Josh Siviour
068aef5589
* feat: scaffold DDIL E2E harness (cluster, SSH, daemon client) Phase 1 of the DDIL E2E test harness (mulga-siv-5.1). Adds the tests/e2e/ddil/ package tree with the three harness primitives required by every sibling scenario/fault bead: - harness/cluster.go — Cluster, Node, ClusterFromEnv, NodeFromEnv - harness/ssh.go — typed SSH transport backed by golang.org/x/crypto/ssh, interface so dry-run and tests can stub it - harness/daemon_client.go — thin HTTPS wrapper over /local/status, /local/instances (placeholder types until daemon-local-autonomy lands), plus /health for scaffolding validation Also adds doc.go and README.md (run instructions + env-var contract). All harness files carry //go:build e2e so default builds skip them. Plan: docs/development/improvements/ddil-e2e-test-harness.md §0, §1. * feat: add DDIL harness fault injection and link profiles Phase 2 of the DDIL E2E test harness (mulga-siv-5.2). Adds the fault injection and netem primitives consumed by Scenarios A–F: - harness/fault.go — PartitionNode (per-peer iptables DROP with orchestrator-SSH sanity check), HealNode, KillNATS, StartNATS, RestartDaemonOnly, WaitForMode (polls /local/status for typed DaemonMode enum) - harness/netem.go — ApplyNetem (tc qdisc replace, idempotent), ClearNetem (idempotent clear) - harness/profiles.go — LinkProfile struct plus LAN, WAN, LTEDegraded, SATCOM, HFData, Flapping constants (unvalidated approximations per plan §2 table; validation tracking lives in TEST_COVERAGE.md) All files carry //go:build e2e. Flapping profile is defined but ApplyNetem rejects it — flap orchestration lands with the scenarios that need it. Plan: docs/development/improvements/ddil-e2e-test-harness.md §1, §2. * feat: add DDIL harness witness VM helpers LaunchWitnessVM launches a counter VM via the cluster's AWS gateway, locates its QEMU host via ps, and captures a baseline counter reading. ReadCounter/AssertProgressed tunnel SSH through the host's QEMU hostfwd port to verify the workload progressed across a fault. README documents the new DDIL_WITNESS_* and DDIL_GUEST_SSH_* env vars. * feat: add DDIL harness snapshot and state assertions TakeSnapshot / AssertPreserved compare /local/instances pre and post fault, failing if IDs disappear or a running/pending instance regresses to a terminal state. LocalStateRevision / AssertMonotonic read the local state file revision from /local/status so scenarios can detect the daemon rewinding its persisted state. * feat: add DDIL harness reset, retry, and quarantine ResetAllNodes brings every node back to a clean baseline (iptables -F, tc netem clear on any interface carrying one, spinifex-nats and spinifex-daemon started) then waits for cluster health — daemon /health 200 plus NATS routez peer count matching len(nodes)-1, mirroring the shell suite's verify_nats_cluster predicate. AssertCleanState is a pre-scenario baseline check that recovers a dirty state via ResetAllNodes instead of failing outright, since a dirty baseline usually means a previous scenario's cleanup was skipped. Run wraps each scenario with quarantine handling (DDIL_QUARANTINED skip) and a single reset-and-retry on failure. First-attempt failures are not hidden; the retry is a diagnostic aid rather than a flake mask. bd: mulga-siv-5.5 * feat: DDIL scenarios skeleton (6x t.Skip + TestMain + coverage drift) Phase 1 of mulga-siv-5 (DDIL E2E harness): all six scenarios land as TestScenario<L>_... stubs that t.Skipf on their hardening-epic dependency. TestMain installs a SIGINT/SIGTERM trap that ResetAllNodes before exiting; DDIL_DRY_RUN=1 short-circuits cluster setup and logs the planned scenarios. TestCoverageDrift AST-parses sibling *_test.go files and reconciles them against the DDIL table in TEST_COVERAGE.md so Phase 2/3 flips cannot silently diverge doc from code. TestHarnessSmoke covers the AssertCleanState + ResetAllNodes round trip for the "full run on real cluster" acceptance bullet. * feat: add DDIL E2E CI workflow (workflow_dispatch only) Phase 1 CI wiring for mulga-siv-5. Mirrors e2e_real_multi's provision/bootstrap/teardown shape against the same ci-multi runner and tofu-cluster, but runs the Go harness on the runner (outside the cluster) so its SSH path survives the peer-traffic iptables rules that Scenario C installs on a cluster node. Triggers are workflow_dispatch only — nightly cron and on-main-merge come in mulga-siv-5.8 once ≥4 scenarios are asserting. results.json (go test -json) uploads as an artifact so flake-rate visibility can be built on gh run view + structured output, per the design doc.
What is Spinifex? · Platform · Components · Architecture · Installation · Docs
Spinifex: An Open Source AWS-Compatible Stack for Bare-Metal, Edge, and On-Prem Deployments
Spinifex developed by Mulga Defense Corporation is an open source infrastructure platform that brings the core services of AWS—like EC2, VPC, EBS, and S3—to environments where running in the cloud isn't an option. Whether you're deploying to edge sites, private data-centers, or need to operate in low-connectivity or highly contested environments, Spinifex gives you AWS-style workflows on your own hardware.
What is Spinifex?
Spinifex replicates essential AWS primitives—virtual machines, block volumes, and object storage—using lightweight, self-contained components that are easy to deploy and integrate.
It's designed for developers and operators who need:
- Cloud-like infrastructure without the cloud
- Minimal dependencies, full control
- Drop-in compatibility with tools like the AWS CLI, SDKs, and Terraform
- A secure cloud environment you control and own the entire hardware, network and software stack
You can run Spinifex on a few servers in a rack, a field site, or anywhere centralized cloud services aren't feasible.
