Resetting Virtual Skynode

How to restore a clean state of Virtual Skynode

One advantage of using Virtual Skynode is that it's very simple to restore a clean state, or even maintain multiple states, for instance different versions of AuterionOS or the apps installed on a single machine.

Where does Virtual Skynode store its state?

The launch command of Virtual Skynode accepts two launch arguments that influence where the state of Virtual Skynode is stored on disk. Example launch command:

virtual-skynode run \
--rootfs virtual-skynode-rootfs-<VERSION-NUMBER>.qcow2 \
--storage ~/.virtual-skynode \
--guest-ip 10.41.200.2

The root file system and the storage directory both make up a part of the state of Virtual Skynode. Both are explained in the following sections. In most cases it is sufficient to erase the storage directory specified in --storage to start over with Virtual Skynode. In the example above the following command would remove all dynamic files that were created during the lifetime of Virtual Skynode:

rm -r ~/.virtual-skynode

The storage directory

The storage directory specified by the --storage launch argument of virtual skynode specifies where the persistent partitions of AuterionOS are stored. These partitions are modified as part of normal usage of Skynode, such as installing an App or changing AuterionOS settings. Resetting Virtual Skynode to a clean state is therefore straightforward and can be done in two ways:

1. Remove the current storage directory from disk, in which case Virtual Skynode will re-create it on the next startup: rm -r ~/.virtual-skynode

2. Use a different storage directory in case the current configuration of Virtual Skynode needs to be preserved

The root filesystem

The virtual disk containing the root filesystem (rootfs) of Virtual Skynode might only have been modified if the bash alias mountrw was used to mount the filesystem with read-write permissions.

The launch argument --rootfs specifies the virtual disk that is used for the root filesystem of the Skynode. This file is typically downloaded from Auterion Suite. By default no data will be written to the root filesystem, meaning that it won't be modified. AuterionOS does allow manufacturers however to mount the root filesystem with write permissions: Root filesystem mount option

It is not advised to mount the root filesystem of Virtual Skynode with write permissions and modify it, even though Virtual Skynode does support it. Should your Virtual Skynode's root filesystem have been modified, you will need to download a clean virtual disk from Auterion Suite in order to restore a clean state.