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Mesos “Sandbox”

Mesos refers to the “sandbox” as a temporary directory that holds files specific to a single executor. Each time an executor is run, the executor is given its own sandbox and the executor’s working directory is set to the sandbox.

Sandbox files

The sandbox holds:

Files fetched by Mesos, prior to starting the executor’s tasks.
The output of the executor and tasks (as files “stdout” and “stderr”).
Files created by the executor and tasks, with some exceptions.

NOTE: With the introduction of persistent volumes, executors and tasks should never create files outside of the sandbox. However, some containerizers do not enforce this sandboxing.

Where is the sandbox?

The sandbox is located within the agent’s working directory (which is specified via the --work_dir flag). To find a particular executor’s sandbox, you must know the agent’s ID, the executor’s framework’s ID, and the executor’s ID. Each run of the executor will have a corresponding sandbox, denoted by a container ID.

The sandbox is located on the agent, inside a directory tree like the following:

root ('--work_dir')
|-- slaves
| |-- latest (symlink)
| |-- <agent ID>
| |-- frameworks
| |-- <framework ID>
| |-- executors
| |-- <executor ID>
| |-- runs
| |-- latest (symlink)
| |-- <container ID> (Sandbox!)

Using the sandbox

NOTE: For anything other than Mesos, the executor, or the task(s), the sandbox should be considered a read-only directory. This is not enforced via permissions, but the executor/tasks may malfunction if the sandbox is mutated unexpectedly.

Via a file browser

If you have access to the machine running the agent, you can navigate to the sandbox directory directly.

Via the Mesos web UI

Sandboxes can be browsed and downloaded via the Mesos web UI. Tasks and executors will be shown with a “Sandbox” link. Any files that live in the sandbox will appear in the web UI.

Via the `/files` endpoint

Underneath the web UI, the files are fetched from the agent via the /files endpoint running on the agent.

Endpoint	Description
`/files/browse?path=...`	Returns a JSON list of files and directories contained in the path. Each list is a JSON object containing all the fields normally found in `ls -l`.
`/files/debug`	Returns a JSON object holding the internal mapping of files managed by this endpoint. This endpoint can be used to quickly fetch the paths of all files exposed on the agent.
`/files/download?path=...`	Returns the raw contents of the file located at the given path. Where the file extension is understood, the `Content-Type` header will be set appropriately.
`/files/read?path=...`	Reads a chunk of the file located at the given path and returns a JSON object containing the read `"data"` and the `"offset"` in bytes. NOTE: This endpoint is not designed to read arbitrary binary files. Binary files may be returned as invalid/un-parseable JSON. Use `/files/download` instead. Optional query parameters: `offset` - can be used to page through the file. `length` - maximum size of the chunk to read.

Sandbox size

The maximum size of the sandbox is dependent on the containerization of the executor and isolators:

Mesos containerizer - For backwards compatibility, the Mesos containerizer does not enforce a container’s disk quota by default. However, if the --enforce_container_disk_quota flag is enabled on the agent, and disk/du is specified in the --isolation flag, the executor will be killed if the sandbox size exceeds the executor’s disk resource.
Docker containerizer - As of Docker 1.9.1, the Docker containerizer does not enforce nor support a disk quota. See the Docker issue.

Sandbox lifecycle

Sandbox files are scheduled for garbage collection when:

An executor is removed or terminated.
A framework is removed.
An executor is recovered unsuccessfully during agent recovery.
If the --gc_non_executor_container_sandboxes agent flag is enabled, nested container sandboxes will also be garbage collected when the container exits.

NOTE: During agent recovery, all of the executor’s runs, except for the latest run, are scheduled for garbage collection as well.

Garbage collection is scheduled based on the --gc_delay agent flag. By default, this is one week since the sandbox was last modified. After the delay, the files are deleted.

Additionally, according to the --disk_watch_interval agent flag, files scheduled for garbage collection are pruned based on the available disk and the --gc_disk_headroom agent flag. See the formula here.