Chapter 7. Containerized services

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Director installs the core OpenStack Platform services as containers on the overcloud. This section provides some background information on how containerized services work.

7.1. Containerized service architecture

Director installs the core OpenStack Platform services as containers on the overcloud. The templates for the containerized services are located in the /usr/share/openstack-tripleo-heat-templates/deployment/.

You must enable the OS::TripleO::Services::Podman service in the role for all nodes that use containerized services. When you create a roles_data.yaml file for your custom roles configuration, include the OS::TripleO::Services::Podman service along with the base composable services. For example, the IronicConductor role uses the following role definition:

- name: IronicConductor
  description: |
    Ironic Conductor node role
  networks:
    InternalApi:
      subnet: internal_api_subnet
    Storage:
      subnet: storage_subnet
  HostnameFormatDefault: '%stackname%-ironic-%index%'
  ServicesDefault:
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Aide
    - OS::TripleO::Services::AuditD
    - OS::TripleO::Services::BootParams
    - OS::TripleO::Services::CACerts
    - OS::TripleO::Services::CertmongerUser
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Collectd
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Docker
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Fluentd
    - OS::TripleO::Services::IpaClient
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Ipsec
    - OS::TripleO::Services::IronicConductor
    - OS::TripleO::Services::IronicPxe
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Kernel
    - OS::TripleO::Services::LoginDefs
    - OS::TripleO::Services::MetricsQdr
    - OS::TripleO::Services::MySQLClient
    - OS::TripleO::Services::ContainersLogrotateCrond
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Podman
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Rhsm
    - OS::TripleO::Services::SensuClient
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Snmp
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Timesync
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Timezone
    - OS::TripleO::Services::TripleoFirewall
    - OS::TripleO::Services::TripleoPackages
    - OS::TripleO::Services::Tuned

7.2. Containerized service parameters

Each containerized service template contains an outputs section that defines a data set passed to the OpenStack Orchestration (heat) service. In addition to the standard composable service parameters (see Section 6.5, “Examining role parameters”), the template contains a set of parameters specific to the container configuration.

puppet_config

Data to pass to Puppet when configuring the service. In the initial overcloud deployment steps, director creates a set of containers used to configure the service before the actual containerized service runs. This parameter includes the following sub-parameters:

config_volume - The mounted volume that stores the configuration.
puppet_tags - Tags to pass to Puppet during configuration. OpenStack uses these tags to restrict the Puppet run to the configuration resource of a particular service. For example, the OpenStack Identity (keystone) containerized service uses the keystone_config tag to ensure that all require only the keystone_config Puppet resource run on the configuration container.
step_config - The configuration data passed to Puppet. This is usually inherited from the referenced composable service.
config_image - The container image used to configure the service.

kolla_config

A set of container-specific data that defines configuration file locations, directory permissions, and the command to run on the container to launch the service.

docker_config

Tasks to run on the configuration container for the service. All tasks are grouped into the following steps to help director perform a staged deployment:

Step 1 - Load balancer configuration
Step 2 - Core services (Database, Redis)
Step 3 - Initial configuration of OpenStack Platform service
Step 4 - General OpenStack Platform services configuration
Step 5 - Service activation

host_prep_tasks

Preparation tasks for the bare metal node to accommodate the containerized service.

7.3. Preparing container images

The overcloud installation requires an environment file to determine where to obtain container images and how to store them. Generate and customize this environment file that you can use to prepare your container images.

Note

If you need to configure specific container image versions for your overcloud, you must pin the images to a specific version. For more information, see Pinning container images for the overcloud.

Procedure

Log in to your undercloud host as the stack user.
Generate the default container image preparation file:
```
$ sudo openstack tripleo container image prepare default \
  --local-push-destination \
  --output-env-file containers-prepare-parameter.yaml
```
This command includes the following additional options:
- --local-push-destination sets the registry on the undercloud as the location for container images. This means that director pulls the necessary images from the Red Hat Container Catalog and pushes them to the registry on the undercloud. Director uses this registry as the container image source. To pull directly from the Red Hat Container Catalog, omit this option.
- --output-env-file is an environment file name. The contents of this file include the parameters for preparing your container images. In this case, the name of the file is containers-prepare-parameter.yaml.
  Note
  You can use the same containers-prepare-parameter.yaml file to define a container image source for both the undercloud and the overcloud.
Modify the containers-prepare-parameter.yaml to suit your requirements.

