Overview

The Candlepin Migration Validation (cmv) utility is a simple tool for verifying the integrity of a Candlepin deployment by taking snapshots before performing a, potentially destructive, operation, and then verifying it afterwards. If cmv detects any discrepancies, it will display a warning or error, depending on the perceived severity of the issue.

As the cmv tool uses the Candlepin API to perform all of its operations, it can also be used to verify/identify any API changes between versions.

General Usage

Usage of the cmv tool is a two-step process: collecting a snapshot before performing a migration (or any other potentially destructive operation), and then verifying the snapshot afterwards.

Note: Candlepin must be deployed and started before issuing any cmv commands. While using cmv, try to limit the usage of the Candlepin server, as concurrent modification could lead to mismatches in the snapshots and cause the verification to generate false positives.

Taking a Snapshot

Taking a snapshot is as simple as providing the snapshot command:

~/devel/candlepin/server(main) $ ./bin/cmv snapshot

cmv will begin pulling information for each registered organization, generating the following output for each:

Fetching data for org "donaldduck"...
  Retrieving consumers...      done.
  Retrieving pools...          done.
  Retrieving subscriptions...  done.
  Retrieving products...       done.

By default, the snapshot data will be saved to “snapshot.zip”, though this can be specified with the --file [FILE] option. Additionally, if only specific organizations are of interest, they may be specified after the command:

~/devel/candlepin/server(main) $ ./bin/cmv --file donaldduck.zip snapshot donaldduck

Verifying a Snapshot

Verifying a snapshot is just as easy. After performing the migration, simply run cmv with the verify command:

~/devel/candlepin/server(crog/multiorg) $ ./bin/cmv verify

If all went well with the migration, cmv will output a general success message:

Deployment successfully verified against snapshot: snapshot.zip

However, if cmv detected a change in the data, warnings or errors will be displayed:

Deployment failed validation against snapshot snapshot.zip with 2 messages

WARNING: Key "productId" does not exist in deployment data at: orgs[donaldduck].pools[8a8d09d64dd3f154014dd3f21ed71fa5].productAttributes[arch].productId
Expected: awesomeos-docker

ERROR: Value mismatch at: orgs[donaldduck].pools[8a8d09d64dd3f154014dd3f21ed71fa5].productAttributes[arch].created
Expected: 2015-06-08T16:12:49.751+0000
Actual:   2015-06-08T16:12:24.827+0000

As with the snapshot command, the snapshot file used for verification can be specified with the --file [FILE] option, and specific organizations may be provided:

~/devel/candlepin/server(main) $ ./bin/cmv --file donaldduck.zip verify donaldduck

Filtering Verification Messages

When cmv generates a validation message may indicate an issue with the migration/operation (which may or may not be solved by reverting and retrying). In some cases, though, these issues may be expected, unnecessary noise. In such an event, we can exclude those fields from the verification report with the --exclude [FIELD] option:

~/devel/candlepin/server(crog/multiorg) $ ./bin/cmv --exclude orgs.pools.productAttributes.productId --exclude orgs.pools.productAttributes.created verify

which results in:

Deployment successfully verified against snapshot: snapshot.zip

Conversely, if we’re only interested in certain fields, we can include them to, implicitly, exclude everything else:

~/devel/candlepin/server(crog/multiorg) $ ./bin/cmv --include orgs.pools.productAttributes.productId verify

which gives us:

Deployment failed validation against snapshot snapshot.zip with 1 messages

WARNING: Key "productId" does not exist in deployment data at: orgs[donaldduck].pools[8a8d09d64dd3f154014dd3f21ed71fa5].productAttributes[arch].productId
Expected: awesomeos-docker

Include and exclude filters can be combined in any way, with the most explicit filters “winning.” For instance, excluding orgs.pools and including orgs.pools.productAttributes will exclude all properties of orgs.pools except for productAttributes.

CMV Options and Commands

Usage: cmv [options] <command> [org1 [, org2, [, org3...]]]

Options:
        --username [USER]            Username to connect as; defaults to "admin".
        --password [PASSWORD]        Password to authenticate the user as; defaults to "admin".
        --server [SERVERNAME]        Server name FQDN; defaults to "localhost"
        --port [PORTNUM]             Port number for the Candlepin server; defaults to 8443
        --context [CONTEXT]          Context to use; defaults to "candlepin"
        --uuid [UUID]                UUID to use; defaults to nil
        --nossl                      Do not use SSL; defaults to false
        --trusted                    User should be trusted; defaults to false
    -f, --file [FILE]                The snapshot file to read/write; defaults to "snapshot.zip"
    -x, --exclude [EXCLUDE]          A field to ignore during verification; may be specified more than once
    -i, --include [INCLUDE]          A field to examine during verification, overriding any excludes; may be specified more than once
        --verbose                    Enable Verbose Logging
    -?, --help                       Displays command and option information
    -c, --commands                   Displays the available commands

Commands:
  snapshot          Creates a snapshot of the products, content and pools for the specified org(s)
  verify            Verifies the current data for the specified org(s) matches the last/given snapshot
Last modified on 28 March 2024