Chapter 8. Integration of OpenStack components and their relationship with director and the overcloud
Use the following concepts about specific integration points to begin integrating hardware and software with Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP).
8.1. Bare Metal Provisioning (ironic)
Use the OpenStack Bare Metal Provisioning (ironic) component within director to control the power state of the nodes. Director uses a set of back-end drivers to interface with specific bare metal power controllers. These drivers are the key to enabling hardware and vendor specific extensions and capabilities. The most common driver is the IPMI driver,pxe_ipmitool, which controls the power state for any server that supports the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI).
Integration with Bare Metal Provisioning starts with the upstream OpenStack community. Ironic drivers accepted upstream are automatically included in the core RHOSP product and director by default. However, they might not be supported according to certification requirements.
Hardware drivers must undergo continuous integration testing to ensure their continued functionality. For more information about third-party driver testing and suitability, see the OpenStack community page Ironic Testing.
Upstream Repositories:
Upstream Blueprints:
- Launchpad: http://launchpad.net/ironic
Puppet Module:
Bugzilla components:
- openstack-ironic
- python-ironicclient
- python-ironic-oscplugin
- openstack-ironic-discoverd
- openstack-puppet-modules
- openstack-tripleo-heat-templates
Integration Notes:
-
The upstream project contains drivers in the
ironic/driversdirectory. -
Director performs a bulk registration of nodes defined in a JSON file. The
os-cloud-configtool, https://github.com/openstack/os-cloud-config/, parses this file to determine the node registration details and perform the registration. This means theos-cloud-configtool, specifically thenodes.pyfile, requires support for your driver. Director is automatically configured to use Bare Metal Provisioning, which means the Puppet configuration requires little to no modification. However, if your driver is included with Bare Metal Provisioning, you must add your driver to the
/etc/ironic/ironic.conffile. Edit this file and search for theenabled_driversparameter:enabled_drivers=pxe_ipmitool,pxe_ssh,pxe_drac
This allows Bare Metal Provisioning to use the specified driver from the
driversdirectory.
8.2. Networking (neutron)
OpenStack Networking (neutron) provides the ability to create a network architecture within your cloud environment. The project provides several integration points for Software Defined Networking (SDN) vendors. These integration points usually fall into the categories of plugins or agents:
A plugin allows extension and customization of pre-existing neutron functions. Vendors can write plugins to ensure interoperability between neutron and certified software and hardware. Develop a driver for neutron Modular Layer 2 (ml2) plugin, which provides a modular back end for integrating your own drivers.
An agent provides a specific network function. The main neutron server and its plugins communicate with neutron agents. Existing examples include agents for DHCP, Layer 3 support, and bridging support.
For both plugins and agents, you can choose one of the following options:
- Include them for distribution as part of the Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) solution
- Add them to the overcloud images after RHOSP distribution
Analyze the functionality of existing plugins and agents to determine how to integrate your own certified hardware and software. In particular, it is recommended to first develop a driver as a part of the ml2 plugin.
Upstream Repositories:
Upstream Blueprints:
- Launchpad: http://launchpad.net/neutron
Puppet Module:
Bugzilla components:
- openstack-neutron
- python-neutronclient
- openstack-puppet-modules
- openstack-tripleo-heat-templates
Integration Notes:
The upstream
neutronproject contains several integration points:-
The plugins are located in
neutron/plugins/ -
The ml2 plugin drivers are located in
neutron/plugins/ml2/drivers/ -
The agents are located in
neutron/agents/
-
The plugins are located in
-
Since the OpenStack Liberty release, many of the vendor-specific ml2 plugin have been moved into their own repositories beginning with
networking-. For example, the Cisco-specific plugins are located in https://github.com/openstack/networking-cisco The
puppet-neutronrepository also contains separate directories to configure these integration points:-
The plugin configuration is located in
manifests/plugins/ -
The ml2 plugin driver configuration is located in
manifests/plugins/ml2/ -
The agent configuration is located in
manifests/agents/
-
The plugin configuration is located in
-
The
puppet-neutronrepository contains numerous additional libraries for configuration functions. For example, theneutron_plugin_ml2library adds a function to add attributes to the ml2 plugin configuration file.
8.3. Block Storage (Cinder)
OpenStack Block Storage (cinder) provides an API that interacts with block storage devices, which Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) uses to create volumes. For example, Block Storage provides virtual storage devices for instances. Block Storage provides a core set of drivers to support different storage hardware and protocols. For example, some of the core drivers include support for NFS, iSCSI, and Red Hat Ceph Storage. Vendors can include drivers to support additional certified hardware.
Vendors have the following two main options with the drivers and configuration they develop:
- Include them for distribution as part of the RHOSP solution
- Add them to the overcloud images after RHOSP distribution
Analyze the functionality of existing drivers to determine how to integrate your own certified hardware and software.
Upstream Repositories:
Upstream Blueprints:
- Launchpad: http://launchpad.net/cinder
Puppet Module:
Bugzilla components:
- openstack-cinder
- python-cinderclient
- openstack-puppet-modules
- openstack-tripleo-heat-templates
Integration Notes:
-
The upstream
cinderrepository contains the drivers incinder/volume/drivers/ The
puppet-cinderrepository contains two main directories for driver configuration:-
The
manifests/backenddirectory contains a set of defined types that configure the drivers. -
The
manifests/volumedirectory contains a set of classes to configure a default block storage device.
-
The
-
The
puppet-cinderrepository contains a library calledcinder_configto add attributes to the Cinder configuration files.
8.4. Image Storage (Glance)
OpenStack Image service (glance) provides an API that interacts with storage types to provide storage for images. Image service provides a core set of drivers to support different storage hardware and protocols. For example, the core drivers include support for file, OpenStack Object Storage (swift), OpenStack Block Storage (cinder), and Red Hat Ceph Storage. Vendors can include drivers to support additional certified hardware.
Upstream Repositories:
OpenStack:
GitHub:
Upstream Blueprints:
- Launchpad: http://launchpad.net/glance
Puppet Module:
Bugzilla components:
- openstack-glance
- python-glanceclient
- openstack-puppet-modules
- openstack-tripleo-heat-templates
Integration Notes:
- Adding a vendor-specific driver is not necessary because Image service can use Block Storage, which contains integration points, to manage image storage.
-
The upstream
glance_storerepository contains the drivers inglance_store/_drivers. -
The
puppet-glancerepository contains the driver configuration in themanifests/backenddirectory. -
The
puppet-glancerepository contains a library calledglance_api_configto add attributes to the Glance configuration files.
8.6. OpenShift-on-OpenStack
Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) aims to support OpenShift-on-OpenStack deployments. For more information about the partner integration for these deployments, see the Red Hat OpenShift Partners page.
