Ceph » mgr » Dashboard

Description¶

• Provides support for disabling/enabling features from the Ceph-dashboard by means of configuration changes.
• In this context features should be primarily considered from UI perspective and include at least:
  • Single components (e.g.: iSCSI)
  • Optionally: Sets of related components (e.g: RBD comprising Images, Mirroring & iSCSI). This could also be enabled/disabled on a per-component basis.
• Takes precedence over Role Based Authorization: features are either enabled/disabled for all users.
• No need for an instant effect: a Ceph-mgr or module reload could happen if needed. However, no code changes or builds should be needed.
• No need to disable back-end functionality too.

User Stories¶

Feature toggles bring in benefits for a lots of user personas:

• As a System Administrator I want to disable Ceph components I don't have deployed (e.g: iSCSI) so that the dashboard only reflects the relevant information and workflows.
• As a Ceph Distributor, I want to disable Ceph elements I don't support (e.g.: CephFS).
• As a Back-end Developer I want to disable a new experimental feature so that I don't break/interfere with other ongoing developments, or deployments.
• As a UI/UX Designer I want disable an improved feature so that I can run an A/B test to quickly gather feedback from the same build.

References¶

• Feature Toggles by Martin Fowler

Implementation tips¶

• Ceph-mgr config options provide an easy (CLI) way to set/unset settings.
• Options names can describe component hierarchies: RBD enables/disables RBD_IMAGES, RBD_MIRRORING, RBD_ISCSI.
• For a front-end only feature toggle, there's a PR ongoing providing a SettingsService for accessing Ceph-Mgr Config Options.
• For a back-end support, it should be easy to extend the ApiController/RESTController for enabling/disabling them.