Why cloud-init?
by berndbausch from LinuxQuestions.org on (#55WN0)
What is the rationale of using cloud-init when starting up recent Ubuntu versions? I think the first release with this behaviour is 18.04, Bionic.
The remaining text is a rant, sorry.
The reason I want to know is that I just wasted half an hour trying to understand why my Bionic server's hostname is reset when rebooting. Modifying /etc/hostname or using the systemd command hostnamectl has always had a persistent effect. Now all of a sudden something sneaks in and trashes my configuration.
I mean, cloud-init is named cloud-init for a reason. It's purpose is to initialize cloud servers, that is cattle, not pets. My server is a pet. It has a name that I gave it. I don't want cloud-init on it. What's its benefit on a hand-crafted installation?


The remaining text is a rant, sorry.
The reason I want to know is that I just wasted half an hour trying to understand why my Bionic server's hostname is reset when rebooting. Modifying /etc/hostname or using the systemd command hostnamectl has always had a persistent effect. Now all of a sudden something sneaks in and trashes my configuration.
I mean, cloud-init is named cloud-init for a reason. It's purpose is to initialize cloud servers, that is cattle, not pets. My server is a pet. It has a name that I gave it. I don't want cloud-init on it. What's its benefit on a hand-crafted installation?