Josh Siviour
e1c4f85a36
* feat(network): add routed uplink mode, Routed wiring, and NAT egress rule helper * feat(external): route gateway LRP over transit pool and install VPC SNAT in routed NAT mode * feat(vpcd): support bridge_mode=nat (routed uplink, transit pool, egress rules) * feat(daemon): register EIP handlers unconditionally with disabled-mode stub; seed default subnet per external mode * feat(admin): support --external-mode=nat and suggest it for non-bridgeable uplinks * feat(scripts): add --nat-uplink routed mode to setup-ovn.sh * test(e2e): add routed-NAT single-node natuplink suite Covers the external_mode=nat lane end to end on a nat-initialized node: host transit wiring (veth, br-ext port, ip_forward, iptables egress rules), spinifex.toml contents, disabled EIP surface (empty describe-addresses, UnsupportedOperation on allocate), default subnet MapPublicIpOnLaunch=false, OVN gateway LRP + VPC SNAT on the transit /24, guest outbound egress proven via a serial-console probe (nat mode has no inbound path), and unique transit gateway IPs across VPCs. Suite self-gates on external_mode=nat; registered as e2e-natuplink and in SUITES_BUILD so it compiles in CI. Manifest entry stays commented until CI can provision a nat-mode environment. * feat(ovn): Address_Set CRUD and NAT exempted_ext_ips column Adds the exempted_ext_ips column (optional strong Address_Set ref) to the nbdb NAT model, Address_Set ensure/get with wait-op create semantics, and an in-place SetNATExemptedExtIPs update on the client interface, live client, and mock. Test NB schema gains the column and covers insert-resolves-UUID, converge, clear, and missing-NAT paths. * feat(policy): exempt address set on routed SNAT/EIP rows Adds WithSNATExemptSet so routed mode stamps exempted_ext_ips (the spinifex_nat_exempt Address_Set: transit /24 plus operator extras) on IGW snat and EIP dnat_and_snat rows, keeping VM replies to host-initiated flows un-NATted. AddSNAT gains an idempotency guard keyed on (router, VPC CIDR) with stale-IP replacement, and both AddSNAT and the AddEIP idempotent-skip path patch the ref in place on pre-existing rows. The set is a singleton strong ref and is never deleted. Non-routed modes are unchanged. * feat(host): VPC ingress route primitives for routed-NAT mode EnsureVPCIngressRoute / RemoveVPCIngressRoute manage the host route that sends VPC-CIDR traffic into OVN via the gateway LRP transit IP on the spx-nat veth. Replace/del semantics keep both idempotent; a missing route on removal is not an error. * feat(external): routed ingress leg on IGW attach/detach, reconcile-safe AttachIGW's routed leg now also installs the host VPC ingress route via RoutedIngressHooks, and re-runs on the already-attached path so the reconcile loop restores host routes (and patches legacy SNAT exempt refs) after a reboot — OVN state survives restarts but host routes do not. DetachIGW removes the route alongside the SNAT. vpcd wires the hooks and the spinifex_nat_exempt set (transit /24 + [network] nat_exempt_cidrs, validated nat-mode-only) exclusively in routed-NAT mode; pool/veth/direct pass nil hooks and are unchanged. * test(natuplink): Tier 1 host-ingress phase; docs for jumpbox pattern New Phase 7 asserts the automatic ingress tier: host route to the VPC CIDR via the gateway LRP transit IP, exempted_ext_ips ref on the SNAT row pointing at spinifex_nat_exempt (containing the transit /24), and — after opening the SG from the transit net (default-closed, AWS parity) — ping and an sshd TCP handshake against the instance private IP from the host, which proves the un-SNATted return path. Phase 8 additionally waits for the second VPC's ingress route to appear on IGW attach. vpc-networking README documents the jumpbox pattern, SG note, and nat_exempt_cidrs. * feat(config,admin): public wan pool alongside nat-transit Restructure admin config generation from single-pool scalars to a Pools slice so nat mode can emit both the transit pool and an optional public wan pool. nat mode now accepts --external-pool/--external-source (plus --external-bind-bridge/--gateway-ip when a public pool is requested), validated by the shared resolvePublicPoolFlags helper also used by pool mode. Transit pool always renders first so the IGW allocator picks it. Formation wire format unchanged (nat mode is single-node only). * feat(daemon): enable EIP service and auto-assign in nat mode with public pool External IPAM (and with it the real EIP service, RunInstances public IP auto-assign, and MapPublicIpOnLaunch on default subnets) now activates whenever public pools exist: pool mode as before, plus nat mode when a wan pool rides alongside the transit segment. The transit pool is filtered out of IPAM — its addresses are gateway-LRP plumbing, never allocatable EIPs. Transit-only nat configs keep the disabled EIP stub. * feat(host): per-EIP ingress primitives for routed-NAT mode DetectUplinkFor parses ip route get to find the interface and source IP facing the pool gateway (re-run per ensure: WiFi/cellular uplinks move). EnsureEIPIngress steers an EIP into OVN with a /32 route via the VPC gateway LRP transit IP (src-hinted so host-local traffic still DNATs), answers ARP for the EIP with a proxy neighbor entry (L3 only, same MAC, WiFi-safe), sends gratuitous ARP, and adds per-EIP FORWARD accepts for DROP-policy hosts. RemoveEIPIngress mirrors; missing state