If a nova-compute flag ( for instance libvirt_use_virtio_for_bridges ) is changed after instances have been created, the existing instances won’t be changed accordingly. The libvirt XML description can be modified, both in /var/lib/nova/instances and in /etc/libvirt/qemu to reflect the desired change. The corresponding instance can then be rebooted with nova reboot so that kvm is run again with the new options.
Continue reading “Update an existing OpenStack instance after a global flag change”

In the horizon OpenStack dashboard, the display of the Instances & Volumes page fails for every account with administrative permissions, after a volume has been created and attached to an instance. While there are workarounds (such as using an unprivileged account to display the same page ), it affects almost all admin users deploying the current release of horizon in Essex. The bug was fixed and uploaded to Debian GNU/Linux sid. It was unblocked and will be in wheezy by the end of september 2012.
Continue reading “OpenStack horizon : fix the Instance & Volumes page”

Running a virtual machine within a virtual machine (aka nested virtual machines) is supported by OpenStack by adding a stanza such as

    <cpu mode='custom' match='exact'>
      <model>Nehalem</model>
      <feature policy='require' name='vmx'/>
    </cpu>

in the libvirt.xml.template file. The nested feature must be enabled on the OpenStack node for intel processors by adding the nested=1 argument when loading the kvm_intel module so that:

# cat /sys/module/kvm_intel/parameters/nested
Y

This feature can be used to exercise an automated Openstack deployement on Debian GNU/Linux wheezy with razor within OpenStack itself.
Continue reading “OpenStack nested virtual machines”

Deploying OpenStack on Debian GNU/Linux requires the wheezy repository, which not stable yet at this date. When the HOWTO is tested to work against the current state of the wheezy repository, it is worth keeping a copy to ensure it can be re-run reliably. A virtual machine is dedicated to store a wheezy mirror, updated with the ftpsync shell script:

# ssh mirror@debian.the.re
$ bin/ftpsync sync:all

It can then be used as follows:

# cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.the.re.list <<EOF
deb http://debian.the.re/debian wheezy main
deb-src http://debian.the.re/debian wheezy main
EOF
# apt-get update

Continue reading “Debian GNU/Linux wheezy mirror for OpenStack”

Check the comments for updates

The the.re OpenStack cluster is made of machines hosted in various places. When it is rented from Hetzner, it must be configured with Debian GNU/Linux wheezy and partitionned with a large LVM volume group for storage. It is given the name bm0005.the.re. It is then configured with the compute role as instructed in the puppet HOWTO. A new tenant is created, with quotas corresponding to the resources provided by the hardware ( in this case an EX10 model with 64GB RAM, 12 3.20GHz cores, 6TB disk ).
Continue reading “Adding a Hetzner machine to the.re”