(This document is "in-progress", with feedback and input from two devchats with Brain Warner and exarkun as well as other input, discussion and edits from exarkun. It is NOT done). Search for "DECIDE" for open questions. Managed Grid ============ In a grid using an Introducer, a client will use any storage-server the Introducer announces. This means that anyone with the Introducer fURL can connect storage to the grid. Sometimes, this is just what you want! For some use-cases, though, you want to have clients only use certain servers. One case might be a "managed" grid, where some entity runs the grid; clients of this grid don't want their uploads to go to "unmanaged" storage if some other client decides to provide storage. One way to limit which storage servers a client connects to is via the "server list" (:ref:`server_list`) (aka "Introducer-less" mode). Clients are given static lists of storage-servers, and connect only to those. This means manually updating these lists if the storage servers change, however. Another method is for clients to use `[client] peers.preferred=` configuration option (XXX link? appears undocumented), which suffers from a similar disadvantage. Grid Manager ------------ A "grid-manager" consists of some data defining a keypair (along with some other details) and Tahoe sub-commands to manipulate the data and produce certificates to give to storage-servers. Certificates assert the statement: "Grid Manager X suggests you use storage-server Y to upload shares to" (X and Y are public-keys). Such a certificate consists of: - a version (currently 1) - the public-key of a storage-server - an expiry timestamp - a signature of the above A client will always use any storage-server for downloads (expired certificate, or no certificate) because clients check the ciphertext and re-assembled plaintext against the keys in the capability; "grid-manager" certificates only control uploads. Grid Manager Data Storage ------------------------- The data defining the grid-manager is stored in an arbitrary directory, which you indicate with the ``--config`` option (in the future, we may add the ability to store the data directly in a grid, at which time you may be able to pass a directory-capability to this option). If you don't want to store the configuration on disk at all, you may use ``--config -`` (that's a dash) and write a valid JSON configuration to stdin. All commands take the ``--config`` option, and they all behave similarly for "data from stdin" versus "data from disk". tahoe grid-manager create ````````````````````````` Create a new grid-manager. If you specify ``--config -`` then a new grid-manager configuration is written to stdout. Otherwise, a new grid-manager is created in the directory specified by the ``--config`` option. It is an error if the directory already exists. tahoe grid-manager public-identity `````````````````````````````````` Print out a grid-manager's public key. This key is derived from the private-key of the grid-manager, so a valid grid-manager config must be given via ``--config`` This public key is what is put in clients' configuration to actually validate and use grid-manager certificates. tahoe grid-manager add `````````````````````` Takes two args: ``name pubkey``. The ``name`` is an arbitrary local identifier and the pubkey is the encoded key from a ``node.pubkey`` file in the storage-server's node directory (with no whitespace). This adds a new storage-server to a Grid Manager's configuration. (Since it mutates the configuration, if you used ``--config -`` the new configuration will be printed to stdout). tahoe grid-manager list ``````````````````````` Lists all storage-servers that have previously been added using ``tahoe grid-manager add``. tahoe grid-manager sign ``````````````````````` Takes one arg: ``name``, the petname used previously in a ``tahoe grid-manager add`` command. Note that this mutates the state of the grid-manager if it is on disk, by adding this certificate to our collection of issued certificates. If you used ``--config -``, the certificate isn't persisted anywhere except to stdout (so if you wish to keep it somewhere, that is up to you). This command creates a new "version 1" certificate for a storage-server (identified by its public key). The new certificate is printed to stdout. If you stored the config on disk, the new certificate will (also) be in a file named like ``alice.cert.0``. Enrolling a Storage Server: CLI ------------------------------- tahoe admin add-grid-manager-cert ````````````````````````````````` - `--filename`: the file to read the cert from (default: stdin) - `--name`: the name of this certificate (default: "default") Import a "version 1" storage-certificate produced by a grid-manager (probably: a storage server may have zero or more such certificates installed; for now just one is sufficient). You will have to re-start your node after this. Subsequent announcements to the Introducer will include this certificate. .. note:: This command will simply edit the `tahoe.cfg` file and direct you to re-start. In the Future(tm), we should consider (in exarkun's words): "A python program you run as a new process" might not be the best abstraction to layer on top of the configuration persistence system, though. It's a nice abstraction for users (although most users would probably rather have a GUI) but it's not a great abstraction for automation. So at some point it may be better if there is CLI -> public API -> configuration persistence system. And maybe "public API" is even a network API for the storage server so it's equally easy to access from an agent implemented in essentially any language and maybe if the API is exposed by the storage node itself then this also gives you live-configuration-updates, avoiding the need for node restarts (not that this is the only way to accomplish this, but I think it's a good way because it avoids the need for messes like inotify and it supports the notion that the storage node process is in charge of its own configuration persistence system, not just one consumer among many ... which has some nice things going for it ... though how this interacts exactly with further node management automation might bear closer scrutiny). Enrolling a Storage Server: Config ---------------------------------- You