Need to know more about the 'Standalone mode'

[ajithpv]

Just a few doubt on Mender client (specific to standalone mode):

• Whether the ‘Mender client’ remain same (apart from the daemon) during the management mode and during the ‘standalone mode’? Anything intentionally enabling or disabling during the switching from one to another mode?
• Whether the upcoming ‘update module’ feature will work in ‘standalone mode’?
• I know the ‘standalone mode’ does not have ‘state script’ functionality. I would like to know whether this can be enabled in standalone mode (or it is not possible at all)?
• In standalone mode, is there any way to get the progress and error list/status (detailed error log or status etc.) to some file/medium other than the console terminal? The platform which we are using will not be having a debug console at the final stage. In this case how to perform both management mode (no problem with this mode) and standalone mode (how to get the progress or status without debug console)?

[kacf]

@ajithpv

Whether the ‘Mender client’ remain same (apart from the daemon) during the management mode and during the ‘standalone mode’? Anything intentionally enabling or disabling during the switching from one to another mode?

No, it is not the same, and mixing the two is risky and definitely not recommended. Standalone mode is, as the name implies, completely unmanaged. It’s just executes whatever command you give it, and it assumes that you are taking care of all possible conflicts yourself, and will not check whether there is a mender daemon running, nor what it does. The results if both are trying to do an update at the same time could be be disastrous.

@ajithpv

Whether the upcoming ‘ update module ’ feature will work in ‘standalone mode’?

Yes, it will. The new argument is called -install, and will be valid for all update types. The old -rootfs flag will be removed.

@ajithpv

I know the ‘standalone mode’ does not have ‘ state script ’ functionality. I would like to know whether this can be enabled in standalone mode (or it is not possible at all)?

Standalone mode will have state script support (with some limitations) in Mender 2.0.0. From the (future) changelog:

Mender now runs a stripped down set of state scripts when installing artifacts in standalone mode, and the -f flag is no longer required to install such artifacts, nor is it valid. The scripts that run are:

• Download scripts
• ArtifactInstall scripts
• ArtifactCommit scripts
• ArtifactRollback scripts
• ArtifactFailure scripts
  Reboot scripts do not run, so these must be handled manually in standalone mode.

@ajithpv

In standalone mode, is there any way to get the progress and error list/status (detailed error log or status etc.) to some file/medium other than the console terminal?

Is it enough to just pipe it somewhere? Otherwise the answer is no.

[ajithpv]

Thank you very much @kacf for providing the detailed answer.

@kacf

The results if both are trying to do an update at the same time could be be disastrous.

We will not run both at the same time but, required to run both mode on the same platform. We have requirement of getting the OTA update as well as on-premises update (via USB). So, we will switch both mode based on the situation (of-course, we will disable the daemon when using the standalone mode).

@kacf

Standalone mode will have state script support (with some limitations) in Mender 2.0.0. From the (future) changelog:

Wow! Can I get the release date for the Mender 2.0.0?

@kacf

Is it enough to just pipe it somewhere? Otherwise the answer is no.

Yes, it is possible, if no other method is present