[StarCluster] Customizing AMI but to distribute share

[greg]

Thanks!  So this would be for the general public.

I think I'm getting the hang of it.  Here are a couple follow up
questions if you don't mind:


So basically I could have users follow the quick start guide but
instruct them to specify my AMI id with the master_image_id setting?

Does star cluster create an EBS volume automatically?  Otherwise where
do files go when users run the star cluster put command?

-Greg

On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 11:02 AM, MacMullan, Hugh
<hughmac at wharton.upenn.edu> wrote:
> Hi Greg:
>
> I suppose it depends who these "users" are.
>
> For my internally supported users, I would most likely give them a pre-created config file (~/.starcluster/config) with your AMI as the NODE_IMAGE_ID, and placeholders for the AWS keys and other user-specific details, including an EBS volume or two, and then some simple instructions on creating an AWS account, as well as the EBS volume (see below), adding that and other details to the config, and how to launch (starcluster start clustername).
>
> For the general public, I would probably just give them the AMI number, and a link to the StarCluster manual: http://star.mit.edu/cluster/docs/latest/manual/
>
> EBS volumes are easily created with starcluster. There are instructions at http://star.mit.edu/cluster/docs/latest/manual/volumes.html, including the config file code to add to the config file to tell starcluster where to mount the volume.
>
> If you are planning on supporting this infrastructure, you should know all of this stuff fairly well yourself, so go through the process pretending you are one of your "users", and write up a document, passing on your knowledge to them when you 'go live'.
>
> Have fun!
> -Hugh
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: greg [mailto:margeemail at gmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, September 22, 2014 10:47 AM
> To: MacMullan, Hugh
> Cc: starcluster at mit.edu
> Subject: Re: [StarCluster] Customizing AMI but to distribute share
>
> Hi guys,
>
> Just wanted to follow up on my last question.
>
> How would I instruct end users to launch star cluster and use my AMI?
>
> How do I instruct them to set up an EBS volume?  And where does that
> show up in the directory structure?
>
> Thanks again,
>
> Greg
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 1:21 PM, greg <margeemail at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Thanks!
>>
>> So my "users" would basically be doing the quick start tutorial
>> instructions?  Is there a step where they specify to use my AMI?
>>
>> Do they need to do anything special for setting up an EBS volume?
>>
>> -Greg
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 11:49 AM, MacMullan, Hugh
>> <hughmac at wharton.upenn.edu> wrote:
>>> Hi Greg:
>>>
>>> Do use the latest docs here:
>>>
>>> http://star.mit.edu/cluster/docs/latest/manual/create_new_ami.html
>>>
>>> Not sure what's changed, but 0.93.3 is pretty old at this point.
>>>
>>> Create a new AMI per those instructions, then in the AWS EC2 Console go to IMAGES > AMIs, right-click your new AMI, and choose "Modify Image Permissions". Either make the image 'public', so that anyone can read (and use) it, or add specific AWS Account Numbers to share with specific individuals. They won't be able to modify the AMI, only 'use' it.
>>>
>>> That's about it. Then the users can have their own EBS volume that gets mounted with their data, or use S3, etc.
>>>
>>> Good luck with the project.
>>>
>>> -Hugh
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: starcluster-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:starcluster-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of greg
>>> Sent: Monday, September 08, 2014 11:11 AM
>>> To: starcluster at mit.edu
>>> Subject: [StarCluster] Customizing AMI but to distribute share
>>>
>>> Hi there,
>>>
>>> So I'd like to install some custom software on StarCluster and then
>>> allow others to run their own instances of StarCluster using my
>>> software.
>>>
>>> This page seems like a really good start:
>>>
>>> http://star.mit.edu/cluster/docs/0.93.3/manual/create_new_ami.html
>>>
>>> But I'm not sure how I would share the EBS AMI I create so others
>>> could launch StarCluster with their own AWS accounts, and instantly
>>> run my installed software.  (Also I guess ideally it would be good if
>>> they couldn't modify the original AMI, but could persist their data
>>> somewhere else.)
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Greg
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