MAAS can be installed in either of two configurations: test or production. The test configuration uses a small PostgreSQL database (in a separate snap), designed for use with MAAS. The full-up production configuration uses a separate PostgreSQL database for performance and scalability. This article will walk you through both install methods.
- How do I install (but not initialize) the MAAS snap?
- How do I upgrade my 2.7 snap to version 2.8?
- What are MAAS initialisation modes?
- How do I initialise MAAS for a test or proof-of-concept configuration?
- How do I initialise MAAS for a production configuration?
- How do I migrate an existing snap install?
- What if I want to manually export the MAAS database to an existing PostgreSQL server?
- How can I check the service status of my MAAS configuration?
- How do I re-initialise MAAS, if I want to?
- How can I discover additional init options?
- Give me an example of initialising MAAS
- Tell me about the MAAS URL
- Tell me about the shared secret
If you have installed bind9 or have it running, you will need to uninstall it before installing MAAS. You can check with ps aux | grep named to see if itâs running. The bind9 daemon interferes with MAAS operation and creates a number of unusual, hard-to-debug errors â but donât worry, MAAS provides DNS and can work with existing DNS servers.
Installing MAAS from the snap
Snaps are containerised software packages. To install MAAS from a snap simply enter the following:
$ sudo snap install maas --channel=2.8
After entering your password, the snap will download and install from the 2.8 channel â though MAAS needs initialising before itâs ready to go.
Upgrading MAAS from 2.7
If you want to upgrade from a 2.7 snap to 2.8, and you are using a region+rack configuration, use this command:
$ sudo snap refresh --channel=2.8 maas
After entering your password, the snap will refresh from the 2.8 channel. You will not need to re-initialize MAAS.
If you are using a multi-node maas deployment with separate regions and racks, you should first run the upgrade command above for rack nodes, then for region nodes.
MAAS initialisation modes
MAAS supports the following modes, which dictate what services will run on the local system:
| Mode | Region | Rack | Database | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
all* |
X | X | X | Deprecated (see warning below) |
region |
X | Region API server only | ||
rack |
X | Rack controller only | ||
region+rack |
X | X | Region API server and rack controller | |
none |
Deinitializes MAAS and stops services |
all mode being deprecated: The MAAS initialisation mode âallâ is deprecated in MAAS version 2.8.0 and will be removed in MAAS version 2.9.0.
Initialising MAAS as a test configuration
We want to provide a more compact version for those who may be testing MAAS. To achieve this, weâre providing a separate snap, called maas-test-db, which provides a PostgreSQL database for use in testing and evaluating MAAS. The following instructions will help you take advantage of this test configuration.
Once MAAS is installed, you can use the --help flag with maas init to get relevant instructions:
$ sudo maas init --help
usage: maas init [-h] {region+rack,region,rack} . . .
Initialise MAAS in the specified run mode.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
run modes:
{region+rack,region,rack}
region+rack Both region and rack controllers
region Region controller only
rack Rack controller only
When installing region or rack+region modes, MAAS needs a
PostgreSQL database to connect to.
If you want to set up PostgreSQL for a non-production deployment on
this machine, and configure it for use with MAAS, you can install
the maas-test-db snap before running 'maas init':
sudo snap install maas-test-db
sudo maas init region+rack --database-uri maas-test-db:///
Weâll quickly walk through these instructions to confirm your understanding. First, install the maas-test-db snap:
sudo snap install maas-test-db
Note that this step installs a a running PostgreSQL and a MAAS-ready database instantiation. When itâs done, you can double check with a built-in PostgreSQL shell:
$ maas-test-db.psql
psql (10.6)
Type "help" for help.
postgres=# \l
This will produce a list of databases, one of which will be maasdb, owned by maas. Note that this database is still empty because MAAS is not yet initialized and, hence, is not yet using the database. Once this is done, you can run the maas init command:
sudo maas init region+rack --database-uri maas-test-db:///
After running for a moment, the command will prompt you for a MAAS URL; typically, you can use the default:
MAAS URL [default=http://10.45.222.159:5240/MAAS]:
When youâve entered a suitable URL, or accepted the default, the following prompt will appear:
MAAS has been set up.
If you want to configure external authentication or use
MAAS with Canonical RBAC, please run
sudo maas configauth
To create admins when not using external authentication, run
sudo maas createadmin
Letâs assume you just want a local testing user named admin:
$ sudo maas createadmin
Username: admin
Password: ******
Again: ******
Email: admin@example.com
Import SSH keys [] (lp:user-id or gh:user-id): gh:yourusername
At this point, MAAS is basically set up and running. You can confirm this with sudo maas status. If you need an API key, you can obtain this with sudo maas apikey --username yourusername. Now you will be able to test and evaluate MAAS by going to the URL you entered or accepted above and entering your admin username and password.
