Adding your first devices¶

Create a Device Type¶

Prior to adding any devices, admins should add suitable device types to the database. The device type name should match a jinja2 template file in:

/etc/lava-server/dispatcher-config/device-types/

If an existing template does not exist, a new template will need to be created.

You can then either use the web admin interface or the lava-server command line to add device types.

Using the admin interface

In order to use the web admin interface, log in to the LAVA instance and click on your username to see the Profile menu.

The django administrative interface is accessed from the Administration link in the profile menu.

1. Scroll down to the group labeled LAVA_SCHEDULER_APP.
2. Click on Device types

Just before you add the device type, take a look at the available elements of a device type:

• Name
• Has health check
• Display
• Owners only
• Health check frequency
• Architecture name
• Processor name
• CPU model name
• List of cores
• Bit count

The only value needed for the QEMU device type is the Name, just check that Display is the default: enabled. Now Save.

Using the command line

On the command line, you can add device types (for instance QEMU and panda) using:

lava-server manage device-types add qemu
lava-server manage device-types add panda

It’s also possible to add all known device types at the same time with:

lava-server manage device-types add '*'

Descriptive fields like Architecture name, Processor name, CPU model name, List of cores and Bit count cannot be set on the command line.

Using the command line interface it’s also possible to list all known device types:

lava-server manage device-types list --all

Create a device in the database¶

Using the admin interface

• Navigate back to LAVA_SCHEDULER_APP and select Devices and Add Device.
• Select the QEMU device type from the list.
• Give your device a name
• Select the worker from the list.
• Set the Device owner (typically one of the superusers).
• Your first device should be public.
• Ensure that the device is enabled as a Pipeline device.

Using the command line

Using the command line interface it’s also possible to list all known device types:

lava-server manage device-types list -a

On the command line, you can add device types (for instance a QEMU type device with a hostname qemu01) using:

lava-server manage devices add --device-type qemu --worker <worker> qemu01

If a health check is already defined, the device will start running a health check immediately. Alternatively, specify the offline option to set the initial state:

lava-server manage devices add --offline --device-type qemu --worker <worker> qemu01

It is also possible to copy an existing device as a new device with a new hostname.

# copy existing qemu01 to a new qem02
lava-server manage devices copy qemu01 qemu02 --worker <worker> --offline

See lava-server manage help devices for more options.

Adding a dictionary to the first QEMU device¶

For the first device, a simple device dictionary can be used to provide the device-specific details on top of the template:

{% extends 'qemu.jinja2' %}
{% set mac_addr = '52:54:00:12:34:59' %}
{% set memory = '1024' %}

• The device dictionary must extend an existing template.

• The architecture (arch value) is not set in this device dictionary. This allows this device to run test jobs using files for any architecture supported by QEMU.

  See also

  Overriding device configuration

• The MAC address needs to differ for each device of this type across all instances on the same subnet.

• The available memory for the virtual machine is set in megabytes. This can be changed later to balance the requirements of test jobs with performance on the worker.

• Line ordering within the device dictionary is irrelevant, although it is common to put the extends line first when storing the dictionary as a file.

The template itself lives in:

/etc/lava-server/dispatcher-config/device-types/qemu.jinja2

This dictionary does not include a setting to use a tap device which means that this device would not support a hacking session inside the virtual machine. Setting up a bridge is out of scope for this documentation.

Once updated, the device dictionary is added to the Device view in the administrative interface under the Advanced Properties section at the base of the page.