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Chapter 13. Tagging virtual devices

In Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP), if you attach multiple network interfaces or block devices to an instance, you can use device tagging to communicate the intended role of each device to the instance operating system. Tags are assigned to devices at instance boot time, and are available to the instance operating system through the metadata API and the configuration drive, if enabled.

You can also tag virtual devices to a running instance. For more information, see the following procedures:

Procedure

  1. Create your instance with a virtual block device tag and a virtual network device tag: 

    $ openstack server create --flavor m1.tiny --image cirros \
  --network <network_UUID>
  --nic net-id=<network_UUID>,tag=<myNicTag> \
  --block-device id=<volume_ID>,bus=virtio,tag=<myVolumeTag> myTaggedDevicesInstance
    • Replace <myNicTag> with the name of the tag for the virtual NIC device. You can add as many tagged virtual devices as you require.
    • Replace <myVolumeTag> with the name of the tag for the virtual storage device. You can add as many tagged virtual devices as you require.

  2. Verify that the virtual device tags have been added to the instance metadata by using one of the following methods:

    • Retrieve the device tag metadata from the metadata API by using GET /openstack/latest/meta_data.json.
    • If the configuration drive is enabled and mounted under /configdrive on the instance operating system, view the /configdrive/openstack/latest/meta_data.json file.

    Example meta_data.json file: 

{
  "devices": [
    {
        "type": "nic",
        "bus": "pci",
        "address": "0030:00:02.0",
        "mac": "aa:00:00:00:01",
        "tags": ["myNicTag"]
    },
    {
        "type": "disk",
        "bus": "pci",
        "address": "0030:00:07.0",
        "serial": "disk-vol-227",
        "tags": ["myVolumeTag"]
    }
  ]
}
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