7.4. Container image preparation parameters

The default file for preparing your containers (containers-prepare-parameter.yaml) contains the ContainerImagePrepare heat parameter. This parameter defines a list of strategies for preparing a set of images:

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
  - (strategy one)
  - (strategy two)
  - (strategy three)
  ...

Each strategy accepts a set of sub-parameters that defines which images to use and what to do with the images. The following table contains information about the sub-parameters that you can use with each ContainerImagePrepare strategy:

Parameter	Description
`excludes`	List of regular expressions to exclude image names from a strategy.
`includes`	List of regular expressions to include in a strategy. At least one image name must match an existing image. All `excludes` are ignored if `includes` is specified.
`modify_append_tag`	String to append to the tag for the destination image. For example, if you pull an image with the tag 16.2.3-5.161 and set the `modify_append_tag` to `-hotfix`, the director tags the final image as 16.2.3-5.161-hotfix.
`modify_only_with_labels`	A dictionary of image labels that filter the images that you want to modify. If an image matches the labels defined, the director includes the image in the modification process.
`modify_role`	String of ansible role names to run during upload but before pushing the image to the destination registry.
`modify_vars`	Dictionary of variables to pass to `modify_role`.
`push_destination`	Defines the namespace of the registry that you want to push images to during the upload process. If set to `true`, the `push_destination` is set to the undercloud registry namespace using the hostname, which is the recommended method. If set to `false`, the push to a local registry does not occur and nodes pull images directly from the source. If set to a custom value, director pushes images to an external local registry. If you set this parameter to `false` in production environments while pulling images directly from Red Hat Container Catalog, all overcloud nodes will simultaneously pull the images from the Red Hat Container Catalog over your external connection, which can cause bandwidth issues. Only use `false` to pull directly from a Red Hat Satellite Server hosting the container images. If the `push_destination` parameter is set to `false` or is not defined and the remote registry requires authentication, set the `ContainerImageRegistryLogin` parameter to `true` and include the credentials with the `ContainerImageRegistryCredentials` parameter.
`pull_source`	The source registry from where to pull the original container images.
`set`	A dictionary of `key: value` definitions that define where to obtain the initial images.
`tag_from_label`	Use the value of specified container image metadata labels to create a tag for every image and pull that tagged image. For example, if you set `tag_from_label: {version}-{release}`, director uses the `version` and `release` labels to construct a new tag. For one container, `version` might be set to 16.2.3 and `release` might be set to `5.161`, which results in the tag 16.2.3-5.161. Director uses this parameter only if you have not defined `tag` in the `set` dictionary.

Important

When you push images to the undercloud, use push_destination: true instead of push_destination: UNDERCLOUD_IP:PORT. The push_destination: true method provides a level of consistency across both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.

The set parameter accepts a set of key: value definitions:

Key	Description
`ceph_image`	The name of the Ceph Storage container image.
`ceph_namespace`	The namespace of the Ceph Storage container image.
`ceph_tag`	The tag of the Ceph Storage container image.
`ceph_alertmanager_image` `ceph_alertmanager_namespace` `ceph_alertmanager_tag`	The name, namespace, and tag of the Ceph Storage Alert Manager container image.
`ceph_grafana_image` `ceph_grafana_namespace` `ceph_grafana_tag`	The name, namespace, and tag of the Ceph Storage Grafana container image.
`ceph_node_exporter_image` `ceph_node_exporter_namespace` `ceph_node_exporter_tag`	The name, namespace, and tag of the Ceph Storage Node Exporter container image.
`ceph_prometheus_image` `ceph_prometheus_namespace` `ceph_prometheus_tag`	The name, namespace, and tag of the Ceph Storage Prometheus container image.
`name_prefix`	A prefix for each OpenStack service image.
`name_suffix`	A suffix for each OpenStack service image.
`namespace`	The namespace for each OpenStack service image.
`neutron_driver`	The driver to use to determine which OpenStack Networking (neutron) container to use. Use a null value to set to the standard `neutron-server` container. Set to `ovn` to use OVN-based containers.
`tag`	Sets a specific tag for all images from the source. If not defined, director uses the Red Hat OpenStack Platform version number as the default value. This parameter takes precedence over the `tag_from_label` value.

Note

The container images use multi-stream tags based on the Red Hat OpenStack Platform version. This means that there is no longer a latest tag.

7.5. Guidelines for container image tagging

The Red Hat Container Registry uses a specific version format to tag all Red Hat OpenStack Platform container images. This format follows the label metadata for each container, which is version-release.

version: Corresponds to a major and minor version of Red Hat OpenStack Platform. These versions act as streams that contain one or more releases.
release: Corresponds to a release of a specific container image version within a version stream.

