Distribution Point

This Docker container establishes a web and, optionally, an rsync server for use in distributing perfSONAR and other things.

Prerequisites

This container requires the following:

• Any x86_64 system capable of running Docker or Podman

• A directory on the host with enough space to hold whatever is being mirrored. This directory is shared into the container and will be referred to as the data directory or /data. The currently-recommended size for mirroring perfSONAR is 100 GB.

• A connection to the outside that allows these connections:

  • Inbound HTTPS (TCP port 443)
  • Outbound rsync (TCP port 873)
  • Inbound rsync (TCP port 873) if the server is to provide rsync service to other servers.

Configruration

The container's behavior is configured using files in the /data/config subdirectory.

All configuration is re-read and re-applied on a regular basis.

Mirror Source List

The mirror-sources file contains a list of sites to be mirrored. The format of each line is two colums, separated by whitespace. Comments starting with # and empty lines are ignored.

Column 1 is the name of the web server subdirectory where the mirrored directory will appear. It is subject to these rules:

• Subdirectories containing absolute paths or use of the parent directory (..) are ignored.

• Subdirectories are not checked for uniqueness and synchronization will be done in the order specified. Repeating a subdirectory will result in it being overwritten.

• The current directory (.) is considered valid and will overwrite the root of the web server and any other subdirectories. If used, this should be the only entry in the file.

Column 2 is an rsync:// URL pointing to the source of what is to be mirrored.

Example file:

foo    rsync://distro.example.edu/foo/
bar    rsync://www.example.org/stuff/bar/

If this file does not exist, no synchronization will take place and the contents of /data/repo will be served as-is.

This file is re-read at the beginning of each synchronization cycle.

Synchronization Interval

The sync-interval file contains an integer indicating the number of seconds between the completion of one synchronization cycle and the next. If it is not present, a default of 10800 (three hours) will be used.

This file is re-read at the conclusion of each synchronization cycle.

Rsync Host Authorization

The rsync-hosts file contains a list of hosts, one per line, that will be allowed to connect to the rsync daemon. Valid entry are all those listed in the rsync daemon's allowed hosts format except @netgroup, as no netgroups are provided in the container.

This file is checked for changes once per minute and rsyncd is restarted if it differs.

Web Server SSL

Place valid key.pem and cert.pem files in the configuration directory to use SSL. If both of these files are not present, the container will generate self-signed files and add them to the configuration directory.

These files are read once when the container starts.

Message of the Day

The motd file, if present, contains a message that will be provided to remote users of rsync and when the web server generates a directory listing.

Running the Container

docker run \
    --volume /path/to/local/storage:/data:Z \
    --expose 443 \
    --expose 873 \
    ghcr.io/perfsonar/distribution-point:latest

Note that ports 443 and 873 must be exposed manually so only the desired services are shown to the outside.

Developer Notes

The Makefile at the top level of the source tree contains these targets for convenience:

• build - Builds a test container image.

• run - Builds a copy of the sample-data directory in /tmp and Creates and runs a test container until stopped with a SIGINT or Ctrl-C. This is the default target.

• shell - Runs an interactiveshell inside the test container.

• halt - Stops the test container.

• rm - Removes the test container and images from Docker.

• clean - Removes the test container and images from Docker and all by-products of the build and run targets.