Setting Up the Genvid Cluster in Azure¶
In This Section
Set Up a Bastion Server¶
To create a cluster, you first need a Genvid bastion server running. You can set up and manage a bastion server using the genvid-bastion script. The following command will set up one with the minimal services required.
From your shell, run:
genvid-bastion install --bastionid mybastion --checkmodules --update-global-tfvars --loadconfig
--bastionid mybastion
- A unique identifier for your bastion. It must:
- Be between 3 and 64 characters.
- Only contain lowercase letters, numbers, or hyphens.
- Start with a letter.
--checkmodules
- Use this option to install new modules if none exist or update the ones already present.
--update-global-tfvars
- Use this option to update the global Terraform variables.
--loadconfig
- Use this option to load the jobs and logs.
Important
Due to limitations with the Windows file system directory length, system username and Bastion ID also factor into the max possible cluster name length. We’ve set a reasonably safe name length limit, but it’s technically possible for this limit to still cause issues if the user has an especially long username and/or Bastion ID.
Configure the Cluster¶
Important
Before configuring the cluster, make sure that azure account has been set up and you are logged in to azure. Also, the azure base images need to be created and configured. The information on how to login to Azure and configure images can be found here Creating a Cloud Environment.
The next step is to open the Bastion-UI to manage the Clusters.
From your shell, run:
genvid-bastion monitor
Select the Terraform page.
Click Add Config.
Enter a unique ID.
Select
cluster
as the category.
Note
We are limiting the length of cluster id to 64 characters due to technical limitation.
You can select another backend
if needed. For now, you can stick with
the default values. Some backends may require configuring variables.
After creating a cluster, its status is EMPTY. This means that the cluster needs a module. The cluster statuses are:
Cloning a Cluster¶
It is a good practice to use the cloning function when you want to create different clusters with similar configurations. You can do this using the Clone button on the Terraform configuration view.
Cluster Statuses¶
After creating a cluster, its status is EMPTY. This means that the cluster needs a module. The cluster statuses are:
- VOID: The cluster doesn’t exist.
- EMPTY: The cluster exists but has no modules.
- DOWN: The cluster is initialized but resources are empty.
- UP: The Terraform
apply
procedure succeeded. - BUSY: A command is currently running.
- ERROR: An error occured when checking the cluster.
- INVALID: The cluster is reporting an invalid or unknown status.
Initialize Cluster Using a Terraform Module¶
Before configuring the cluster, you must initialize it with a module. This copies the module template and downloads any providers and plugins it requires.
Click on the name of your chosen ID.
You can either select the SDK-{version}/basic/azurerm_basic_cluster or SDK-{version}/basic/azurerm_basic_cluster_alb_ssl modules. (The azurerm_basic_cluster_alb_ssl module supports load balancing, DNS, and SSL certificates)
Click Import module.
You will see an initialization log appear. This step should last only a few seconds.
Build the Cluster Infrastructure¶
To build the cluster infrastructure, you apply a Terraform execution plan.
Click Plan Apply to create an execution plan.
Verify the changes match what you need.
Click Apply to execute the plan.
You should see the log starting to appear.
- If Terraform fails to build the infrastructure:
- Check the error message.
- Update the settings.
- Apply again.
At the end of this step, there is a cluster running on the cloud. When you check All Configs on the Terraform page, the status is UP. This means that the infrastructure is up and ready for the Genvid SDK.
Note
When you have an existing cluster that you no longer need, there are specific commands used to clean them up. See Cleaning Up Unneeded Clusters for more information.
Tags¶
All resources created for a cluster have the following tags to identify them:
genvid:cluster-name: The name of the cluster. genvid:creator-service-id: The Bastion ID, when created through the Bastion UI.
Important
Terraform Settings¶
We use Terraform to build the cluster infrastructure, so the setting values configure the cluster infrastructure. Click the Settings sub link for your cluster and edit the settings.
Note
- See the Studio setup page for Studio-specific settings.
- See the Tick Setup page for Tick-specific settings.
For ease of use you can also download the settings on the page to a JSON file. You can drag and drop the edited file on the form to edit multiple settings at once or revert to a previous configuration. Please note that all unsaved configurations will be lost.