tolerated. * feat(policy,vpcd): host EIP binder option on NATManager WithHostEIPBinder injects routed-mode host plumbing hooks. AddEIP binds after priming on both the fresh-add and idempotent-skip paths (host routes and proxy-ARP are volatile even when the OVN row survives, so reconcile re-ensures them after reboot); DeleteEIP unbinds best-effort. The next hop comes from the new gatewayPortIP helper reading the gateway LRP's stamped spinifex:gateway_ip (Networks fallback), with the ext-ID key now an exported policy const shared with the external package. vpcd selects the IGW pool by name instead of index — with two pools in nat mode the gateway allocator must stay on the transit pool — and wires the binder over host.EnsureEIPIngress/RemoveEIPIngress when a public pool is present. EnsureEIPIngress gains an uplink hint so dhcp-sourced pools (gateway unknown until lease) proxy-ARP on their bind bridge. * feat(dhcp): interface-MAC lease variant with MAC-keyed-router detection dhcp_mac = "derived" (default) | "interface" on external pools. The interface variant leases with the bind interface's own MAC — WiFi/WWAN uplinks drop frames with foreign source MACs, so derived chaddr MACs never complete DORA there. Option 61 stays the lease discriminator. UseIfaceMAC threads AllocateRequest → NATS wire → nclient4 → lease and persists through KV so restart re-acquires repeat it. Routers that key leases on MAC and ignore client-id would hand every lease the same IP; the manager detects an ACK matching the interface's own address or another client-id's live lease, releases the colliding lease, and hard-errors advising a static range instead. admin init auto-writes dhcp_mac="interface" for nat-mode public dhcp pools bound to non-bridgeable uplinks (wlan/wwan/ppp). * test(natuplink)+docs: Tier 2 EIP ingress e2e phases and public-pool docs The natuplink suite now detects a public (non-transit) pool in spinifex.toml and switches lanes: Tier-1-only configs keep the EIP-disabled and no-public-IP assertions; public-pool configs assert the EIP surface is enabled, the default subnet has MapPublicIpOnLaunch=true, instances auto-assign public IPs, and a new Phase 9 exercises the full EIP ingress lifecycle — host /32 route via the gateway LRP, proxy-ARP on the uplink, per-EIP FORWARD accepts, exempt-stamped dnat_and_snat, TCP handshake to the EIP, reconcile replay across a vpcd restart, and teardown on disassociate. Docs: vpc-networking README gains a public-pool section for routed-NAT nodes (init flags, dhcp_mac=interface behaviour, host-to-EIP caveat) and an updated mode comparison; COMMANDS.md notes nat-mode EIP support behind a public pool. * fix(setup): whitelist iptables, neigh sysctl, and arping for spinifex-vpcd Routed-NAT mode shells out to iptables for the transit masquerade and per-EIP FORWARD accepts, tunes proxy_delay, and sends gratuitous ARP for host-delivered EIPs. Without these sudoers entries vpcd crash-loops with "command not allowed" on nat-mode nodes. * fix(ovn): scope DeleteStaticRoute prefix match to the target router Every VPC router carries a 0.0.0.0/0 static route, so an unscoped cache match could grab another router's row and fail with a referential integrity violation, wedging IGW attach on multi-VPC nodes. Match only rows referenced by the target router, mirroring FindStaticRoute. Mock updated to the same semantics, with a regression test covering drift replacement across two routers. * fix(reconcile): always replay AttachIGW so host ingress state is re-ensured applyIGWs skipped AttachIGW whenever the gateway switch port existed in actual state, so the already-attached re-ensure path never ran and routed-NAT host ingress routes lost on reboot were never reinstalled. AttachIGW is idempotent; run it unconditionally. * fix(vpcd): resolve duplicate-CIDR host ingress route collisions, bootstrap VPC wins Every account's default VPC shares 172.31.0.0/16, so Tier-1 host routes collide on the single host route table and the last IGW attach silently stole the route (route replace). Pass vpcID and the gateway LRP IP through RoutedIngressHooks; the bootstrap VPC always installs its route, other VPCs only install when the CIDR is free and only remove a route their own gateway IP holds. Adds host.VPCIngressRouteVia to read the current route holder. * ci(e2e): add nightly cell 19 for routed-NAT single-node suite Cell 19 bootstraps with --external-mode=nat plus the CI static pool as the public wan pool and runs the natuplink suite, covering the Tier-1 transit datapath and Tier-2 EIP ingress. The run step exits 0 when natuplink.test is absent from the tests tar so scheduled runs against branches predating the suite stay green. * fix(admin): nat-mode init summary reflects configured public pool The summary printed 'outbound-only — no public IPs/EIPs' even when --external-pool/--external-source configured a public wan pool. Print the pool range (or dhcp bind) and note EIPs are enabled. * fix(eip,vpc): thread ctx through disabled EIP stub and NAT call sites Reconcile the routed-NAT branch with dev's ctx-first service APIs after rebase: DisabledEIPService and its tests take ctx to satisfy the EIPService interface, the vm_adapters public-IP resolver asserts the ctx-signed AssociatedPublicIPForInstance, and the default-subnet mapping test threads ctx into DescribeSubnets.
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.