Unexpected APC power control configuration behavior

[Taihsiang Ho]

2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 on Ubuntu Xenail

[Description]

There are several machines managed by the MaaS, and they are connected to the same APC AP7900B power distributed unit. Every outlet of AP7900B has its own individual power status. However, MaaS shows the affected outlet number randomly when changing the power configuration. Please refer to the screenshot of the MaaS dashboard.

[Steps to Reproduce]

1. Setup (enlist, commission ...etc.) several MaaS nodes. Assign their power type to APC.
2. Randomly pick up one of the setup node, go to the Configuration tab and edit the power configuration

[Expected Result]

The power configuration could be changed and won't affect the power configuration of the other nodes.

[Actual Result]

There is a message popped up on MaaS dashboard to say something like "The power controller manages 7 other nodes. Changing power parameters will affect these nodes."

The number "7" is showed up randomly. It could be another integer.

[More Information]

- The reproducing rate seems not 100%. I am still looking for a way to reproduce it stably.

root@ubuntu-16-04-maas:~# dpkg -l '*maas*'|cat
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-===============================-============================-============-=================================================
ii maas 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all "Metal as a Service" is a physical cloud and IPAM
ii maas-cli 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all MAAS client and command-line interface
un maas-cluster-controller <none> <none> (no description available)
ii maas-common 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all MAAS server common files
ii maas-dhcp 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all MAAS DHCP server
ii maas-dns 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all MAAS DNS server
ii maas-proxy 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all MAAS Caching Proxy
ii maas-rack-controller 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all Rack Controller for MAAS
ii maas-region-api 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all Region controller API service for MAAS
ii maas-region-controller 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all Region Controller for MAAS
un maas-region-controller-min <none> <none> (no description available)
un python-django-maas <none> <none> (no description available)
un python-maas-client <none> <none> (no description available)
un python-maas-provisioningserver <none> <none> (no description available)
ii python3-django-maas 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all MAAS server Django web framework (Python 3)
ii python3-maas-client 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all MAAS python API client (Python 3)
ii python3-maas-provisioningserver 2.3.5-6511-gf466fdb-0ubuntu1 all MAAS server provisioning libraries (Python 3)

[Blake Rouse (blake-rouse)]

To you have the ability to test with MAAS 2.5? I believe this issue has been fixed in that release. At the moment I cannot find the bug to reference for you, but I do believe this is fixed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for MAAS because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Taihsiang Ho (tai271828)]

I have tried 2.5 for one month and currently no similar issue was found. Thanks.

[Taihsiang Ho (tai271828)]

Hi, the issue happens with v2.5 MaaS.

-------------

the v2.5 maas system information

root@maas-5-2-ubuntu-18-04-daily-stock:~# dpkg -l '*maas*'
Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend
|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ Name Version Architecture Description
+++-===================================================-==============================-==============================-============================================================================================================
ii maas 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all "Metal as a Service" is a physical cloud and IPAM
ii maas-cli 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all MAAS client and command-line interface
un maas-cluster-controller <none> <none> (no description available)
ii maas-common 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all MAAS server common files
ii maas-dhcp 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all MAAS DHCP server
un maas-dns <none> <none> (no description available)
ii maas-proxy 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all MAAS Caching Proxy
ii maas-rack-controller 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all Rack Controller for MAAS
ii maas-region-api 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all Region controller API service for MAAS
ii maas-region-controller 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all Region Controller for MAAS
un maas-region-controller-min <none> <none> (no description available)
un python-django-maas <none> <none> (no description available)
un python-maas-client <none> <none> (no description available)
un python-maas-provisioningserver <none> <none> (no description available)
ii python3-django-maas 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all MAAS server Django web framework (Python 3)
ii python3-maas-client 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all MAAS python API client (Python 3)
ii python3-maas-provisioningserver 2.5.0-7442-gdf68e30a5-0ubuntu1 all MAAS server provisioning libr...

[Taihsiang Ho (tai271828)]

log for comment#6 https://bugs.launchpad.net/maas/+bug/1810796/comments/6

[Rex Tsai (chihchun)]

@taihsiangho I would suggest to investigate a reliable steps to reproduce the issue with newer version of maas. If we can not reproduce the issues, we can close this bug and report it again once we are seeing the issue.

[Taihsiang Ho (tai271828)]

Per MAAS version: 2.3.0 (6434-gd354690-0ubuntu1~16.04.1), I am aware when this issue happens, only the ip address (e.g. "IP for APC PDU" field) was changed. The "APC PDU node outlet number" field is unchanged.

[Björn Tillenius (bjornt)]

I don't understand exactly what the problem here is.

To clarify, an APC can control multiple nodes. You specify which outlet each node is connected to using the node_outlet field. If you point multiple nodes to the same APC, MAAS will know that by looking at the IP address.

If you now change something, like the power_on_delay, it's global for all the nodes. That '7' number that you refer to earlier is how many nodes that are connected to that APC (that MAAS knows about).

Now, there's a known behavior, that if you want to change the node to to point to another APC, changing the IP will cause all of the other nodes to point to that APC as well. What you can do for now is to change the node to 'manual', and then add the new APC. It's something that we're aware of and want to fix in the future.

I'm going to close this bug for now. Feel free to reopen it if you feel it's needed, providing more exact instructions on how to reproduce the actual issue.

[Taihsiang Ho (tai271828)]

@bjornt Thank you for your comments.

I understand an APC can control multiple nodes. Do you have a bug number regarding the issue you are aware of and needs the "manual" workaround?

[Taihsiang Ho (tai271828)]

I made a merge request to make the front-end message more explicit and to confirm what I understand now is expected from yours. I will appreciate if someone could have a look of the merge request https://code.launchpad.net/~taihsiangho/maas/+git/maas/+merge/375466 Thanks.

[Taihsiang Ho (tai271828)]

I think the corresponding fix was committed a while ago. Not sure if it is landed in the recent maas.

See the pull request https://github.com/canonical-web-and-design/maas-ui/pull/528