Apply updates to multiple systems simultaneously using Byobu and Shift-F9

A StackExchange question, back in February of this year inspired a new feature in Byobu, that I had been thinking about for quite some time:

Wouldn't it be nice to have a hot key in Byobu that would send a command to multiple splits (or windows?

This feature was added and is available in Byobu 5.73 and newer (in Ubuntu 14.04 and newer, and available in the Byobu PPA for older Ubuntu releases).

I actually use this feature all the time, to update packages across multiple computers.  Of course, Landscape is a fantastic way to do this as well.  But if you don't have access to Landscape, you can always do this very simply with Byobu!

Create some splits, using Ctrl-F2 and Shift-F2, and in each split, ssh into a target Ubuntu (or Debian) machine.

Now, use Shift-F9 to open up the purple prompt at the bottom of your screen.  Here, you enter the command you want to run on each split.  First, you might want to run:

sudo true

This will prompt you for your password, if you don't already have root or sudo access.  You might need to use Shift-Up, Shift-Down, Shift-Left, Shift-Right to move around your splits, and enter passwords.

Now, update your package lists:

sudo apt-get update

And now, apply your updates:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Here's a video to demonstrate!


In a related note, another user-requested feature has been added, to simultaneously synchronize this behavior among all splits.  You'll need the latest version of Byobu, 5.87, which will be in Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic).  Here, you'll press Alt-F9 and just start typing!  Another demonstration video here...




Cheers,
Dustin

Dream a little dream (in a dream within another dream) with me!

What would you say if I told you, that you could continuously upload your own Software-as-a-Service  (SaaS) web apps into an open source Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) framework, running on top of an open source Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud, deployed on an open source Metal-as-a-Service provisioning system, autonomically managed by an open source Orchestration-Service… right now, today?

“An idea is resilient. Highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold of the brain it's almost impossible to eradicate.”

“Now, before you bother telling me it's impossible…”

“No, it's perfectly possible. It's just bloody difficult.” 

Perhaps something like this...

“How could I ever acquire enough detail to make them think this is reality?”

“Don’t you want to take a leap of faith???”

Sure, let's take a look!

Okay, this looks kinda neat, what is it?

This is an open source Java Spring web application, called Spring-Music, deployed as an app, running inside of Linux containers in CloudFoundry. 

Cloud Foundry?

CloudFoundry is an open source Platform-as-a-Service (PAAS) cloud, deployed into Linux virtual machine instances in OpenStack, by Juju.

OpenStack?

Juju?

OpenStack is an open source Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IAAS) cloud, deployed by Juju and Landscape on top of MAAS.

Juju is an open source Orchestration System that deploys and scales complex services across many public clouds, private clouds, and bare metal servers.

Landscape?

MAAS?

Landscape is a systems management tool that automates software installation, updates, and maintenance in both physical and virtual machines. Oh, and it too is deployed by Juju.

MAAS is an open source bare metal provisioning system, providing a cloud-like API to physical servers. Juju can deploy services to MAAS, as well as public and private clouds.

"Ready for the kick?"

If you recall these concepts of nesting cloud technologies...

These are real technologies, which exist today!

These are Software-as-a-Service  (SaaS) web apps served by an open source Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) framework, running on top of an open source Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud, deployed on an open source Metal-as-a-Service provisioning system, managed by an open source Orchestration-Service.

Spring Music, served by CloudFoundry, running on top of OpenStack, deployed on MAAS, managed by Juju and Landscape!

“The smallest seed of an idea can grow…”

Oh, and I won't leave you hanging...you're not dreaming!

:-Dustin

The Orange Box: Cloud for the Free Man

It was September of 2009.  I answered a couple of gimme trivia questions and dropped my business card into a hat at a Linux conference in Portland, Oregon.  A few hours later, I received an email...I had just "won" a developer edition HTC Dream -- the Android G1.  I was quite anxious to have a hardware platform where I could experiment with Android.  I had, of course, already downloaded the SDK, compiled Android from scratch, and fiddled with it in an emulator.  But that experience fell far short of Android running on real hardware.  Until the G1.  The G1 was the first device to truly showcase the power and potential of the Android operating system.

And with that context, we are delighted to introduce the Orange Box!

The Orange Box

Conceived by Canonical and custom built by TranquilPC, the Orange Box is a 10-node cluster computer, that fits in a suitcase.

Ubuntu, MAAS, Juju, Landscape, OpenStack, Hadoop, CloudFoundry, and more!

The Orange Box provides a spectacular development platform, showcasing in mere minutes the power of hardware provisioning and service orchestration with Ubuntu, MAAS, Juju, and Landscape.  OpenStack, Hadoop, CloudFoundry, and hundreds of other workloads deploy in minutes, to real hardware -- not just instances in AWS!  It also makes one hell of a Steam server -- there's a charm for that ;-)

OpenStack deployed by Juju, takes merely 6 minutes on an Orange Box

Most developers here certainly recognize the term "SDK", or "Software Development Kit"...  You can think of the Orange Box as a "HDK", or "Hardware Development Kit".  Pair an Orange Box with MAAS and Juju, and you have yourself a compact cloud.  Or a portable big data number cruncher.  Or a lightweight cluster computer.

