OpenStack

From the OpenStack Documentation:

"The OpenStack Open Source Cloud Mission: to produce the ubiquitous Open Source Cloud Computing platform that will meet the needs of public and private clouds regardless of size, by being simple to implement and massively scalable."

USING XAPI

The OpenStack documentation reads:

"The recommended way to use Xen with OpenStack is through the XenAPI driver. To enable the XenAPI driver, add the following configuration options /etc/nova/nova.conf and restart the nova-compute service:"

compute_driver = xenapi.XenAPIDriver
xenapi_connection_url = http://your_xenapi_management_ip_address
xenapi_connection_username = root
xenapi_connection_password = your_password

"These connection details are used by the OpenStack Compute service to contact your hypervisor and are the same details you use to connect XenCenter, the XenServer management console, to your XenServer or XCP box."

The OpenStack documentation does not reflect the current reality. While XAPI is the clear mechanism for supporting XenServer at this time, most existing Xen Project integration into OpenStack is done through libvirt below.

USING LIBVIRT

The OpenStack documentation reads:

"It is possible to manage Xen using libvirt, though this is not well-tested or supported. To experiment using Xen through libvirt add the following configuration options /etc/nova/nova.conf:"

compute_driver = libvirt.LibvirtDriver
[libvirt]
virt_type = xen

Beyond what the documentation says, however, there are now high-quality instances of libvirt being used to control the Xen Project hypervisor under OpenStack. SUSE and Oracle are both using that technique in commercial OpenStack implementations.

HOWTOs

• Learn about using Xen Project via libvirt for OpenStack juno

DOCUMENTATION

• The OpenStack documentation Introduction to Xen Project
• The OpenStack chart of Xen Project configuration options with both libvirt and XAPI/XenServer configuration parameters
• The OpenStack Wiki documentation for using Xen Project and XenServer
• The OpenStack Wiki documentation for using Xen Project via libvirt
• The OpenStack Wiki documentation for using XenServer
• Oracle's Getting Started document for OpenStack using Oracle VM (which uses the Xen Project hypervisor)
• The NetIQ Cloud Manager 2.2 documentation for using the SUSE Xen Provisioning Adapter
• Thoughts on configuring XenServer (not Xen Project) for OpenStack Nova
• OpenStack Wikipedia entry

PRESENTATIONS

• Video presentation on Building the Rackspace Open Cloud with Xen Project and OpenStack from Xen Project User Summit 2013