Managing Nodes

Remote nodes in Mesh Hypervisor are managed from the central orchestration node using the mesh node commands. This section covers how to list nodes, control them, and handle basic operations.

Prerequisites

  • Central node is running (mesh system start executed).
  • Remote nodes are booted via PXE (see Quick Start).

Commands run from the central node’s console.

Listing Nodes

To see online nodes:

mesh node info

Output shows each node’s UUID (e.g., a1b2c3d4), generated from hardware data. Use these UUIDs for other commands.

If no nodes appear, check logs with mesh system logview for PXE or DHCP issues.

Controlling Nodes

The mesh node ctl command interacts with a specific node:

mesh node ctl -n <uuid> [command]
  • -n <uuid>: Targets a node by its UUID from mesh node info.

Examples

  • Run a Command:

    mesh node ctl -n a1b2c3d4 "apk upgrade"

    Updates packages on the node, pulling from the central node’s mirror.

  • Shell Access:

    mesh node ctl -n a1b2c3d4

    Opens an SSH session as root to the node. Exit with Ctrl+D or logout.

  • Reboot:

    mesh node ctl -n a1b2c3d4 "reboot"

    Restarts the node, triggering a fresh PXE boot.

Batch Operations

For all nodes at once, use the all keyword:

mesh node ctl -n all "apk upgrade"

Executes sequentially across all online nodes.

Notes

  • SSH uses preinstalled root keys from /host0—configurable if needed.
  • Nodes are stateless without local storage; reboots reset to their APKOVL config.
  • Local storage (if present) persists data but doesn’t affect boot (see Remote Nodes).
  • Full node config details are in Manifest Files.

Next, see Configuring Workloads for running tasks on nodes.