This section demonstrates a minimal, reproducible workflow with the current
cellmgr command surface.
The example bootstraps the host, creates a desired cell manifest for a simple
HTTP service, adds a declarative apply plan, converges runtime state, and
checks that the cell is running.
1. Bootstrap Host Integration
Initialize host integration, prepare base layers, and verify that required
kernel/runtime prerequisites are present.
vhost# cellmgr system bootstrap
2. Create Desired Cell Manifest
Create the desired-state manifest for one HTTP workload. This writes
configuration into /etc/cellmgr only (--scope desired) and does not yet
start the service.
vhost# cellmgr cell create mysite-edge-httpd \
--autostart YES \
--profile medium \
--reserved-ports 8080 \
--log-facility local1 \
--stdout-level info \
--stderr-level err \
--log-tag cell-mysite-edge-httpd \
--cmd '/usr/libexec/httpd -I 8080 -X -f -s /var/www/mysite-edge-httpd' \
--healthcheck 'test -f /var/www/mysite-edge-httpd/index.html' \
--scope desired
Created manifest /etc/cellmgr/mysite-edge-httpd.cell
3. Add Declarative Apply Plan
Define a small apply plan that creates the initial web content inside the cell.
Plans are declarative, versionable, and executed by cellmgr apply during
reconciliation.
vhost# vi /etc/cellmgr/mysite-edge-httpd.apply
Plan content:
FILE_BEGIN /var/www/mysite-edge-httpd/index.html
<html>
Hello NetBSD
</html>
FILE_END
4. Converge Desired to Runtime
Run reconciliation to render runtime state from manifests, execute the apply
plan, start supervised service processes, and run the configured healthcheck.
vhost# cellmgr apply
apply: dry-run=NO reapply=NO restart-changed=NO verbose=NO
cell mysite-edge-httpd
CREATE render runtime cell state
APPLY run /etc/cellmgr/mysite-edge-httpd.apply
START supervised service after apply
HEALTHCHECK test -f /var/www/mysite-edge-httpd/index.html
RESULT changed
summary: cells=1 changed=1 failed=0 dry-run=NO
5. Verify Runtime State
Inspect the live cell view and confirm that the instance is running with an
assigned CID and increasing age.
vhost# cellmgr cell list -o name,running,cid,age
NAME RUNNING CID AGE
mysite-edge-httpd YES 1 31s
6. Open the Service
Confirm the HTTP endpoint from your client or browser:
http://vhost.local:8080/
7. Export Prometheus-Compatible Metrics
cellctl stats -P -h emits Prometheus text format with a minimal HTTP header.
This can be wired into inetd for a very lightweight metrics endpoint without
additional exporter software.
vhost# cellctl stats -P -h
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/plain
# TYPE cell_cpu_ticks_1s gauge
# TYPE cell_cpu_ticks_10s_avg gauge
# TYPE cell_processes_current gauge
# TYPE cell_references_current gauge
# TYPE cell_memory_vmsize_bytes gauge
# TYPE cell_age_seconds gauge
cell_cpu_ticks_1s{cid="2",name="mysite-edge-httpd",root="/var/cellmgr/cells/mysite-edge-httpd/root"} 0
cell_cpu_ticks_10s_avg{cid="2",name="mysite-edge-httpd",root="/var/cellmgr/cells/mysite-edge-httpd/root"} 0
cell_processes_current{cid="2",name="mysite-edge-httpd",root="/var/cellmgr/cells/mysite-edge-httpd/root"} 1
cell_references_current{cid="2",name="mysite-edge-httpd",root="/var/cellmgr/cells/mysite-edge-httpd/root"} 1
cell_memory_vmsize_bytes{cid="2",name="mysite-edge-httpd",root="/var/cellmgr/cells/mysite-edge-httpd/root"} 137601024
cell_age_seconds{cid="2",name="mysite-edge-httpd",root="/var/cellmgr/cells/mysite-edge-httpd/root"} 596
Next Steps
For deeper operational guides and reference material, continue in the
documentation.
The docs are still being built out, but they already include polished end-to-end
recipes, including a
MantisBT 3-tier setup (three cells, multiple volumes)
and a
Luanti gameserver example.
