charm-deployment-guide/deploy-guide/source/config-openstack.rst

Configure OpenStack

Now we've used Juju and MAAS to deploy OpenStack, it's time to configure OpenStack for use within a typical production environment.

We'll cover first principles; setting up the environment variables, adding a project, virtual network access and Ubuntu cloud image deployment to create a strong OpenStack foundation that can easily be expanded upon.

Environment variables

When accessing OpenStack from the command line, specific environment variables need to be set. We've put these in a file called nova.rc which easily be sourced (made active) whenever needed.

The file contains the following:

export OS_AUTH_URL=http://192.168.100.95:5000/v2.0/
export OS_USERNAME=admin
export OS_PASSWORD=openstack
export OS_TENANT_NAME=admin

The OS_AUTH_URL is the address of the OpenStack Keystone node for authentication. This can be retrieved by Juju with the following command:

juju status --format=yaml keystone/0 | grep public-address | awk '{print $2}'

The environment variables can be enabled/sourced with the following command:

source nova.rc

You can check the variables have been set correctly by seeing if your OpenStack endpoints are visible with the openstack endpoint list command. The output will look something like this:

+----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+--------------+
| ID                               | Region    | Service Name | Service Type |
+----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+--------------+
| 060d704e582b4f9cb432e9ecbf3f679e | RegionOne | cinderv2     | volumev2     |
| 269fe0ad800741c8b229a0b305d3ee23 | RegionOne | neutron      | network      |
| 3ee5114e04bb45d99f512216f15f9454 | RegionOne | swift        | object-store |
| 68bc78eb83a94ac48e5b79893d0d8870 | RegionOne | nova         | compute      |
| 59c83d8484d54b358f3e4f75a21dda01 | RegionOne | s3           | s3           |
| bebd70c3f4e84d439aa05600b539095e | RegionOne | keystone     | identity     |
| 1eb95d4141c6416c8e0d9d7a2eed534f | RegionOne | glance       | image        |
| 8bd7f4472ced40b39a5b0ecce29df3a0 | RegionOne | cinder       | volume       |
+----------------------------------+-----------+--------------+--------------+

If the endpoints aren't visible, it's likely your environment variables aren't configured correctly.

As with both MAAS and Juju, most OpenStack operations can be accomplished using either the command line or a web UI. In the following examples, we'll use the command line for brevity. But keep in mind that the web UI is a always potential alternative and a good way of seeing immediate feedback from any changes you apply.

Define an external network

We'll start by defining a network called Pub_Net that will use a subnet within the range of addresses we put aside in MAAS and Juju:

openstack network create Pub_Net --share --external

The output from this, as with the output from many OpenStack commands, will show the various fields and values for the chosen configuration option. Typing openstack network list will show the new network ID alongside its name:

+--------------------------------------+---------+---------+
| ID                                   | Name    | Subnets |
+--------------------------------------+---------+---------+
| fc171d22-d1b0-467d-b6fa-109dfb77787b | Pub_Net |         |
+--------------------------------------+---------+---------+

We now need a subnet for the network. The following command will create this subnet using the various addresses from our MAAS and Juju configuration (192.168.100.3 is the IP address of the MAAS server):

openstack subnet create Pub_Subnet --allocation-pool \
start=192.168.100.150,end=192.168.100.199 --subnet-range 192.168.100.0/24 \
--no-dhcp --gateway 192.168.100.1 --dns-nameserver 192.168.100.3 \
--dns-nameserver 8.8.8.8 --network Pub_Net

The output from the previous command provides a comprehensive overview of the new subnet's configuration:

+-------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field                   | Value                                |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| allocation_pools        | 192.168.100.150-192.168.100.199      |
| cidr                    | 192.168.100.0/24                     |
| created_at              | 2017-04-21T13:43:48                  |
| description             |                                      |
| dns_nameservers         | 192.168.100.3, 8.8.8.8               |
| enable_dhcp             | False                                |
| gateway_ip              | 192.168.100.1                        |
| host_routes             |                                      |
| id                      | 563ecd06-bbc3-4c98-b93e              |
| ip_version              | 4                                    |
| ipv6_address_mode       | None                                 |
| ipv6_ra_mode            | None                                 |
| name                    | Pub_Subnet                           |
| network_id              | fc171d22-d1b0-467d-b6fa-109dfb77787b |
| project_id              | 4068710688184af997c1907137d67c76     |
| revision_number         | None                                 |
| segment_id              | None                                 |
| service_types           | None                                 |
| subnetpool_id           | None                                 |
| updated_at              | 2017-04-21T13:43:48                  |
| use_default_subnet_pool | None                                 |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------+

Note

OpenStack has deprecated the use of the neutron command for network configuration, migrating most of its functionality into the Python OpenStack client. Version 2.4.0 or later of this client is needed for the subnet create command.

