Review-driven session/transport fixes (each reproduced live against
sharkd 4.6.7 before fixing):
- raise the RPC stream limit to 16 MB: a full 1000-row frames page
measures ~190 KB against the 64 KB StreamReader default, which failed
the request with a 500 and desynchronized the resident session; a
line-over-limit ValueError is now treated as a transport failure
- verify JSON-RPC reply ids: a timed-out request's late reply was
served as the next request's answer; timeouts, dead pipes, malformed
and stale replies now kill the session for good instead
- make check-spawn atomic under one manager lock: concurrent requests
for the same pcap double-spawned sharkd and leaked the loser (process
plus /tmp scratch copy) forever
- refcount sessions and evict idle only (LRU, cap raised 8 -> 16): a
tag with more sources than the cap respawned every source on every
request, and concurrent requests could get their session killed
mid-RPC (spurious 502)
- map FilterError to sharkd's filter rejection (-13002) only; other
engine failures with a filter set are 502, not a client 400
- detail: accept an optional frame_number to disambiguate
same-microsecond frames (ts is not unique within a pcap); drop the
-8003 -> 404 mapping (the range is validated locally, engine errors
are real faults); a failed hex read is a 404 instead of "hex": null
- a pcap deleted mid-request is a 404, not a 500; the pcap-sized
scratch copy runs off the event loop; server shutdown kills every
resident session and drops its scratch directory
- pin the packet-list layout through scratch-HOME Wireshark
preferences: the column indexes are a contract the server owns
(protocol-level column negotiation is rejected by sharkd 4.6.x)
Range contract change (WebUI moved to an always-flat list): the merged
frame list is returned in full, deliberately uncapped - truncated and
per-second buckets are removed, frame_count always equals
len(frames), and rendering cost is the client's concern (the window
endpoint remains the incremental path).
Narrows the merged frame stream to one capture source BEFORE counting,
slicing and bucketing (frame_count / frames | buckets all recomputed on
the narrowed set), AND-composing with the display filter. A pure
identity filter applied before any engine work — only the selected
link's pcap gets a sharkd pass, so link+filter is cheaper than filter
alone.
Two boundaries by contract with the Web UI:
- sources[] stays the tag's stable inventory: every capture source
listed with engine-free TOTAL counts, unaffected by link/filter — a
source dropdown must not shrink when the view narrows (this also
settles sources[].count on total counts rather than post-filter
matches, which no spec ever required)
- an unknown link_id matches nothing: frame_count 0, start null, empty
frames/buckets — the same shape as a zero-match display filter,
deliberately not a 404; an empty link param is treated as absent
sharkd (the Wireshark daemon) is now the single decode engine — the
tshark/PDML path is gone, and without sharkd every replay endpoint
returns 501 (no degraded mode: one engine, one rendering shape for the
Web UI).
- Frame entries gain packet-list columns from sharkd's frames RPC:
src/dst/proto/info plus the Wireshark coloring hints bg/fg
- range and frames accept ?filter=<display filter>, applied before
counting and slicing; invalid expressions are 400 carrying sharkd's
original text; filters travel as single argv-style elements, capped
at 2000 chars; filtered frames keep their original pcap frame numbers
- frame detail returns sharkd's protocol tree with keys renamed into
the REST contract (element/label/name/filter_expr/pos+size/expert/
generated/children): a census-verified closed key set, values
untouched, unknown keys passed through verbatim, Wireshark-internal
hf ids dropped. filter_expr gives the UI click-to-filter; pos/size
drives hex highlighting (hex still read straight from the pcap)
- one resident 'sharkd -' session per source pcap: lazy spawn, /tmp
scratch copy + scratch HOME (hardened profiles), per-request
(mtime,size) validation with respawn, LRU bound, per-session lock,
per-RPC timeout, bounded close
Timeline backbone (gate, record-header scan, merge ordering, canonical
ts strings, hex reads) stays plain Python — identity and ordering never
depend on the engine.
