imbue-mngr-vps-docker 0.1.7

VPS Docker provider base classes for mngr

mngr VPS Docker Provider

Base classes and shared infrastructure for running mngr agents in Docker containers on VPS instances.

This package is a library -- it provides abstract base classes that concrete VPS provider implementations (like mngr_vultr) build on. It does not register any provider backends itself.

Architecture

Each VPS runs exactly one Docker container (1:1 mapping). Docker is used purely as a consistent provisioning mechanism. The VPS stays running at all times; stop/start operates on the container. Destroying the host destroys both the container and the VPS.

User Machine                              VPS
+------------------+                      +-----------------------------------------+
|                  |   SSH (port 22)      |  VPS OS (Debian/Ubuntu)                 |
|  mngr CLI        | ------------------>  |  (Docker commands over SSH)             |
|                  |                      |  Docker Engine (overlay2 on ext4 root)  |
|  ~/.mngr/        |   SSH (port 2222)    |  +-----------------------------------+  |
|    profile/      | ------------------>  |  | Container (sshd)                  |  |
|      providers/  |   direct to          |  |   /mngr -> /mngr-vol/host_dir     |  |
|        <backend>/|   VPS:2222           |  +-----------------------------------+  |
|          keys/   |                      |  Docker named volume                    |
+------------------+                      |  (mngr-host-vol-<host_id_hex>) is a     |
                                          |  bind-options local volume whose        |
                                          |  device= points at:                     |
                                          |    /mngr-btrfs/<host_id_hex>            |
                                          |  (per-host btrfs subvolume on a         |
                                          |   loop-mounted /var/lib/mngr-btrfs.img) |
                                          |    host_state.json                      |
                                          |    agents/<agent_id>.json               |
                                          |    host_dir/...                         |
                                          +-----------------------------------------+

Key design decisions

• Docker commands over SSH: All Docker operations are executed via ssh user@vps docker ..., not via the Docker SDK's remote host feature.
• Direct SSH to container: The container's sshd port (default 2222) is exposed on the VPS's public IP. mngr connects directly to <vps_ip>:2222 with key-based authentication.
• SSH host keys via cloud-init: Host keys are generated locally and injected into the VPS via cloud-init user_data, eliminating TOFU (trust-on-first-use).
• Per-host docker volume on a btrfs subvolume: Each VPS has exactly one mngr-managed Docker named volume (mngr-host-vol-<host_id_hex>), created with --driver=local --opt type=none --opt device=/mngr-btrfs/<host_id_hex> --opt o=bind. The device= path is a real btrfs subvolume on a loop-mounted btrfs filesystem (image file /var/lib/mngr-btrfs.img, mounted at /mngr-btrfs via /etc/fstab), which makes the per-host data eligible for btrfs subvolume snapshot -r for consistent snapshots. mngr reads and writes metadata (host_state.json, agents/<agent_id>.json, host_dir/) directly on the subvolume by extracting Options.device from docker volume inspect. Docker itself keeps default data-root=/var/lib/docker and storage-driver=overlay2 (on the ext4 root); only this single volume's storage lives on btrfs.
• Separate SSH keypairs: The VPS and container each have their own SSH keypair for defense in depth.

Modules

• vps_client.py -- Abstract VpsClientInterface that concrete providers implement (create/destroy instances, snapshots, SSH key management)
• instance.py -- VpsDockerProvider implementation with full lifecycle (create, stop, start, destroy, snapshots, discovery)
• host_store.py -- VpsDockerHostStore for reading/writing host records on the unified per-host volume; constructed via open_host_store(outer, volume_name)
• cloud_init.py -- Cloud-init user_data generation for VPS provisioning
• config.py -- VpsDockerProviderConfig base configuration
• errors.py -- Error hierarchy (VpsDockerError, VpsProvisioningError, etc.)
• primitives.py -- VPS-specific types (VpsInstanceId, VpsInstanceStatus, etc.)

