teach propolis-server to understand configurable boot order (#756)

while we accept a list of boot options here, note that Nexus intentionally has a
more reductive view, maintaining only a single boot_disk. this is heavily based
on what i've learned writing tests for how OVMF+guests behave with different
mixes of boot device orders and sources of boot configuration.

this conversation on RFD 470:
  oxidecomputer/rfd#751 (comment)

gets at the crux of it - we don't have like a platform NVRAM device
for guests to persist EFI variables in, so boot configuration is persisted in
the EFI system partition (so, associated with a disk, not an instance). because
we're not going to go modify the EFI system partition in user disks to effect
boot order preferences, we're using the QEMU-style fw_cfg mechanism to indicate
boot order. this, in turn, means that guest settings are blown away and replaced
with what OVMF determines at boot time.

taken together, this isn't an ideal spot to be in if we were to support more
complex boot behavior logic, and it's probably not how we want to work
multi-device orderings into propolis-server. it also means that guest-managed
boot ordering just don't reliably persist if the instance is configured with a
specific boot device!

in the future with managed nonvolatile storage for guest firmware to persist
settings in, we'll be in a somewhat better position to extend boot logic, and so
this PR should leave us able to do so without much API hassle. that will
probably be more interesting on the control plane side, which is why i'm
permissive on the Propolis side, but restrictive on the Nexus side.

along the way, this change brings PHD device/backend names in line with
propolis-server.

Author: iximeow

Cargo.lock

@@ -266,6 +266,7 @@ async fn new_instance(
         // TODO: Allow specifying NICs
         nics: vec![],
         disks,
+        boot_settings: None,
         migrate: None,
         cloud_init_bytes,
     };
@@ -517,6 +518,9 @@ async fn migrate_instance(
         // TODO: Handle migrating NICs
         nics: vec![],
         disks,
+        // TODO: Handle retaining boot settings? Or extant boot settings
+        // forwarded along outside InstanceEnsure anyway.
+        boot_settings: None,
         migrate: Some(InstanceMigrateInitiateRequest {
             migration_id: Uuid::new_v4(),
             src_addr: src_addr.to_string(),

bin/propolis-cli/src/main.rs

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ use std::sync::Arc;
 use std::time::{SystemTime, UNIX_EPOCH};
 
 use crate::serial::Serial;
-use crate::spec::{self, Spec, StorageBackend};
+use crate::spec::{self, Spec, StorageBackend, StorageDevice};
 use crate::stats::{
     track_network_interface_kstats, track_vcpu_kstats, VirtualDiskProducer,
     VirtualMachine,
@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@ use propolis::hw::ibmpc;
 use propolis::hw::pci;
 use propolis::hw::ps2::ctrl::PS2Ctrl;
 use propolis::hw::qemu::pvpanic::QemuPvpanic;
-use propolis::hw::qemu::{debug::QemuDebugPort, fwcfg, ramfb};
+use propolis::hw::qemu::{
+    debug::QemuDebugPort,
+    fwcfg::{self, Entry},
+    ramfb,
+};
 use propolis::hw::uart::LpcUart;
 use propolis::hw::{nvme, virtio};
 use propolis::intr_pins;
@@ -1001,6 +1005,80 @@ impl<'a> MachineInitializer<'a> {
         smb_tables.commit()
     }
 