may edit the ``[storage]`` section of the ``tahoe.cfg`` file to turn on grid-management with ``grid_management = true``. You then must also provide a ``[grid_management_keys]`` section in the config-file which lists ``name = path/to/certificate`` pairs. These certificate files are issued by the ``tahoe grid-manager sign`` command; these should be **securely transmitted** to the storage server. Relative paths are based from the node directory. Example:: [storage] grid_management = true [grid_management_keys] default = example_grid.cert This will cause us to give this certificate to any Introducers we connect to (and subsequently, the Introducer will give the certificate out to clients). Enrolling a Client: CLI ----------------------- DECIDE: is a command like this best, or should you have to edit the config "by hand"? (below fits into warner's philosophy that "at some point" it might be best to have all config in a database or similar and the only way to view/edit it is via tahoe commands...) tahoe add-grid-manager `````````````````````` - ``--name``: a petname to call this Grid Manager (default: "default") For clients to start using a Grid Manager, they must add a public-key. A client may have any number of grid-managers, so each one has a name. If you don't supply ``--name`` then ``"default"`` is used. This command takes a single argument, which is the hex-encoded public key of the Grid Manager. The client will have to be re-started once this change is made. Enrolling a Client: Config -------------------------- You may instruct a Tahoe client to use only storage servers from given Grid Managers. If there are no such keys, any servers are used. If there are one or more keys, the client will only upload to a storage server that has a valid certificate (from any of the keys). To specify public-keys, add a ``[grid_managers]`` section to the config. This consists of ``name = value`` pairs where ``name`` is an arbitrary name and ``value`` is a public-key of a Grid Manager. Example:: [grid_managers] example_grid = pub-v0-vqimc4s5eflwajttsofisp5st566dbq36xnpp4siz57ufdavpvlq Example Setup of a New Managed Grid ----------------------------------- We'll store our Grid Manager configuration on disk, in ``./gm0``. To initialize this directory:: tahoe grid-manager --config ./gm0 create This example creates an actual grid, but it's all just on one machine with different "node directories". Usually of course each storage server would be on a separate computer. (If you already have a grid, you can :ref:`skip ahead `.) First of all, create an Introducer. Note that we actually have to run it briefly before it creates the "Introducer fURL" we want for the next steps:: tahoe create-introducer --listen=tcp --port=5555 --location=tcp:localhost:5555 ./introducer tahoe -d introducer run (Ctrl-C to stop it after a bit) Next, we attach a couple of storage nodes:: tahoe create-node --introducer $(cat introducer/private/introducer.furl) --nickname storage0 --webport 6001 --webport 6002 --location tcp:localhost:6003 --port 6003 ./storage0 tahoe create-node --introducer $(cat introducer/private/introducer.furl) --nickname storage1 --webport 6101 --webport 6102 --location tcp:localhost:6103 --port 6103 ./storage1 daemonize tahoe -d storage0 run daemonize tahoe -d storage1 run .. _skip_ahead: We can now tell the Grid Manager about our new storage servers:: tahoe grid-manager --config ./gm0 add storage0 $(cat storage0/node.pubkey) tahoe grid-manager --config ./gm0 add storage1 $(cat storage1/node.pubkey) To produce a new certificate for each node, we do this:: tahoe grid-manager --config ./gm0 sign storage0 > ./storage0/gridmanager.cert tahoe grid-manager --config ./gm0 sign storage1 > ./storage1/gridmanager.cert Now, we want our storage servers to actually announce these certificates into the grid. We do this by adding some configuration (in ``tahoe.cfg``):: [storage] grid_management = true [grid_manager_certificates] default = gridmanager.cert Add the above bit to each node's ``tahoe.cfg`` and re-start the storage nodes. Now try adding a new storage server ``storage2``. This client can join the grid just fine, and announce itself to the Introducer as providing storage:: tahoe create-node --introducer $(cat introducer/private/introducer.furl) --nickname storage2 --webport 6301 --webport 6302 --location tcp:localhost:6303 --port 6303 ./storage2 daemonize tahoe -d storage2 run At this point any client will upload to any of these three storage-servers. Make a client "alice" and try! :: tahoe create-client --introducer $(cat introducer/private/introducer.furl) --nickname alice --webport 6301 --shares-total=3 --shares-needed=2 --shares-happy=3 ./alice daemonize tahoe -d alice run tahoe -d alice mkdir # prints out a dir-cap find storage2/storage/shares # confirm storage2 has a share Now we want to make Alice only upload to the storage servers that the grid-manager has given certificates to (``storage0`` and ``storage1``). We need the grid-manager's public key to put in Alice's configuration:: tahoe grid-manager --config ./gm0 public-identity Put the key printed out above into Alice's ``tahoe.cfg`` in section ``client``:: [grid_managers] example_name = pub-v0-vqimc4s5eflwajttsofisp5st566dbq36xnpp4siz57ufdavpvlq DECIDE: - should the grid-manager be identified by a certificate? exarkun points out: --name seems like the hint of the beginning of a use-case for certificates rather than bare public keys?). - (note the "--name" thing came from a former version of this proposal that used CLI commands to add the public-keys -- but the point remains, if there's to be metadata associated with "grid managers" maybe they should be certificates..) Now, re-start the "alice" client. Since we made Alice's parameters require 3 storage servers to be reachable (``--happy=3``), all their uploads should now fail (so ``tahoe mkdir`` will fail) because they won't use storage2 and thus can't "achieve happiness". You can check Alice's "Welcome" page (where the list of connected servers is) at http://localhost:6301/ and should be able to see details about the "work-grid" Grid Manager that you added. When any Grid Managers are enabled, each storage-server line will show whether it has a valid cerifiticate or not (and how much longer it's valid until).