Use Cloud Assistant plug-ins - Elastic Compute Service - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

Cloud Assistant can remotely run commands and upload files and provide plug-ins. You can use Cloud Assistant plug-ins to make complex configurations by running simple commands. This improves O&M efficiency.

Methods to run plug-ins

You can use the following methods to run Cloud Assistant plug-ins:

Connect to an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance as a user with sudo permissions and run commands on the instance. This method is applicable only to Linux instances.
For information about how to connect to an instance, see Connection methods.
Go to the Cloud Assistant page in the ECS console.

Query plug-ins

You may need to query the name of a Cloud Assistant plug-in before you can use the plug-in. To query Cloud Assistant plug-ins, run the following command:

acs-plugin-manager --list

The following table describes the parameters about Cloud Assistant plug-ins.


Parameter	Description
Name	The name of the plug-in.
Version	The version of the plug-in.
Publisher	The provider of the plug-in.
OsType	The operating system type that is supported by the plug-in. Valid values: LINUX WINDOWS
Arch	The architecture that is supported by the plug-in. Valid values: X64 X86 ARM ALL
PluginType	The type of the plug-in. Valid values: Once: one-time plug-in. A one-time plug-in is terminated after the execution is complete. Persist: long-running plug-in. A long-running plug-in runs as a resident process.

Run plug-ins

To run a specific Cloud Assistant plug-in, run the following command:

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin <Plug-in name>

Note Replace <Plug-in name> with the name of the plug-in that you want to run. For information about how to query plug-ins, see the Query plug-ins section of this topic.

Common plug-ins

Cloud Assistant provides a variety of plug-ins. This section provides examples on how to use common Cloud Assistant plug-ins.

Configure kdump

Kdump is a feature of the Linux kernel to create core dumps when kernel errors occur. The ecs_dump_config plug-in can be used to enable and disable the kdump feature and query the status of the feature.

Enable kdump.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs_dump_config --params --enable

Disable kdump.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs_dump_config --params --disable

Query the status of kdump.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs_dump_config --params --status

Automatically configure an ENI

Typically, you must manually make network configurations for an elastic network interface (ENI) after you add the ENI. The multi-nic-util plug-in can be used to automatically make network configurations for your ENI.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=multi-nic-util

Configure IPv6 addresses

The ecs-util-ipv6 plug-in can be used to configure IPv6 addresses for ECS instances that are already assigned IPv6 addresses, or clear IPv6 configurations for ECS instances that are not assigned IPv6 addresses. The ecs-util-ipv6 plug-in can be used to enable IPv6, disable IPv6, and automatically or manually configure IPv6 addresses for instances. By default, the plug-in automatically configures IPv6 addresses. The ecs-util-ipv6 tool is integrated into the ecs-util-ipv6 plug-in. For more information, see Automatically configure IPv6 addresses.

Enable IPv6.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs-utils-ipv6 --params --enable

Disable IPv6.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs-utils-ipv6 --params --disable

Automatically configure IPv6 addresses.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs-utils-ipv6

Manually configure IPv6 addresses.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs-utils-ipv6 --params --static,<dev>,<ip6s>,<prefix_len>,<gw6>

Sample command:

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs-utils-ipv6 --params --static,eth0,fe80::216:3eff:****:****,64,2408:400a:108:8300:ffff:ffff:****:****

Configure NIC multi-queue

Network interface controller (NIC) multi-queue enables an ECS instance to use multiple NIC queues to improve network performance. Performance bottlenecks may occur when a single vCPU of an instance is used to process NIC interrupts. To solve this issue, you can use NIC multi-queue to distribute NIC interrupts across different vCPUs. You can run the ethtool -l ehtname command to query the current number of NIC queues and the supported number of NIC queues.

The ecs_tools_multiqueue plug-in can be used to set the number of queues to the supported maximum number of queues on all NICs.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs_tools_multiqueue

Manage Intel Hyper-Threading

ECS bare metal instances require Intel Hyper-Threading (HT) to be disabled for specific business scenarios. The ecs_disable_intel_hyper-threading plug-in can be used to disable the feature.

To use the plug-in, you must add the nr_cpus kernel parameter to the grub file and set the parameter to half of the number of vCPUs of the instance type. The nr_cpus parameter limits the maximum number of vCPUs that is supported by the kernel and disables HT.

After the kernel parameter is added, you must restart the instance for the parameter to take effect. After the plug-in is run, the output prompts you to restart the instance.

Note The plug-in cannot be used to disable HT on ECS instances that are not ECS bare metal instances. If you run the plug-in on an ECS instance that is not an ECS bare metal instance, the system prompts you that the instance is not an ECS bare metal instance and then exits the plug-in.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=ecs_disable_intel_hyper-threading

Manage security patches

Security vulnerabilities on ECS instances must be fixed as soon as possible. Otherwise, serious security risks may arise. The patch_manager plug-in can be used to scan for and install security patches on ECS instances.

Scan for security patches.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=patch_manager --params --operation,scan

Install security patches and have the instance restarted if required.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=patch_manager --params --operation,install,--reboot,ifneed

Install security patches without restarting the instance.

acs-plugin-manager --exec --plugin=patch_manager --params --operation,install,--reboot,no