Markers on different links sharing a tag form one distributed capture
session. Once every marker under the tag is paused (409 otherwise), three
read-only endpoints replay it:
- GET .../markers/tags/{tag}/replay/range merges the per-marker pcaps by
scanning 16-byte record headers only (no tshark) into a timestamp-
ordered frame list (per-second buckets above a 5000-frame cap)
- GET .../replay/frames?ts=&window_ms= returns frames in [T, T+window];
an empty window is a normal empty array
- GET .../replay/frame/detail lazily decodes one frame the user opened:
raw bytes for the hex view read straight from the pcap, protocol tree
from 'tshark -T pdml' mapped isomorphically to JSON (every attribute
survives, values stay strings). tshark reads a /tmp scratch copy with a
scratch HOME — hardened profiles deny it the project directory.
Sort key is (ts, source file, frame number): ts is not unique across a
merge. The ts parameter round-trips as the exact string from the frame
list. Round-trip tests pin the PDML→JSON fidelity (element count and
attribute coverage).
Closing a web console while the node kept streaming output crashed the
ws_console/vnc_console handlers with an uncaught WebSocketDisconnect from
the compute-to-client send path (only the opposite direction was guarded),
producing a full ASGI traceback on every console close.
Restructure both endpoints as symmetric forwarding tasks managed with
asyncio.wait(FIRST_COMPLETED): exceptions from either direction are
collected as task exceptions, the peer task is cancelled, the compute
WebSocket is closed, and the client is notified. The receive loops now
close and log on every exit path instead of only in the exception branch.
Tests patch the in-memory ASGI transport to deliver a conformant
websocket.disconnect on client close (it sends a non-conformant
websocket.close that starlette receive() rejects).
Deleting a template with prune_images, deleting an image, or pruning
orphan images only checked template references — a project node still
pointing at the image (e.g. via hda_disk_image_backing_file) was left
with a dangling reference and the project could no longer be opened.
- Add controller helpers scanning every known project (opened projects
via in-memory nodes, closed projects via their .gns3 file) for
template and image usage; unreadable topologies are skipped
- Guard DELETE /templates/{id}, DELETE /templates/{id}?prune_images,
DELETE /images/{path} and /images/prune with a 409 listing the
project names
- Run all template-delete checks before any mutation so a refused
deletion cannot leave the template gone while its images survive
link_capture_download and get_symbol embedded a 10-min JWT in the
Authorization header of the curl command they return; LLM clients
retyping that command corrupted the long token — the same failure
class as the console WebSocket URLs fixed in the previous commit.
Generalize the ticket store (console_tickets.py -> access_tickets.py,
ConsoleTicketService -> AccessTicketService): a ticket now binds to
either a node's console endpoints (WebSocket, matched against route
path params) or one exact REST resource path (capture file, symbol
image). The two binding modes are isolated — a node-bound ticket
cannot authenticate a REST resource and vice versa.
get_user_from_token redeems path-bound tickets through the existing
token parameter / Bearer header, matched exactly against
request.url.path, then reuses the shared user lookup and token_version
revocation checks. Download URLs embed ?token=<ticket> and the curl
commands no longer carry a Bearer header.
LLM clients transcribing the console WebSocket URL into shell commands
reliably corrupted the ~200-char JWT embedded in it (dropped header
segment -> "MissingAlgorithmError: Missing 'alg' value in header" on
every connection attempt). The node_console tool now mints a short
random ticket ("gns3t_" + 16 urlsafe chars, 10 min TTL, multi-use)
stored server-side and bound to the node's console endpoints:
- new ConsoleTicketService (gns3server/services/console_tickets.py),
in-memory store with lazy expiry sweeps
- get_current_active_user_from_websocket redeems tickets through the
existing "token" query parameter, gated on websocket.path_params so a
ticket only authenticates the console/ws and console/vnc routes of
the node it was minted for; the JWT path is unchanged
- redemption reuses the existing user lookup, token_version revocation
and is_active checks, so logging out invalidates outstanding tickets
- vnc_url no longer embeds the full session JWT
- the tool docstring now tells clients to run the returned command
verbatim instead of reconstructing the URL
The compute-to-client forwarding loops in ws_console and vnc_console had
no WebSocketDisconnect handling: when a client (WebUI, or an MCP-driven
websocat session killed by timeout) disconnected while the compute was
still streaming console output, the next send raised WebSocketDisconnect
that leaked all the way up to uvicorn as an ERROR-level ASGI traceback.
