[PATCH 0/2] namespaces: log namespaces per task

[Serge Hallyn]

Quoting James Bottomley (James.Bottomley at HansenPartnership.com):
> 
> 
> On May 5, 2014 3:36:38 PM PDT, Serge Hallyn <serge.hallyn at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> >Quoting James Bottomley (James.Bottomley at HansenPartnership.com):
> >> On Mon, 2014-05-05 at 22:27 +0000, Serge Hallyn wrote:
> >> > Quoting James Bottomley (James.Bottomley at HansenPartnership.com):
> >> > > On Mon, 2014-05-05 at 17:48 -0400, Richard Guy Briggs wrote:
> >> > > > On 14/05/05, Serge E. Hallyn wrote:
> >> > > > > Quoting James Bottomley
> >(James.Bottomley at HansenPartnership.com):
> >> > > > > > On Tue, 2014-04-22 at 14:12 -0400, Richard Guy Briggs
> >wrote:
> >> > > > > > > Questions:
> >> > > > > > > Is there a way to link serial numbers of namespaces
> >involved in migration of a
> >> > > > > > > container to another kernel?  (I had a brief look at
> >CRIU.)  Is there a unique
> >> > > > > > > identifier for each running instance of a kernel?  Or at
> >least some identifier
> >> > > > > > > within the container migration realm?
> >> > > > > > 
> >> > > > > > Are you asking for a way of distinguishing an migrated
> >container from an
> >> > > > > > unmigrated one?  The answer is pretty much "no" because the
> >job of
> >> > > > > > migration is to restore to the same state as much as
> >possible.
> >> > > > > > 
> >> > > > > > Reading between the lines, I think your goal is to
> >correlate audit
> >> > > > > > information across a container migration, right?  Ideally
> >the management
> >> > > > > > system should be able to cough up an audit trail for a
> >container
> >> > > > > > wherever it's running and however many times it's been
> >migrated?
> >> > > > > > 
> >> > > > > > In that case, I think your idea of a numeric serial number
> >in a dense
> >> > > > > > range is wrong.  Because the range is dense you're
> >obviously never going
> >> > > > > > to be able to use the same serial number across a
> >migration.  However,
> >> > > > > 
> >> > > > > Ah, but I was being silly before, we can actually address
> >this pretty
> >> > > > > simply.  If we just (for instance) add
> >> > > > > /proc/self/ns/{ic,mnt,net,pid,user,uts}_seq containing the
> >serial number
> >> > > > > for the relevant ns for the task, then criu can dump this
> >info at
> >> > > > > checkpoint.  Then at restart it can dump an audit message per
> >task and
> >> > > > > ns saying old_serial=%x,new_serial=%x.  That way the audit
> >log reader
> >> > > > > can if it cares keep track.
> >> > > > 
> >> > > > This is the sort of idea I had in mind...
> >> > > 
> >> > > OK, but I don't understand then why you need a serial number. 
> >There are
> >> > > plenty of things we preserve across a migration, like namespace
> >name for
> >> > > instance.  Could you explain what function it performs because I
> >think I
> >> > > might be missing something.
> >> > 
> >> > We're looking ahead to a time when audit is namespaced, and a
> >container
> >> > can keep its own audit logs (without limiting what the host audits
> >of
> >> > course).  So if a container is auditing suspicious activity by some
> >> > task in a sub-namesapce, then the whole parent container gets
> >migrated,
> >> > after migration we want to continue being able to correlate the
> >namespaces.
> >> > 
> >> > We're also looking at audit trails on a host that is up for years. 
> >We
> >> > would like every namespace to be uniquely logged there.  That is
> >why
> >> > inode #s on /proc/self/ns/* are not sufficient, unless we add a
> >generation
> >> > # (which would end more complicated, not less, than a serial #).
> >> 
> >> Right, but when the contaner has an audit namespace, that namespace
> >has
> >> a name,
> >
> >What ns has a name?
> 
> The netns for instance.

And what is its name?  The only name I know that we could log in an
audit message is the /proc/self/ns/net inode number (which does not
suffice)

> >  The audit ns can be tied to 50 pid namespaces, and
> >we
> >want to log which pidns is responsible for something.
> >
> >If you mean the pidns has a name, that's the problem...  it does not,
> >it
> >only has a inode # which may later be re-use.
> 
> I still think there's a miscommunication somewhere: I believe you just need a stable id to tie the audit to, so why not just give the audit namespace a name like net?  The id would then be durable across migrations.

Maybe this is where we're confusing each other - I'm not talking
about giving the audit ns a name.  I'm talking about being able to
identify the other namespaces inside an audit message.  In a way
that (a) is unique across bare metals' entire uptime, and (b)
can be tracked across migrations.

And again we don't need to actually implement all that now - all
I wanted to make sure of was that the serial # as proposed by Richard
could be made to work for those purposes, and I now believe they can.

> >> which CRIU would migrate, so why not use that name for the
> >> log .. no need for numbers (unless you make the name a number, of
> >> course)?
> >> 
> >> James
> >
> >Sorry if I'm being dense...
> 
> No I think our assumptions are mismatched. I just can't figure out where.
> 
> James
> 
> -- 
> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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