Openstack is what’s behind much of the cloud. This is used behind the scenes in most cases but I still feel compelled to have my own installation. Openstack offers much more cloud-like functionality when compared to VM systems and I just really like the idea of having my own private cloud in my lab.

There is a TON to know about Openstack. I tend to want to understand how software works under the hood before I care as much about how to use it. Openstack is so vast though that I ended up kinda doing these in parallel. Training videos are helpful but without a sandbox they really only provide a high level understanding. 

Installing

The first thing to know about openstack is that it is not one piece of software, it is a collection of projects that are designed to integrate. There are a few required for basic function and others, like Heat, are popular but not required. The other thing to know is that it is designed to be installed on 3 nodes, although it can be installed on a single machine.

I spend a good amount of time trying to figure out how to install openstack and reading several methods which I later figured out are more opinions of the best way. You can purchase openstack as a service from some cloud providers like openmetal (which sponsors a lot of youtube videos), but if you are like me you want to get into the guts of it. So, here’s a breakdown of the common ways to install.

• Devstack
  • This is a script that wil automate the entire install with a few keystrokes in about 20 min. This  is designed to be a test environment and if set it up to bridge network to your LAN, it is not designed to survive a reboot. So, use a VM and create snapshots.
• Pacstack
  • This comes up a lot, but as far as I can tell it’s depreciated or at least not very popular anymore. This is a repository you can add to a linux distro to install on a single node via package manager.
• Kolla-Ansible
  • This automates the install using Ansible automation software and Kolla is a container deployment tool for openstack. If you are not already familiar with Ansible, this may not be an ‘easy’ install. The openstack configuration is done in the automation software, which, if you aren’t familiar with Openstack or Ansible could lead to confusion as to what is being configured during setup.
• Tripple-O
  • This stands for Openstack On Openstack. Essentially you use the first install of openstack as a control plane and orchestration for the ‘second’ install of openstack which runs workloads. This is the method described in the RedHat documentation.
• Manual
  • This means following the Openstack installation guide step by step. This will teach you the most about the structure and configuration of the software. The instructions are pretty detailed and it’s not that difficult, but it is very tedious.

I decided to manually install 3 VM nodes on my server after trying out devstack.I found that understanding how to use Openstack was pretty valuable when leaning how to install it. Due to its modular nature, using it really helped me understand what the components do and what they are called.

My cheatnotes are below:

SERVER MANAGEMENT

openstack help server *for managing instances
openstack help server create *help for all commands
openstack server IMAGE create SERVER --name IMAGE_NAME
openstack server create ... --key-name NAME
openstack server create --image cirros --flavor 1 --network private myinstance
openstack server create --property db=10.100.100.6 *key value pair *can be used multiple times
openstack server create --user-data install.sh *execute a script
openstack server create --user-data FILE *cloud-config file
openstack server create ... --config-drive=true *looks like a cdrom to the VM
openstack server show SERVER
openstack server stop SERVER
openstack server start SERVER
openstack server delete SERVER *deletes disk
openstack server add security group SERVER SECGROUP
openstack server remove security group SERVER SECGROUP
openstack flavor list
openstack server add floating ip SERVER_IP
openstack server remove floating ip SERVER_IP
openstack console url show SERVER
openstack console log show SERVER
curl http://192.168.1.61/compute/v2.1/servers -H "x-auth-token: $T" | python3 -m json.tool # query nova via api

SECURITY GROUPS

openstack security group create NAME
openstack security group rule create --dst-port XX --protocol tcp NAME
openstack security group list --fit-width -f yaml --long # foramt yaml may be easier to read *long shows direction
openstack security group rule list NAME --long

FLOATING IP

openstack floating ip list
openstack floating ip create EXT_NET
openstack floating ip delete IP_ADDR

SSH KEY PAIRS

openstack keypair create NAME >key.pem
chmod 600 key.pem
openstack keypair create --public-key key.pub *add existing pub key
openstack keypair show --public-key NAME
openstack keypair list

NETWORKS

openstack network list
openstack network create NETWORK
openstack network create --external --provider-physical-network [provider <defined in ml2_conf.ini> ]  --provider-network-type flat [new nework name]  # create external network
openstack network set --name OLD NEW

SUBNETS ; DNS IS CONFIGURED ON SUBNETS

openstack subnet set SUBNET --dns-nameserver=[IP address] --host-route destination=[subnet CIDR],gateway=[IP] # --host-route is like a static route
openstack subnet create NETWORK-subnet --network NETWORK --subnet range x.x.x.x 
openstack subnet create --network [external network name]  --subnet-range 203.0.113.0/24 --gateway [physical router IP]  --allocation-pool start=[ipv4 least start],end=[ipv4 lease end] --dns-nameserver 8.8.8.8 public-subnet # for external network, for flat, openstack subnet must match physical iface subnet

ROUTERS

openstack router create ROUTER
openstack router add subnet ROUTER SUBNET
openstack router set [router name] --external-gateway [external network name]
openstack router create ROUTER
openstack router add subnet ROUTER SUBNET
openstack router add subnet ROUTER SUBNET2
openstack router add port PORT_NAME ROUTER
openstack port create PORT_NAME --network NETWORK

CHECK FOR ENDPOINTS

openstack endpoint list
openstack endpoint list --service [service ex. identity]

KEY PAIR

openstack keypair create KEY_NAME > MY_KEY.pem

CREATE / MANAGE PROJECTS, USERS, ROLES ; USER MUST HAVE PROJECT TO LOG IN

openstack role list # list all roles in openstack
openstack role assignment list --user [user_name] --project [project_name] --names # roles assigned to user
openstack role assignment list --project [project_name] --names # list users & roles in a project
openstack project create --domain [dom name] --description "[description]" [project name]
openstack role add --project [project name] --user [username] [role]

GLANCE MANAGEMENT

openstack image create --disk-format qcow2 --container-format bare --public --file ./centos63.qcow2 centos63-image
openstack image list
openstack image show <image_id> -f json # check if image is accessible and available; json optional
openstack image save --file test_image.img <image_id> # download

NETWORK MANAGEMENT

openstack network agent list
openstack network service provider list

OPENVSWITCH MANAGEMENT

nmcli con add type ethernet ifname [link name] con-name [onboot-ovs] ipv4.method disabled ipv6.method ignore connection.autoconnect yes # required profile for bridge
ovs-vsctl show # open vswitch list of bridges
ovs-vsctl add-br [new bridge name]
ovs-vsctl add-port [bridge name] [phy dev] # ip and routing needs to be configured manually
ovs-vsctl list-br # br-tun should be present for vxlan or other tunneling
ovs-vsctl list Open_vSwitch # list config db for open vSwitch
ovs-vsctl list interface
ovs-vsctl add-br br-tun
ovs-vsctl add-port br-tun vxlan0 -- set interface vxlan0 type=vxlan options:local_ip=172.22.2.21 options:remote_ip=flow options:key=flow
ovs-ofctl dump-flows br-tun # checks openflow rules
ovs-appctl fdb/show br-enp2s0 # show known mac addresses

CINDER MANAGEMENT

openstack volume pool list --long
openstack volume backend pool list
openstack volume service list

NOVA MANAGEMENT

openstack compute service list # parts of nova; requires admin
nova compute service list --service [nova-compute or other]
openstack hypervisor list # should be listed with a nonzero number of free VCPUs, RAM, and disk space
openstack hypervisor show [identifier]
openstack usage list
openstack quota show