For example, if the latest version of Red Hat OpenStack Platform is 16.2.3 and the release for the container image is 5.161, then the resulting tag for the container image is 16.2.3-5.161.

The Red Hat Container Registry also uses a set of major and minor version tags that link to the latest release for that container image version. For example, both 16.2 and 16.2.3 link to the latest release in the 16.2.3 container stream. If a new minor release of 16.2 occurs, the 16.2 tag links to the latest release for the new minor release stream while the 16.2.3 tag continues to link to the latest release within the 16.2.3 stream.

The ContainerImagePrepare parameter contains two sub-parameters that you can use to determine which container image to download. These sub-parameters are the tag parameter within the set dictionary, and the tag_from_label parameter. Use the following guidelines to determine whether to use tag or tag_from_label.

The default value for tag is the major version for your OpenStack Platform version. For this version it is 16.2. This always corresponds to the latest minor version and release.
```
parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
  - set:
      ...
      tag: 16.2
      ...
```
To change to a specific minor version for OpenStack Platform container images, set the tag to a minor version. For example, to change to 16.2.2, set tag to 16.2.2.
```
parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
  - set:
      ...
      tag: 16.2.2
      ...
```
When you set tag, director always downloads the latest container image release for the version set in tag during installation and updates.

If you do not set tag, director uses the value of tag_from_label in conjunction with the latest major version.

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
  - set:
      ...
      # tag: 16.2
      ...
    tag_from_label: '{version}-{release}'

The tag_from_label parameter generates the tag from the label metadata of the latest container image release it inspects from the Red Hat Container Registry. For example, the labels for a certain container might use the following version and release metadata:
```
  "Labels": {
    "release": "5.161",
    "version": "16.2.3",
    ...
  }
```
The default value for tag_from_label is {version}-{release}, which corresponds to the version and release metadata labels for each container image. For example, if a container image has 16.2.3 set for version and 5.161 set for release, the resulting tag for the container image is 16.2.3-5.161.
The tag parameter always takes precedence over the tag_from_label parameter. To use tag_from_label, omit the tag parameter from your container preparation configuration.
A key difference between tag and tag_from_label is that director uses tag to pull an image only based on major or minor version tags, which the Red Hat Container Registry links to the latest image release within a version stream, while director uses tag_from_label to perform a metadata inspection of each container image so that director generates a tag and pulls the corresponding image.

7.6. Obtaining container images from private registries

The registry.redhat.io registry requires authentication to access and pull images. To authenticate with registry.redhat.io and other private registries, include the ContainerImageRegistryCredentials and ContainerImageRegistryLogin parameters in your containers-prepare-parameter.yaml file.

ContainerImageRegistryCredentials

Some container image registries require authentication to access images. In this situation, use the ContainerImageRegistryCredentials parameter in your containers-prepare-parameter.yaml environment file. The ContainerImageRegistryCredentials parameter uses a set of keys based on the private registry URL. Each private registry URL uses its own key and value pair to define the username (key) and password (value). This provides a method to specify credentials for multiple private registries.

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
  - push_destination: true
    set:
      namespace: registry.redhat.io/...
      ...
  ContainerImageRegistryCredentials:
    registry.redhat.io:
      my_username: my_password

In the example, replace my_username and my_password with your authentication credentials. Instead of using your individual user credentials, Red Hat recommends creating a registry service account and using those credentials to access registry.redhat.io content.

To specify authentication details for multiple registries, set multiple key-pair values for each registry in ContainerImageRegistryCredentials:

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
  - push_destination: true
    set:
      namespace: registry.redhat.io/...
      ...
  - push_destination: true
    set:
      namespace: registry.internalsite.com/...
      ...
  ...
  ContainerImageRegistryCredentials:
    registry.redhat.io:
      myuser: 'p@55w0rd!'
    registry.internalsite.com:
      myuser2: '0th3rp@55w0rd!'
    '192.0.2.1:8787':
      myuser3: '@n0th3rp@55w0rd!'

Important

The default ContainerImagePrepare parameter pulls container images from registry.redhat.io, which requires authentication.

For more information, see Red Hat Container Registry Authentication.

ContainerImageRegistryLogin

The ContainerImageRegistryLogin parameter is used to control whether an overcloud node system needs to log in to the remote registry to fetch the container images. This situation occurs when you want the overcloud nodes to pull images directly, rather than use the undercloud to host images.

You must set ContainerImageRegistryLogin to true if push_destination is set to false or not used for a given strategy.

