5-Minute Admin Onboarding

Goal

In about five minutes, you will bootstrap a host, define a first cell and volume declaratively, and converge runtime state safely.

This page is intentionally fast-path. For deeper rationale and host-baseline context, continue with Getting Started.

Minute 0-1: bootstrap host integration

cellmgr system bootstrap

Expected outcomes:

host integration is enabled (cellmgr=YES)
secmodel_cell is loaded and persisted
base runtime layer is prepared

Minute 1-2: define desired state

cellmgr volume create data --scope desired
cellmgr cell create app --cmd '/usr/sbin/daemon-example' --scope desired
cellmgr cell set app --autostart YES --scope desired

Minute 2-3: validate planned drift

cellmgr apply --dry-run --all

Check that the action plan matches your intent before convergence.

Minute 3-4: converge runtime

cellmgr apply --all

This creates or updates runtime resources and enforces autostart intent.

Minute 4-5: verify and handoff

cellmgr cell list --view merged
cellmgr volume list --view merged
cellctl list -T
cellctl stats -T

Confirm the new cell is present and running as expected.

Immediate production tips

always run cellmgr apply --dry-run --all before real apply
treat dry-run exit code 2 as drift signal in CI/CD
use explicit -T -H --view -o contracts in scripts
pass --yes for non-interactive destructive operations