The underside of an Orange Box, with its cover off

Want to get your hands on one?

Drop us a line, and we'd be delighted to hand-deliver an Orange Box to your office, and conduct 2 full days of technical training, covering MAAS, Juju, Landscape, and OpenStack.  The box is yours for 2 weeks, as you experiment with the industry leading Ubuntu ecosystem of cloud technologies at your own pace and with your own workloads.  We'll show back up, a couple of weeks later, to review what you learned and discuss scaling these tools up, into your own data center, on your own enterprise hardware.  (And if you want your very own Orange Box to keep, you can order one from our friends at TranquilPC.)

Manufacturers of the Orange Box

Gear head like me?  Interested in the technical specs?


Remember those posts late last year about Intel NUCs?  Someone took notice, and we set out to build this ;-)

Each Orange Box chassis contains:

• 10x Intel NUCs
• Specifically, the Ivy Bridge D53427RKE model, chosen for its support of Intel AMT
• All 10x Intel NUCs contain
• i5-3427U CPU
• Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU
• 16GB of DDR3 RAM
• 120GB SSD root disk
• Intel Gigabit ethernet
• D-Link DGS-1100-16 managed gigabit switch with 802.1q VLAN support
• All 10 nodes are internally connected to this gigabit switch
• 100-240V AC/DC power supply
• Adapter supplied for US, UK, and EU plug types
• 19V DC power supplied to each NUC
• 5V DC power supplied to internal network switch

Intel NUC D53427RKE board

That's basically an Amazon EC2 m3.xlarge ;-)

The first node, node0, additionally contains:

• An Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 WiFi adapter
• A 2TB Western Digital HDD, preloaded with a full Ubuntu archive mirror
• USB and HDMI ports are wired and accessible from the rear of the box

Most planes fly in clouds...this cloud flies in planes!

In aggregate, this micro cluster effectively fields 40 cores, 160GB of RAM, 1.2TB of solid state storage, and is connected over an internal gigabit network fabric.  A single fan quietly cools the power supply, while all of the nodes are passively cooled by aluminum heat sinks spanning each side of the chassis. All in a chassis the size of a tower PC!

It fits in a suit case, and can travel anywhere you go.

Pelican iM2875 Storm Case

How are we using them at Canonical?

If you're here at the OpenStack Summit in Atlanta, GA, you'll see at least a dozen Orange Boxes, in our booth, on stage during Mark Shuttleworth's keynote, and in our breakout conference rooms.

Canonical sales engineer, Ameet Paranjape,
demonstrating OpenStack on the Orange Box in the Ubuntu booth
at the OpenStack Summit in Atlanta, GA

We are also launching an update to our OpenStack Jumpstart program, where we'll deliver and Orange Box and 2 full days of training to your team, and leave you the box while you experiment with OpenStack, MAAS, Juju, Hadoop, and more for 2 weeks.  Without disrupting your core network or production data center workloads,  prototype your OpenStack experience within a private sandbox environment. You can experiment with various storage alternatives, practice scaling services, destroy and rebuild the environment repeatedly. Safe. Risk free.


This is Cloud, for the Free Man.

:-Dustin

Landscape for the Ubuntu Evangelist-turned-Remote-Sysadmin

Like many of you here at Planet Ubuntu, I'm on a continuous quest to convert friends and family to Ubuntu. I'm proud to say that Ubuntu users now includes my parents, my wife, her parents, both of my sisters, her sister, their husbands, and several friends.

On the overwhelming whole, they're all quite satisfied with Ubuntu. They like that it's virus-free, never crashes, does not pathologically slow down over time, and that it generally just works.

That said, whenever I visit any of the above parties, I generally spend a good 30 minutes to an hour giving their Ubuntu system a good tune-up. Usually that just entails installing all updates, etc. But sometimes there's a bit more work to be done. This is time I would rather spend with my family, and them with me.

I previously have not had a use case for Canonical's Landscape service. I don't use it for my systems at home, as I have a static IP and an SSH connection to my suite of servers, desktops, and virtual machines, with which I can generally do all that I need.

But that's not the case for my relatives. I recently realized how much Landscape would help me remotely manage my extended family's Ubuntu systems.

I am, for all practical purposes, their system administrator, and Landscape gives me a really convenient way of managing each of their systems remotely, wherever they are, from wherever I am -- which is typically not one in the same.

So just an idea from left field, here... Landscape is generally targeted at enterprise users trying to manage data centers full of Ubuntu Servers. But I'm finding it really convenient to manage a few dozen machines scattered about the country while I travel around the globe. Nice job, Landscape team.

Note that unlike Ubuntu, Landscape is an optional, value-add, paid-for service on top of Ubuntu.

:-Dustin