vpsAdmin is our central information system. It is used to keep records of the members of our association and manage VPSs. The cornerstone of vpsAdmin is the API used to create the web interface and CLI tools.

Transactions are the way vpsAdmin makes changes that are requested by the user for the servers/VPSs. Changes are not made immediately – they are added to a queue and executed one by one.

Transactions belong to groups of so-called “transaction chains”. Every operation (creating a VPS, start, stop, clone, etc.) is represented by one chain that groups several transactions together. In the transaction log found in the web interface, the right panel displays a list of the ten most recent chains and their progress expressed by a percentage. By clicking the ID of the chain, you can see what transactions it contains.

In the ideal case, the chain is either executed completely or not at all. If, however, an unexpected or unresolved error occurs, an administrator will have to step in.

Chains are also responsible for keeping the database consistent. Changes in the database are only executed if the chain finishes successfully. It can be a bit confusing if, for instance, the old hostname is still displayed even after it has been changed. When the chain is completed, the hostname will be updated to the correct version.

Each object (VPS, dataset, snapshot, etc.) can only be used for one operation at any given time. Locks are used to ensure consistency, so that vpsAdmin doesn’t lock itself out.

If you get the error message: “Resource is locked. Please try again,” it means that the object you want to do something with is locked and you have to wait until it is available again.