[Labs-l] New custom precise image (much faster instance creations)

[Ryan Lane]

I spent some time last week creating a custom precise image that has all of
the configuration necessary to allow users to log in to an instance as soon
as it's booted. There's a bunch of wins here:

1. Instance creation time is down to 1 - 3.5 minutes, which is the time it
takes openstack to pick up the action from the queue and build the
instance. It was previously 6 - 11 minutes (and usually closer to 11
minutes), due to needing a full puppet run. We'll be able to further reduce
the 1 - 3.5 minute time with OpenStack upgrades.

2. As soon as an instance shows "active" it's ready to be logged into. No
needing to wait until a puppet run occurs

3. Instances will be smaller on disk, since the initial instance has most
packages that are installed from our base, ldap, and monitoring puppet
classes.

4. A failed puppet run won't make an instance inaccessible. So, no more
delete/recreate of instances will be needed when a puppet run fails.

I don't think it will be as easy to make the lucid images, but I'll be
trying to make that happen this week.

- Ryan
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