[ec2-beta] Some suggestions

[Eric Hammond]

Joel Natividad wrote:
 >  * Include ec2-ami-tools in image by default.

Frequently requested, not yet possible, but folks are working on the 
legal issues.

In the meantime, it is possible to apt-get install the ec2-ami-tools 
package from Intrepid multiverse which makes it pretty easy.

 >  * On firstboot, perhaps give an option to create an Elastic Block
 > Store Volume.

Does this mean that you like the current menu on first ssh that prompts 
you to install common server software?  Most of the feedback so far has 
indicated this gets in the way of setting up and running EC2 instances.

The prompt seems useful the first couple times, but when starting dozens 
of instances over months do you think you'd still want this required 
step if the same functionality were also available by typing a command 
when you needed it?

(sorry, I had difficulty asking in an unbiased manner, but I do think 
folks would be interested in hearing opposing views :) )

 > * And when putting persistent data on EBS, also modify apparmor
 > accordingly (chased my tail for a while when I tried to move mysql
 > data)

If you followed my tutorial at http://ec2ebs-mysql.notlong.com then yes, 
it does need to be upgraded to work with the official Ubuntu Intrepid 
beta AMIs.  I ran into the same AppArmor problems and had to track them 
down.

The next revision of this document is going to leave the MySQL 
configuration alone with the data seeming to reside in /var/lib/mysql 
and /var/log/mysql so that AppArmor and rotatelogs continue to work 
without modification.

 > * If EBS option is selected, create scripts to automount EBS volume on
 > boot

Automounting EBS volumes is something folks are often asking for on the 
EC2 forum.  However, if I understand what you're describing, it would 
require an additional layer of information storage above what EC2 
currently provides.

RightScale adds this concept where a specific "server" maps to an image, 
plus packages, plus startup scripts, plus EBS volumes, etc. but they 
have to keep track of these mappings in their own systems.

--
Eric Hammond
ehammond at thinksome.com