docs: document the workload registry
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This commit is contained in:
2026-08-07 09:09:18 +01:00
parent 483053b9a2
commit 4ff8fc8d51
4 changed files with 170 additions and 2 deletions
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@@ -360,6 +360,76 @@ Two environment variables: `VANTAGE_TRIVY_DB_REF` mirrors the artifact for
air-gapped installs, and `VANTAGE_VULNDB_DISABLED` switches the puller and
scheduler off entirely.
### Workload registry
A **workload** is one Docker container or one systemd unit — one word for the
page, the collection and the commands, rather than saying "container or
service" in every identifier. Linux only, and **not gated by licence**: this
reads as core fleet management, so v1 ships everywhere with no `HasFeature`
check. If that changes the check belongs at `ReportWorkloads`, gating collection
rather than display, exactly as sub-project A does.
Agents collect on a 60-second ticker and report through `ReportWorkloads` with
the **offer-then-send** handshake the package report already uses. The offer is
identified by an explicit `full` flag, **not by an empty workloads list**: a
host genuinely running nothing sends an empty list as its full report, and
inferring the offer from emptiness leaves that host answering `need_full` every
60 seconds forever and never storing anything.
**The on-demand refresh returns no data.** `RefreshWorkloadsCmd` carries nothing
back; it makes the agent report through the normal RPC and the UI refetches. A
refresh that returned workloads inline would be a second writer for
`server_workloads`, arriving by a different route with its own serialisation and
its own opportunity to disagree with the periodic one. One writer, one shape.
Opening the panel dispatches a refresh because the panel has a Restart button on
it, and a stale row is a wrong action aimed at a container that already died.
Two operations do answer back, both over the bus, both with `Await` called
**before** dispatch: control actions reuse the existing `CommandResult`, and log
reads get `WorkloadLogsResult`. `CommandStream` republishes **every**
`CommandResult` onto `bus.ResultChannel` — publishing with no subscriber is a
no-op, so this costs nothing and avoids a second result path.
**The protected set is computed agent-side and enforced agent-side.**
`vantage-agent.service`, plus the container ID read from `/proc/self/cgroup`
should the agent ever run in a container. As with the console relay hardcoding
`127.0.0.1`, the control plane may name a target but the agent decides what it
will do to itself; a server-side denylist alone would be bypassed by the next
dispatch path someone adds, and the failure is unrecoverable from the UI. The
reported `Protected` flag is the courtesy that greys the button; the agent's own
check is the boundary. The API answers **409** when it fires — nothing failed.
Collection avoids parsing English: `docker ps -aq` then
`docker inspect --format '{{json .}}'`, because `docker ps` reports health and
uptime inside a human `Status` string that is localised and reworded between
releases. Compose stacks come from the `com.docker.compose.project` label, never
from YAML on disk — a compose file there may not be what is running. systemd
uses **column** output, not `--output=json`, which needs systemd 246+.
`DockerOK`/`DockerError` are two fields because there are three states: not
installed (common on this fleet, and not a fault), installed but not responding,
and running nothing. The UI must render the first as "not in use here" rather
than an empty list.
Logs are capped at **500 lines and 256KB, whichever binds first** — a line count
alone does not bound size, and 500 lines of 4KB JSON is 2MB across the bus. The
cap is mirrored in `services.MaxWorkloadLogLines` because `agent/` is a separate
module with an `internal/` tree and the constant cannot be shared; change one,
change the other. There is **no follow mode**: the browser console already gives
a real terminal where `docker logs -f` works properly. Log reads and control
actions are **owner|admin and audited**, unlike the read-only snapshot — a
container's stdout is arbitrary and cannot be masked the way a workflow's can.
`server_workloads` is one document per server, mirroring `server_packages`, and
is in `ScopedCollections` (which `scopedCollectionsForPurge` derives from). There
is no history: a workload list is state, not a record.
**`proto/vantage/v1/vantage.proto` is documentation, not a generator input.**
Both `pb` packages are hand-written JSON-tagged structs over a custom codec, and
there are two copies — `agent/internal/grpc/pb` and `server/internal/grpc/pb`.
A message added to one must be added to the other and to the `.proto`, in the
same commit.
### Agent self-update
`UpdateAgentCmd` carries a target version and Gitea base URL; the agent downloads and replaces itself.
@@ -512,6 +582,7 @@ service Vantage {
rpc SyncKeys(SyncRequest) returns (SyncResponse);
rpc UploadGeneratedKey(UploadKeyRequest) returns (UploadKeyResponse);
rpc ReportUpdates(ReportUpdatesRequest) returns (ReportUpdatesResponse);
rpc ReportWorkloads(ReportWorkloadsRequest) returns (ReportWorkloadsResponse);
rpc ReportInventory(InventoryReport) returns (InventoryReportResponse);
rpc SyncMonitors(SyncMonitorsRequest) returns (SyncMonitorsResponse);
rpc ReportChecks(ReportChecksRequest) returns (ReportChecksResponse);
@@ -521,7 +592,8 @@ service Vantage {
`CommandStream` is the only streaming RPC: the agent authenticates once with `AgentReady`, then the server pushes `ServerCommand`s and the agent replies with `CommandResult`, `StepResult`, or `StepOutputChunk`.
`ServerCommand` variants: `GenerateKeyCmd`, `DeleteKeyCmd`, `UpdateAgentCmd`, `ApplyUpdatesCmd`, `RunStepCmd`, `CleanupWorkspaceCmd`, `OpenProxyCmd`, `PingCmd`.
