SmechVisor spk-visor

spk-visor is the SmechVisor management CLI. It is not a general-purpose package manager — it replaces the roles that apt, dnf, or emerge would fill on a normal OS with two operations specific to a hypervisor appliance: live OTA updates and zero-downtime network deployment.

Overview

On a running SmechVisor node, spk-visor is the only way to update or redeploy the system. It is a pure Rust binary with zero external dependencies — it calls only the OS primitives available on any POSIX system.

Commands

spk-visor deploy-system-img-copy e13gts2

OTA Updates

SmechVisor is designed for zero-downtime server operation. spk-visor entire-system-upgrade handles two classes of update differently:

How it works

1. spk-visor fetches smechvisor-daemon.tar.xz and smechvisor-base.tar.xz from the GitHub Release URL using curl.
2. Packages are extracted to a staging directory.
3. The daemon package: rc-service smechvisord stop → copy binary → rc-service smechvisord start.
4. The base package: extracted to / directly. Running system processes are unaffected. A reboot activates the new kernel or base libraries.
5. If the daemon fails to restart, the old binary is restored from a backup taken in step 2.

Network Deploy

Network deploy lets you provision a new bare-metal machine with SmechVisor without a USB drive, using an existing running SmechVisor node as the donor.

Prerequisites

• A running SmechVisor node (the donor) with spk-visor
• A target machine booted from the Deploy Shim ISO
• Both machines on the same network (LAN/VLAN — UDP broadcast must reach both)

Workflow

1. Boot the target machine from the Deploy Shim ISO. Walk through: disk selection → auto-partition → network setup.
2. The shim displays a 7-character code — for example e13gts2. It also broadcasts this code on UDP port 9191 on the LAN.
3. On the donor node, run:

   spk-visor deploy-system-img-copy e13gts2

4. spk-visor listens on UDP port 9191 for the broadcast containing SMECHVISOR_SHIM:e13gts2, gets the sender's IP, connects back on TCP port 9192, and streams all packages.
5. The shim receives the packages, extracts them to the partitioned disk, installs GRUB, and reboots into SmechVisor.

Wire protocol

UDP discovery (port 9191):

SMECHVISOR_SHIM:{code}
# example: SMECHVISOR_SHIM:e13gts2

TCP package stream (port 9192):

[4 bytes big-endian: name length]
[name bytes: package name]
[8 bytes big-endian: data length]
[data bytes: raw .tar.xz contents]
... (repeat for each package)
[4 bytes: 0x00000000] -- stream terminator

Deploy Shim ISO

The Deploy Shim is a minimal bootable ISO that transforms any bare-metal machine into a SmechVisor receiver. It boots into a Rust + Newt TUI wizard with no desktop environment, no live OS — just the installer flow.

Shim TUI flow

1. Disk selection — lists all detected block devices. Select the target disk.
2. Auto-partition — the shim creates a GPT partition table with three partitions automatically:

   Partition	Size	Type	Mount
   Part 1	512 MB	EFI System	/boot/efi
   Part 2	2 GB	Linux swap	swap
   Part 3	Remaining	Linux filesystem	/

3. Network type — choose Ethernet or Wi-Fi.
   • Ethernet: choose DHCP (auto) or static IP.
   • Wi-Fi: select SSID from scan, enter password.
4. Code display — a screen shows the 7-character deploy code. On another machine, run spk-visor deploy-system-img-copy <code>.
5. Receive & install — packages stream in over TCP, progress is displayed. GRUB is installed to the EFI partition. System reboots into SmechVisor.

Shim ISO details

Download

The Deploy Shim ISO is distributed alongside the Install ISO on the SmechVisor downloads page.