[indiana-discuss] reducing the number of services started at boot

[Dave Miner]

Alberto Ruiz wrote:
> 
> 
> 2007/7/9, Dave Miner <Dave.Miner at sun.com <mailto:Dave.Miner at sun.com>>:
> 
>     Alberto Ruiz wrote:
>      >
>      >
>      > 2007/7/9, Eric Ray <Eric.Ray at sun.com <mailto:Eric.Ray at sun.com>
>     <mailto:Eric.Ray at sun.com <mailto:Eric.Ray at sun.com>>>:
>      >
>      >
>      >
>      >     MC wrote:
>      >      >> Is this something we should add to the list, i.e.,
>     investigate
>      >      > the services started at boot time to determine which
>     aren't necessary
>      >      > and can be removed?
>      >      >
>      >      > As the Indiana-for-normal-people project has different
>     requirements
>      >      > than the Solaris project, I think it's a given that the
>     startup
>      >      > services need to be re-evaluated. --
>      >      >
>      >
>      >     At the risk of belaboring the point, what _are_ the requirements
>      >     for Indiana-for-normal-people? We've had a lot of discussion
>      >     around it, but I don't think that we converged on anything
>      >     actionable. I'd love to get that convergence.
>      >
>      >
>      > I think that the general approach should be, the less the better.
>     Let´s
>      > get rid of any service that people don't need to start a web
>     browser,
>      > use zfs, zones and dtrace, and have a working desktop environment. I
>      > would even say, that the default ubuntu starts more services than
>      > needed, so I won't consider it as a reference.
>      >
> 
>     Yes, let's ignore Ubuntu or anything else as a reference and instead
>     focus on what specific OpenSolaris services you and others are finding
>     objectionable.  Below's the list of services enabled on first boot:
> 
>     # uname -a
>     SunOS whitestar1-9.East.Sun.COM <http://whitestar1-9.East.Sun.COM>
>     5.11 snv_68 i86pc i386 i86pc
>     # svcs
>     STATE          STIME    FMRI
>     legacy_run     17:20:14 lrc:/etc/rcS_d/S50sk98sol
>     legacy_run     17:21:54 lrc:/etc/rc2_d/S10lu
>     legacy_run     17:21:55 lrc:/etc/rc2_d/S20sysetup
>     legacy_run     17:21:55 lrc:/etc/rc2_d/S40llc2
>     legacy_run     17:21:55 lrc:/etc/rc2_d/S42ncakmod
>     legacy_run     17:21:55 lrc:/etc/rc2_d/S47pppd 
> 
> 
> I wonder if this is the pppd daemon for point to point protocol 
> (modems), I would only start it if the installer detects a modem installed.
> 

It also does PPPoE for those who need it as a DSL client.

> 
>     legacy_run     17:22:08 lrc:/etc/rc3_d/S50apache
> 
> 
> out! :) (I'm sure Alvaro[0] agrees here ;-)
> 

If we went to strictly apache2 then this may not be needed.

>     legacy_run     17:22:09 lrc:/etc/rc3_d/S52imq
>     legacy_run     17:22:09 lrc:/etc/rc3_d/S80mipagent
>     legacy_run     17:22:09 lrc:/etc/rc3_d/S84appserv
> 
> 
> I would make an effort to port all this legacy_run services to SMF. 
> Indiana goal #654: No legacy in the main repositories! ;-)
> 

We could certainly use more energy devoted to completing the SMF
conversion, so there's something people could work on.

> 
>     online         17:20:35 svc:/network/nis/client:default
> 
> 
> nis client out!
> 

This particular installation happens to be a NIS environment, in a
non-NIS environment it wouldn't normally be enabled.

>     online         17:21:02 svc:/application/management/wbem:default 
> 
> 
> web manager out
> 

Perhaps, except that it's the back-end for some of the existing
management tools, so you have to sort out which of those are needed or not.

>     online         17:21:02 svc:/network/ssh:default 
> 
> 
> I would leave ssh started by default. Okay, it's not common used, but it 
> saves your ass when your monitor doesn't works and you know the IP address.
> 

You're kidding about "not common[ly] used", right?  ssh certainly should
always be enabled.

>     online         17:21:53 svc:/network/smtp:sendmail
> 
> 
> sendmail out, how many people needs a local smtp server enabled by 
> default? (maybe we can leave exim installed but disabled by default if 
> people things than an smtp service is really needed?)
> 

I tend to agree with you here to some extent, but see below.

>     online         17:22:06 svc:/milestone/multi-user:default
> 
> 
> this one out too
> 

Your subsequent note mentioned this as should have been

online         17:23:45 svc:/system/webconsole:console

which has some of the same issues as the wbem service above.

>  ...
> 
> I also think that every service related with hardware devices should be 
> down (for example, printing) if no printing is required.
> 

I think printing's a bad example - how many developer systems don't have
a printer, or don't want to use a network printer?  Really, there's not
much of anything that's specific to hardware, though, and if you look at
your (surprisingly short, to me) list, it's probably not going to make
much difference in boot times on most systems.  The one I generated this 
list on is a 1500 MHz Athlon and it gets from kernel start to login 
screen in about a minute in the steady state (the first boot is longer, 
of course).

Anyway, the services run are really a function of the software 
installed, so if we go back to the threads that Glynn started and driver 
them to nail down requirements and get a consolidated list of the 
functionality required, I think we'll be solving the right problem.

Dave