Talemu is Talos Emulator

Runs multiple fake Talos nodes at the same time. To be used in pair with Omni.

Running Emulator Static Mode

Static mode emulates machines that join Omni by themselves, as if they had booted some boot media. So tell it which media they booted.

From a factory schematic (the normal case)

Talos boot media is built by an image factory, and its schematic is the media's identity: it carries both the extra kernel args the machine boots with, including how to reach Omni, and the extensions the machine has. Download an image for your Omni instance and pass the schematic ID of it:

version: '3.8'
services:
  talemu:
    command: >-
      args:
        - --schematic-id=e2e8b4d5c0a...
        - --machines=100

The schematic is read from the image factory at startup, and startup fails if it does not hold that schematic, since machines booted from media nobody has would never come up either. Use --image-factory-base-url for a factory other than the public one, and TALEMU_IMAGE_FACTORY_USERNAME / TALEMU_IMAGE_FACTORY_PASSWORD for one that requires authentication.

Without a factory

Media built locally, with imager rather than a factory, has no schematic. Give the kernel args and the extensions directly instead:

version: '3.8'
services:
  talemu:
    command: >-
      args:
        - --kernel-args="siderolink.api=grpc://192.168.88.219:8090?jointoken=w7uVuW3zbVKIYQuzEcyetAHeYMeo5q2L9RvkAVfCfSCD talos.events.sink=[fdae:41e4:649b:9303::1]:8090 talos.logging.kernel=tcp://[fdae:41e4:649b:9303::1]:8092"
        - --extensions=siderolabs/hello-world-service
        - --machines=100

Those machines report no schematic, exactly as a locally built image does. Copy Kernel Args in the Omni UI gives a usable value for --kernel-args.

An install or an upgrade can still point such a machine at a factory image, and its schematic is read from --image-factory-base-url like any other, so the machine goes on reporting its extensions and kernel args across one.

Which flags go together

--schematic-id is exclusive with --kernel-args and --extensions, because a schematic already carries both. Neither is required: SideroLink is optional in Talos, and machines given no boot media info at all simply run standalone and join nothing.

Run make docker-compose-up command.

This will spawn one hundred fake Talos nodes.

Infra Provider Mode

An infra provider only works against Omni, so --omni-api-endpoint is required. Everything it needs from an image factory it asks Omni for, including the credentials, so it takes no factory endpoint of its own and follows Omni across both of the factories it may be configured with.

Running as executable

Build the executable:

make talemu-infra-provider

Then run:

sudo -E _out/talemu-infra-provider-linux-amd64 --create-service-account --omni-api-endpoint=https://localhost:8099

Running in docker

Create hack/compose/docker-compose-provider.override.yml and add the following:

services:
  talemu-infra-provider:
    command: >-
      args:
        --omni-api-endpoint=https://localhost:8099
        --create-service-account

Run make docker-compose-provider-up command.

Creating requests

Create a machine request using omnictl:

metadata:
    namespace: infra-provider
    type: MachineRequests.omni.sidero.dev
    id: machine-1
    labels:
      omni.sidero.dev/infra-provider-id: talemu
spec:
  talosversion: v1.7.5
  schematicid: 376567988ad370138ad8b2698212367b8edcb69b5fd68c80be1f2ec7d603b4ba

The machine should be created by the emulator and appear in Omni.