Configuration

The base config (VpsDockerProviderConfig) provides these settings:

Field	Default	Description
host_dir	/mngr	Base directory for mngr data inside containers
default_image	debian:bookworm-slim	Default Docker image
default_idle_timeout	800	Idle timeout in seconds
default_idle_mode	IO	Idle detection mode
ssh_connect_timeout	60.0	SSH connection timeout in seconds
instance_boot_timeout	300.0	Timeout for the cloud instance to become reachable, in seconds
docker_install_timeout	300.0	Docker installation timeout in seconds
container_ssh_port	2222	Container sshd port exposed on VPS
default_region	ewr	Default cloud region (provider subclasses override the default)
default_start_args	()	Default docker run arguments
btrfs_mount_path	/mngr-btrfs	Outer-host path where the loop-mounted btrfs filesystem holding the per-host unified volume is mounted
btrfs_loop_file_path	/var/lib/mngr-btrfs.img	Outer-host path of the loop-backed btrfs image file (allocated with fallocate, persisted across reboots via /etc/fstab)
outer_disk_reserved_gb	20	GB of free space on the outer's root filesystem to reserve at provisioning time; loop file size is free_gb - outer_disk_reserved_gb

Build and start args

Build args (-b) serve two purposes: VPS provisioning and Docker image building.

Provider-specific args use a per-provider prefix (--aws-, --vultr-, --ovh-) and are consumed by the provider. Example shape for the common knobs:

--<provider>-region=REGION       # Cloud region (aws / vultr / ovh)
--<provider>-instance-type=TYPE  # AWS only — EC2 instance type
--<provider>-plan=PLAN           # Vultr / OVH plan
--ovh-datacenter=DC              # OVH-specific alias for --ovh-region=
--git-depth=N                    # Shared — git clone depth (about the *local* mngr build context)

The old shared --vps-* prefix is no longer accepted. Migration: rename --vps-region= to --aws-region= / --vultr-region= / --ovh-region= for the relevant provider; rename --vps-plan= to --aws-instance-type= (AWS) / --vultr-plan= / --ovh-plan=.

All other build args are passed through to docker build on the VPS:

--file=Dockerfile     # Use a specific Dockerfile
.                     # Build context (local directory, uploaded to VPS)

Provider implementations must not use flags that conflict with Docker build flags. All provider-specific flags must use their provider prefix.

Example: Create a host with a custom Dockerfile on a specific Vultr plan:

mngr create my-agent --provider vultr -b --vultr-plan=vc2-2c-4gb -b --file=Dockerfile -b .

Start args (-s) are passed to docker run:

--cpus=2              # CPU limit for container
--memory=4g           # Memory limit

Host lifecycle

Operation	What happens
create	Provision VPS, install Docker via cloud-init, prepare the btrfs loop filesystem on the outer (install btrfs-progs, fallocate + mkfs.btrfs the loop file, loop-mount it, persist via /etc/fstab, btrfs subvolume create the per-host subvolume), create the bind-options unified mngr-host-vol-<hex> volume pointing at that subvolume (seeded with empty host_dir/ and agents/), run container, set up SSH, write host_state.json
stop	docker stop the container. VPS keeps running.
start	docker start the container. Wait for SSH.
destroy	Remove container, best-effort btrfs subvolume delete of the per-host subvolume (drops host_state.json, agents/, and host_dir/ together), remove the docker named volume entry, destroy VPS (which also takes the loop file with it), clean up SSH keys
idle timeout	docker stop the container. VPS keeps running.

Implementing a new VPS provider

To add support for a new VPS provider (e.g., DigitalOcean, Hetzner):

1. Create a new package (e.g., mngr_digitalocean)
2. Implement VpsClientInterface with the provider's API
3. Subclass VpsDockerProvider and override the two discovery extension points:
   • _list_provider_vps_hostnames() — return SSH-reachable hostnames (public IPv4 or provider DNS name like OVH's serviceName) for VPSes tagged with mngr-provider=<self.name>
   • _credentials_configured() — return whether the provider's API credentials are resolvable The shared discovery flow (SSH-into-each-VPS, read state container, fall back to cache on failure) lives on VpsDockerProvider itself; subclasses only need to wire up these two hooks.
4. Create a ProviderBackendInterface implementation and register via pluggy entry points

The btrfs loop-file setup is provided by the base class (_prepare_btrfs_on_outer, called at the top of _setup_container_on_vps); new providers do not need to install btrfs-progs or wire up the loop mount themselves as long as the outer host is a Debian-family Linux with apt-get available.

Compatibility

This release moves the per-host unified docker volume onto a loop-mounted btrfs filesystem (the volume itself becomes a bind-options local volume backed by <btrfs_mount_path>/<host_id_hex>). Existing vultr / ovh hosts created on the prior plain-docker-volume-create layout cannot be discovered or managed after upgrade. Destroy and recreate them. This is the same breaking-change shape as the earlier "two-volume consolidation" change.