#+TITLE: Org SSH Export
#+DATE: 2020-10-19T21:22:28-04:00
#+DRAFT: true
#+DESCRIPTION:
#+TAGS[]: emacs org-mode ssh
#+KEYWORDS[]: emacs org-mode ssh
#+SLUG:
#+SUMMARY:

I manage a lot of servers. Some are serving static content like this
blog, with others running services like [[https://nextcloud.com/][Nextcloud]], [[https://wiki.znc.in/ZNC][ZNC]], [[https://shadowsocks.org/en/index.html][Shadowsocks]],
or [[https://www.mumble.info/][Mumble]]. I have one or two game servers to play with my family and
friends. These are spread across two providers because for cost and
geographic reasons.

I also have several machines running in my house, one running FreeNAS
with some jails, another running Proxmox with several VMs and
containers. I also have a couple smaller single board PCs like
Raspberry Pis scattered around.

Needless to say, I've got a lot to keep track of. I tried using a
couple methods of keeping track of what I had running where, the user
names, IP addresses, and links. I also had to worry about making sure
my =~/.ssh/config= file was always up to date with VMs and containers
I create.

I'd already been playing with the idea of using an org-mode file to
keep track of servers with VMs and containers, as it seemed like that
would fit well with the hierarchical structure of org files.

What I came up was a system where each server location/provider gets a
heading, with the machines in that location as headings under it. If
the machine runs VMs or containers, I just put those as headings under
the host machine.

#+BEGIN_SRC org
,* Scaleway
,** example.com
,** example.org

,* Vultr
,** lambda.cx

,* Home
,** proxmox
,*** pi-hole
,*** openbsd-1
,** freenas
,*** web-jail
#+END_SRC

Each machine gets a billet point list of what's running on it, with
the text as a link if they're something I can open in-browser. That
would be things like static content and web interfaces. I also write
details about services underneath their bullet points if I have more
details I want to remember.

#+BEGIN_SRC org
,* Vultr
,** example.com
   - Minecraft
     =/home/minecraft/survival=
     Port 4587
   - [[https://example.com][nginx]]
   - [[https://example.com:8080/][znc]]
,** example.org
  - Shadowsocks
  - Mumble
  - [[https://example.net][nginx]]
#+END_SRC

From there I added either an =IP= or =Hostname= properties to each
heading, along with other information about the system like =OS=,
=SSH_USER=, etc. This allows me to use org-mode's [[https://orgmode.org/manual/Sparse-Trees.html][sparse trees]] to
search for, say, all VMs running OpenBSD. It also allows me to manage
servers like anything else in org-mode, adding [[https://orgmode.org/manual/Tags.html][tags]], [[https://orgmode.org/manual/TODO-Items.html#TODO-Items][TODO]] entries,
[[https://orgmode.org/manual/Working-with-Source-Code.html#Working-with-Source-Code][code blocks]], [[https://orgmode.org/manual/Hyperlinks.html#Hyperlinks][hyperlinks]], [[https://orgmode.org/manual/Tables.html#Tables][tables]], [[https://orgmode.org/manual/Attachments.html#Attachments][attachments]], putting details in
[[https://orgmode.org/manual/Drawers.html#Drawers][drawers]], etc.

Finally to keep my SSH config up to date, I wrote [[https://github.com/dantecatalfamo/ox-ssh][ox-ssh]]. A backend
for org-mode that lets you export your buffer as an SSH configuration
file. It takes all of the properties from the server headings and
turns them into entries in a configuration file. It [[https://github.com/dantecatalfamo/ox-ssh#usage][supports]] every
client configuration option OpenSSH has, so I can maintain my entire
SSH client list from within my org-mode file.