Catch it and log at info level, symmetric with the receive-side handlers.
install_appliances_from_image relied on the name+version pair check in
TemplatesService, so the same appliance reached through a second image
(the CSR1000v case) created a second template sharing the name. The auto
path now skips when any template with the same name exists, whatever the
version, and returns a manifest of created and skipped candidates;
POST /images/install replies 200 with that manifest instead of an empty
204, and the image_install MCP tool surfaces it.
POST /appliances/{id}/install replied 204 with an empty body, so the MCP
appliance_install tool crashed with 'Expecting value: line 1 column 1'
while the template had actually been created. The route now returns the
created template (201, response_model=schemas.Template), _create_template
propagates it, and the MCP handler parses the body defensively so an
empty reply degrades to a plain success message.
Suspending a single VPCS/IOU node returned a fake 204: the controller
route swallowed the compute 405 that the node types honestly raise, so
callers saw success while the node stayed started. Surface the 405
instead. The best-effort swallow on suspend_all is kept (and now covered
by a test) since mixed projects legitimately contain always-running node
types.
GET /v3/projects/{project_id}/gns3file returns the raw .gns3 file as
application/json so the WebUI can render topology thumbnails without
opening the project. Adds a public Project.topology_file property.
GET returns all settings sections except the deprecated
VirtualBox/VMware ones (Server.Audit privilege); secrets are
masked and Controller.jwt_secret_key is excluded entirely.
PUT applies a partial update (Server.Modify privilege): masked
or empty secrets mean unchanged, null removes the option, the
response carries the new values plus restart_required, and a
settings.updated notification is emitted. New
Server.Audit/Server.Modify privileges are seeded into the
Administrator role at table creation.
The docker_exec console defaults its exec PTY to 511x10000 (the no-NAWS
default that keeps the IOS-XR pager quiet for netmiko). A CPR-answering
client (xterm.js) on top of that tall canvas makes prompt_toolkit-based
CLIs (SR Linux sr_cli) re-emit their accumulated output on every
incremental render: ~145 KB instead of ~60 KB per command, visible in
the WebUI as full-screen clear/redraw flicker.
Let WebSocket console clients propagate their real terminal geometry:
binary frames {"cols": N, "rows": M} alongside text frames carrying
terminal data. The controller forwards binary frames (previously only
text was forwarded), and the compute side turns them into a NAWS
subnegotiation for telnet-based consoles (docker_exec included) or an
asyncssh pty size change for SSH consoles.
The docker_exec console restores the tall 511x10000 default when its
last client disconnects, so a later non-NAWS client (netmiko, bare
telnet) connecting to the still-live exec doesn't inherit a browser
geometry and hit PTY-window paging again.
node_console_info now returns token_sha256_prefix (sha256, first 8 hex
chars) and token_ttl_seconds alongside the console WebSocket URL, and
controller WebSocket auth rejections include the sha256 prefix of the
token as received. Comparing the two immediately distinguishes a token
corrupted in transfer from server-side rejection causes (expired,
revoked, bad signature).
New GET /v3/netmiko/device_types endpoint returns the device types
supported by the netmiko library installed on the server, including
the gns3-copilot custom drivers, so the web UI can populate the
netmiko_device_type dropdown on templates and nodes.
The list is read at runtime from netmiko's ssh_dispatcher.CLASS_MAPPER
registry (the same table ConnectHandler dispatches on), filtered to
drop the '_ssh' aliases and the 'autodetect' pseudo type, and cached
for the process lifetime. Returns 501 when netmiko is not installed
(ai-features extra).
High-frequency marker.matches shared the single project notification queue with topology events (node.*/link.*), causing head-of-line blocking. Add a separate marker channel: Notification.project_marker_queue/marker_emit, dispatch routes marker.* off the main project queue, plus a new WS /{project_id}/notifications/markers/ws endpoint. Fully migrated (the main project WS no longer carries marker.match); marker listeners are independent of project auto_close. Compute side unchanged.
The per-link create_marker route (links.py) called start_marker without the data_link_type from the body, so it always defaulted to DLT_EN10MB and a serial encapsulation chosen by the caller was silently dropped. Same oversight the IOU capture and definition routes had; one-arg fix.
Markers now work on serial links (Cisco HDLC / PPP / Frame Relay / ATM), not just Ethernet. A marker carries a data_link_type (default DLT_EN10MB); at the uBridge boundary it becomes the 'mark ... linktype <dlt>' keyword so the BPF compiles and the pcap is written with the matching link-layer.