+    fn generate_bootorder(&self) -> Result<Option<Entry>, Error> {
+        info!(
+            self.log,
+            "Generating bootorder with order: {:?}",
+            self.spec.boot_order.as_ref()
+        );
+        let Some(boot_names) = self.spec.boot_order.as_ref() else {
+            return Ok(None);
+        };
+
+        let mut order = fwcfg::formats::BootOrder::new();
+
+        let parse_bdf =
+            |pci_path: &propolis_api_types::instance_spec::PciPath| {
+                let bdf: Result<pci::Bdf, Error> =
+                    pci_path.to_owned().try_into().map_err(|e| {
+                        Error::new(
+                            ErrorKind::InvalidInput,
+                            format!(
+                                "Couldn't get PCI BDF for {}: {}",
+                                pci_path, e
+                            ),
+                        )
+                    });
+
+                bdf
+            };
+
+        for boot_entry in boot_names.iter() {
+            // Theoretically we could support booting from network devices by
+            // matching them here and adding their PCI paths, but exactly what
+            // would happen is ill-understood. So, only check disks here.
+            if let Some(spec) = self.spec.disks.get(boot_entry.name.as_str()) {
+                match &spec.device_spec {
+                    StorageDevice::Virtio(disk) => {
+                        let bdf = parse_bdf(&disk.pci_path)?;
+                        if bdf.bus.get() != 0 {
+                            return Err(Error::new(
+                                ErrorKind::InvalidInput,
+                                "Boot device currently must be on PCI bus 0",
+                            ));
+                        }
+
+                        order.add_disk(bdf.location);
+                    }
+                    StorageDevice::Nvme(disk) => {
+                        let bdf = parse_bdf(&disk.pci_path)?;
+                        if bdf.bus.get() != 0 {
+                            return Err(Error::new(
+                                ErrorKind::InvalidInput,
+                                "Boot device currently must be on PCI bus 0",
+                            ));
+                        }
+
+                        // TODO: separately, propolis-standalone passes an eui64
+                        // of 0, so do that here too. is that.. ok?
+                        order.add_nvme(bdf.location, 0);
+                    }
+                };
+            } else {
+                // This should be unreachable - we check that the boot disk is
+                // valid when constructing the spec we're initializing from.
+                let message = format!(
+                    "Instance spec included boot entry which does not refer \
+                    to an existing disk: `{}`",
+                    boot_entry.name.as_str(),
+                );
+                return Err(Error::new(ErrorKind::InvalidInput, message));
+            }
+        }
+
+        Ok(Some(order.finish()))
+    }
+
     /// Initialize qemu `fw_cfg` device, and populate it with data including CPU
     /// count, SMBIOS tables, and attached RAM-FB device.
     ///
@@ -1032,6 +1110,10 @@ impl<'a> MachineInitializer<'a> {
             )
             .unwrap();
 
+        if let Some(boot_order) = self.generate_bootorder()? {
+            fwcfg.insert_named("bootorder", boot_order).unwrap();
+        }
+
         let ramfb = ramfb::RamFb::create(
             self.log.new(slog::o!("component" => "ramfb")),
         );

bin/propolis-server/src/lib/initializer.rs

@@ -129,6 +129,12 @@ fn instance_spec_from_request(
         spec_builder.add_disk_from_request(disk)?;
     }
 
+    if let Some(boot_settings) = request.boot_settings.as_ref() {
+        for item in boot_settings.order.iter() {
+            spec_builder.add_boot_option(item)?;
+        }
+    }
+
     if let Some(base64) = &request.cloud_init_bytes {
         spec_builder.add_cloud_init_from_request(base64.clone())?;
     }

bin/propolis-server/src/lib/server.rs

@@ -247,6 +247,12 @@ impl TryFrom<InstanceSpecV0> for Spec {
             return Err(ApiSpecError::BackendNotUsed(backend.to_owned()));
         }
 
+        if let Some(boot_settings) = value.devices.boot_settings.as_ref() {
+            for item in boot_settings.order.iter() {
+                builder.add_boot_option(item)?;
+            }
+        }
+
         for (name, serial_port) in value.devices.serial_ports {
             builder.add_serial_port(name, serial_port.num)?;
         }

bin/propolis-server/src/lib/spec/api_spec_v0.rs

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ use propolis_api_types::{
         },
         PciPath,
     },
-    DiskRequest, InstanceProperties, NetworkInterfaceRequest,
+    BootOrderEntry, DiskRequest, InstanceProperties, NetworkInterfaceRequest,
 };
 use thiserror::Error;
 
@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ pub(crate) enum SpecBuilderError {
 
     #[error("pvpanic device already specified")]
     PvpanicInUse,
+
+    #[error("Boot option {0} is not an attached device")]
+    BootOptionMissing(String),
 }
 
 #[derive(Debug, Default)]
@@ -110,6 +113,23 @@ impl SpecBuilder {
         Ok(())
     }
 
