Archive/XCP OpenStack
Introduction
OpenStack is a global collaboration of developers and cloud computing technologists producing the ubiquitous open source cloud computing platform for public and private clouds.
There are several paths to setting up XCP with OpenStack management tools depending on your intention:
- If you're looking to create a quick test system just see what OpenStack is like, then DevStack is the fastest path. See the #DevStack Install section below.
- If you're looking to create a custom (or production) installation of XCP and OpenStack, the best method is to do it by hand and then consider customizing your own scripted install. See the "Manual Install" section below.
Basics
XCP works with OpenStack through a combination of configuration and plug-ins on the XCP dom0, along with a required domU guest VM that runs some of the OpenStack components
- This means that each XCP node you configure must run this domU OpenStack guest.
- This adds complexity and some over-head to your installation, but has benefits that are described best in Todd's presentation above.
Please see this OpenStack wiki article on XCP for more information.
DevStack Install
DevStack is a collection of scripts that allow you to quickly setup an OpenStack cluster. Developers have also created a set of Xen DevStack scripts for setting up XenServer (and XCP) with DevStack.
- Please note, DevStack is specifically NOT for production use and makes a number of non-configurable assumptions to get the cluster running right away (e.g. all the network setup is fairly static).
Installation
The Xen DevStack scripts are designed to get DevStack running on Citrix XenServer (they also work with XCP with a little bit of tweaking). Using these scripts will let you do the following:
- Install a clean copy of XCP on a test machine
- Download and run the Xen DevStack scripts on the new XCP installation
- This will install the plug-ins and configuration needed inside the XCP dom0
- It will create a new VM on XCP called ALLINONE which contains the full set of OpenStack node components (nova compute/volume, glance image, keystone identity, etc)
- You'll then be able to login to the OpenStack dashboard web page and play around with OpenStack
Please see Setting up DevStack on XCP for a step-by-step explanation on the above installation.
Please see this OpenStack wiki article, which also has a general outline of the same installation.
Manual Install
We will soon be providing instructions on setting up OpenStack on XCP from scratch, but this is a work in progress. If you'd like to get started yourself right away, then the OpenStack wiki section on XenServer has the best information at present.
For creating a custom scripted install, there's also a set of recipes that have been developed to setup XenServer for OpenStack using Chef that can be used as a basis for your own custom installation.
References
DevStack
OpenStack and XCP
- http://wiki.openstack.org/XenServer
- Presentation from Todd Deshane with more information about XCP and OpenStack http://www.slideshare.net/cloudstack/vbacd-xen-cloud-computing
- There are many companies using custom installations of OpenStack (notably RackSpace is using OpenStack deployed on XenServer): http://www.openstack.org/blog/tag/hp/
Non-XCP References
- StackOps - Provides a downloadable 64-bit-only Ubuntu ISO for bare-metal creation of a new OpenStack cluster
- Dell Crowbar - Similar to StackOps - Also provides a bare-metal ISO for a highly customizable OpenStack deployment system based on Chef recipes
