Ignition file troubleshooting?

[Matt Hickok]

Hello, 

I am having a lot of troubles here. I am using Packer to build a coreos docker appliance (for lack of a better word) and the build runs perfect on VMware but doesn't 'work' on Hyper-V. By doesn't work, I mean on Hyper-V it seems like the ignition file isn't getting read. I am invoking it the same way in each case (pulling it from an http server), and running the exact same command "coreos-install -d /dev/sda -C stable -i ignition.json", and it does not error out. It accepts the command and goes through the install. 

Once the install is done, none of the changes that should have happened actually did happen. Obviously this could be an issue with Hyper-V, Packer, or anything else. But I want to see a log of what's happening as it's trying to apply the ignition file. Is there any way to see the process and to see why it's failing (I'm assuming it is at least). 

The ignition file is incredibly simple and passes the config validator too. I'm pretty stumped. 

Thanks! 

[David Michael]

On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 5:07 PM, Matt Hickok <matthew...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am having a lot of troubles here. I am using Packer to build a coreos
> docker appliance (for lack of a better word) and the build runs perfect on
> VMware but doesn't 'work' on Hyper-V. By doesn't work, I mean on Hyper-V it
> seems like the ignition file isn't getting read. I am invoking it the same
> way in each case (pulling it from an http server), and running the exact
> same command "coreos-install -d /dev/sda -C stable -i ignition.json", and it
> does not error out. It accepts the command and goes through the install.
>
> Once the install is done, none of the changes that should have happened
> actually did happen. Obviously this could be an issue with Hyper-V, Packer,
> or anything else. But I want to see a log of what's happening as it's trying
> to apply the ignition file. Is there any way to see the process and to see
> why it's failing (I'm assuming it is at least).

Ignition logs to the journal, so "journalctl -u ignition-disks -u
ignition-files" should show you its status. If it doesn't show
anything, then Ignition did not run, likely because Ignition only runs
on the first boot and your build process might make it look like the
system was booted.

See here: https://coreos.com/ignition/docs/latest/boot-process.html

Thanks.

David

[Matt Hickok]

No entries for that either. I'm also talking with someone here: https://github.com/coreos/bugs/issues/2268

They instructed me to check for /usr/share/oem/coreos-install.json and this is missing as well. Any idea why this would be getting lost on reboot?

[David Michael]

On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 9:12 PM, Matt Hickok <matthew...@gmail.com> wrote:
> No entries for that either. I'm also talking with someone here:
> https://github.com/coreos/bugs/issues/2268
>
> They instructed me to check for /usr/share/oem/coreos-install.json and this
> is missing as well. Any idea why this would be getting lost on reboot?

No, I don't believe there is anything that modifies the OEM partition
after installation.

You said you're installing onto /dev/sda . Is that the disk you
booted from? Attempting to overwrite the disk while you're using it
will result in all sorts of undefined behavior and/or corruption. Try
booting from a different disk, or use an in-memory option like PXE or
the ISO to see if that makes a difference.

Thanks.

David

[Matt Hickok]

I'm almost too embarrassed to give you an update :(

There were 2 issues, both of which were 100% my fault. First, while I was installing to disk, Hyper-V would automatically boot back to the USB. Once I figured that out I tried booting to re-ran the install using the ignition file, and forced booting ti the sda device. 

Then I noticed a ton of errors with the ignition file. It turns out I was accidentally trying to format sda (where coreos was already installed to) in the ignition file when it should have been trying to format the sdb secondary disk instead. 

I changed the boot device order, changed the ignition file to format sdb, and sure enough it worked. Sorry for the fuss and thanks for the help!

[Andre Moraes (ICARO TECH)]

Hey, Do you have the ignition file?