release work on almost every platform. But it
has some drawbacks:
- Production machines needs a compiler in order to install anything with SlapOS, which can be a security issue,
- Compiling big Software Releases takes hours.
With those two issues in mind, the SlapOS team designed a feature allowing one machine
to upload a newly installed Software Release, compiled and built from scratch,
to the network cache. Then, another machine with same distribution version and
same architecture can just download it without compiling anything.
Thus, if a Software Release has been uploaded by a machine running Debian 7.0
on AMD64, another machine with the same specs (without any tuning like glibc
upgrade, see below) can just download this archive from network cache and expand
it within a few minutes.
Note: The Binary Cache is configured in the slapos.cfg configuration file.
What is shacache?¶
Shacache is a simple but clever API and server allowing to download/upload
files in a secure way (also see SlapOS Network Cache¶ concept).
How to upload to cache?¶
This is done by configuring the slapos client.
- Request an account on the networkcache.
- Put the given key and certificate in /etc/opt/slapos/ssl/shacache.key and /etc/opt/slapos/ssl/shacache.cert (XXX security issue)
- In your slapos configuration file (/etc/opt/slapos/slapos.cfg), add/modify the following section:
::
[networkcache]
signature-private-key-file = /etc/opt/slapos/ssl/signature.key
signature-certificate-file = /etc/opt/slapos/ssl/signature.cert
upload-cache-url = https://www.shacache.org/shacache
shacache-cert-file = /etc/opt/slapos/ssl/shacache.cert
shacache-key-file = /etc/opt/slapos/ssl/shacache.key
upload-dir-url = https://www.shacache.org/shadir
shadir-cert-file = /etc/opt/slapos/ssl/shacache.cert
shadir-key-file = /etc/opt/slapos/ssl/shacache.key
upload-binary-cache-url = https://www.shacache.org/shacache
download-cache-url = https://www.shacache.org/shacache
download-binary-dir-url = http://www.shacache.org/shadir
upload-binary-dir-url = https://www.shacache.org/shadir
binary-cache-url-blacklist =
http://git.erp5.org/gitweb/slapos.git/blob_plain/HEAD
http://git.erp5.org/gitweb/slapos.git/blob_plain/refs/heads
upload-to-binary-cache-url-blacklist =
http://git.erp5.org/gitweb/slapos.git/blob_plain/HEAD
http://git.erp5.org/gitweb/slapos.git/blob_plain/refs/heads
download-from-binary-cache-url-blacklist =
http://git.erp5.org/gitweb/slapos.git/blob_plain/HEAD
http://git.erp5.org/gitweb/slapos.git/blob_plain/refs/heads
- Generate SSL keys to sign the cached data. This can be done with:
::
# /opt/slapos/bin/generate-signature-key /etc/opt/slapos/slapos.cfg
- run slapgrid-sr on your favourite software release. This will upload each
tarball, egg, buildout profile to the cache and so, can make it available later
if download URL is not available anymore. You may want to do this preferably in
a SlapOS Node that doesn't have this software release installed, otherwise,
it won't upload what is already installed.
Note: the blacklist parameters are here to prevent any upload and/or
download of something coming from development versions of a Software Release.
You can adapt it freely if you don't use git.erp5.org. Without this feature,
uploading files coming from development version may freeze it forever. You have
to create tags or frozen version of your Software Release in order for it to be
uploaded/downloaded.
How to download from cache?¶
Note: be sure not to put a private key here. It would compromise your identity.
Current drawbacks to Binary Cache approach¶
- Path of Software Release destination is hardcoded to /opt/slapgrid. Changing the software_root of SlapOS will break all the LD_FLAGS.
- SlapOS depends too much on the distribution (mostly for glibc and gcc stuffs), so cache is distribution-dependent.
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