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
  - push_destination: false
    set:
      namespace: registry.redhat.io/...
      ...
  ...
  ContainerImageRegistryCredentials:
    registry.redhat.io:
      myuser: 'p@55w0rd!'
  ContainerImageRegistryLogin: true

However, if the overcloud nodes do not have network connectivity to the registry hosts defined in ContainerImageRegistryCredentials and you set ContainerImageRegistryLogin to true, the deployment might fail when trying to perform a login. If the overcloud nodes do not have network connectivity to the registry hosts defined in the ContainerImageRegistryCredentials, set push_destination to true and ContainerImageRegistryLogin to false so that the overcloud nodes pull images from the undercloud.

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
  - push_destination: true
    set:
      namespace: registry.redhat.io/...
      ...
  ...
  ContainerImageRegistryCredentials:
    registry.redhat.io:
      myuser: 'p@55w0rd!'
  ContainerImageRegistryLogin: false

7.7. Layering image preparation entries

The value of the ContainerImagePrepare parameter is a YAML list. This means that you can specify multiple entries.

The following example demonstrates two entries where director uses the latest version of all images except for the nova-api image, which uses the version tagged with 16.2.1-hotfix:

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
  - tag_from_label: "{version}-{release}"
    push_destination: true
    excludes:
    - nova-api
    set:
      namespace: registry.redhat.io/rhosp-rhel8
      name_prefix: openstack-
      name_suffix: ''
      tag:16.2
  - push_destination: true
    includes:
    - nova-api
    set:
      namespace: registry.redhat.io/rhosp-rhel8
      tag: 16.2.1-hotfix

The includes and excludes parameters use regular expressions to control image filtering for each entry. The images that match the includes strategy take precedence over excludes matches. The image name must match the includes or excludes regular expression value to be considered a match.

A similar technique is used if your Block Storage (cinder) driver requires a vendor supplied cinder-volume image known as a plugin. If your Block Storage driver requires a plugin, see Deploying a vendor plugin in the Advanced Overcloud Customization guide.

7.8. Modifying images during preparation

It is possible to modify images during image preparation, and then immediately deploy the overcloud with modified images.

Note

Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) director supports modifying images during preparation for RHOSP containers, not for Ceph containers.

Scenarios for modifying images include:

As part of a continuous integration pipeline where images are modified with the changes being tested before deployment.
As part of a development workflow where local changes must be deployed for testing and development.
When changes must be deployed but are not available through an image build pipeline. For example, adding proprietary add-ons or emergency fixes.

To modify an image during preparation, invoke an Ansible role on each image that you want to modify. The role takes a source image, makes the requested changes, and tags the result. The prepare command can push the image to the destination registry and set the heat parameters to refer to the modified image.

The Ansible role tripleo-modify-image conforms with the required role interface and provides the behaviour necessary for the modify use cases. Control the modification with the modify-specific keys in the ContainerImagePrepare parameter:

modify_role specifies the Ansible role to invoke for each image to modify.
modify_append_tag appends a string to the end of the source image tag. This makes it obvious that the resulting image has been modified. Use this parameter to skip modification if the push_destination registry already contains the modified image. Change modify_append_tag whenever you modify the image.
modify_vars is a dictionary of Ansible variables to pass to the role.

To select a use case that the tripleo-modify-image role handles, set the tasks_from variable to the required file in that role.

While developing and testing the ContainerImagePrepare entries that modify images, run the image prepare command without any additional options to confirm that the image is modified as you expect:

sudo openstack tripleo container image prepare \
  -e ~/containers-prepare-parameter.yaml

Important

To use the openstack tripleo container image prepare command, your undercloud must contain a running image-serve registry. As a result, you cannot run this command before a new undercloud installation because the image-serve registry will not be installed. You can run this command after a successful undercloud installation.

7.9. Updating existing packages on container images

Note

Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) director supports updating existing packages on container images for RHOSP containers, not for Ceph containers.

Procedure

The following example ContainerImagePrepare entry updates in all packages on the container images by using the dnf repository configuration of the undercloud host:

ContainerImagePrepare:
- push_destination: true
  ...
  modify_role: tripleo-modify-image
  modify_append_tag: "-updated"
  modify_vars:
    tasks_from: yum_update.yml
    compare_host_packages: true
    yum_repos_dir_path: /etc/yum.repos.d
  ...

7.10. Installing additional RPM files to container images

You can install a directory of RPM files in your container images. This is useful for installing hotfixes, local package builds, or any package that is not available through a package repository.

Note

Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) director supports installing additional RPM files to container images for RHOSP containers, not for Ceph containers.

