[Starcluster] EC2 AMI creation

[Justin Riley]

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Hi Mark,

I've cc'd the StarCluster mailing list on this email, hope you don't mind.

First off, congrats on receiving AWS funding for your research and I'm
delighted you're choosing to use StarCluster to jump start your work on
EC2 :D

To answer your question concerning how to rebundle, if you download and
unpack StarCluster you will see a folder called utils. Inside of that
folder is a script called create_image.py.  Running:

python create_image.py --help

Should give you enough options to be self-explanatory. After it
completes you will have a new AMI available in ElasticFox (you ARE using
ElasticFox right? ;). To get StarCluster to use your new AMI, simply put
this new AMI id in your ~/.starclustercfg config file for
MASTER_IMAGE_ID/NODE_IMAGE_ID. Let me know if you need any help with
this command, I'd be glad to help.

Concerning creating persistent EBS, it's very easy to have it mounted on
/home on the entire cluster (via nfs) after the EBS volume has been
created. Right now the process for creating a new EBS for StarCluster is
a bit cumbersome but well-documented here:

http://web.mit.edu/stardev/cluster/documentation/ebsinit.html

I'm currently working on a new version of StarCluster that will make it
considerably easier to create both new AMIs as well as new EBS volumes
(which concerns both of your questions above). Stay Tuned!

Concering external LDAP authentication support on an AMI, I've not
looked into this but it certainly could be possible. If you find
something let me know and I'll look into it and consider adding it in as
optional functionality in StarCluster.

BTW, I'm doing a session over MIT's IAP period on using StarCluster if
you or anyone you know would be interested in attending. Details are
below. We should be in the IAP calendar within a few days or so.

Using StarCluster:  A Toolbox for Managing Amazon Elastic Compute Clouds

DATES:  Tuesday, January 19, 2010
        Tuesday, January 26, 2010

TIME:   11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

ROOM:   14-0637 (17 ATHENA Workstations)

Thanks for your interest in StarCluster!

~Justin

Mark J. Pearrow wrote:
> Hi Justin,
> 
> I was at the StarCluster presentation at the Stata Center back in September, and back then started experimenting with starcluster. I also applied for a research grant, which I just received, so I'm planning to start moving ahead with use. I have a question that is perhaps less starcluster-related: how do I modify the existing AMI and save it? And then how would I make star cluster launch that instance going forward?
> 
> I'm planning to create a persistent elastic block store and keep a lot of the neuroimaging software we use there, and hopefully I can mount that volume on all my instances.
> 
> Do you happen to know if it's possible to use external authentication methods on an AMI? i.e. can I use my LDAP server that authenticates my local cluster here?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> mjp
> 

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