Common Azure cluster settings
Setting | Description | Default Value |
---|---|---|
azs | Specifies the list of availability zones to use. Azure makes zones 1, 2, and 3 available for use in all regions.Instances will be evenly spanned across specified zone, sequentially, starting at the first specific zone, and rolling over back to the first one when the end of the list is reached. [1] | [] |
custom_tags | Map of user defined tags to add to all cloud resources. [*] [2] | {} |
datacenter | The datacenter name Nomad uses to group local agents together. | default |
instance_encoding_count | Specifies the number of encoding servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_encoding_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for encoding servers. | Standard_F8s_v2 |
instance_game_count | Specifies the number of game servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_game_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for game servers. | Standard_NV6 |
instance_internal_count | Specifies the number of internal servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_internal_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for internal servers. | Standard_B2s |
instance_public_count | Specifies the number of public servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_public_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for public servers. | Standard_B2s |
instance_server_count | Specifies the number of admin servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_server_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for admin servers. | Standard_B2s |
location | The Azure region where you want to create your cluster. You can use any region that contains NV6 instances. | East US |
resource_group_name | Specifies the value for resource group name. If it is
empty, the generated Important Changing the resource group name causes the whole cluster to rebuild. |
null |
shared_gallery_image_version | Which image version to use from the shared image gallery in azure. This should match the current SDK version. | current SDK version |
shared_gallery_name | The shared image gallery in Azure where cluster VM images are stored. | SDKgallery |
shared_gallery_resource_group_name | Name of the resource group that holds the shared image gallery. | Genvid |
toolbox_location | Genvid Toolbox Wheel file. Only required if you need to update the one from the image. An empty value indicates to not install the toolbox. | null |
trusted_cidr | CIDR of the local machine | Local CIDR |
trusted_cidrs | Additional CIDRs to allow access to the cluster | [] |
trusted_security_groups | List of security groups to trust | [] |
wingame_image_prefix | Prefix used for the wingame image | default |
[*] | In addition to custom tags, Genvid reserves the right to add its own tags on resources. If they are not documented, they are intended to be used by Genvid without any guarantee of backward compatibility. |
Azure Cluster with SSL and DNS Settings
You can create an Azure cluster with both SSL and DNS features. To use this type of cluster, you need to have a registered domain in Azure DNS zones. It will automatically add two “A” record sets in your domain named web-{clustername} and leafs-{clustername}. For example, if your domain is example.com and your cluster name is stream, your final endpoints for leaf and web will be leafs-stream.example.com and web-stream.example.com.
You need to provide the required certificates to use the cluster. You can use either a wildcard certificate or two separate certificates for leaf and web services.
For some streaming services (like Twitch), your certificates must be valid but not self-signed. Certificates also need to have a password and be in .pfx format.
The following table shows the parameters in the cluster settings.
Setting | Description | Default Value |
---|---|---|
azs | Specifies the list of availability zones to use. Azure makes zones 1, 2, and 3 available for use in all regions.Instances will be evenly spanned across specified zone, sequentially, starting at the first specific zone, and rolling over back to the first one when the end of the list is reached. [1] | [] |
datacenter | The datacenter name Nomad uses to group local agents together. | default |
domain_name | A pre-created domain in Azure or any other registrar [1] | example.com |
gateway_autoscaling_limits | The minimum and maximum number of instances for Application Gateway auto scaler [1] | [1,3] |
instance_encoding_count | Specifies the number of encoding servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_encoding_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for encoding servers. | Standard_F8s_v2 |
instance_game_count | Specifies the number of game servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_game_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for game servers. | Standard_NV6 |
instance_internal_count | Specifies the number of internal servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_internal_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for internal servers. | Standard_B2s |
instance_public_count | Specifies the number of public servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_public_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for public servers. | Standard_B2s |
instance_server_count | Specifies the number of admin servers that Terraform should create. | 1 |
instance_server_type | Specifies the type of Azure instance that Terraform should use for admin servers. | Standard_B2s |
leaf_port | The port that the Leaf service is listening on. | 30001 |
leaf_ssl_certificate_password | The password of the provided leaf certificate If you provided a wildcard SSL certificate, you do not need to provide this. [1] | null |
leaf_ssl_certificate_path | The path of the provided valid leaf certificate If you provided a wildcard SSL certificate, you do not need to provide this. [1] | null |
leaf_stickiness_ttl | The Leaf target group stickiness timeout [1] | 20 |
leaf_tg_stickiness_enabled | to enable/disable the Leaf target group stickiness [1] | false |
location | The Azure region where you want to create your cluster. You can use any region that contains NV6 instances. | East US |
namespace | The name of the current deployment project on your cluster. This value is part of the Azure Tags configuration, making it easier to group resources together in the Azure Portal. | deployment |
resource_group_name | Specifies the value for resource group name. If it is
