Streamline image delivery with MAAS and SimpleStreams
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Struggling with a slow or unreliable internet connection? Use MAAS with SimpleStreams to have images ready on-demand. You can choose between two image streams—'candidate' and 'stable'—both loaded with Ubuntu, CentOS images, bootloaders, and release alerts. This guide walks you through:
By default, MAAS uses the 'stable' stream. To switch to the 'candidate' stream:
http://images.maas.io/ephemeral-v3/candidate as the URL.To revert to the 'stable' stream, follow the same steps, using maas.io as the URL.
Execute these commands to change streams:
BOOT_SOURCE_ID=$(maas $PROFILE boot-sources read | jq '.[] | select(.url | contains("images.maas.io/ephemeral-v3")) | .id')
maas $PROFILE boot-source update $BOOT_SOURCE_ID url=$STREAM_URL
Start by installing SimpleStreams:
sudo apt install simplestreams
Define these variables for cleaner CLI commands:
KEYRING_FILE=/usr/share/keyrings/ubuntu-cloudimage-keyring.gpg
IMAGE_SRC=https://images.maas.io/ephemeral-v3/stable
IMAGE_DIR=/var/www/html/maas/images/ephemeral-v3/stable
Mirror your kernels with these commands:
sudo sstream-mirror --keyring=$KEYRING_FILE $IMAGE_SRC $IMAGE_DIR 'arch=amd64' 'release~(bionic|focal)' --max=1 --progress
sudo sstream-mirror --keyring=$KEYRING_FILE $IMAGE_SRC $IMAGE_DIR 'os~(grub*|pxelinux)' --max=1 --progress
Use --dry-run to preview your selection. Remove it to begin the download.
MAAS saves images to the directory defined by 'IMAGE_DIR'. The new boot source URL will be http://<myserver>/maas/images/ephemeral-v3/stable/.
Verify image availability at the URL above.
Regularly update your mirror with cron to fetch the latest images.