Installation

This guide covers installation methods for LXC AutoScale ML.

Quick Installation

The recommended method uses the installation script:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fabriziosalmi/proxmox-lxc-autoscale-ml/main/install.sh | bash

This script:

1. Verifies system requirements
2. Installs Python dependencies via apt
3. Downloads application files to /usr/local/bin/lxc_autoscale_ml/
4. Creates configuration directory at /etc/lxc_autoscale_ml/
5. Installs systemd service files
6. Enables and starts all services

Manual Installation

For environments requiring manual installation:

Step 1: Install Dependencies

apt update
apt install -y git python3-flask python3-requests python3-sklearn \
  python3-pandas python3-numpy python3-aiofiles python3-yaml \
  python3-psutil python3-aiohttp

Optional Prometheus metrics support:

apt install -y python3-prometheus-client

Step 2: Clone Repository

git clone https://github.com/fabriziosalmi/proxmox-lxc-autoscale-ml.git /tmp/lxc-autoscale-ml

Step 3: Install Application Files

mkdir -p /usr/local/bin/lxc_autoscale_ml
cp -r /tmp/lxc-autoscale-ml/lxc_autoscale_ml/* /usr/local/bin/lxc_autoscale_ml/
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/lxc_autoscale_ml/*/*.py

Step 4: Create Configuration Directory

mkdir -p /etc/lxc_autoscale_ml
cp /etc/lxc_autoscale_ml/lxc_autoscale_api.yaml /etc/lxc_autoscale_ml/
cp /etc/lxc_autoscale_ml/lxc_autoscale_ml.yaml /etc/lxc_autoscale_ml/
cp /etc/lxc_autoscale_ml/lxc_monitor.yaml /etc/lxc_autoscale_ml/

Step 5: Install Systemd Services

Create /lib/systemd/system/lxc_autoscale_api.service:

[Unit]
Description=LXC AutoScale API Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /usr/local/bin/lxc_autoscale_api/lxc_autoscale_api.py
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Create /lib/systemd/system/lxc_monitor.service:

[Unit]
Description=LXC Monitor Service
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /usr/local/bin/lxc_monitor.py
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Create /lib/systemd/system/lxc_autoscale_ml.service:

[Unit]
Description=LXC AutoScale ML Service
After=network.target lxc_autoscale_api.service lxc_monitor.service

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /usr/local/bin/lxc_autoscale_ml/lxc_autoscale_ml.py
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Step 6: Enable and Start Services

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable lxc_autoscale_api lxc_monitor lxc_autoscale_ml
systemctl start lxc_autoscale_api lxc_monitor lxc_autoscale_ml

Post-Installation Configuration

Set API Key

Generate a secure API key:

openssl rand -hex 32

Edit /etc/lxc_autoscale_ml/lxc_autoscale_api.yaml:

authentication:
  enabled: true
  api_keys:
    - "your-generated-key-here"

Restart the API service:

systemctl restart lxc_autoscale_api

Configure LXCFS

Edit /lib/systemd/system/lxcfs.service and add the -l flag:

ExecStart=/usr/bin/lxcfs /var/lib/lxcfs -l

Apply changes:

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl restart lxcfs

Restart LXC containers for the change to take effect.

Verify Installation

Check Service Status

systemctl status lxc_autoscale_api
systemctl status lxc_monitor
systemctl status lxc_autoscale_ml

Test API Health

curl http://localhost:5000/health/check

Check Metrics Collection

ls -la /var/log/lxc_metrics.json

View Logs

journalctl -u lxc_autoscale_ml -n 20

Log rotation

The installer configures no logrotate stanza, and most logs do not need one:

Log	Rotated by
/var/log/lxc_autoscale_ml.log	the model itself, at 10 MB, 5 kept
/var/log/lxc_monitor.log	the monitor itself, per logging.log_max_bytes
/var/log/lxc_autoscale_api_access.log	nothing
/var/log/lxc_autoscale_api_error.log	nothing

Only gunicorn's two logs are unmanaged. If you keep them as files rather than sending them to the journal, create /etc/logrotate.d/lxc-autoscale-api:

/var/log/lxc_autoscale_api_*.log {
    daily
    missingok
    rotate 7
    compress
    delaycompress
    notifempty
    create 640 root adm
    sharedscripts
    postrotate
        systemctl reload lxc_autoscale_api > /dev/null 2>&1 || true
    endscript
}

lxc_autoscale_api is the only unit with an ExecReload. Do not add the model or the monitor to a postrotate reload: they have none, and rotating their files externally fights the rotation they already do.

Alternatively set gunicorn.access_log_file and gunicorn.error_log_file to "-" in lxc_autoscale_api.yaml, which sends both to the journal and removes the need for logrotate entirely.

Troubleshooting Installation

Service Fails to Start

Check logs for errors:

journalctl -u lxc_autoscale_api -n 50 --no-pager

Common issues:

• Missing Python packages: Run apt install python3-<package>
• Permission errors: Verify file ownership is root
• Port conflict: Check if port 5000 is in use

Cannot Connect to API

# Check if service is listening
ss -tlnp | grep 5000

# Test from localhost
curl -v http://127.0.0.1:5000/health/check

Metrics Not Being Collected

# Check monitor service
systemctl status lxc_monitor

# Check for running containers
pct list

# Check metrics file
cat /var/log/lxc_metrics.json | head

Next Steps

• Configuration: Customize settings
• Upgrading: Upgrade from previous versions