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FAQs for the OpenStack Provider

This topic provides answers to frequently asked questions about the OpenStack Provider.

General questions

What is the difference between OpenStack and CloudStack?

The differences between OpenStack and CloudStack are as follows:

  • CloudStack uses an outdated OS that requires a manual driver installation. OpenStack works with the latest operating systems. Also, it has the Linux community support from Ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE, and so on.
  • While OpenStack lacks wizards and a setup GUI for configuring infrastructure, the installation process is smooth. OpenStack also has superior basic functions, such as creating VM instances, retrieving images, and attaching volumes.
  • OpenStack uses a daemon for major components like nova-network and Glance, which can share resources on the same host. Resources in OpenStack are high-availability (HA) ready because they are stateless, but that is not true of CloudStack.
  • CloudStack loads templates and ISOs exclusively over an internet connection with a URL path. In OpenStack, images can be loaded from any file system to Glance and requires the use of a CLI.
  • In CloudStack, secondary storage is not as flexible as OpenStack's image service (Glance).
What is the typical footprint of OpenStack?

200-GB hard disk and 2 VCPUs

While developing the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management and OpenStack integration solution, has BMC worked with any other OpenStack Provider, such as Hewlett Packard? How would the support for this solution work out?

BMC has not worked with any partner and uses the OpenStack forums for support.

Where do I find additional information for the OpenStack?

For additional information about the OpenStack, see www.openstack.org

Installation and upgrade questions

What features of OpenStack does BMC support?

BMC supports the IaaS-level offering for OpenStack with features to install software (both pre- and post- provisioning), add disk, provision, start, stop, shutdown, suspend, resume, modify CPU and RAM of a server. It also allows you to start, stop, shutdown, transfer ownership, share and decommission a OpenStack service. See Key features of the OpenStack Provider.

Which version of OpenStack is supported by the OpenStack Provider? How do I obtain it?

For details about the supported OpenStack releases, see Supported releases of OpenStack.

Does BMC install and configure the OpenStack Cloud OS software?

No. You must install and configure the OpenStack Cloud OS before configuring an OpenStack Provider.

Does BMC support an upgrade of the OpenStack version?

No. BMC does not support upgrade of OpenStack version. The BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management and OpenStack integration solution is built on Folsom, Grizzly, Havana, and Icehouse releases and BMC does not support an out-of-the-box upgrade. You must upgrade the OpenStack versions before using this integration solution.

Does the BMC OpenStack Provider support any other open-source software?

For details about the supported features, see Key features of the OpenStack Provider.

Product usage

How does OpenStack networking work?

OpenStack provides flexible networking models to suit the needs of different applications or user groups. Standard models include flat networks or VLANs for separation of servers and traffic. Currently, BMC supports nova-network, which is totally based on flat networks and also neutron-network. Flat networking uses ethernet adapters configured as bridges to allow network traffic among all the nodes.
This integration is based with both nova-network (See http://www.openstack.org/software/openstack-networking for details) and neutron-network (See https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Neutron for details).

Where can I find information about the platforms currently supported for the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management and OpenStack integration solution? Is this integration based on BMC Atrium Orchestrator workflows?

See http://confluence.bmc.com:8080/display/BSMSOL/CLM+Openstack+Integration for details on the platforms currently supported for the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management and the OpenStack integration solution. OpenStack is a based on Java.

Which authentication types are supported by the OpenStack Provider?

The OpenStack Provider supports both public-key infrastructure (PKI) and universally unique identifier (UUID) token-based authentication types.

What is a security group in OpenStack?

Security groups and their rules enable administrators and tenants to specify the type of traffic that can pass through a port and its direction (ingress or egress). A security group is a container for security group rules. For more information, see Defining security groups in the OpenStack Provider.

How does Add Disk work?

The Add Disk use case is mapped via options in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management to the cinder service in OpenStack. Cinder is the service that allows you to give extra block-level storage to your OpenStack Compute instances. See Add disk.

Do virtual machines (VMs) in OpenStack have any other agents running?

If you want to install any software on the OpenStack VM, the RSCD agent should be a part of the VM image or snapshot in the OpenStack Provider.

Do we need to associate compute pools?

No. The only placement target is the Logical Disk Center (LDC), which maps to the projects in the OpenStack Provider.

Does OpenStack use SSH keys to access VMs?

OpenStack uses SSH keys. But the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management and OpenStack integration (OpenStack Provider 2.0.00) does not provide out-of-the-box support. You can create user credentials while provisioning and use these credentials to access the VM.

The SSH key support is provided in OpenStack Provider 4.1.1. See Version 4.1.1 of the OpenStack Provider for the details.

Do we have the same support for key pairs in OpenStack as we have for Amazon EC2 (for cryptographic SSH authentication to server instances)?

OpenStack supports key pairs. (In OpenStack, navigate to Dashboard > Project > Access & Security.) But the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management OpenStack Provider Version 2.0.00 does not support this feature. This feature is available only in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management OpenStack Provider Version 4.1.1. See Version 4.1.1 of the OpenStack Provider for the details.

Do I have to create compute instances in the same project in which the selected image or snapshot exists?

Yes.

In a BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management SOI request, can the OpenStack flavor be specified as a Deployment Model parameter in the service blueprint?

In the OpenStack Provider, the flavor is read from options. It is not specified as a deployment parameter in a service blueprint.

In the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management Service Catalog workspace, do service offerings need to be set to the OpenStack type?

Yes. You need to set the service offering as the OpenStack type.

Troubleshooting

For Floating IPs, where are the address pools managed in OpenStack?

Configure the address pools in the OpenStack database. See http://docs.openstack.org/trunk/openstack-compute/admin/content/associating-public-ip.html.

To view where the address pools are managed, click Dashboard > Project > Access & Security > Allocate IP to Project, and select Pool.

Which log files should I check to diagnose the issues in the OpenStack Provider? How do I troubleshoot issues related to the OpenStack Provider?

Check the csm.log and processes.log files to diagnose issues related to the OpenStack Provider.

In this integration, the OPENSTACK_PROXY_LOG_FILE attribute is defined in the OpenStack.properties file. If a value is specified for this attribute, the REST request or response is printed in this file.

For more information about the location of these log files or resolving an issue, check the OpenStack-Provider-issues.

 

 

 

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