- MarkerCreate / MarkerDefinitionCreate gain data_link_type (default DLT_EN10MB). Per-link it is create-only; definitions are updatable (a change re-fans-out).
- base_node._marker_linktype() normalizes the GNS3 DLT name (strip DLT_, uppercase, None for EN10MB). Single source is SerialPort.data_link_types, so Cisco PPP -> PPP_SERIAL (50), matching the capture path -- no second mapping table.
- _ubridge_add_marker_filter (generic) and the IOU marker loop append 'linktype <dlt>'.
- Definition fan-out branches on link_type in inherit_marker: Ethernet is always EN10MB; a serial link uses the definition's WAN encapsulation, or is SKIPPED when none was chosen (an EN10MB pcap on serial is undecodable). One definition covers a mixed topology.
- MCP marker_definition exposes data_link_type (None = not forwarded).
- No uBridge rebuild on a data_link_type change -- only that one marker's filter is swapped (delete + re-add), mirroring a BPF change; reset_packet_filters preserves sibling mark filters.
Requires the uBridge build with 'mark ... linktype' support.
The project-wide mute (POST /markers/pause|resume + _markers_paused) paused
every marker with one button. The actual need is per-rule control: pause one
definition and toggle only its inherited global-{name} copies across all links.
- Drop project-level: _markers_paused (init/asdict/load/start_all), the
pause_all/resume_all_markers methods, and the /markers/pause|resume routes.
- Add per-definition: a persisted `paused` flag on each definition;
pause/resume_marker_definition fan out update_marker(enabled) to every
global-{name} copy — instant, via the existing enable_packet_filter toggle
(no NIO rebuild, pcap/emitted preserved). New links inherit a paused
definition already off (inherit_marker passes enabled=not paused).
- start_marker takes an enabled kwarg; update_marker's enabled-only short-circuit
now also covers inherited copies so def pause/resume is instant.
- Routes: POST /marker-definitions/{name}/pause|resume.
- Docs + tests updated.
update_marker reused MarkerCreate, whose bpf is required, so a partial PUT like
{"enabled": false} was rejected with 422 "bpf field required". Add a MarkerUpdate
schema with every field optional (bpf included; capture_node_id and name are
create-only/path-driven and omitted) and use it for the PUT route — partial
updates now validate cleanly.
Wire gns3-server to uBridge's real-time marker controls (contract
../ubridge/doc/gns3server-integration.md §3.2), in three layers:
A. enabled reaches uBridge — _markers_for_node no longer drops disabled
markers controller-side; it carries `enabled` in the NIO spec. apply
installs every marker then issues `enable_packet_filter … off` for the
disabled ones (base_node bridge / iou iol_bridge; old-ubridge errors
downgrade to a warning so a toggle can't break link create).
B. instant per-filter toggle — apply records name→bridge so a new
`_ubridge_set_marker_filter_state` can flip a running filter with
`enable_packet_filter on|off` (iou overrides for iol_bridge + bay/unit).
Each marker-capable node type gains PUT /markers/{name}; update_marker
short-circuits to it when only `enabled` changes (no NIO rebuild, no pcap
flush), falling back to reset+reapply if the route is unavailable.
C. global pause/resume — `_ubridge_marker_pause/resume` send `marker pause`
/ `marker resume` direct to the hypervisor (pause stops signal+pcap,
resume instant, sink retained). Six node-type routes add POST
/markers/pause|resume; project.pause_all/resume_all_markers fan out to
each capture node (deduped, best-effort); REST exposes
POST /projects/{id}/markers/pause|resume.
Toggling enabled and pause/resume are now both instant — only marker create
or a bpf change still go through reset+reapply.
direction was settable but not clearable: once a marker or project-level
definition had direction=tx/rx, no update path could return it to "both
directions", and the definition-sync fan-out silently kept stale values on
every inherited copy.
Introduce a _UNSET sentinel (link.py) distinct from None so updaters can
tell "caller omitted direction" (preserve) from "caller passed None"
(clear). Thread it through UDPLink.update_marker and
Project.update_marker_definition; the two REST routes use Pydantic v2
model_fields_set to translate an explicit JSON null into the sentinel.
MCP follows with a "both" token: link_marker / marker_definition handlers
map direction="both" to a null in the REST body (tri-state: omit=preserve,
tx/rx=set, both=clear), and the tool descriptions/docstrings document it.