Cloud images

To add an Ubuntu image to Glance, we need to first download an image locally. Canonical's Ubuntu cloud images can be found here:

https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com

You could use wget to download the image of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial):

wget https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/xenial/current/xenial-server-cloudimg-amd64-disk1.img

The following command will add this image to Glance:

openstack image create --public --min-disk 3 --container-format bare \
--disk-format qcow2 --property architecture=x86_64 \
--property hw_disk_bus=virtio --property hw_vif_model=virtio \
--file xenial-server-cloudimg-amd64-disk1.img \
"xenial x86_64"

To make sure the image was successfully imported, type openstack image list. This will output the following:

+--------------------------------------+---------------+--------+
| ID                                   | Name          | Status |
+--------------------------------------+---------------+--------+
| d4244007-5864-4a2d-9cfd-f008ade72df4 | xenial x86_64 | active |
+--------------------------------------+---------------+--------+

The 'Compute>Images' page of OpenStack's Horizon web UI lists many more details about imported images. In particular, note their size as this will limit the minimum root storage size of any OpenStack flavours used to deploy them.

Horizon image details

Working with projects

Projects, users and roles are a vital part of OpenStack operations. We'll create a single project and single user for our new deployment, starting with the project:

openstack project create --enable --description 'First Project' P01

To add a user and assign that user to the project:

openstack user create --project P01 --password openstack --enable p01user

The output to the previous command will be similar to the following:

+------------+----------------------------------+
| Field      | Value                            |
+------------+----------------------------------+
| email      | None                             |
| enabled    | True                             |
| id         | a1c55e45ec374dacb151a8aa3ecb3571 |
| name       | p01user                          |
| project_id | 1992e606b51b404c9151f8cb464aa420 |
| username   | p01user                          |
+------------+----------------------------------+

In the same way we used nova.rc to hold the OpenStack environment variables for the admin account, we can create a similar file to hold the details on the new project and user:

Create the following project.rc file:

export OS_AUTH_URL=http://192.168.100.95:5000/v2.0/
export OS_USERNAME=p01user
export OS_PASSWORD=openstack
export OS_TENANT_NAME=P01

Source this file's contents to effectively switch users:

source project.rc

Every subsequent action will now be performed by the p01user user within the new P01 project.

Create a virtual network

We need a fixed IP address to access any instances we deploy from OpenStack. In order to assign a fixed IP, we need a project-specific network with a private subnet, and a router to link this network to the Pub_Net we created earlier.

To create the new network, enter the following:

openstack network create P01_Network

Create a private subnet with the following parameters:

openstack subnet create P01_Subnet --allocation-pool \
start=10.0.0.10,end=10.0.0.99 --subnet-range 10.0.0.0/24 \
--gateway 10.0.0.1 --dns-nameserver 192.168.100.3 \
--dns-nameserver 8.8.8.8 --network P01_Network 

You'll see verbose output similar to the following:

+-------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field                   | Value                                |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| allocation_pools        | 10.0.0.10-10.0.0.99                  |
| cidr                    | 10.0.0.0/24                          |
| created_at              | 2017-04-21T16:46:35                  |
| description             |                                      |
| dns_nameservers         | 192.168.100.3, 8.8.8.8               |
| enable_dhcp             | True                                 |
| gateway_ip              | 10.0.0.1                             |
| host_routes             |                                      |
| id                      | a91a604a-70d6-4688-915e-ed14c7db7ebd |
| ip_version              | 4                                    |
| ipv6_address_mode       | None                                 |
| ipv6_ra_mode            | None                                 |
| name                    | P01_Subnet                           |
| network_id              | 8b0baa43-cb25-4a70-bf41-d4136cbfe16e |
| project_id              | 1992e606b51b404c9151f8cb464aa420     |
| revision_number         | None                                 |
| segment_id              | None                                 |
| service_types           | None                                 |
| subnetpool_id           | None                                 |
| updated_at              | 2017-04-21T16:46:35                  |
| use_default_subnet_pool | None                                 |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------+

The following commands will add the router, connecting this new network to the Pub_Net:

openstack router create P01_Public_Router
openstack router set P01_Public_Router --external-gateway Pub_Net
openstack router add subnet P01_Public_Router P01_Subnet

Use openstack router show P01_Public_Router to verify all parameters have been set correctly.

