ironic/tools/vnc-container

VNC Container

Overview

This allows a container image to be built which supports Ironic's graphical console functionality.

For each node with an enabled graphical console, the service ironic-novncproxy (or nova-novncproxy) will connect to a VNC server exposed by a container running this image.

Building and using

To build the container image for local use, install buildah and run the following as the user which runs ironic-conductor:

buildah bud -f ./Containerfile -t localhost/ironic-vnc-container

The systemd container provider (or an external provider) can then be configured to use this image in ironic.conf:

[vnc]
container_provider=systemd
console_image=localhost/ironic-vnc-container

Implementation

When the container is started the following occurs:

1. Xvfb is run, which starts a virtual X11 session
2. x11vnc is run, which exposes a VNC server port

When a VNC connection is established a Selenium python script is started which:

1. Starts a Chromium browser
2. For the fake app displays drivers/fake/index.html
3. For the redfish app detects the vendor by looking at the Oem value in a /redfish/v1 response
4. Runs vendor specific code to display an HTML5 based console

When the VNC connection is terminated, the Selenium script and Chromium is also terminated.

Vendor specific implementations are as follows.

Dell iDRAC

One-time console credentials are created with a call to /Managers/<manager>/Oem/Dell/DelliDRACCardService/Actions/DelliDRACCardService.GetKVMSession and the browser loads a console URL using those credentials.

HPE iLO

The /irc.html URL is loaded. For iLO 6 the inline login form is populated with credentials and submitted, showing the console. For iLO 5 the main login page is loaded, and when the login is submitted irc.html is loaded again.

Supermicro (Experimental)

A simulated user logs in, waits for the console preview image to load, then clicks on it.