Note

When you modify container images in existing deployments, you must then perform a minor update to apply the changes to your overcloud. For more information, see Keeping Red Hat OpenStack Platform Updated.

Procedure

The following example ContainerImagePrepare entry installs some hotfix packages on only the nova-compute image:

ContainerImagePrepare:
- push_destination: true
  ...
  includes:
  - nova-compute
  modify_role: tripleo-modify-image
  modify_append_tag: "-hotfix"
  modify_vars:
    tasks_from: rpm_install.yml
    rpms_path: /home/stack/nova-hotfix-pkgs
  ...

7.11. Modifying container images with a custom Dockerfile

You can specify a directory that contains a Dockerfile to make the required changes. When you invoke the tripleo-modify-image role, the role generates a Dockerfile.modified file that changes the FROM directive and adds extra LABEL directives.

Note

Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) director supports modifying container images with a custom Dockerfile for RHOSP containers, not for Ceph containers.

Procedure

The following example runs the custom Dockerfile on the nova-compute image:

ContainerImagePrepare:
- push_destination: true
  ...
  includes:
  - nova-compute
  modify_role: tripleo-modify-image
  modify_append_tag: "-hotfix"
  modify_vars:
    tasks_from: modify_image.yml
    modify_dir_path: /home/stack/nova-custom
  ...

The following example shows the /home/stack/nova-custom/Dockerfile file. After you run any USER root directives, you must switch back to the original image default user:
```
FROM registry.redhat.io/rhosp-rhel8/openstack-nova-compute:latest

USER "root"

COPY customize.sh /tmp/
RUN /tmp/customize.sh

USER "nova"
```

7.12. Deploying a vendor plugin

To use some third-party hardware as a Block Storage back end, you must deploy a vendor plugin. The following example demonstrates how to deploy a vendor plugin to use Dell EMC hardware as a Block Storage back end.

For more information about supported back end appliances and drivers, see Third-Party Storage Providers in the Storage Guide.

Procedure

Create a new container images file for your overcloud:

$ sudo openstack tripleo container image prepare default \
    --local-push-destination \
    --output-env-file containers-prepare-parameter-dellemc.yaml

Edit the containers-prepare-parameter-dellemc.yaml file.

Add an exclude parameter to the strategy for the main Red Hat OpenStack Platform container images. Use this parameter to exclude the container image that the vendor container image will replace. In the example, the container image is the cinder-volume image:

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
    - push_destination: true
      excludes:
  	   - cinder-volume
      set:
        namespace: registry.redhat.io/rhosp-rhel8
        name_prefix: openstack-
        name_suffix: ''
        tag: 16.2
        ...
      tag_from_label: "{version}-{release}"

Add a new strategy to the ContainerImagePrepare parameter that includes the replacement container image for the vendor plugin:

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImagePrepare:
    ...
    - push_destination: true
      includes:
        - cinder-volume
      set:
        namespace: registry.connect.redhat.com/dellemc
        name_prefix: openstack-
        name_suffix: -dellemc-rhosp16
        tag: 16.2-2
        ...

Add the authentication details for the registry.connect.redhat.com registry to the ContainerImageRegistryCredentials parameter:

parameter_defaults:
  ContainerImageRegistryCredentials:
    registry.redhat.io:
      [service account username]: [service account password]
    registry.connect.redhat.com:
      [service account username]: [service account password]

Save the containers-prepare-parameter-dellemc.yaml file.
Include the containers-prepare-parameter-dellemc.yaml file with any deployment commands, such as as openstack overcloud deploy:
```
$ openstack overcloud deploy --templates
    ...
    -e containers-prepare-parameter-dellemc.yaml
    ...
```
When director deploys the overcloud, the overcloud uses the vendor container image instead of the standard container image.
IMPORTANT
The containers-prepare-parameter-dellemc.yaml file replaces the standard containers-prepare-parameter.yaml file in your overcloud deployment. Do not include the standard containers-prepare-parameter.yaml file in your overcloud deployment. Retain the standard containers-prepare-parameter.yaml file for your undercloud installation and updates.

Chapter 7. Containerized services

7.1. Containerized service architecture

7.2. Containerized service parameters

7.3. Preparing container images

7.4. Container image preparation parameters

7.5. Guidelines for container image tagging

7.6. Obtaining container images from private registries

7.7. Layering image preparation entries

7.8. Modifying images during preparation

7.9. Updating existing packages on container images

7.10. Installing additional RPM files to container images

7.11. Modifying container images with a custom Dockerfile

7.12. Deploying a vendor plugin

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