tinycloud

Minimal module for launching compute clusters with node.js. Lets you spin up a cluster on Amazon EC2, monitor its status, and login to its nodes. Use and extend as a module, or use as a CLI with the help of clicloud.

There are already a couple great modules for cloud deployments, like kirby and pkgcloud, but they are either very specific (targeting single nodes) or very broad (supporting compute, storage, etc.). tinycloud is just enough to make and play with a cluster!

NOTE: This module launches clusters, which can cost real money. It is also still under development. Carefully monitor your AWS usage!

BONUS: tinycloud is a cat from the Warriors series

install

Install as a command-line tool

npm install tinycloud -g

Or as a module in your project

npm install tinycloud --save

use as a cli

You can use as a CLI to launch and monitor your cluster. First make sure to set the environmental variables AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY. To create a cluster you just need to give it a name (we'll call it voltron) and the name of key pair (we'll call it mykey)

tinycloud launch voltron -k mykey

To make a bigger cluster, just add more workers

tinycloud launch voltron -k mykey -n 5

Once launched, you can list all instances

tinycloud list voltron

And login to your nodes with the help of ssh2 by providing a identity key file

tinycloud login voltron -i mykey.pem

By default you'll log into the master. You can also specify a group and/or instance number

tinycloud login voltron master -i mykey.pem

tinycloud login voltron worker 4 -i mykey.pem

Shut down your cluster with

tinycloud destroy voltron

If you want to test the launch process without creating instances use a dry run

tinycloud launch -d

See all options with

tinycloud --help

use as a module

Example launching a cluster with 1 master and 1 worker

var tinycloud = require('tiny-cloud')
 
var options = {
  dry: false, // do a dry run
  image: 'ami-d05e75b8', // amazon image
  type: 'm3.medium', // machine instance type
  cluster: 'voltron', // name of cluster
  ports: [22, 80], // ports to open
  key: 'mykey' // name of
}
 
var groups = [
  {tag: 'master', count: 1},
  {tag: 'worker', count: 1}
]
 
var cloud = new tinycloud(options, groups)
 
cloud.launch( function(err, data) {
  if (err) console.log(err)
  if (data) console.log(data)
})

API

cloud = tinycloud(options, groups)

Create a new cloud

options

• dry do a dry run
• image amazon image
• type machine instance type
• cluster name of cluster
• ports ports to open
• key name of key file

groups

each corresponds to one or more tagged collections of instances

[
  {tag: 'master', count: 1},
  {tag: 'scheduler', count: 1},
  {tag: 'worker', count: 10}
]

cloud.launch([cb])

Launch a cluster.

cb if provided will be called with cb(error, data). If succesful, data will be a list of instance reservations (one per requested group).

cloud.destroy([cb])

Terminate a cluster.

cb if provided will be called with cb(error, data). If successful, data will be a list of terminated instances.

cloud.list([tag], cb)

List instances associated with a cluster.

tag restricts the list to only those instances belonging to the group with that tag, e.g. master or worker. Default is to list all instances.

cb if provided will be called with cb(error, data). If successful, data will be a list of instances.

cloud.login([tag], [ind], keyfile, [cb])

Login to a single instance associated with a cluster.

tag specifies instances belonging to the specified group. If not provided, will use the first group.

ind specifies indth instance belonging to the specified group. If not provided, will use the first instance.

keyfile required for authentication.

cb if provided will be called with cb(error).

cloud.execute([tag], [ind], keyfile, cmd, [cb])

Execute a command on one or more instances assocaited with a cluster.

tag specifies instances belonging to the specified group. If not provided, will use all groups.

ind specifies the indth instance belonging to the specified group. If not provided, will use all instances.

keyfile required for authentication.

cmd is the string to execute on the instances.

cb if provided will be called with cb(error).