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box

Querying and configuration-free ssh access to servers.

Non Ambiata Note

There are Ambiata specific defaults that need to be improved #79, until then, this project is useful in its current form via a local configuration file (specified via BOX_FILE).

Usage

# Get the address of a random server matching the filter
box ip vapour:live
box ip vapour:lab
box ip vapour:dev

# Get the address of a specific server
box ip vapour:dev:kermit.green
box ip ::kermit.green.493

# SSH to a random server matching the filter
box ssh vapour:lab

# SSH to a specific server
box ssh vapour:dev:kermit.green

# List available servers
box ls
box ls vapour
box ls :live
box ls :dev

# rsync source.txt in the current working directory to a file remote.txt
# in your home directory on vapour:dev:kermit
box rsync vapour:dev:kermit -- -aH source.txt :remote.txt

# rsync source.txt in the current working directory to an absolute file
# path /tmp/remote.txt in your home directory on vapour:dev:kermit
box rsync vapour:dev:kermit -- -aH source.txt :/tmp/remote.txt

# rsync remote.txt in your remote home directory to a file local.txt
box rsync vapour:dev:kermit -- -aH :remote.txt local.txt

# rsync an absolute directory in to a local dir
box rsync vapour:dev:kermit -- -aH :/mnt/me/plots plots

# NOTE WELL: -aH is the 'just works' options for rsync, and should be
#            all you need for almost all cases.

AutoSSH

To make your ssh tunnel persistent, box ssh gives you an option for using autossh.

You will need to install autossh locally.

Then use --auto with box ssh.

# Example usage of --auto with box ssh
box -e ci ssh --auto :gateway -- -D 6666 -N

Environment Variables

Variable Default Description
BOX_USER current unix user The username used to log in to the ssh server
BOX_IDENTITY ~/.ssh/ambiata_rsa Path to the identity file used to log in to the ssh server
BOX_ANSI_ESCAPES 1 When attached to a terminal, allow the use of ANSI escape codes to change the title of the terminal, or color box's output. Set this to 0 to disable.
BOX_STORE s3://ambiata-dispensary/box/v2 Override for when the -e flag doesn't work. Use s3://ambiata-dispensary/box/*env*.v2

Filters

As shown above, box commands accept a filter as an argument.

A filter takes one of the following forms:

CLIENT
CLIENT:FLAVOUR
CLIENT:FLAVOUR:NAME

All of the components of the filter are optional, although for most commands you need to specify at least one of the parts. For example, you could choose the last form, but omit the CLIENT and FLAVOUR components if you only wanted to filter using a NAME:

::waldorf.golden

Random Servers?

For box ip and box ssh we pick a random target server which matches the filter specified. The thinking behind this is that we get a load balancing effect, so not everyone is hammering the same server.

box ssh also chooses a random gateway to bounce through for the same reason.

Advanced Usage

Tunnelling

Example of creating an ssh tunnel using box using port 8787 on both local and remote ends of the tunnel.

box ssh vapour:dev:fozzie -- -L 8787:localhost:8787

Completion Support

Bash

For bash completion, you need to source the box-completion.bash from your .bashrc or .bash_profile.

Z Shell

For zsh completion, you need to copy or symlink _box.zsh to directory in your fpath and make sure it is called _box.

For example, I have created a symlink:

ln -s $HOME/src/ambiata/box/_box.zsh $HOME/.config/zsh/completions/_box

and I have the following in my .zshrc:

fpath=($HOME/.config/zsh/completions $fpath)

fzf

fzf is a general-purpose command-line fuzzy finder. Below are some shell scripts which allow you to use it to quickly select the environment and the instance.

To install fzf on OS/X, you can use brew:

$ brew install fzf

Z Shell

To integrate fzf with box on zsh, add the following to your .zshrc:

fbox() {
  BOX_ENVIRONMENT=$(box --bash-completion-index 2 --bash-completion-word box --bash-completion-word -e | fzf)
  if [ ! -z "$BOX_ENVIRONMENT" ]; then
    BOX_INSTANCE=$(box -e $BOX_ENVIRONMENT ls | tail -n +2 | fzf | awk '{print $1 ":" $2 "::" $6}')
    if [ ! -z "$BOX_INSTANCE" ]; then
      print -z "box -e $BOX_ENVIRONMENT ssh $BOX_INSTANCE"
    fi
  fi
}

You can then use fbox to easily construct a box ssh command for connecting to a box.

Bash

To integrate fzf with box on bash, add the following to your .bashrc or .bash_profile:

fbox() {
  BOX_ENVIRONMENT=$(box --bash-completion-index 2 --bash-completion-word box --bash-completion-word -e | fzf)
  if [ ! -z "$BOX_ENVIRONMENT" ]; then
    BOX_INSTANCE=$(box -e $BOX_ENVIRONMENT ls | tail -n +2 | fzf | awk '{print $1 ":" $2 "::" $6}')
    if [ ! -z "$BOX_INSTANCE" ]; then
      # add command to history so it can recalled quickly
      eval "history -s \"box -e $BOX_ENVIRONMENT ssh $BOX_INSTANCE\""
      # execute command
      eval "box -e $BOX_ENVIRONMENT ssh $BOX_INSTANCE"
    fi
  fi
}

This works slightly differently to the zsh integration because bash lacks the equivalent of print -z. Instead we manually add the command to the history, then execute the command, without giving the user a chance to edit it.