git: b5257137c6 - main - Status/2023Q1: Add cloud-init.adoc

The branch main has been updated by salvadore:

URL: https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/doc/commit/?id=b5257137c6b1d9cfe060079ddcfaed9c4536d17e

commit b5257137c6b1d9cfe060079ddcfaed9c4536d17e
Author:     Mina Galić <[email protected]>
AuthorDate: 2023-04-14 23:03:11 +0000
Commit:     Lorenzo Salvadore <[email protected]>
CommitDate: 2023-04-16 11:04:26 +0000

    Status/2023Q1: Add cloud-init.adoc
    
    Approved by:    dbaio (co-mentor)
    Pull Request:   https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-doc/pull/170
---
 .../status/report-2023-01-2023-03/cloud-init.adoc  | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+)

diff --git a/website/content/en/status/report-2023-01-2023-03/cloud-init.adoc b/website/content/en/status/report-2023-01-2023-03/cloud-init.adoc
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+=== FreeBSD as a Tier 1 cloud-init Platform
+
+Links: +
+link:https://cloud-init.io/[cloud-init Website] URL: link:https://cloud-init.io/[] +
+link:https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/[cloud-init Documentation] URL: link:https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/[] +
+link:https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/blob/main/WIP-ONGOING-REFACTORIZATION.rst[cloud-init ongoing refactorization] URL: link:https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/blob/main/WIP-ONGOING-REFACTORIZATION.rst[]
+
+Contact: Mina Galić <[email protected]>
+
+cloud-init is the standard way of provisioning servers in the cloud.
+Unfortunately, cloud-init support for operating systems other than Linux is rather poor, and the lack of cloud-init support on FreeBSD is a hindrance to cloud providers who want to offer FreeBSD as a Tier 1 platform.
+To remedy the situation, this project aims to bring FreeBSD cloud-init support on par with Linux support.
+The broader plan is to lift support across all BSDs.
+
+This quarter has been going very, very slowly, for personal reasons — but also for lack of access to right resources.
+I have been trying to link:https://github.com/canonical/cloud-init/pull/2003[port the Infiniband functions].
+This has proven difficult, because it falsified my thesis that man:ifconfig[8] is all that is needed to figure out network interfaces on FreeBSD.
+
+A cloud-init colleague who works for Azure managed to give me access to an link:https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/topics/high-performance-computing[HPC VM on Azure].
+Unfortunately, it was only for a limited time, and that was not enough to figure out how to get Infiniband up and running on FreeBSD — a task handled by package:sysutils/azure-agent[] by Linux, but Azure Agent's FreeBSD is rather lacking.
+
+People interested in helping with this project could provide man:ifconfig[8], man:ibstat[8], man:ibv_devinfo[1], etc… link:https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-infiniband/2023-February/000005.html[pastes from their Infiniband systems].
+I would also be very happy about getting access to hardware with Infiniband NICs, or hearing from people who have successfully used FreeBSD on Azure HPC with Infiniband.
+
+If there is interest in that platform, I will direct some energy to fixing Azure Agent.
+
+Sponsor: The FreeBSD Foundation