Base ServerTemplate for Linux (RSB) (v13.5 LTS)

Minimum Scripts for Best Practices

The "Base" ServerTemplate contains the minimum set of scripts that are required for optimal server management within the RightScale management platform. It's recommended that you do not delete any of these scripts from a ServerTemplate unless you are an advanced user and are aware of the ramifications.

The minimum set of scripts in the "Base" ServerTemplate are found in most ServerTemplates published by RightScale and perform the following setup operations:

• SYS setup security updates - Sets up package manager software so that security updates can be applied a running server. After booting and installing the packages, the relevant software repositories (e.g. Epel and Ubuntu Precise) are unfrozen so that security updates can be installed by the 'SYS install security updates' script. Once security updates are enabled (SECURITY_UPDATES = enable) they can not be disabled. By default, security updates are disabled at the ServerTemplate level. Set this input accordingly prior to launching the server. 
• SYS Install RightImage Extras package - Installs the 'rightimage-extras' package required by many of our ServerTemplates and Images. DO NOT REMOVE
• SYS Timezone set - Sets the system timezone on the instance.
• SYS Logrotate configure - By default, logs are configured to be saved locally on the instance (/var/log/messages) however, you can configure the server to send its log data to a remote server by setting the "Logging" inputs appropriately at launch time.
• MAIL Postfix local delivery - Configures postfix to deliver local mail by accepting SMTP connections on localhost.
• SYS Monitoring install - Enables the instance for monitoring by RightScale's core servers so that real-time data can be collected from the instance and graphs can be displayed in the RightScale dashboard under the related Monitoring tabs. This script is also required for setting up alerts for alert escalations and autoscaling.
• SYS Monitoring available updates - Configures a collectd plugin to monitor for available updates, and if updates are available it sets a tag on the server/instance and alerts the Rightscale account owner accordingly. See Apply System Security Updates from the Base ServerTemplate for Linux (Chef) runbook for more details.
• SYS install security updates - This script is only run if security updates are enabled (SECURITY_UPDATES = enable). The latest security patches are downloaded and installed. Non-security related software updates are not installed. If a reboot of the instance is required to complete an update, the 'rs_monitoring:reboot_required=true' tag is added to the server as a reminder that you must manually reboot the instance to complete the update.

Important!
As a general best practice, any new scripts that you add to the ServerTemplate should be added to the bottom of the existing Boot Scripts runlist.

Logging

By default, the SYS Logrotate configure script configures a server to store log data locally (/var/log/messages). But when you terminate the instance, all of its logs will be lost. So, if it's necessary to preserve log data after an instance is terminated, you can easily configure the server to send its logs to a central logging server or service by setting a few required inputs. 

There are a few different types of logging configurations.

• Logs stored locally on the instance (default)
• Logs are sent to a remote server or service
  • Production: Use your own dedicated logging server or a third party logging service or application such as Loggly or Splunk.
  • Development & Test: If backups are not required and you simply want a centralized logging destination for all of your instances, you can use an rsyslog ServerTemplate published by RightScale. See Logging with rsyslog (v13.5 LTS).