Backward compatible: omitting direction or passing tx/rx behaves exactly
as before; only an explicit null / "both" clears.
A marker is single-sided — only the chosen capture node's uBridge installs the
mark filter — and dir=tx|rx is interpreted from that node's perspective. Until
now the observer was always auto-picked (_choose_marker_side), so dir=tx meant
"the auto-chosen endpoint is sending", which is unpredictable and makes the
direction filter hard to render meaningfully in the Web UI.
Add an optional create-only capture_node_id to MarkerCreate: when set, the
marker is pinned to that endpoint's uBridge (validated as a link endpoint and a
marker-capable type); when omitted, behavior is unchanged (auto-pick). The
chosen id is already echoed back as capture_node_id and in MARK signals, so the
UI can always render the observer regardless of who picked it.
capture_node_id is create-only (changing it would silently flip the meaning of
stored direction; recreate instead) and is not accepted on project-level
definitions — they are link-agnostic and have no endpoints, so inherited
markers keep auto-picking per link.
Plumbed through REST create_marker, the MCP link_marker tool, and base
Link.start_marker. update_marker does not forward it.
Direction field in marker.match events
=======================================
Read ubridge dir=<tx|rx> from MARK signal datagrams and forward it
as a "dir" key in the marker.match notification event. The field is
additive -- older ubridge builds omit it and the parser leaves it null,
so consumers fall back to undirected rendering with no version coupling.
Semantics are relative to the capture node (the signal's node=<id>):
tx = capture node is sending (ingressed device-side NIO), rx = it is
receiving (ingressed link-side NIO).
Per-marker direction filter (opt-in, server-side pipeline)
==========================================================
Add a direction field to MarkerCreate and MarkerDefinitionCreate
schemas ("tx" | "rx" | null). Plumb it through the full pipeline:
Schema -> controller (start_marker/update_marker, marker_entry,
_markers_for_node, update_marker_definition sync)
-> REST/MCP handlers -> compute _ubridge_add_marker_filter +
IOU _ubridge_apply_markers -> bridge add_packet_filter dir <tx|rx>
When set, ubridge only fires the mark handler (signal + pcap) for
packets matching the chosen direction. null (default/legacy) = both
directions -- zero behavioural change for existing markers.
Docs and tests
==============
- docs/features/marker-traffic-insight.md: signal format updated,
new Direction section with NIO mapping, arrow mapping, and additive
compatibility note.
- tests/compute/marker/test_marker_manager.py: 3 new parser tests
(dir tx/rx/absent) plus existing test extended to assert dir=None.
13 files, +123/-22, 72 tests pass (zero breakage)
Cloud and NAT nodes need live host network interface data. Previously,
GET /projects/{project_id}/nodes/{node_id} returned cached properties
from creation time, so newly added host interfaces (e.g. kernel bridges
created by EthernetSwitch nodes) were invisible until the node was
deleted and recreated.
Now the controller fetches fresh data from the compute node before
returning the response, so host interface changes are reflected
immediately. Falls back to cached data if compute is unreachable.
get_current_active_user_from_websocket returns None after closing the socket
on an auth failure (revoked token, bad credentials, inactive user).
has_privilege_on_websocket dereferenced current_user.is_superadmin without a
None check, so any websocket auth failure surfaced as an AttributeError
traceback instead of a clean close. Bail out early when current_user is None,
mirroring the guard already present in ws_console.
The global-prefix reservation belongs on the create path, where it keeps
user-chosen names disjoint from inherited global-{name} markers. It was
implemented as a field_validator on MarkerCreate / MarkerDefinitionCreate,
which also back the PUT update bodies — so updating an inherited marker
while echoing its name in the body tripped the validator with a generic
422 before the controller could return the actionable 409 ("inherited,
use the marker-definitions API").
Drop the schema validators and enforce the prefix in the two create routes
(ControllerError -> 409). PUT no longer validates the body name (ignored
anyway — the target is the {name} path param), so editing an inherited
marker now reaches the controller's inheritance guard and returns the
clear 409. The name-format regex stays on the schema (still 422).
Per-marker UI hint (milliseconds, ge=1) for how long the Web UI keeps a
marker highlighted after a match. Mirrors color: stored on the link,
persisted in the topology, inherited via project-level definitions, and
never sent to uBridge. Omitted = null = frontend uses its own default.