The Platform
From commodity hardware up to unmodified AWS tooling, every layer is replaceable and yours to own.
Core Components
Spinifex (Compute Service – EC2 Alternative)
Spinifex is a minimal VM orchestration layer built on top of QEMU, exposing APIs similar to EC2. It manages lifecycle operations like start, stop, and terminate, using QEMU's QMP interface. Designed to be straightforward and scriptable, Spinifex lets you launch VMs using the AWS CLI, SDKs, or Terraform—without needing Kubernetes or heavyweight orchestrators. Keep in mind, you can also setup a Kubernetes environment using Spinifex with underlying instances.
- EC2-like VM management on bare metal
- Launches with cloud-init metadata support
- Works with standard AWS tooling
Viperblock (Block Storage – EBS Alternative)
Viperblock is a high-performance, WAL-backed block storage service that replicates volumes across multiple nodes. It's built for reliability and speed, with support for snapshots, recovery, and direct connection to QEMU instances using NBD or virtio-blk.
- Fast, durable virtual disks
- Replication for resilience
- Exposed over NBD or embedded in VMs
- Supports high performance WAL logs using local NVMe drives to reduce IO traffic to S3.
- In memory read/write block cache for blazing performance.
Predastore (Object Storage – S3-Compatible)
Predastore is a fully S3-compatible object storage system. It supports the AWS S3 API, including Signature V4 authentication, multipart uploads, and Terraform provisioning. Data is chunked and distributed across nodes using Reed-Solomon erasure coding, making it fault-tolerant and ideal for large-scale or low-bandwidth scenarios.
- S3-compatible API and auth
- Multipart uploads, streaming reads/writes
- Data redundancy with Reed-Solomon encoding
Architecture at a Glance
Every AWS API call is authenticated at the gateway, published to a NATS subject, and answered by whichever daemon claims it. Daemons are stateless — scale horizontally by starting more. No etcd, no Kubernetes, no external control plane. Deep dive: docs/DESIGN.md.
Key Features
AWS-Compatible Interfaces – Provision infrastructure with awscli, Terraform, or SDKs you already use.
- Designed for Control – Run on your own terms, whether that's in a datacenter, remote site, or sensitive environment.
- Minimal Dependencies – Each service is standalone and avoids complex orchestration layers.
- Works Offline – No reliance on centralized cloud services or external networks.
- Open Source – Licensed under AGPL 3.0. Fork it, extend it, or deploy it as-is.
Installation
Installation requires an Ubuntu / Debian system. See the detailed documentation at https://docs.mulgadc.com for maintaining and installing Spinifex.
Single Node Install
The installation is straightforward to set up and running on a single node for testing purposes.
curl -fsSL https://install.mulgadc.com | bash
sudo /usr/local/share/spinifex/setup-ovn.sh --management
sudo spx admin init --node node1 --nodes 1
sudo systemctl start spinifex.target
export AWS_PROFILE=spinifex
aws ec2 describe-instance-types
Development Setup
For a complete development environment see the Source Install documentation
Component Repositories
Spinifex coordinates these independent components:
- Predastore - S3-compatible object storage
- Viperblock - EBS-compatible block storage
Each component can be developed independently. See component-specific documentation for focused development guides.
Spinifex UI
Spinifex ships with a built-in web console — an optional alternative to the AWS CLI, SDKs, and Terraform. If you're familiar with the AWS Management Console, the Spinifex UI fills the same role: a browser-based view of your instances, volumes, buckets, VPCs, and IAM resources, without leaving your own network.
The console is served by each node on port 3000 over TLS, and becomes available as soon as spinifex.target is up:
open https://YOUR_NODE_IP:3000
- Same API, different surface. Every action in the UI is the same AWS SigV4 call the CLI makes — so RBAC, audit trails, and IAM policies apply uniformly.
- Single sign-on against your AWS credentials. Log in with the access keys from
~/.aws/credentialson the node where Spinifex is installed — no separate user database. - Self-hosted, works offline. The UI is embedded in the Spinifex binary and served from the node itself. No external CDN, no analytics calls, no cloud dependency.
For the full walkthrough — first-time TLS certificate trust, login, and feature tour — see Launching the Web UI in the cluster setup guide.
Development Philosophy
Built by Engineers, For Engineers
Spinifex is developed by experienced infrastructure engineers with deep AWS expertise, including former AWS team members who understand the intricacies of building production-grade cloud services. Our team brings decades of combined experience from AWS, enterprise infrastructure, and edge computing environments.
Real-World Experience:
- Production AWS service development and operations
- Large-scale infrastructure deployment and management
- Edge computing and resource-constrained environments
- Enterprise security and compliance requirements
AI-Assisted Development
While Spinifex is architected and implemented by experienced engineers, we leverage Claude Code (Anthropic's AI coding assistant) to accelerate certain development tasks. This approach combines human expertise with AI efficiency:
How We Use Claude Code:
- Code Generation: Boilerplate AWS API structures and handlers
- Documentation: Comprehensive development guides and API documentation
- Testing: Test case generation and validation scenarios
- Refactoring: Large-scale code restructuring and optimization
What Remains Human-Driven:
- Architecture Decisions: Core system design and scalability choices
- Security Implementation: Authentication, encryption, and threat modeling
- Performance Optimization: Real-world performance tuning and benchmarking
- Production Operations: Deployment strategies and operational procedures
This hybrid approach ensures Spinifex benefits from both proven engineering expertise and modern development acceleration, while maintaining the quality and reliability standards required for production infrastructure.
License
Spinifex is open source under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. You're free to use, modify, and deploy it—anywhere you need reliable infrastructure without depending on centralized cloud platforms.