ACE Network Manager

Safe network configuration manager for edge deployments with automatic rollback protection.

Problem

The netplan tool in Ubuntu 20.04 and 24.04 has critical bugs that fail to properly restore:

• Routing tables after a failed netplan try
• DHCP-acquired settings
• Complex multi-interface configurations

This causes production issues in edge environments where physical access is difficult or impossible.

Solution

ACE Network Manager provides:

• Atomic configuration changes with automatic rollback
• Timeout-based confirmation requiring user verification (default: 5 minutes)
• Semaphore-based state tracking that persists across reboots
• Systemd integration for post-reboot restoration
• Human-readable backups with timestamped versions
• Network connectivity validation before finalizing changes

Installation

# Install with UV
uv pip install ace-network-manager

# Or from source
git clone https://github.com/aceiot/ace-network-manager
cd ace-network-manager
uv sync
uv run ace-network-manager --version

Quick Start

# Apply a new network configuration (5 minute timeout)
sudo ace-network-manager apply /etc/netplan/00-new-config.yaml

# Confirm the configuration is working
sudo ace-network-manager confirm

# Or manually rollback if something went wrong
sudo ace-network-manager rollback

# Check current status
ace-network-manager status

Features

Safe Configuration Changes

1. Pre-change backup - Creates timestamped backup of current config
2. Comprehensive validation - Pydantic-based validation with 10+ error checks
3. Apply - Applies configuration via netplan
4. Connectivity check - Validates network is working
5. Timeout watcher - Monitors for user confirmation
6. Auto-rollback - Reverts if not confirmed within timeout
7. Post-reboot check - Restores on boot if pending confirmation

Comprehensive Validation (NEW!)

Type-safe Pydantic models catch errors before applying:

1. Gateway validation - Ensures gateways are host IPs, not network addresses (.0 or .255)
2. Subnet overlap detection - Prevents multiple interfaces in same subnet
3. Gateway in subnet check - Verifies gateway is reachable from interface
4. CIDR notation enforcement - IP addresses must include subnet mask
5. MTU range validation - MTU must be 68-9000 bytes
6. MAC address format validation - Validates MAC address syntax
7. VLAN ID validation - VLAN IDs must be 1-4094
8. VLAN parent existence - VLAN parent interfaces must exist
9. DNS server validation - DNS servers must be valid IP addresses
10. Version validation - Netplan version must be 2

All models are fully type-hinted to prevent human errors during development!

Backup Management

Backups are stored in human-readable format:

/var/lib/ace-network-manager/backups/
  2024-10-30-143022-550e8400/
    metadata.json
    00-installer-config.yaml
    checksums.sha256
  latest -> 2024-10-30-143022-550e8400/

State Tracking

State is tracked with JSON semaphore files that survive reboots:

{
  "state_id": "550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000",
  "status": "pending",
  "timeout_at": "2024-10-30T14:35:22.123456Z",
  "backup_path": "/var/lib/ace-network-manager/backups/...",
  ...
}

CLI Commands

prepare

NEW! Prepare a copy of the current network configuration for editing:

ace-network-manager prepare [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -o, --output PATH     Output file path (default: ./netplan-config-<timestamp>.yaml)
  --source-dir PATH     Source netplan directory (default: /etc/netplan)
  --validate/--no-validate  Validate configuration (default: validate)

Examples:
  # Copy current config to local directory with timestamp
  ace-network-manager prepare

  # Copy to specific file
  ace-network-manager prepare -o my-network-config.yaml

validate

NEW! Validate a netplan configuration file without applying it:

ace-network-manager validate CONFIG_FILE

Performs comprehensive validation including:
  - YAML syntax checking
  - Schema validation
  - Gateway in subnet verification
  - Duplicate subnet detection
  - 10+ common network configuration error checks

Example:
  ace-network-manager validate /path/to/config.yaml

apply

Apply a new network configuration with rollback protection:

ace-network-manager apply [OPTIONS] CONFIG_FILE

Options:
  --timeout INTEGER              Seconds until auto-rollback (default: 300)
  --skip-connectivity-check      Skip network validation (dangerous!)

confirm

Confirm that a pending configuration is working correctly:

ace-network-manager confirm [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --state-id TEXT  Specific state to confirm (default: latest)

rollback

Manually roll back to a previous configuration:

ace-network-manager rollback [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --state-id TEXT  State to roll back (default: latest pending)
  --backup PATH    Specific backup file to restore

status

Show current status of network configuration management:

ace-network-manager status [OPTIONS]

Options:
  --json  Output as JSON

Architecture

NetworkConfigManager (orchestrator)
  StateTracker (semaphore files, cross-reboot persistence)
  BackupManager (timestamped backups with checksums)
  TimeoutWatcher (async monitoring, automatic rollback)
  NetplanBackend (validation, apply, connectivity checks)
  SystemdIntegration (boot-time restoration service)

Development

Setup

# Clone and install dependencies
git clone https://github.com/aceiot/ace-network-manager
cd ace-network-manager
uv sync --dev

# Run linting
uv run ruff check src/

# Run type checking
uv run pyrefly src/

# Run tests
uv run pytest tests/ -v

Testing

# Unit tests
uv run pytest tests/unit/ -v

# Integration tests (requires systemd)
uv run pytest tests/integration/ -v -m requires_systemd

# Coverage
uv run pytest tests/ --cov=ace_network_manager --cov-report=html

Implementation Status

• Phase 1: Project structure and tooling
• Pydantic models for netplan validation
• State models with comprehensive type hints
• Network configuration validation (10+ error checks)
• CLI commands: prepare and validate
• Unit tests for validation (22 tests passing)
• Phase 2: State management implementation
• Phase 3: Backup system implementation
• Phase 4: Network integration (netplan apply)
• Phase 5: Timeout watcher
• Phase 6: Systemd integration
• Phase 7: Core orchestration
• Phase 8: CLI command implementation (apply, confirm, rollback, status)
• Phase 9: Integration testing
• Phase 10: Documentation and polish

Documentation

• State Machine Analysis - State transitions and safety mechanisms
• Testing Strategy - Comprehensive testing approach

License

MIT

Credits

Developed by ACE IoT Solutions for safe network management in edge deployments.