FAQs for the OpenStack Provider

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• CloudStack uses an outdated OS that requires a manual driver installation.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).

200-GB hard disk and 2 VCPUs

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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).

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Yes.

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

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

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.

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.