198 lines
6.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
198 lines
6.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
System Administration
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#####################
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Services on a running system
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****************************
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* add an s6-rc cheatsheet here
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Flashing and updating
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*********************
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Flashing from Liminix
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=====================
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The flash procedure from an existing Liminix-system has two steps.
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First we reboot the device (using "kexec") into an "ephemeral"
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RAM-based version of the new configuration, then when we're happy it
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works we can flash the image - and if it doesn't work we can reboot
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the device again and it will boot from the old image.
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Building the RAM-based image
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----------------------------
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To create the ephemeral image, build ``outputs.kexecboot`` instead of
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``outputs.default``. This generates a directory containing the root
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filesystem image and kernel, along with an executable called `kexec`
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and a `boot.sh` script that runs it with appropriate arguments.
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For example
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.. code-block:: console
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nix-build -I liminix-config=./examples/arhcive.nix \
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--arg device "import ./devices/gl-ar750"
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-A outputs.kexecboot && \
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(tar chf - result | ssh root@the-device tar -C /run -xvf -)
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and then login to the device and run
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.. code-block:: console
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cd /run/result
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sh ./boot.sh .
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This will load the new kernel and map the root filesystem into a RAM
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disk, then start executing the new kernel. *This is effectively a
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reboot - be sure to close all open files and finish anything else
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you were doing first.*
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If the new system crashes or is rebooted, then the device will revert
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to the old configuration it finds in flash.
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Building the second (permanent) image
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-------------------------------------
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While running in the kexecboot system, you can build the permanent
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image and copy it to the device with :command:`ssh`
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.. code-block:: console
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build-machine$ nix-build -I liminix-config=./examples/arhcive.nix \
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--arg device "import ./devices/gl-ar750"
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-A outputs.default && \
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(tar chf - result | ssh root@the-device tar -C /run -xvf -)
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build-machine$ tar chf - result/firmware.bin | \
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ssh root@the-device tar -C /run -xvf -
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Next you need to connect to the device and locate the "firmware"
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partition, which you can do with a combination of :command:`dmesg`
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output and the contents of :file:`/proc/mtd`
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.. code-block:: console
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<5>[ 0.469841] Creating 4 MTD partitions on "spi0.0":
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<5>[ 0.474837] 0x000000000000-0x000000040000 : "u-boot"
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<5>[ 0.480796] 0x000000040000-0x000000050000 : "u-boot-env"
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<5>[ 0.487056] 0x000000050000-0x000000060000 : "art"
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<5>[ 0.492753] 0x000000060000-0x000001000000 : "firmware"
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# cat /proc/mtd
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dev: size erasesize name
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mtd0: 00040000 00001000 "u-boot"
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mtd1: 00010000 00001000 "u-boot-env"
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mtd2: 00010000 00001000 "art"
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mtd3: 00fa0000 00001000 "firmware"
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mtd4: 002a0000 00001000 "kernel"
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mtd5: 00d00000 00001000 "rootfs"
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Now run (in this example)
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.. code-block:: console
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flashcp -v firmware.bin /dev/mtd3
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"I know my new image is good, can I skip the intermediate step?"
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----------------------------------------------------------------
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In addition to giving you a chance to see if the new image works, this
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two-step process ensures that you're not copying the new image over
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the top of the active root filesystem. Sometimes it works, but you
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will at least need physical access to the device to power-cycle it
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because it will be effectively frozen afterwards.
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Flashing from the boot monitor
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==============================
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If you are prepared to open the device and have a TTL serial adaptor
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of some kind to connect it to, you can probably use U-Boot and a TFTP
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server to download and flash the image. This is quite
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hardware-specific, and sometimes involves soldering: please refer
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to :ref:`serial`.
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Flashing from OpenWrt
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=====================
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.. CAUTION:: Untested! A previous version of these instructions
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(without the -e flag) led to bricking the device
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when flashing a jffs2 image. If you are reading
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this message, nobody has yet reported on whether the
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new instructions are any better.
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If your device is running OpenWrt then it probably has the
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:command:`mtd` command installed. After transferring the image onto the
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device using e.g. :command:`ssh`, you can run it as follows:
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.. code-block:: console
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mtd -e -r write /tmp/firmware.bin firmware
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The options to this command are for "erase before writing" and "reboot
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after writing".
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For more information, please see the `OpenWrt manual <https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/installation/sysupgrade.cli>`_ which may also contain (hardware-dependent) instructions on how to flash an image using the vendor firmware - perhaps even from a web interface.
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Updating an installed system (JFFS2)
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************************************
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Adding packages
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===============
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If your device is running a JFFS2 root filesystem, you can build
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extra packages for it on your build system and copy them to the
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device: any package in Nixpkgs or in the Liminix overlay is available
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with the ``pkgs`` prefix:
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.. code-block:: console
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nix-build -I liminix-config=./my-configuration.nix \
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--arg device "import ./devices/mydevice" -A pkgs.tcpdump
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nix-shell -p min-copy-closure root@the-device result/
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Note that this only copies the package to the device: it doesn't update
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any profile to add it to ``$PATH``
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Rebuilding the system
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=====================
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:command:`liminix-rebuild` is the Liminix analogue of :command:`nixos-rebuild`, although its operation is a bit different because it expects to run on a build machine and then copy to the host device. Run it with the same ``liminix-config`` and ``device`` parameters as you would run :command:`nix-build`, and it will build any new/changed packages and then copy them to the device using SSH. For example:
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.. code-block:: console
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liminix-rebuild root@the-device -I liminix-config=./examples/rotuer.nix --arg device "import ./devices/gl-ar750"
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This will
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* build anything that needs building
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* copy new or changed packages to the device
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* reboot the device
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It doesn't delete old packages automatically: to do that run
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:command:`min-collect-garbage`, which will delete any packages not in
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the current system closure. Note that Liminix does not have the NixOS
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concept of environments or generations, and there is no way back from
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this except for building the previous configuration again.
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Caveats
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-------
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* it needs there to be enough free space on the device for all the new
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packages in addition to all the packages already on it - which may be
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a problem if a lot of things have changed (e.g. a new version of
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nixpkgs).
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* it cannot upgrade the kernel, only userland
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