Exporter Deployment¶

Deploy a labgrid-exporter process on a physical host so its hardware becomes available through the coordinator.

This page covers the host-side plumbing: the ser2net version caveat, the PATH the exporter needs, and how to run and verify it. For the contents of the resource YAML itself, see Exporter Setup.

Prerequisites¶

Python 3.10 or newer on the exporter host
SSH access to the host (for remote lifecycle management)
Network reachability from the host to the coordinator gRPC port (default :20408)
A resource YAML describing the hardware attached to the host (see Exporter Setup)

Install ser2net 4.6.1¶

Warning

ser2net 4.6.0 (the version shipped in current Debian and Ubuntu packages) hangs on the RFC2217 purge option. Tests and clients reach the serial port, connect over TCP, and then time out with:

serial.serialutil.SerialException: Could not open serial port
rfc2217://<host>:<port>?ign_set_control&timeout=3.0:
timeout while waiting for option 'purge'

Install 4.6.1 or newer from source and put it first on PATH.

Download the source from the ser2net releases page and build it into a per-user prefix so it does not fight the system package:

cd /tmp
curl -LO https://github.com/cminyard/ser2net/archive/refs/tags/v4.6.1.tar.gz
tar xzf v4.6.1.tar.gz
cd ser2net-4.6.1
./configure --prefix=$HOME/opt/ser2net-4.6.1
make -j
make install

Verify:

$HOME/opt/ser2net-4.6.1/sbin/ser2net -v
# ser2net version 4.6.1

Install adi-labgrid-plugins¶

On the exporter host:

git clone <repo-url>
cd lg-coordinator
pip install -e ".[dev]"

The dev extra pulls in labgrid itself (from the ADI fork) and every resource class the exporter might be asked to publish.

Run the Exporter¶

Run labgrid-exporter with $HOME/opt/ser2net-4.6.1/sbin prepended to PATH. labgrid-exporter spawns ser2net per serial resource by name, so the PATH order determines which binary handles RFC2217 traffic.

Foreground (for smoke-testing):

cd /path/to/exporter/yaml
PATH="$HOME/opt/ser2net-4.6.1/sbin:$PATH" \
    labgrid-exporter \
        -c <coordinator-host>:20408 \
        -n <exporter-name> \
        resources.yaml

Daemonized:

cd /path/to/exporter/yaml
nohup env PATH="$HOME/opt/ser2net-4.6.1/sbin:$PATH" \
    labgrid-exporter \
        -c <coordinator-host>:20408 \
        -n <exporter-name> \
        resources.yaml \
    >/tmp/lg_exporter.log 2>&1 </dev/null &

Pick a unique -n <exporter-name> per host. Resources appear on the coordinator under that prefix (<exporter-name>/<group>/<cls>).

Verify Registration¶

From any host with labgrid-client installed:

labgrid-client -x <coordinator-host>:20408 resources | grep '^<exporter-name>/'
labgrid-client -x <coordinator-host>:20408 places

Resources should list every entry from the YAML. Places you have already configured (see Exporter Setup) should resolve.

To confirm the serial path end-to-end, acquire a place that uses this exporter and open its console:

labgrid-client -x <coordinator-host>:20408 -p <place> acquire
labgrid-client -x <coordinator-host>:20408 -p <place> console
# Ctrl-] to exit
labgrid-client -x <coordinator-host>:20408 -p <place> release

Troubleshooting¶

timeout while waiting for option 'purge': The exporter spawned ser2net 4.6.0 instead of 4.6.1. Stop the exporter, confirm which ser2net resolves to the 4.6.1 install under the same PATH the exporter uses, and restart with that PATH. See Install ser2net 4.6.1.
queued update for resource ... then no place on the coordinator: The resources registered, but no place matches them. Create a place and add a match pattern — see the “Setting Up Places” section of Exporter Setup.
Exporter exits with resource ... could not be opened: A serial device path in the resource YAML does not exist on the host. Prefer stable /dev/serial/by-id/... symlinks over /dev/ttyUSB* so USB re-enumeration does not break the config.