The default is intentionally NOT set in the schema: MarkerCreate also
backs PUT updates, so a schema default would make every partial update
silently reset the value. None means "not provided" (keep existing on
update / frontend decides on create).
Project-level marker definitions fan out to every link (existing and new).
A definition is stored once on Project._marker_definitions; when applied to
a link the marker is named "global-{def_name}" — the "global" prefix was
pre-reserved in the schema, so inherited and per-link markers can never
collide, nor will their registry keys.
Key behavior:
- POST /projects/{pid}/marker-definitions → fan out to all existing links
- PUT /projects/{pid}/marker-definitions/{name} → sync all inherited copies
- DELETE → remove every inherited copy from every link
- New links auto-inherit all active defs (hook in UDPLink.create)
- Per-link DELETE/PUT of a "global-*" marker is rejected (409)
- Inherited markers are NOT persisted in the topology; they are re-created
from _marker_definitions on project load
- Compute side is untouched — the marker reaches uBridge via the existing
start_marker→update→NIO→ubridge pipeline
Files:
- controller/project.py — _marker_definitions + CRUD + fanout + topology load
- controller/link.py — Link.inherit_marker() + asdict() filter
- controller/udp_link.py — guards on stop/update + create() inheritance hook
- controller/topology.py — persist marker_definitions in project topology
- schemas/controller/links.py — MarkerDefinitionCreate schema
- api/routes/controller/projects.py — REST endpoints (marker-definitions)
Add a name pattern constraint to MarkerCreate schema (alphanumeric +
_.-) to prevent injection into uBridge commands, with a matching
defense-in-depth check in _ubridge_add_marker_filter for hand-edited
topology files. Also add the missing "enabled" field to MarkerCreate
and pass it through the PUT route so the documented toggle actually
works.
Auto-generating `marker-{link.id[:8]}` collided on the second anonymous
marker on the same link (start_marker rejects duplicate names). Append a
short uuid hex suffix so multiple anonymous markers coexist.
Add a read-only `markers` property on Project that flattens every link's
markers into a single dict keyed by "{link_id}/{name}", each entry
carrying the parent link_id and capture-side node_id. Expose it via
GET /projects/{pid}/markers (Project.Audit) so the frontend can fetch all
markers in one round-trip instead of enumerating links first.
Also surface a marker count in project.stats().
Add a user-chosen hex color (e.g. '#ff5722') to each marker, stored in
Link._markers alongside bpf/tag/enabled. The color:
- Is serialized with the link (asdict) and persisted in the topology, so
it survives project reload and is consistent across devices.
- Never reaches uBridge (compute ignores it) — it is purely a Web UI
concern.
- Can be updated independently of the BPF (color-only changes skip the
ubridge round-trip).
MarkerCreate schema gains color: Optional[str]; start_marker and
update_marker carry it through; REST create/update endpoints pass it.
The marker.match WebSocket event stays lean (no color) — the Web UI maps
filter -> color from the link state it already holds.
- Move fastmcp from core requirements.txt to mcp-requirements.txt
- Add MCP_AVAILABLE feature flag in agent/__init__.py (graceful degradation)
- Guard MCP imports/registration in server.py and tasks.py
- Replace ai-copilot/mcp/ai-support extras with single ai-features extra
- Add stub MCP routes returning 501 when MCP is not installed
- Add gns3server-uninstall-ai-features CLI command
- Remove old gns3server-uninstall-ai-copilot command
- Update all error messages and docs to reference ai-features
Closes#2794
- New config: Controller.jwt_refresh_token_expire_minutes (default 30 days)
- New endpoint: POST /v3/access/users/refresh (public, unauthenticated)
- Login/authenticate responses now include refresh_token
- AuthService: _create_token helper, create_refresh_token, get_token_data
now parses type claim (token_use) for token classification
- Security: refresh tokens rejected on HTTP + WebSocket access paths;
/refresh strictly requires type=='refresh'
- Logout works for free via existing token_version mechanism
- Tests: 9 new TestRefreshToken cases, all passing; 34 existing tests
still pass (no regressions)
The controller endpoint received name via TemplateUsage but never
passed it to add_node_from_template, causing the name parameter to
be silently ignored. name is optional - if omitted the template's
default_name_format is used.
