glue-matrix-bao-token: retry a failed login, keep degrading on an empty read

The unit treats every failure as permanent: it prints why and `exit 0`s,
with no `Restart=`, so one bad moment costs the whole boot. Two of its
failure modes deserve that and one does not.

`bao login` fails when the store is unreachable, sealed, or has not been
given this host's cert-auth role yet. All three are transient. Measured
on this morning's rebuild:

  11:24:05  Started Container 'swarm-bao'
  11:24:06  could not log in to swarm-bao with this host's certificate
  11:24:07  Success! Data written to: auth/cert/certs/swarm-secret-publisher

It lost by one second, and stayed degraded for the boot. The publisher
next to it hit the same race and recovered on its first retry, because it
has `Restart=on-failure`.

`bao kv get` returning nothing is the opposite: the store answered, and
holds no token at that path. A retry cannot improve it, so that branch
keeps `exit 0` and the local token.

The bound is sized for this race, not for an unseal.
`swarm-bao-controller-policy` waits 2880 x 30s because a shamir unseal is
a human action and that unit blocks nothing. This one is `Before=` the
homeserver's container, so every retry is time the homeserver may spend
waiting -- 4 x 15s covers a container-start race with margin, and a store
still sealed after it degrades exactly as it does today.

`StartLimit*` are `[Unit]` settings and are ignored under `[Service]`, so
they are top-level attrs here. The module-eval case asserts the window
outlasts `RestartSec x burst`, since a burst that cannot be reached is a
unit that looks like it retries and does not.

Refs #4303
This commit is contained in:
atlas 2026-09-12 15:19:17 +02:00 committed by mara
commit 35c3f724f1
2 changed files with 43 additions and 1 deletions

View file

@ -77,6 +77,20 @@ in
deployCfg.bao.package deployCfg.bao.package
pkgs.coreutils pkgs.coreutils
]; ];
# Sized for the race this loses, not for an unseal. `swarm-bao` comes up
# seconds before this unit asks, and the cert-auth role it logs in
# against is written seconds after — so a few short attempts cover it.
# ⚠️ `swarm-bao-controller-policy`'s 2880 × 30s is NOT the model to copy:
# that unit blocks nothing, while this one is `Before=` the homeserver's
# container, so every retry is time the homeserver may spend waiting. A
# store still sealed after this window keeps the degrade below, which is
# the same place it ends up today.
#
# `StartLimit*` are `[Unit]` settings, so they go here and not in
# `serviceConfig` — systemd ignores them under `[Service]`. The window
# has to exceed `RestartSec × burst`.
startLimitBurst = 4;
startLimitIntervalSec = 300;
serviceConfig = { serviceConfig = {
Type = "oneshot"; Type = "oneshot";
RemainAfterExit = true; RemainAfterExit = true;
@ -84,6 +98,8 @@ in
# left to systemd's default, so the number a boot waits on is in # left to systemd's default, so the number a boot waits on is in
# the file that waits. # the file that waits.
TimeoutStartSec = 30; TimeoutStartSec = 30;
Restart = "on-failure";
RestartSec = 15;
}; };
environment = { environment = {
BAO_ADDR = "https://${baoCfg.domain}:${toString baoCfg.port}"; BAO_ADDR = "https://${baoCfg.domain}:${toString baoCfg.port}";
@ -117,6 +133,11 @@ in
# presents; without a token `bao` asks its token helper instead, and # presents; without a token `bao` asks its token helper instead, and
# that is a `sh` this unit's `path` does not carry. `-token-only` # that is a `sh` this unit's `path` does not carry. `-token-only`
# answers on stdout and skips the helper on both sides. # answers on stdout and skips the helper on both sides.
#
# Fails LOUDLY, unlike the read below: the three states a login failure
# covers — store not up, sealed, role not written yet — are all things
# a retry fixes, and `Restart=on-failure` above is what retries. Exiting
# 0 here spends the whole boot on a condition that was seconds old.
if ! BAO_TOKEN="$(bao login -method=cert -token-only 2>"$err")"; then if ! BAO_TOKEN="$(bao login -method=cert -token-only 2>"$err")"; then
echo "could not log in to swarm-bao with this host's certificate; keeping the token hive-matrix already has." >&2 echo "could not log in to swarm-bao with this host's certificate; keeping the token hive-matrix already has." >&2
if [ -s "$err" ]; then if [ -s "$err" ]; then
@ -124,7 +145,7 @@ in
else else
echo "bao failed without writing a diagnostic." >&2 echo "bao failed without writing a diagnostic." >&2
fi fi
exit 0 exit 1
fi fi
export BAO_TOKEN export BAO_TOKEN

View file

@ -1127,6 +1127,27 @@ let
&& !(holdsTokenFirst "# bao login -method=cert -token-only goes here\nbao kv get secret/x") && !(holdsTokenFirst "# bao login -method=cert -token-only goes here\nbao kv get secret/x")
&& holdsTokenFirst "BAO_TOKEN=\"$(bao login -method=cert -token-only)\"\nbao kv get secret/x"; && holdsTokenFirst "BAO_TOKEN=\"$(bao login -method=cert -token-only)\"\nbao kv get secret/x";
} }
{
# A login failure is the store being unreachable, sealed, or not yet
# holding this host's role — all of which a retry fixes. A read that
# answers "nothing there" is not, so only the first is allowed to fail
# the unit.
name = "the matrix token reader retries a failed login and still degrades on an empty read";
ok =
let
u = baoWithMatrix.systemd.services.swarm-bao-matrix-token;
# Everything between the login's failure branch and the read's, which
# is where the exit that decides "retry or give up" lives.
afterLogin = lib.last (lib.splitString "bao login" u.script);
loginBranch = lib.head (lib.splitString "bao kv get" afterLogin);
in
u.serviceConfig.Restart or null == "on-failure"
&& u.startLimitBurst or 0 > 0
# The window has to outlast every attempt, or the burst is unreachable.
&& u.startLimitIntervalSec or 0 > (u.serviceConfig.RestartSec or 0) * (u.startLimitBurst or 0)
&& lib.hasInfix "exit 1" loginBranch
&& lib.hasInfix "exit 0" (lib.last (lib.splitString "bao kv get" u.script));
}
{ {
# The doctrine three glue files state, as a property a rewrite has to # The doctrine three glue files state, as a property a rewrite has to
# keep: a client is defined by holding a certificate the store accepts, # keep: a client is defined by holding a certificate the store accepts,