[REVIEW] Install a F35 VM using Cockpit

[Emmanuel Seyman]

Hello, all.

It's taken more time than I had anticipated but I have finally reviewed
the "Install a F35 VM using Cockpit" page[1] of our user documentation.

My first issue is with the sentence "If there is no entry Virtual
Machines the admin missed to install the cockpit-machines module when
installing the virtualization support. Select Applications further down
and then Machines for installation.".

My cockpit installation did not have the "Virtual Machines" menu option
nor did I have the option to install cockpit modules. I could initially
only remove installed modules. Coming back to this days later, I now see
all cockpit modules, with the ability to install those I don't have. Is
this a known issue or have I done this wrong?

The _images/virtualization-vm-install-fedoraserver-cockpit-020.png image
does not match the form I get on F35. I have a "Connection" option which
gives me the choice between "System" and "Session". This is not
reflected in the image.

The documentation later states "After a test of the installation media
the well known installation process begins. You may select Expand at the
right top to increase readability". In my case, I HAD to click on
'Expand' for the VNC console to register my keystrokes.

In the "Optional post-installation tasks" section, the first task is
titled "Get rid of nano as default editor". I feel "Making vim the
default editor" better reflects the contents of this section. I would
also recommend replacing the command by "dnf install --allowerasing
vim-default-editor" which simplifies the task.

Regards,
Emmanuel

[1] https://docs.stg.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-server/virtualization-vm-ins...

[Katerina Koukiou]

Hi Emmanuel,

I have spent a lot of time the past year on the development of
cockpit-machines plugin, so I can help you sort out some issues you mention
here.

On Wed, Feb 2, 2022 at 5:50 PM Emmanuel Seyman  wrote:
> Hello, all.
>
> It's taken more time than I had anticipated but I have finally reviewed
> the "Install a F35 VM using Cockpit" page[1] of our user documentation.
>
> My first issue is with the sentence "If there is no entry Virtual
> Machines the admin missed to install the cockpit-machines module when
> installing the virtualization support. Select Applications further down
> and then Machines for installation.".
> My cockpit installation did not have the "Virtual Machines" menu option
> nor did I have the option to install cockpit modules. I could initially
> only remove installed modules. Coming back to this days later, I now see
> all cockpit modules, with the ability to install those I don't have. Is
> this a known issue or have I done this wrong?

I am suspecting you are facing this issue
https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/issues/16128
> The _images/virtualization-vm-install-fedoraserver-cockpit-020.png image
> does not match the form I get on F35. I have a "Connection" option which
> gives me the choice between "System" and "Session". This is not
> reflected in the image.

There are cases where 'Session' connection is not available, for example
when logged in to cockpit as root.
> The documentation later states "After a test of the installation media
> the well known installation process begins. You may select Expand at the
> right top to increase readability". In my case, I HAD to click on
> 'Expand' for the VNC console to register my keystrokes.

There is an open issue about this,
https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit-machines/issues/29

Hope this helps,
Katerina
> In the "Optional post-installation tasks" section, the first task is
> titled "Get rid of nano as default editor". I feel "Making vim the
> default editor" better reflects the contents of this section. I would
> also recommend replacing the command by "dnf install --allowerasing
> vim-default-editor" which simplifies the task.
>
> Regards,
> Emmanuel
>
> [1]
> https://docs.stg.fedoraproject.org/en-US/fedora-server/virtualization-vm-ins...
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[Emmanuel Seyman]

* Katerina Koukiou [02/02/2022 18:03] :
> Hi Emmanuel,

Hello, Katerina.

Sorry for the lag in response. Health issues have taken up
most of my free time until now.
> I am suspecting you are facing this issue
> https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/issues/16128

It does look that way. I'll admit that this was the only major issue I
found in my review, with all the others being nitpick IMO. How dependant
are we on upstream to fix this issue? Can we refresh app data when a
user logs into cockpit?

Emmanuel

[Peter Boy]

First a big sorry for my incredible delay. Unfortunately I had to deal with some family issues, some work related crisis interventions, and nevertheless keep up the work of the server WG.
> Am 02.02.2022 um 18:03 schrieb Katerina Koukiou :
>
> My cockpit installation did not have the "Virtual Machines" menu option
> nor did I have the option to install cockpit modules. I could initially
> only remove installed modules. Coming back to this days later, I now see
> all cockpit modules, with the ability to install those I don't have. Is
> this a known issue or have I done this wrong?
>
> I am suspecting you are facing this issue https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit/issues/16128

I saw that issue earlier at various times but couldn't reliable reproduce. Now, with my F35 test machines running cockpit-machines 260, I have not encountered this problem, despite multiple attempts.

The issue is not closed. Is it worthwhile to mention in a side note that, as a result of a bug, the list is sometimes not displayed and you should try again?
> The _images/virtualization-vm-install-fedoraserver-cockpit-020.png image
> does not match the form I get on F35. I have a "Connection" option which
> gives me the choice between "System" and "Session". This is not
> reflected in the image.
>
> There are cases where 'Session' connection is not available, for example when logged in to cockpit as root.

Indeed, I was logged in as root when I made the screenshot.

I wanted to find out what the session option exactly does and tried to find a documentation of the cockpit-machines module, without success. Did I overlooked it on the Cockpit project site or is there currently no documentation?

(And I’m in the process to add documentation to install cloud images and looking for documentation how the module deals with cloud-init, with ignition, and with plain VMs. Or is the only way so far to reconstruct it by trial and error?)
> The documentation later states "After a test of the installation media
> the well known installation process begins. You may select Expand at the
> right top to increase readability". In my case, I HAD to click on
> 'Expand' for the VNC console to register my keystrokes.
>
> There is an open issue about this, https://github.com/cockpit-project/cockpit-machines/issues/29

I’m unsure how to handle that in the documentation here. What would be a better and more adequate wording?
> Hope this helps,
> Katerina

thanks, helped me a lot. Documentation is sometimes harder (at least for me) as writing my scientific research reports. :-)
> In the "Optional post-installation tasks" section, the first task is
> titled "Get rid of nano as default editor". I feel "Making vim the
> default editor" better reflects the contents of this section. I would
> also recommend replacing the command by "dnf install --allowerasing
> vim-default-editor" which simplifies the task.
>
> Regards,
> Emmanuel

Yes, very much agreed!

I already pushed the modification to stg. Should be visible in about an hour at the latest.

Best
Peter