| 5 | | This page capture examples for creating InstaGENI Custom images using both the GENI Portal and Omni tools. Custom images are usually created when you have defined an experiment node that has all the features and applications that you intend to use again and again for additional experiments. |
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| | 6 | Custom images are usually created when you have defined an experiment node that has all the features and applications that you intend to use again and again for additional experiments. This page capture examples for creating InstaGENI custom images using both the GENI Portal and Omni tools. For guidelines on managing and maintaining snapshots, see the [http://groups.geni.net/geni/wiki/HowTo/ManageCustomImages How to manage Custom Images] page. |
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| | 8 | In InstaGENI it is possible to create a custom images (aka snapshot) of a setup that you have reserved. When a snapshot is taken, a copy of that image is available to use in any InstaGENI rack. However, keep in mind that the /users directories are erased when a snapshot is taken. Also if any software is installed that adds a new user or group in the system (/etc/passwd, /etc/shadow, /etc/group), then these user or group changes are not saved. |
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| | 10 | For example, if you installed the SNMP Daemon package, a new user called 'snmpd' is added and the SNMP server is configured to use this userid to work correctly, but when a custom image is created and then used on a new node, the 'snmpd' user id and group is missing, which will cause the SNMP server to fail to run. As a possible workaround you can save off these newly added ids and groups and add a startup script in rc.local which would add them back in when the image is used later. If you need to save files in your image, you can create a directory on the / directory and save it inside that folder. |
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| | 12 | In addition to creating a / directory to save any files that may not be otherwise preserved, you can also choose to run an install script that puts this information back in place when the custom image is used again. See the [http://groups.geni.net/geni/wiki/HowTo/WriteInstallScript How to create an install script] page for more details. |
| | 13 | Following is an outline of features and expected behavior for custom images. |