Configuration verification
After a snap installation of MAAS, you can verify the currently-running configuration with:
sudo maas config
Initialise MAAS for a production configuration
To install MAAS in a production configuration, you need to setup PostgreSQL, as described below.
Setting up PostgreSQL from scratch
To set up PostgreSQL, even if itâs running on a different machine, you can use the following procedure:
-
You will need to install PostgreSQL on the machine where you want to keep the database. This can be the same machine as the MAAS region/rack controllers or a totally separate machine. If PostgreSQL (version 10 or better) is already running on your target machine, you can skip this step. To install PostgreSQL, run these commands:
sudo apt update -y sudo apt install -y postgresql -
You want to make sure you have a suitable PostgreSQL user, which can be accomplished with the following command, where
$MAAS_DBUSERis your desired database username, and$MAAS_DBPASSis the intended password for that username. Note that if youâre executing this step in a LXD container (as root, which is the default), you may get a minor error, but the operation will still complete correctly.sudo -u postgres psql -c "CREATE USER \"$MAAS_DBUSER\" WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD '$MAAS_DBPASS'" -
Create the MAAS database with the following command, where
$MAAS_DBNAMEis your desired name for the MAAS database (typically known asmaas). Again, if youâre executing this step in a LXD container as root, you can ignore the minor error that results.sudo -u postgres createdb -O "$MAAS_DBUSER" "$MAAS_DBNAME" -
Edit
/etc/postgresql/10/main/pg_hba.confand add a line for the newly created database, replacing the variables with actual names. You can limit access to a specific network by using a different CIDR than0/0.host $MAAS_DBNAME $MAAS_DBUSER 0/0 md5 -
You can then initialise MAAS via the following command:
sudo maas init region+rack --database-uri "postgres://$MAAS_DBUSER:$MAAS_DBPASS@$HOSTNAME/$MAAS_DBNAME"
You should use localhost for $HOSTNAME if youâre running PostgreSQL on the same box as MAAS.
Donât worry; if you leave out any of the database parameters, youâll be prompted for those details.
Checking MAAS service status
You can check the status of running services with:
sudo maas status
Typically, the output looks something like this:
bind9 RUNNING pid 7999, uptime 0:09:17
dhcpd STOPPED Not started
dhcpd6 STOPPED Not started
ntp RUNNING pid 8598, uptime 0:05:42
postgresql RUNNING pid 8001, uptime 0:09:17
proxy STOPPED Not started
rackd RUNNING pid 8000, uptime 0:09:17
regiond:regiond-0 RUNNING pid 8003, uptime 0:09:17
regiond:regiond-1 RUNNING pid 8008, uptime 0:09:17
regiond:regiond-2 RUNNING pid 8005, uptime 0:09:17
regiond:regiond-3 RUNNING pid 8015, uptime 0:09:17
tgt RUNNING pid 8040, uptime 0:09:15
With MAAS installed and initialised, you can now open the web UI in your browser and begin your Configuration journey.
Example of MAAS initialisation
The following demonstrates the region+rack mode, a popular initialisation choice for MAAS:
sudo maas init region+rack
maas will ask for the MAAS URL:
MAAS URL [default=http://10.55.60.1:5240/MAAS]: http://192.168.122.1:5240/MAAS
If you also need to create an admin user, you can use:
sudo maas createadmin
which takes you through the following exchange:
Create first admin account:
Username: admin
Password: ******
Again: ******
Email: admin@example.com
Import SSH keys [] (lp:user-id or gh:user-id): lp:petermatulis
You will use the username and password created above to access the web UI. If you enter a Launchpad or GitHub account name with associated SSH key, MAAS will import them automatically.
MAAS URL
All run modes (except none) prompt for a MAAS URL, interpreted differently depending on the mode:
-
region: Used to create a new region controller. -
rack: Used to locate the region controller.
Shared secret
The ârackâ and âregion+rackâ modes will additionally ask for a shared secret that will allow the new rack controller to register with the region controller.
Reinitialising MAAS
It is also possible to re-initialise MAAS to switch modes. For example, to switch from rack to region:
sudo maas init region
Additional `init` options
The init command can takes optional arguments. To list them, as well as read a brief description of each, you can enter:
sudo maas init --help