Confusing 'by hostname' view when containers have their own hostnames

[2opremio]

I don't know if this is intentional and I simply don't understand the "by hostname" view" but, the "by hostname" view of my kubernetes cluster includes the hostnames from the containers, which I find confusing:

$ docker ps  | grep app-mapper | grep -v pause
faf115d00c15        weaveworks/app-mapper-db                             "/docker-entrypoint.s"   3 days ago          Up 3 days                               k8s_app-mapper-db.3281346e_app-mapper-db-jimdf_default_10d549d8-b93d-11e5-a532-0800279b9f1d_9d3d0a02
$ docker exec -ti faf115d00c15 bash
root@app-mapper-db-jimdf:/# hostname
app-mapper-db-jimdf

[tomwilkie]

Thats the idea - containers by (their) hostname. Its useful if you use weave dns for simple load balancing. It doesn't look useful for k8s.

[2opremio]

Should I close this then?

[tomwilkie]

Can you think of a way to make this less confusing? What were you expecting?

[2opremio]

I was expecting to only see hostnames from container-running hosts (i.e. hostnames of machines running Docker).

[2opremio]

However, I do understand that it has value to show the hostnames of containers so I don't know what I would change. Maybe the view name? I don't have better suggestions though.

[tomwilkie]

We could say "By Container Hostname" but it might be too wordy. Or "By Their Hostname" but that seems a little informal. Lets see if anyone else has any ideas.

[peterbourgon]

I just raised this question independently in the chat.

I was expecting to only see hostnames from container-running hosts (i.e. hostnames of machines running Docker).

I also expect this. (Although then I would expect the label to be "By host", and TBH I don't really see the utility of it.)

Thats the idea - containers by (their) hostname.

I've always understood the hostname of a container to be basically arbitrary. That containers launched with WeaveDNS encodes a sort of "role" there is nice, but exceptional. Am I wrong there?

[tomwilkie]

I've always understood the hostname of a container to be basically arbitrary. That containers launched with WeaveDNS encodes a sort of "role" there is nice, but exceptional. Am I wrong there?

I think there will be no one-size fits all. In docker right now, they definitely aren't arbitrary (docker seems to be moving away from links and toward hostnames in /etc/hosts and dns as a way of connecting containers). In k8s they might be, not sure.

I had hoped that by putting this under the "containers" heading, the hostname would implicitly be the container hostname. Perhaps we should change the label to "by dns name"?

[2opremio]

I had hoped that by putting this under the "containers" heading, the hostname would implicitly be the container hostname.

Really good point. Haven't thought about that but, for some reason the By Host view immediately makes me think about the hosts running the containers. I think the term host may have an implicit meaning of machine.

Perhaps we should change the label to "by dns name"?

I cannot think about any better names but perhaps it's not only a name but also a presentation (UI) problem. Hosts and host-processes get the same node-representation as containers and even the internet node. I think that having a different node shape/icon for different types of nodes/views would help a lot here.

[tomwilkie]

I think that having a different node shape/icon for different types of nodes/views would help a lot here.

I agree. @foot had some ideas here that he put together into a wireframe:

Rest of the wireframes are here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1grDt76fIGo32G5pARQssgkZUceEvUkN1XNk1GV96NjI/edit#slide=id.gdb85c3591_0_464

Thats being tracked by #659, so I suggest we continue the discussion re:icons there.