+    /// Add a boot option to the boot option list of the spec under construction.
+    pub fn add_boot_option(
+        &mut self,
+        item: &BootOrderEntry,
+    ) -> Result<(), SpecBuilderError> {
+        if !self.spec.disks.contains_key(item.name.as_str()) {
+            return Err(SpecBuilderError::BootOptionMissing(item.name.clone()));
+        }
+
+        let boot_order = self.spec.boot_order.get_or_insert(Vec::new());
+
+        boot_order
+            .push(crate::spec::BootOrderEntry { name: item.name.clone() });
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     /// Converts an HTTP API request to add a cloud-init disk to an instance
     /// into device/backend entries in the spec under construction.
     pub fn add_cloud_init_from_request(

bin/propolis-server/src/lib/spec/builder.rs

@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ pub(crate) struct Spec {
     pub board: Board,
     pub disks: HashMap<String, Disk>,
     pub nics: HashMap<String, Nic>,
+    pub boot_order: Option<Vec<BootOrderEntry>>,
 
     pub serial: HashMap<String, SerialPort>,
 
@@ -67,6 +68,11 @@ pub(crate) struct Spec {
     pub softnpu: SoftNpu,
 }
 
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, Default)]
+pub(crate) struct BootOrderEntry {
+    pub name: String,
+}
+
 /// Describes the device half of a [`Disk`].
 #[derive(Clone, Debug)]
 pub enum StorageDevice {

bin/propolis-server/src/lib/spec/mod.rs

@@ -959,8 +959,19 @@ fn generate_smbios(params: SmbiosParams) -> anyhow::Result<smbios::TableBytes> {
     Ok(smb_tables.commit())
 }
 
-fn generate_bootorder(config: &config::Config) -> anyhow::Result<fwcfg::Entry> {
-    let names = config.main.boot_order.as_ref().unwrap();
+fn generate_bootorder(
+    config: &config::Config,
+    log: &slog::Logger,
+) -> anyhow::Result<Option<fwcfg::Entry>> {
+    let Some(names) = config.main.boot_order.as_ref() else {
+        return Ok(None);
+    };
+
+    slog::info!(
+        log,
+        "Bootorder declared as {:?}",
+        config.main.boot_order.as_ref()
+    );
 
     let mut order = fwcfg::formats::BootOrder::new();
     for name in names.iter() {
@@ -994,7 +1005,7 @@ fn generate_bootorder(config: &config::Config) -> anyhow::Result<fwcfg::Entry> {
             }
         }
     }
-    Ok(order.finish())
+    Ok(Some(order.finish()))
 }
 
 fn setup_instance(
@@ -1306,14 +1317,10 @@ fn setup_instance(
 
     // It is "safe" to generate bootorder (if requested) now, given that PCI
     // device configuration has been validated by preceding logic
-    if config.main.boot_order.is_some() {
-        fwcfg
-            .insert_named(
-                "bootorder",
-                generate_bootorder(&config)
-                    .context("Failed to generate boot order")?,
-            )
-            .unwrap();
+    if let Some(boot_config) = generate_bootorder(&config, log)
+        .context("Failed to generate boot order")?
+    {
+        fwcfg.insert_named("bootorder", boot_config).unwrap();
     }
 
     fwcfg.attach(pio, &machine.acc_mem);

bin/propolis-standalone/src/main.rs

@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@ pub struct DeviceSpecV0 {
     #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
     pub qemu_pvpanic: Option<components::devices::QemuPvpanic>,
 
+    // Same backwards compatibility reasoning as above.
+    #[serde(default)]
+    #[serde(skip_serializing_if = "Option::is_none")]
+    pub boot_settings: Option<crate::BootSettings>,
+
     #[cfg(feature = "falcon")]
     pub softnpu_pci_port: Option<components::devices::SoftNpuPciPort>,
     #[cfg(feature = "falcon")]

crates/propolis-api-types/src/instance_spec/v0.rs

@@ -52,6 +52,9 @@ pub struct InstanceEnsureRequest {
     #[serde(default)]
     pub disks: Vec<DiskRequest>,
 
+    #[serde(default)]
+    pub boot_settings: Option<BootSettings>,
+
     pub migrate: Option<InstanceMigrateInitiateRequest>,
 
     // base64 encoded cloud-init ISO
@@ -385,6 +388,18 @@ pub struct DiskAttachment {
     pub state: DiskAttachmentState,
 }
 
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, Deserialize, Serialize, JsonSchema)]
+pub struct BootSettings {
+    pub order: Vec<BootOrderEntry>,
+}
+
+/// An entry in a list of boot options.
+#[derive(Clone, Debug, Deserialize, Serialize, JsonSchema)]
+pub struct BootOrderEntry {
+    /// The name of the device to attempt booting from.
+    pub name: String,
+}
+
 /// A stable index which is translated by Propolis
 /// into a PCI BDF, visible to the guest.
 #[derive(Copy, Clone, Debug, Deserialize, Serialize, JsonSchema)]