Finally, we can add a floating IP address to our project's new network:

openstack floating ip create Pub_Net

Details on the address will be shown in the output:

+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field               | Value                                |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+
| created_at          | None                                 |
| description         |                                      |
| fixed_ip_address    | None                                 |
| floating_ip_address | 192.168.100.152                      |
| floating_network_id | fc171d22-d1b0-467d-b6fa-109dfb77787b |
| id                  | f9b4193d-4385-4b25-83ed-89ed3358668e |
| name                | 192.168.100.152                      |
| port_id             | None                                 |
| project_id          | 1992e606b51b404c9151f8cb464aa420     |
| revision_number     | None                                 |
| router_id           | None                                 |
| status              | DOWN                                 |
| updated_at          | None                                 |
+---------------------+--------------------------------------+

This address will be added to the pool of available floating IP addresses that can be assigned to any new instances we deploy.

SSH access

To create an OpenStack SSH keypair for accessing deployments with SSH, use the following command:

openstack keypair create P01-keypair > ~/.ssh/p01-keypair.pem

With SSH, it's imperative that the file has the correct permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/p01-keypair.pem

Alternatively, you can import your pre-existing keypair with the following command:

openstack keypair create --public-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub my-keypair

You can view which keypairs have been added to OpenStack using the openstack keypair list command, which generates output similar to the following:

+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| Name              | Fingerprint                                     |
+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| my-keypair        | 1d:35:52:08:55:d5:54:04:a3:e0:23:f0:20:c4:b0:eb |
| P01-keypair       | 1f:1a:74:a5:cb:87:e1:f3:2e:08:9e:40:dd:dd:7c:c4 |
+-------------------+-------------------------------------------------+

To permit SSH traffic access to our deployments, we need to define a security group and a corresponding network rule:

openstack security group create --description 'Allow SSH' P01_Allow_SSH

The following rule will open TCP port 22 and apply it to the above security group:

openstack security group rule create --proto tcp --dst-port 22 P01_Allow_SSH

Create a cloud instance

Before launching our first cloud instance, we'll need the network ID for the P01_Network. This can be retrieved from the first column of output from the openstack network list command:

+--------------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+
| ID                                   | Name        | Subnets                |
+--------------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+
| fc171d22-d1b0-467d-b6fa-109dfb77787b | Pub_Net     |563ecd06-bbc3-4c98-b93e |
| 8b0baa43-cb25-4a70-bf41-d4136cbfe16e | P01_Network |a91a604a-70d6-4688-915e |
+--------------------------------------+-------------+------------------------+

Use the network ID to replace the example in the following server create command to deploy a new instance:

openstack server create Server_01 --availability-zone nova \
--image 'xenial x86_64' --flavor m1.small \
--key-name P01-keypair --security-group \
P01_Allow_SSH --nic net-id=8b0baa43-cb25-4a70-bf41-d4136cbfe16e

You can monitor progress with the openstack server list command by waiting for the server to show a status of ACTIVE:

+--------------------+-----------+--------+--------- ------------+---------------+
| ID                 | Name      | Status | Networks             | Image Name    |
+--------------------+-----------+--------+----------------------+---------------+
| 4a61f2ad-5d89-43a6 | Server_01 | ACTIVE |P01_Network=10.0.0.11 | xenial x86_64 |
+--------------------+-----------+--------+----------------------+---------------+

All that's left to do is assign a floating IP to the new server and connect with SSH.

Typing openstack floating ip list will show the floating IP address we liberated from Pub_Net earlier.

+----------+---------------------+------------------+------+--------------------+---------+
| ID       | Floating IP Address | Fixed IP Address | Port | Floating Network   | Project |
+----------+---------------------+------------------+------+--------------------+---------+
| f9b4193d | 192.168.100.152     | None             | None | fc171d22-d1b0-467d | 1992e65 |
+----------+---------------------+------------------+------+--------------------+---------+

The above output shows that the floating IP address is yet to be assigned. Use the following command to assign the IP address to our new instance:

openstack server add floating ip Server_01 192.168.100.152

You will now be able to connect to your new cloud server using SSH:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/p01-keypair.pem 192.168.100.152

Next Steps

Congratulations! You have now built and successfully deployed a new cloud instance running on OpenStack, taking full advantage of both Juju and MAAS.

This is a strong foundation to build upon. You could use Juju on top of OpenStack, for example, giving your OpenStack deployment the same powerful application modelling capabilities we used to deploy OpenStack.

Whatever you choose to do, MAAS and Juju will scale to manage your needs, while making your deployments easier to design, maintain and manage.