[Buildbot-devel] serialized slave execution in Xen domains

[dustin at zmanda.com]

I'd like to do something *roughly* like this:

Run several buildslaves on a single physical box, each executing builds
in a different Xen-based domain.  Since the physical box has limited
resources (processor, RAM), I'd like to serialize the builds so that
only one build can run at a time.  If possible, I'd like to completely
shutdown VMs that aren't building at any given time (rather than leave a
kernel and buildslave instance running).

Has someone done this before?  If so, any hints, scripts, docs?

Complications I'm seeing are:
 - buildmaster expects to only one arch per buildslave
 - buildslaves send their own architectural details, not those of some
   hypothetical VM they can run
 - buildmaster expects relatively constant connection from its
   buildslaves (precluding shutdown)

None of these seem insurmountable, but I'd hate to re-invent the wheel.
I'd also be happy to submit my results back to the community, so it'd be
nice to do it "right".

Thanks!
Dustin

-- 
        Dustin J. Mitchell
        Storage Software Engineer, Zmanda, Inc.
        http://www.zmanda.com/