Saturday, 3 January 2010 - coming soon, updated Qemu image with many new tools
Now that recent projects like writable /proc/pid/ns and rootless post kernel load startup have been announced on 9fans, its time to make a new version of the Qemu preinstalled image with all the new stuff. It will include the latest updates of the previous grid software as well as hubfs, grio, and the new startup process - all available optionally, along with the traditional default kernels and configs. However, I am going to try to make the customized environment as compelling as possible, because I'd like to make a good case for the idea that using multiple system nodes, virtualized or not, has practical benefits. Some goals:
multi-machine aware startup to bind in fileserver and cpu resources early if available
easier to make use of 9gridchan.org hosted resources - and 9gridchan registry needs more real services
easy to set up highly unconventional namespace structures coexisting on a single machine (rootless boot helps)
simple, scripted data replication and machine backup operations
easy bootstrapping from grid of VMs to physical machines or mixed grid
Release goal is by the end of January, with a rough spin available for interested testers a week before or so.