Getting Started With OpenStack¶

Dependencies¶

• Libcloud >= 0.13.2

Configuration¶

• Using the new format, set up the cloud configuration at /etc/salt/cloud.providers or /etc/salt/cloud.providers.d/openstack.conf:

my-openstack-config:
  # Set the location of the salt-master
  #
  minion:
    master: saltmaster.example.com

  # Configure the OpenStack driver
  #
  identity_url: http://identity.youopenstack.com/v2.0/tokens
  compute_name: nova
  protocol: ipv4

  compute_region: RegionOne

  # Configure Openstack authentication credentials
  #
  user: myname
  password: 123456
  # tenant is the project name
  tenant: myproject

  provider: openstack

  # skip SSL certificate validation (default false)
  insecure: false

Using nova client to get information from OpenStack¶

One of the best ways to get information about OpenStack is using the novaclient python package (available in pypi as python-novaclient). The client configuration is a set of environment variables that you can get from the Dashboard. Log in and then go to Project -> Access & security -> API Access and download the "OpenStack RC file". Then:

source /path/to/your/rcfile
nova credentials
nova endpoints

In the nova endpoints output you can see the information about compute_region and compute_name.

Compute Region¶

It depends on the OpenStack cluster that you are using. Please, have a look at the previous sections.

Authentication¶

The user and password is the same user as is used to log into the OpenStack Dashboard.

Profiles¶

Here is an example of a profile:

openstack_512:
  provider: my-openstack-config
  size: m1.tiny
  image: cirros-0.3.1-x86_64-uec
  ssh_key_file: /tmp/test.pem
  ssh_key_name: test
  ssh_interface: private_ips

The following list explains some of the important properties.

size

can be one of the options listed in the output of nova flavor-list.

image

can be one of the options listed in the output of nova image-list.

ssh_key_file

The SSH private key that the salt-cloud uses to SSH into the VM after its first booted in order to execute a command or script. This private key's public key must be the openstack public key inserted into the authorized_key's file of the VM's root user account.

ssh_key_name

The name of the openstack SSH public key that is inserted into the authorized_keys file of the VM's root user account. Prior to using this public key, you must use openstack commands or the horizon web UI to load that key into the tenant's account. Note that this openstack tenant must be the one you defined in the cloud provider.

ssh_interface

This option allows you to create a VM without a public IP. If this option is omitted and the VM does not have a public IP, then the salt-cloud waits for a certain period of time and then destroys the VM.

For more information concerning cloud profiles, see here.

change_password: True

userdata_file: /etc/salt/cloud-init/packages.yml