On November 9, 2018 we released Cloudstack-UI 1.411.24. In this iteration, we continued developing the Log View UI-plugin and added such features for it as viewing logs in a real-time mode, the search of log entries. Besides, we enhanced naming for new virtual machines and the disk offering selection component, fixed a number of interface bugs. Below you can find the detailed description for main enhancements and fixes.
Log View features added
Last release we presented the new UI-plugin – Log View which allows viewing virtual machine logs.
In the current release, we added such features as:
- Viewing logs in real-time mode and configuring parameters for the real-time mode (maximum messages to display, the period to view the logs for);
- Search logs.
Let’s consider every feature in detail.
Viewing logs in real-time mode. Users may face situations when it is necessary to watch the machine state during the operation. For such cases, we implemented a feature allowing users to view machine logs in a real-time mode. To enable this mode a user can click on “Follow log” in the bottom-right corner. When sorting a list by the “Newest first” option the button moves to the upper-right corner. In this case, the latest logs appear at the beginning of the list.
The “Follow log” button is available after selecting a virtual machine in the filtering parameters as well as at viewing logs in a regular mode. When the “Follow log” option is enabled the list of logs refreshes with a defined frequency. For displaying many log messages we implemented dynamic loading at scrolling the list down.
The following default parameters are used for viewing logs in a real-time mode:
- List refresh interval – once per a second.
- A user views logs for the last minute.
- Maximum messages in the list – 1000.
A user can change default parameters in the “Log View (real-time mode)” section in Settings. The following parameters can be customized:
- the time period to display the latest logs for,
- the maximum number of messages to display.
The settings are saved to user tags.
Search logs. For convenient filtering of logs, a user can apply the search tool above the list and enter a word or a phrase there. Then refresh the list by clicking on “Show logs”.
The naming of virtual machines changed
For better usability and avoiding VM name collision, we added a feature allowing a user to define a VM display name that is not required to be unique in the zone.
In earlier product versions a user defined a virtual machine name that corresponded to the Hostname attribute. That could cause VM creation failure if the specified name was not unique. In the current version, a user can define both an arbitrary non-unique name (Display name) and an optional name corresponding to Hostname that should be unique in the zone. Thus, now a user can define two names for a machine.
VM display name. Must be defined in the “General” tab of the VM creation form. This can be any name. It will display for the VM in the machine list and in any place of the UI. The field is required to be filled in.
VM host name. Can be be defined in the “Advanced” tab of the VM creation form. It should be unique within the zone. A hostname displays in the VM details sidebar only.
The field is not required to be filled in. If empty, a hostname will be auto-generated for a VM in the format of vm-<UID>.
Disk offering selector improvements
The list of disk offerings now include all options available to a user instead of previously containing only those that a user can create. When selecting a disk offering the system checks the available account resources required to create a VM with the selected option. If a user selects an offering that does not fit the available account resources, a warning message appears and the selected option cannot be applied to the VM. This enhancement makes the disk offering selection more clear and convenient to a user.
Bug fixes
During the iteration out team fixed interface bugs that improved the following interface components:
- Notifications on pending operations;
- Color picker for a virtual machine;
- Service offering selecting component;
- Disk offering selecting component;
- Templates/ISOs list;
- VM creation form.
Deployment instructions
The release can be found at GitHub releases: https://github.com/bwsw/cloudstack-ui/releases/tag/1.411.24.
Prepared Docker image is available at DockerRegistry. You can pull it with:
docker pull bitworks.software:8443/cloudstack-ui:1.411.24
The project changelog is here: https://github.com/bwsw/cloudstack-ui/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md.
Deployment guide and project info can be found at GitHub pages: https://bwsw.github.io/cloudstack-ui/
Release 1.411.25 expectations
The next release is expected to include the following features and updates:
- Proceed with the Log View plugin development: configuring of logs viewing in a real-time mode via the configuration file; 12- or 24-hour mode to set a time period for log display.
- Editable details sidebar size.
- Management of VM groups as instances avoiding using tags.
- The “Settings” section improvements: more compact and user-friendly arrangement of sections.
- Displaying and copying of server responses in case VM creation fails.
- User details display in the main navigation bar.
Community message
Dear community member, we will be thankful if you
- Try the project and provide us with a feedback;
- Share the information about the project and the release in social media;
- Mark the GitHub repository with a star to support the project;
- Join LinkedIn group.