[ubuntu-cloud] RFC: EC2 / UEC Image updates

[Scott Moser]

For some time, the ubuntu server team has been producing ubuntu-server images
to run on Amazon's ec2.  Additionally, these images can be run un-modified as
an instance in a Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

I've been working on putting together a release policy for ec2 and uec images
that will cover both stable and development releases.

I've put that work at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UEC/Images/RefreshPolicy .
The following is a copy and paste with quick re-format for email to make
reading / responding easier.

Please take a read if you have any suggestions for improvements or
clarification, let me know.

= Overview =
This page covers the policy for releasing updated Ubuntu images to EC2.  It is
a work in progress and nothing is set in stone.

Currently, EC2 and UEC Images are being built nightly [1]
and corresponding with release milestones [2] for karmic.  Updates to stable
releases have been infrequent and were not covered by any policy or process.

= Background Information =
The following are things to consider:
 * As updates are made available to a development or stable release,
   the time it takes for an instance of that image to update itself
   increases.  This is different than other releases.  Each new instance
   is essentially a fresh media based install, and needs appropriate
   updates.
 * There is no way to change the default kernel (aki) and ramdisk
   (ari) associated with a AMI.  Instead, you have to publish a new AMI
   each time a new kernel or ramdisk is available.
 * When starting an instance, the user ''can'' choose a different
   kernel and ramdisk than the default associated with the ami.
 * The kernel modules are stored on the AMI and must exactly match the
   kernel release name (e.g., "2.6.28-15-server").  If the updated AKI
   has an upgraded release, then the kernel modules on the AMI won't be
   useful with the new kernel.
 * There may occasionally be enhancements in Amazon's EC2 environment
   which would require changes to the ec2-init startup code so users can
   take advantage of them.

= Kernel Updates =
== Stable Releases ==
EC2 kernels and ramdisks will be released when kernel updates are done.
For example, each time a new version of linux-image is released, a new aki
and ami will be released.

With the release of a new AKI and ARI, a new AMI will be released.  The
released AMI will include in it the new AKI and ARI as default
kernel/ramdisk.  It will also include any updates released since the
previous AMI release.  This will help alleviate possible release churn
that might occur if need to refresh a AMI came soon after kernel release.

== Development Releases ==
Kernels and ramdisks for development releases will be released when the
corresponding AMIs are released.

For development releases there will not be separate AMI and AKI/ARI
releases.  An AMI will be released with the latest kernel at that time.

= AMI Updates =
== Stable Releases ==
New AMIs will be published for stable releases based on
 a. The time it takes for an 'apt-get dist-upgrade' to occur on latest AMI
    for a given release.  Experimentation will need to be done to
    determine how best to monitor this.  The initial suggestion is to use
    the combined size of updates needed and refresh when that goes over a
    certain value.  Also being considered is ac tually monitoring the time
    on an ec2 instance.

 b. Security updates or major flaws.  If there are highly important
    security updates or major functionality fixes available that cannot be
    obtained via 'apt-get update', then new AMIs may be released to
    incorporate those changes outside of 'a' above.  Such an example would
    be changes to software that runs on first boot (such as ec2-init)

At the time of publish, AMIs will be associated with the latest AKI/ARI
that is available.

== Development Releases ==
Development releases will regularly update the AMIs.  Each AMI published
will reference the latest AKI/ARI available at the time.

= Currency =
We will need to provide an easy way for a user of Ubuntu EC2 images to
find out what the most current version of their AMI is.  For example, if
the user is running 'ami-123456' that is hardy-i386, they will be
interested to know if there are updates for that (aki,ari, or ami).

The directory tree at [3] is currently being discussed.

Some discussion is happening on bug 423856 [4] regarding ami images
checking for updates themselves.

= Support Life Time =
The release policy above will apply to EC2 images for the same time frame
that is applied to other Ubuntu Server releases.  That is 5 years for LTS
releases, and 18 months for other releases.

This will apply to Karmic (9.10) and following releases.  Additionally, it
will apply to Hardy (8.04).

--
[1] http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/alpha-4/
[2] http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/
[3] http://people.canonical.com/~soren/ec2-version-query/
[4] https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/423856