empty, the generated Important Changing the resource group name causes the whole cluster to rebuild. |
null |
shared_gallery_image_version | Which image version to use from the shared image gallery in azure. This should match the current SDK version. | current SDK version |
shared_gallery_name | The shared image gallery in Azure where cluster VM images are stored. | SDKgallery |
shared_gallery_resource_group_name | Name of the resource group that holds the shared image gallery. | Genvid |
stage | The name of the stage your cluster should belong to. This value is used to tag your resources in Azure for easier searching and organization. | dev |
toolbox_location | Genvid Toolbox Wheel file. Only required if you need to update the one from the image. An empty value indicates to not install the toolbox. | null |
truster_cidr | CIDR of the local machine | Local CIDR |
trusted_cidrs | Additional CIDRs to allow access to the cluster | [] |
trusted_security_groups | List of security groups to trust | [] |
ttl_leaf_hostname | TTL information of the leaf endpoint in the A record of the main domain. [1] | 3600 |
ttl_web_hostname | TTL information of the web endpoint in the A record of the main domain. [1] | 3600 |
web_health_check_path | The health check endpoint path for the web service. It should match the path defined in the web.nomad.tmpl. [1] | /health |
web_port | The port that web service is configured to listen on [1] | 30000 |
web_ssl_certificate_password | The password of the provided web certificate If you provided a wildcard SSL certificate, you do not need to provide this. [1] | null |
web_ssl_certificate_path | The path of the provided valid web certificate If you provided a wildcard SSL certificate, you do not need to provide this. [1] | null |
web_stickiness_ttl | The Web target group stickiness timeout [1] | 20 |
web_tg_stickiness_enabled | To enable/disable the Leaf target group stickiness [1] | false |
wildcard_ssl_certificate_password | The password of the provided wildcard certificate If you provided Web and Leaf SSL certificates, you do not need to provide this. [1] | null |
wildcard_ssl_certificate_path | The path of the provided valid wildcard certificate If you provided Web and Leaf SSL certificates, you do not need to provide this. [1] | null |
wingame_image_prefix | Prefix used for the wingame image | default |
[1] | (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18) New in version 1.25.0. |
[2] | New in version 1.26.0. |
See the Terraform Configuration Documentation for more information on how to set up these variables globally or locally.
Availability Zone Examples:
- 3 instances, azs: [] -> multi-az disabled
- 3 instances, azs: [2] -> all 3 instances are created in zone 2
- 3 instances, azs: [1, 2, 3] -> instance 1: zone 1, instance 2: zone 2, instance 3: zone 3
- 3 instances, azs: [1, 3] -> instance 1: zone 1, instance 2: zone 2, instance 3: zone 1
- 4 instances, azs: [1, 2] -> instance 1: zone 1, instance 2: zone 2, instance 3: zone 1, instance 4: zone 2
Note
- Availability zones are not available for Game Instances. Azure does not support zones for GPU instances.
- Changing the number of Server instances specifically will force a rebuild of all instances. This causes the internal IP addresses to be updated, which the other services need to be reinitialized with.
Terraform Providers¶
Providers are specific to a cluster and, more specifically, to the module imported in that cluster. Thus, let us start by creating a new cluster and importing some module on it.
Every provider has its own set of arguments it recognizes. The best way to know how a specific provider can be customized is by visiting the Terraform Providers page and looking up the specific providers you are interested in.
Important
You should always specify the version to use for each provider when
importing the module. If you don’t, the terraform init
command will use
the newest version available for each. This can lead to an unstable
environment if any updates introduce a breaking change.
See the Terraform documentation for more information.
Customizing Terraform Providers¶
(Global) Default Configuration¶
There are two levels at which providers configuration can be customized: at the global (bastion) level or on the cluster directly after importing a module. The global configuration is meant to give a default configuration to new clusters (or on a reimport of the module).
During the installation of the bastion, we set up such a configuration so
that your clusters work out of the box with any of the modules we provide.
The information is loaded from a file stored at
bastion-services/terraform/providers/default.json
.
When you import a module into a cluster, only the default configurations for providers that this module uses are applied. So it’s safe to add configurations for providers that aren’t used by every module.
To add a new default configuration for a provider:
Open the Bastion UI page.
Click Settings.
Click Providers.
Click + NEW PROVIDER.
Enter a unique name for Provider and Alias to identify the provider you want to customize.
- OPTIONAL: You can also set a specific default Version to use for that provider.
Important
The identifiers you use for Provider and Alias are checked when you import a module into a cluster. If they don’t match a provider used by that module, the default configuration won’t be applied.
If you have one or more arguments you need to set for a provider, click + to add each.
Click SAVE to save the provider configuration.
Per-Cluster Configuration¶
After importing a module on your cluster, you can go to the Provider tab (under Terraform) to see its current configuration.
By default, the configuration should be empty, unless some providers have a global configuration which will be automatically applied by this point. Any further change made to the cluster’s providers will only affect that cluster.
Warning
If the cluster’s module is re-imported, the global configuration will override its configuration.
Once your cluster is created and you know which providers you want to customize, you may go to Terraform, from the top menu, and then Provider under the cluster’s name from the left menu.
Important
After modifying the version of a provider you need to execute a new
terraform init
command for the new version to be downloaded.
The process to customize providers is very similar to the global case. The + ADD PROVIDER button is used to add a configuration for a provider not yet listed. Otherwise, the edit button (the left Action button) can be used to customize existing configurations.
