oxidecomputer / oxidecomputer/falcon

propolis pulled by get-propolis.sh cannot initialize control plane in a4x2 when host is latest helios

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Dominant language
Rust
Stars
20
Forks
5
Avg merge
11d 13h
Merged PRs (30d)
2

Description

I don't understand the root cause of this, so hopefully someone who does can add more info below. Here's what I know:

The symptoms, as I observed them, was that the VMs would launch fine, but control plane would never initialize, and this was always true. I was told to replace my propolis-server, and after I did, the control plane initialized again.

As stated in the title, the propolis-server pulled by get-propolis.sh does not actually work if the host OS is an up to date version of helios. I don't know what version made it stop working. I think this is because it's an old propolis-server, and some interface changed.

I've also been told that the latest propolis-server, while it works on latest helios of course, falcon cannot actually use it. I don't know why.

There is a build of what has been described to me as a "hotfixed" propolis-server, built by @papertigers , present in catacomb at /staff/mike/propolis-server. This version works when placed at /usr/bin/propolis-server instead of the version get-propolis.sh downloads.

In the short term, I think it'd be good to get this "hotfixed" version published somewhere available over https, perhaps in the falcon s3 bucket?

In the limit, I believe @jmpesp knows much better than I do what needs to be done to make falcon work with the latest propolis.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading get-propolis.sh and comparing the downloaded propolis-server with the hotfixed build at /staff/mike/propolis-server, including the expected installation path /usr/bin/propolis-server. Test control-plane initialization on the latest Helios host and Falcon compatibility with the latest propolis-server; done means the compatible artifact and version are documented and available over HTTPS, or the compatibility issue is resolved.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust, shell
Domain
infrastructure, operating-systems
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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