Tips for very rapid installs & testing of IIAB + Asterisk/FreePBX (using Multipass VM's)

[holta]

Must be arising from some sudden/recent upstream change(s) in Debian 11 or more likely Asterisk or FreePBX? [ IN FACT ansible-core 2.15.0 IS THE PROBLEM: ansible/ansible#80863 ] As Ansible freezes no matter which version of Ansible is attempted, even much older versions like ansible-core 2.13.8.

Thanks @EMG70 who is also investigating this bug already outlined in PR #3588:

Here is an iiab-pbx.yml script to help accelerate his Multipass testing of different ideas using EVOLVING PR #3588:

# https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/topics/examples.html

runcmd:
  - apt update
  - apt install git -y
  - mkdir /etc/iiab
  - curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/iiab/iiab/master/vars/local_vars_unittest.yml > /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml
  - [sed, -i, 's/^pbx_install:.*/pbx_install: True/', /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml]
  - [sed, -i, 's/^pbx_enabled:.*/pbx_enabled: True/', /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml]
  - curl iiab.io/risky.txt | bash &

[ PR #3588 is a crutch to be avoided, as it papers over ansible-core 2.15.0's failure, so was removed from above line. ]

Create the above file on any Ubuntu machine where Multipass is installed (e.g. your Ubuntu 23.04 laptop) using:

sudo su -
nano iiab-pbx.yml

Save & quit! Then run everything:

multipass launch https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/bullseye/latest/debian-11-generic-amd64.qcow2 -n deb11 -m 2G -d 25G -c 2 --bridged --cloud-init iiab-pbx.yml && multipass shell deb11

Those who do not want to give the VM a 192.168.0.X-like IP address from your home router (thanks to Multipass's sometimes messy LXD networking arrangements) should avoid the --bridged flag above.

Either way, it should shell you into the new VM! And a minute or two later, you can monitor the ongoing IIAB + PBX installs by running this inside the VM:

sudo su -
cd /opt/iiab/iiab
tail -f iiab-install.log

If IIAB's install is interrupted for any reason, remember to restart it WITHOUT allowing reboots:

sudo iiab -r

Either way, remember to never reboot a Debian 11 VM with Multipass as there's a networking glitch that ironically prevents Debian 11 from rebooting (#3568 (comment)). RECAP: Above is a just a testing trick for extremely rapid/iterative testing — when quick testing results are needed — but never reboot the VM, just throw it away as soon as testing it is done!

Once we eventually get past Ansible freezing (PR #3588), please also test Asterisk and FreePBX with actual phones, using the IP address that can be obtained on the Multipass host machine as follows:

multipass info deb11

Finally, when you're done testing, delete and purge each VM:

multipass delete deb11 -p

Related QA automation tips using Multipass + cloud-init:

• "Restart the networking service" failing repeatedly (during IIAB install, and when ./iiab-network is run) [similar Debian 11 Bullseye VM has a strange DNS-like freezing issue] [QA Automation / testing cloud-init Multipass script example] #3568 (comment)
• 'pip install virtualenv==20.21.1' for Python 2 required by KA Lite on Ubuntu 23.10 #3582 (comment)

[holta]

Here is an iiab-pbx.yml script to help accelerate his Multipass testing of different ideas using EVOLVING PR #3588:

Just FYI another approach for rapid-testing of IIAB is pr3631.yml here:

# https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/topics/examples.html

runcmd:
  - apt update
  - export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
  # ABOVE MITIGATES... emacs install BLOCKING ON postfix INTERACTIVE PROMPTING:
  - apt install git emacs -y
  - mkdir /etc/iiab
  - |
    cat >> /etc/iiab/local_vars.yml <<EOF
    nodered_install: True
    nodered_enabled: True
    kalite_install: False
    kalite_enabled: False
    kiwix_install: False
    kiwix_enabled: False
    osm_vector_maps_install: False
    awstats_install: False
    awstats_enabled: False
    matomo_install: False
    matomo_enabled: False
    captiveportal_install: False
    admin_console_install: False
    admin_console_enabled: False
    EOF
  - curl iiab.io/risky.txt | bash -s 3631 &

Everything can then be run/tested all-at-once using:

multipass launch 22.04 -n u2204 -m 2G -d 25G -c 2 --bridged --cloud-init pr3631.yml
multipass shell u2204
sudo tail -f /opt/iiab/iiab/iiab-install.log

Related:

• PR nodejs/tasks/install.yml: nodesource.com requires NEW install method #3631