Josh Siviour
129bfc0fb5
* feat: join nodegroup workers via cluster NLB endpoint Under the Set-B managed-CP-VPC topology the control plane runs in the system-account CP VPC while nodegroup workers launch in the customer VPC. The agent user-data set K3S_URL to the in-VPC control-plane ENI IP (:6443), which sits in a different, unpeered VPC and is unreachable, so the join path was dead. Point K3S_URL at the published cluster NLB endpoint (meta.Endpoint, https://<frontend-ip>:443, the :443->:6443 listener kubectl already uses). Guard CreateNodegroup on a non-empty endpoint. mulga-siv-298 * feat: gate nodegroup ACTIVE on workers registering Ready launchNodegroupInfra flipped the nodegroup to ACTIVE the moment RunInstances returned, so a worker that booted but never joined left the nodegroup falsely ACTIVE with no usable capacity. Gate ACTIVE on the cluster's Ready-node count (meta.NodeCount, refreshed by the cluster reconciler from the CP NATS state report — Ready nodes only) rising by the desired worker count over the create-time baseline. On timeout the nodegroup is marked CREATE_FAILED with its instance IDs retained for the reclaim path. Mirrors the CP reconciler's healthy-observe gating. Bounded by injectable timeout/poll knobs. mulga-siv-299 * feat(eks): private endpoint access via cross-account Set A ENI Make EndpointPrivateAccess real: in-VPC workers and kubectl reach the control plane through a customer-VPC (Set A) resident ENI on the cluster NLB's LB VM, removing the public-NLB hairpin and the NAT-GW egress path. Teardown: the Set A ENI is an extra cross-account NIC on the LB VM, not its primary, so the instance-terminate cascade never reclaims it. Detach (store-clear) the stale attachment before deleting, so private clusters delete cleanly instead of looping on InvalidNetworkInterface.InUse. Refs: mulga-siv-301 * fix(vpc): honor SecurityGroupRuleIds in RevokeSecurityGroup ingress/egress Modern Terraform (aws_vpc_security_group_ingress_rule) revokes per-rule resources by SecurityGroupRuleId with empty IpPermissions. The handlers only read IpPermissions, so they returned success while removing nothing; the surviving SG-reference rule then pinned both SGs undeletable (DependencyViolation), deadlocking destroy of mutually-referencing SGs. Resolve SecurityGroupRuleIds to their stored rules and remove them (malformed -> InvalidSecurityGroupRuleId.Malformed, absent -> NotFound). Refs: mulga-siv-321 * fix(vpc): reap the main route table on DeleteVpc CreateVpc auto-creates a main route table and DeleteRouteTable refuses to delete a main RT (AWS-faithful), so nothing reclaimed it — every deleted VPC leaked one orphaned main RT in the rtb KV bucket. DeleteVpc now reaps the VPC's main route table before deleting the VPC record. Refs: mulga-siv-322 * fix: make AttachRolePolicy and AssociateRouteTable atomic via KV CAS Concurrent writes to a single role / route table record used a blind read-modify-Put with no optimistic-concurrency guard, so parallel writers racing from the same revision clobbered each other and lost updates. Verified on env19: three parallel policy attachments to one node role kept only one; two parallel subnet associations to one route table kept only one (the provider then timed out waiting for state 'associated'). Route the mutating paths (AttachRolePolicy/DetachRolePolicy, AssociateRouteTable/DisassociateRouteTable) through a revision-guarded Update + bounded retry, matching the existing accountCounterBucket CAS idiom. Add concurrent regression tests covering both lost updates. * docs: add EKS Terraform workbooks (quickstart, addons-access, https-ingress) Three OpenTofu workbooks demonstrating EKS on Spinifex, each ending in a browsable load-balanced demo app: - eks-quickstart: minimal single-node cluster + NodePort demo - eks-addons-access: CoreDNS managed addon + access-entry RBAC - eks-https-ingress: 3-node cluster behind an HTTPS ALB terminating TLS with an ACM-imported self-signed certificate Each covers the Spinifex-specific endpoints, the auto-managed worker SG NodePort pattern, and the omitted addon_version constraint.
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 docs.mulgadc.com for maintaining and installing Spinifex.
Bare Metal ISO
The recommended installation is a bootable x86 installer for bare-metal hardware.
curl -fLO https://iso.mulgadc.com/spinifex.iso
Follow the USB install guide to write the ISO to USB and install on your hardware. The install guide walks through the full process.
Single Node Install
The installation is straightforward to set up and running on a single node for testing purposes. Debian 13 is currently supported, additional Linux distributions are on the immediate roadmap.
Prerequisite: Linux bridge for networking.
Spinifex requires a Linux bridge configured on the host for VM networking. See the single-node install guide prerequisites for setup details.
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.