Warning
The changes to the providers configuration might not take effect until a Refresh command is issued.
Terraform Providers Arguments¶
You will notice that we distinguish between meta-arguments such as version and alias and other arguments.
Those meta-arguments are present on all providers and are considered during
Terraform’s init
phase. The other arguments are used during the plan or
apply phase and vary between providers.
Note
If you notice some arguments are ignored at the plan
phase, try to
issue a Refresh to update Terraform’s state with the new
configuration.
Provider aliases might not be useful unless you write your own Terraform module, but the version is very important as we’ve seen above. More information can be found on Terraform Provider Configuration page.
Terraform Providers Toolbox Support¶
We offer subcommands in the Toolbox to help managing providers. The following table summarizes the commands available.
Command | Description |
---|---|
genvid-bastion get-default-terraform-providers | Display the current global providers configuration in JSON. |
genvid-bastion set-default-terraform-providers | Set the global providers configuration from a JSON file matching the format from get-default-terraform-providers. |
genvid-bastion delete-default-terraform-providers | Delete the existing global providers configuration. |
genvid-clusters get-terraform-providers | Display the current providers configuration of a specific cluster. |
genvid-clusters set-terraform-providers | Set the providers configuration of a specific cluster from a JSON file matching the format from get-terraform-providers. |
genvid-clusters delete-terraform-providers | Delete the existing providers configuration of a specific cluster. |
While the easiest way to create a new providers configuration is to use the bastion UI and then the toolbox to redirect the configuration into a file, here is an example in case you want to write it by hand:
[
{
"provider": "azurerm",
"meta": {
"alias": null,
"version": "~> 2.1.0"
},
"arguments": {
"region": "East US"
}
},
{
"provider": "template",
"meta": {
"alias": null,
"version": "~> 2.1"
},
"arguments": {}
},
{
"provider": "tls",
"meta": {
"alias": "myalias",
"version": null,
},
"arguments": {}
}
]
Applying a Terraform Infrastructure¶
Terraform Apply is the operation that builds the cluster infrastructure.
- Click Plan Apply to create an execution plan.
- Verify the changes match what you need.
- After verifying the changes, click Apply to execute the plan.
You should see the log starting to appear.
- If Terraform fails to build the infrastructure:
- Check the error message.
- Update the settings.
- Apply again.
At the end of this step, there is a cluster running on the cloud. When you check All Configs on the Terraform page, the status is UP. This means that the infrastructure is up, but the Genvid SDK is not yet present in it.
Important
Beginning in version 1.19.0, instances provision in the background after Terraform creates them. You need to wait until an instance registers as a Nomad client in the Cluster UI before using it. In particular, Windows instances may take up to 30 minutes before they are ready.
Note
The public machine IP is not the same as the one used when setting up your AMI.
To access your game machine, use the IP from game_public_ips
with the same password set during the AMI setup.
To retrieve the game_public_ips
:
- Make sure the cluster is
UP
. - Go to the Commands page of your cluster.
- Click the OUTPUT button.
You’ll find the game_public_ips
listed in the JSON file.
Setting up the SDK on a Running Cluster¶
Once a cluster status is UP, you will need to set up the Genvid SDK on it and run your project there.
Follow the SDK in the Cloud guide to do so.
Destroying a Terraform Infrastructure¶
The terraform destroy
command removes all resources from the cluster
configuration. You should only destroy a cluster’s Terraform infrastructure
when you no longer need to run your project on that cluster. To destroy the
Terraform infrastructure, click Plan destroy.
If you’re sure you want to destroy the current Terraform infrastructure, click the Destroy button to confirm.
See Destroy Infrastructure for more information.
Deleting a Cluster¶
To delete a cluster, you have to destroy the Terraform infrastructure first. Go to All Configs and click the Delete button.
Using Custom Repositories¶
You can add and remove individual Terraform repositories in the bastion. Each repository contains one or more modules that can be used to instantiate a cluster. Use the following command to list the current repositories:
genvid-clusters module-list
Use the following command to add a new module:
genvid-clusters module-add -u {URL} {name}
{URL}
can be any source compatible with go-getter, including local files.{name}
is the destination folder to this repository on your bastion.
After the URL is cloned in the bastion repository, it will be available as a
source under modules/module
. See Terraform’s Module Configuration
for more details on using modules.
Bastion remembers the origin of each module, so you can update them using the following command:
genvid-clusters module-update [name]
The name is optional. If you don’t provide a name, it will update all repositories.
You can remove a module using the following command:
genvid-clusters module-remove {name}
See also
- genvid-clusters
- Genvid Cluster-Management script documentation.
- Bastion API for Terraform
- Bastion API for Terraform.
- Terraform’s Module Configuration
- Documentation of Modules on Terraform.
- go-getter
- A library for fetching URL in Go.