shoal-client

Shoal Client README

shoal-client will configure cvmfs to use the closest squid server to you by contacting the shoal server and using cvmfs-talk to update the active proxy configuration.

shoal-client is a simple python script typically configured to run with cron to check for new squids periodically. Before setting the cronjob in place make sure that shoal-client is configured correctly (see Usage below).

With the release of v0.6.4 the shoal-client now offers support for frontier. Running the shoal-client with the --frontier or -f option will produce an output string instead of attempting to update the proxies via cvmfs-talk. See Usage below for more information.

Installation

Note: Requires Python 2.4+

Note: Shoal config files will be located either at ~/.shoal/ or /etc/shoal/ if installed root permissions.

Recommended Instalation Method: Use pip

1. sudo python3 -m pip install shoal-client or, if using an old python2 version of pip: pip install shoal-client

2. Copy the configuration file to proper location

   # For python3
   cp /usr/local/share/shoal-client/shoal_client.conf /etc/shoal/
   
   # For python2
   cp /usr/share/shoal-client/shoal_client.conf /etc/shoal/
   

3. Check settings in shoal_client.conf update as needed

Usage

Confirm the that you configured shoal-client as expected by checking the output of shoal-client --dump The output is a list of servers that will be set as proxies using cvmfs-talk. For example you will see something like the following:

http://squid.example1.com:3128;http://squid.example2.com:3128;http://squid.example3.com:3128;http://squid.example4.com:3128;http://squid.example5.org:3128;DIRECT

If the output looks resonable now set a crontab entry to run shoal say every 30 minutes:

0,30 * * * * /usr/bin/shoal-client

New in version 0.6.4 is the --frontier option that will produce an output string suitable for frontier. Users will need to use a simple script that runs shoal-client and uses the output to set the proxies. An example script can be found here in the shoal-client/scripts directory. Example output when running shoal-client --frontier:

(serverurl=http://PresetServer.ca:3128)(proxyurl=http://PROXY.FROM.SHOAL.1:3128)(proxyurl=http://PROXY.FROM.SHOAL.2:3128)

Flags and Options

Option	Description
-d or --dump	Print closest proxies to terminal for testing or debugging.
-s hostname or --server hostname	Specifies URL of the desired shoal-server to contact. Takes precedence over the option in config file.
-n int or --squids int	Specifies the number of squids to retrieve from the shoal-server.
-f or --frontier	Outputs a string appropriate for use as the frontier proxy enviroment variable instead of using cvmfs-talk to update the active proxy configuration.
-k or --skip-broadcast	Skips waiting to hear from a shoal-agent on the local network and goes directly to the shoal server for a squid. Only reccomended when you know there is no squid//agent on the local network.

Shoal client now uses the cvmfs_talk protocol. To view the list of returned squids issue:

 cvmfs_talk proxy info

Other Installation Methods

Using Pip

1. pip install shoal-client
2. Copy the configuration file to proper location

   # For python3
   cp /usr/local/share/shoal-client/shoal_client.conf /etc/shoal/
   
   # For python2
   cp /usr/share/shoal-client/shoal_client.conf /etc/shoal/
   

3. Check settings in shoal_client.conf update as needed

Using Git

1. git clone git://github.com/hep-gc/shoal.git
2. cd shoal/shoal-client/
3. python setup.py install
4. Copy the configuration file to proper location cp conf/shoal_client.conf /etc/shoal/
5. Check settings in shoal_client.conf update as needed