Glad you figured it out! I'll pass along the feedback about the online docs - thanks for highlighting that. The tool does have built-in CLI & man page help which will hopefully stay current as the tool evolves.
- Jimmy
Got it!
gcloud compute instances create [myInstance-name] --disk
name=[myExistingDisk-name] boot=yes
Online documentation is obsolete, by the way.
On Sun, Oct 19, 2014 at 4:26 PM, Jose R R <Jose.r.r@metztli-it.com> wrote:
> Niltze, Jimmy-
>
> No, I am not blaming the kernel nor GCE utilities, I *know* it is due
> to the SSL pass-phrase that apache2 prompts for.
>
> I have guided myself by: <
> https://cloud.google.com/compute/docs/troubleshooting#ssherrors > and
> thus far I was able create a snapshot -- with which I imaged a disk --
> that I mounted and modified under another Debian instance.
>
> Now I have this modified persistent disk that I want to use when I
> create another instance.
>
> My issue now is, how do I create another instance using this *existing* disk?
>
> By the way, spending much of the morning/afternoon examining the
> gcloud and gce commands, I don't think it is possible to completely
> shut down the vm -- only reset it (which is a reboot ;-)
>
> Best Professional Regards
>
> On Sun, Oct 19, 2014 at 4:00 PM, Jimmy Kaplowitz <jkaplowitz@google.com> wrote:
>> Hi Jose,
>>
>> You could certainly use our metadata server to provide the apache passphrase
>> at boot time, if you then integrate it with the apache startup process. I'm
>> not an expert on Apache's initialization procedure so I'll leave advice on
>> that to others. As far as I know, no code has been written yet to do that.
>>
>> The dist-upgrade was probably only relevant as your first reason to reboot
>> after making the change, I'd expect, nothing specific to the new kernel or
>> to GCE.
>>
>> However, I do have one bit of positive feature clarification to provide:
>> gcutil, gcloud, and our web UI do allow you to fully shut down an instance,
>> which will let you attach the disk to another instance. Just delete it while
>> preserving the boot disk (it's an option for all of those tools). This will
>> send a clean ACPI power down signal to the VM, giving it an approximate
>> maximum of 2 minutes before pulling the virtual power cord.
>>
>> Good luck, and glad you're trying GCE!
>>
>> - Jimmy
>>
>> On Oct 19, 2014 9:12 AM, "Jose R R" <Jose.r.r@metztli-it.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Niltze, all-
>>>
>>> Well, doing my part in the security of the Web :p
>>>
>>> I run Apache web server in a GCE VM [different email account than this
>>> one] and decided to acquire an SSL certificate which I successfully
>>> installed under Debian Wheezy a few days ago.
>>>
>>> For added security, I pass-phrased-protected the SSL certificate so
>>> that when I restart the web server I need to input my pass phrase.
>>>
>>> I had no issues whatsoever until today that I did an: apt-get
>>> dist-upgrade for a newer kernel. Upon doing a reboot I found out that
>>> my port 22 is closed but my web server ports 80 and 443 are open.
>>>
>>> I used nmap to scan for my open ports as well as the tcping utility.
>>>
>>> Accordingly, I get the message connection refused whenever I use
>>> gcloud or ssh to attempt to log into my GCE instance.
>>>
>>> After using gcutil and gcloud to reset my GCE instance -- multiple
>>> times -- the outcome was the same. Accordingly I did:
>>>
>>> gcloud compute instances get-serial-port-output myInstance
>>>
>>> Below is the last message of the output that indicates that GCE Debian
>>> Wheezy instance needs the passphrase before proceeding further (and
>>> starting sshd):
>>>
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> ...
>>> Oct 19 07:53:51 myInstance acpid: 1 rule loaded
>>> Oct 19 07:53:51 myInstance acpid: waiting for events: event logging is off
>>> [....] Starting web server: apache2Apache/2.2.22 mod_ssl/2.2.22 (Pass
>>> Phrase Dialog)
>>> Some of your private key files are encrypted for security reasons.
>>> In order to read them you have to provide the pass phrases.
>>>
>>> Server myInstance.x.xyz-host.internal:443 (RSA)
>>> Enter pass phrase:
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> I tried detaching the disk to subsequently mount onto another instance
>>> but the command fails with:
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> ERROR: (gcloud.compute.instances.detach-disk) There was a problem
>>> modifying the resource:
>>> - Hot-remove of the root disk is not supported.
>>>
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> Now, gcutil and gcloud utilities can reset (reboot) the instance but
>>> can not shut it down completely (that I'm aware) -- which would allow
>>> me to detach the disk.
>>>
>>> Is there a way to provide (as parameter) the passphrase that the web
>>> server requires to start apache2 and thus continue/complete the boot
>>> process to start ssh server so that port 22 will be opened?
>>>
>>> Best Professional Regards
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jose R R
>>> http://www.metztli-it.com
>>>
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