[Server-devel] new package: xs-activation

[Erik Garrison]

On Thu, Sep 04, 2008 at 08:56:21AM -0400, Greg Smith wrote:
> Hi Martin and Erik,
>
> Thanks for the replies.
>
> - On work flow for this, I think there is a little more detail needed.  
> e.g. you need a wireless AP setup, right? Anything else? Any special  
> name or ESSID needed on AP? You may be able to explain the stuff around  
> the XO by linking to the relevant XS setup documentation.
>

I'm unclear.  I am envisioning a wireless AP with some preset ESSID.
Currently, after trying to get a lease from a USB device or an SD
device, the activate.py script (in the initramfs) tries to associate
with a schoolserver on mesh channels 1, 6, and 11.

http://dev.laptop.org/git?p=users/cscott/olpcrd-rootskel;a=blob;f=src-olpc/activate.py;h=fe563df6d71d8e162a2714578aa7c81a13f53e2b;hb=HEAD#l27

After connection it sends its serial number over a raw socket to the
server on 172.18.0.1 port 191.  It expects to get back a lease file
in which it can find its own lease.  Then processing of the activation
lease contiues as normal.  We now have the server-side code to do this. 

The code could be changed to point to a specific infra AP ESSID.  The
fact this stuff has to be signed makes it difficult to configure this;
at best we could provide a list of supported APs.

> - On "Can you put this feature on the roadmap:" I see that it has Trac  
> #1504 but I don't see this very useful Readme (or Specification) that  
> Douglas wrote linked anywhere.
> Can we include that somewhere off the roadmap?
>
> The nice thing is that this will become the documentation so Douglas is  
> way ahead of the curve already :-)
>
> - On users, can someone run this design by the technical leads in Peru  
> and Ethiopia and get their input and sign off?
>

For warehouse update and activation I am sure the Peru leads are good
with this and will move to it immediately when it works.  They don't
currently have school servers so the activation and update are going to
happen wirelessly in the warehouse.  Currently this is taking a lot of
manual effort and I'm sure the change will be welcome.

> We sometimes have a hard time coordinating communication with the users  
> so let's exchange one round of e-mail to be clear on who gathers this  
> input before we all hit them with slightly different e-mails at the same  
> time.
>
> FYI on Peru, I put everything I heard from them (albeit second hand)  
> here: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/9.1.0#Peru
>
> They expressed strong interest in lease management (AKA how long an XO  
> is activated for how it gets deactivated and reactivated when needed  
> etc). Can we include any details about how this feature interacts with  
> that? It may be that this works exactly the same as activating from USB  
> stick so n/a for lease management changes but my impression is that Peru  
> will want to know.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Greg S
>
>
> Erik Garrison wrote:
>> On Thu, Sep 04, 2008 at 11:18:31AM +1200, Martin Langhoff wrote:
>>> A couple of notes related to it.
>>>
>>> On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 12:07 AM, Greg Smith
>>>> Can you put this feature on the roadmap:
>>>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XS_Roadmap
>>> It's already there - we're using Trac's "status overview" searches,
>>> have a look :-)
>>>
>>>
>>> What happens is that - paraphrasing your email...
>>>
>>>> someone prepping XOs before distribution to the field opens
>>>> XO and turns it on. That is all they have to do.
>>>> Who is the lead customer for this feature?
>>> Peru, Ethiopia. They've been asking for it, we discussed this in the
>>> last 2 phone meetings :-)
>>>
>>
>> It would be be immediately practical in a warehouse setting, where
>> managing a key with a bunch of activation leases is a pain.
>>
>> Now to get wireless installation/upgrade ready for use in the
>> warehouses... all we need is a signed 'nandcast' boot image.
>>
>> Erik
>>