[Thincrust-devel] First release of ec2-conversion-tools

[Joey Boggs]

The first release of the EC2 conversion tools are now available. The 
current version supports loopback file systems as well as partitioned 
disk images like those used for xen/kvm/qemu. At this time LVM is NOT 
supported. The documentation is still in the process of being cleaned 
up, but usage will be addressed below. As with any modification tools, 
please make a backup of your images prior to using the conversion tool.


The ec2-conversion-tools rpms may be downloaded from 
http://thincrust.net/downloads/

ec2-conversion-tools-001-2.thincrust.noarch.rpm
ec2-conversion-tools-001-2.thincrust.src.rpm

To convert a loopback file system image
# ec2-converter -f appserver01.img --inputtype=loopbackfs

To convert a partitioned disk image
# ec2-converter -f appserver02.img --inputtype=diskimage


Prior requirements on the image being converted for EC2 to be functional:
- diskimage types must have filesystem labels. (Installers perform this 
by default, if partitions were added later you will need to verify with 
"e2label /dev/$device")
- ssh must be installed and available on boot
- to use the EC2 ami tools ruby must be installed(optional, if 
rebundling the AMI is not necessary)

For diskimages the conversion will mount all of the partitions and 
create a new filesystem with all partitions under the root prior to 
performing any configuration changes.

The conversion process consists of:
- Making required devices in /dev
- Editing /etc/fstab to work with EC2
- Configuring eth0
- sshd configuration
- Updating /etc/rc.local to download EC2 AMI tools on boot
- Applying kernel modules to support the F8xen EC2 kernel  (aki-a71cf9ce)

For the image to boot on EC2 when bundled and uploaded you must specify 
the kernel (aki-a71cf9ce)

Support for additional kernels will be added.


For those not yet familiar with EC2 please review the following information

EC2 Information: http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=201590011

EC2 Getting Started Guide: 
http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSEC2/2008-02-01/GettingStartedGuide/

Please report any issues to thincrust-devel at redhat.com