`ServerCommand` variants: `GenerateKeyCmd`, `DeleteKeyCmd`, `UpdateAgentCmd`, `ApplyUpdatesCmd`, `RunStepCmd`, `CleanupWorkspaceCmd`, `OpenProxyCmd`, `PingCmd`, `RefreshWorkloadsCmd`, `ControlWorkloadCmd`,
`WorkloadLogsCmd`.
**`PingCmd` is a liveness beat, and it is not redundant with gRPC keepalive.**
The server sends one every 20s on an otherwise idle command stream; the agent
@@ -578,6 +650,10 @@ vulns GET /vulnerabilities · GET /vulnerabilities/summary
GET /servers/:id/vulnerabilities · GET /servers/:id/packages
GET /packages/search?name=
GET,POST /vuln-rules · PUT,DELETE /vuln-rules/:id (owner|admin)
workloads GET /workloads · GET /servers/:id/workloads
POST /servers/:id/workloads/refresh
POST /servers/:id/workloads/:wid/action (owner|admin)
GET /servers/:id/workloads/:wid/logs (owner|admin)
audit GET /audit
agent GET /agent/latest-version
settings GET,PUT /settings · POST /settings/secrets-token (owner|admin)
@@ -658,7 +734,7 @@ Paddle is merchant of record; `admin/internal/paddle` is a thin REST client (no
## MongoDB Collections
`servers` · `keys` · `assignments` · `orgs` · `users` · `auth_providers` · `settings` · `secrets` · `workflows` · `workflow_steps` · `workflow_runs` · `workflow_log_lines` · `workflow_log_seq` · `monitors` · `incidents` · `monitor_rollups` · `notification_channels` · `console_sessions` · `audit_logs` · `server_packages` · `vuln_findings` · `vuln_alert_rules` · `vulndb_meta` · `migrations`
`servers` · `keys` · `assignments` · `orgs` · `users` · `auth_providers` · `settings` · `secrets` · `workflows` · `workflow_steps` · `workflow_runs` · `workflow_log_lines` · `workflow_log_seq` · `monitors` · `incidents` · `monitor_rollups` · `notification_channels` · `console_sessions` · `audit_logs` · `server_packages` · `vuln_findings` · `vuln_alert_rules` · `vulndb_meta` · `server_workloads` · `migrations`
Every document except `migrations` carries `org_id`. Struct definitions are the source of truth — see `server/internal/models/`.
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@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
---
id: workloads
title: Workloads
sidebar_label: Workloads
---
A **workload** is one Docker container or one systemd service. Each Linux
server reports what it runs, and you can start, stop and restart those
workloads — and read a snapshot of their logs — without opening a console.
Available on every instance. No licence feature is required.
## What gets reported
Linux servers only. Agents report every 60 seconds, and an unchanged list costs
a single small message rather than the whole thing again.
- **Containers** — every container, running or not, with its image, published
ports, health, restart count and the compose stack it belongs to.
- **Services** — systemd units that are running or failed, plus units that are
enabled but currently stopped. The platform's own units (`systemd-*`,
`user@*`, `session-*`) are filtered out; a typical host has 300 of them and
they bury the ten you care about.
Windows servers report no workloads at all.
## Docker not in use is not an error
Three different things look identical if you are careless, and only one of them
is a problem:
| What you see | What it means |
| ------------ | ------------- |
| "Docker is not in use on this server" | Docker is not installed. Normal, and not a fault |
| "Docker is installed but not responding" | The daemon is down or the socket is unreachable |
| An empty container list | Docker is running and there are no containers |
## Stacks are grouped
Compose stacks appear first, grouped under the stack name, then loose
containers, then services. A stack is one thing even when it is six containers,
and a flat list turns one decision into six rows.
The stack name comes from Docker's own `com.docker.compose.project` label. No
compose file is read from disk — a file on disk may not be what is running.
## Controlling a workload
Start, stop and restart are **owner or admin only**, and every action is
written to the audit log naming you, the server and the target.
The agent refuses to act on itself. `vantage-agent.service` is shown with its
buttons disabled: a server that stops its own agent goes offline, and the only
way back is SSH or physical access — which is exactly what this page exists to
avoid needing.
A stop that never finishes is not reported as success. Both `docker stop` and
`systemctl stop` run under a 90-second limit, and a timeout comes back as a
real error.
## Reading logs
Logs are **owner or admin only** and every read is audited. Unlike workflow
logs, a container's output cannot be masked: it is arbitrary, and a startup
banner or a stack trace may contain credentials nobody declared.
A log read returns a snapshot of at most **500 lines or 256KB**, whichever
limit is reached first, with the most recent output kept. When either limit
binds, the dialog says so — a truncated log must never be read as a complete
one.
There is no live following. The [browser console](./browser-console.md) already
gives you a real terminal on the same server, where `docker logs -f` works
properly with its own scrollback.
## Refreshing
Opening a server's Workloads panel asks its agent to report immediately, so
what is on screen is current rather than up to a minute old. That matters
because the panel has a Restart button on it: a stale row is not just a wrong
impression, it is a wrong action aimed at something that already died.
If the agent is offline the refresh fails visibly rather than queueing. A
command whose target cannot be reached must say so.
## Fleet view
**Workloads** in the sidebar searches the whole fleet by image, stack or state
— "which of these servers is still on the old image" — and links each result
back to its server.
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@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ const sidebars: SidebarsConfig = {
"vantage/workflows",
"vantage/monitors",
"vantage/vulnerabilities",
"vantage/workloads",
"vantage/notification-channels",
"vantage/secrets",
"vantage/browser-console",
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ var ScopedCollections = []string{
"server_packages",
"vuln_findings",
"vuln_alert_rules",
"server_workloads",
}
// collectionRenames maps the two collections whose names change. Ordered so the