OpenStack is an open-source framework that makes cloud computing easier with its wide variety of software tools and virtual servers. The OpenStack platform helps in controlling a diverse array of resources in a data hub that is used for managing both private and public clouds. The computing, storing, and communicating activities in an OpenStack framework are carried out by deploying VMs and other instances through a dashboard, also known as Horizon. We’ll learn more about how to install the OpenStack dashboard in the subsequent paragraphs.
The OpenStack Dashboard (Horizon) is an interface that is used by both OpenStack administrators and users. The interface of the OpenStack dashboard works with a number of OpenStack services viz. Nova, keystone, swift, etc., through a number of OpenStack APIs.
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The features of the Dashboard that an administrator can get are primarily Initiation of Virtual Machine instances, viewing size, status, and current condition of any OpenStack cloud deployment, managing of cloud resources available to end-users, etc. For an end-user, the OpenStack Dashboard mainly works as a portal to access cloud resources within the threshold set by the admins.
Here’s what the main page of the dashboard looks like when logged in as an administrator:
Here’s what the main page of the dashboard looks like when logged in as an end-user:
Here, we will discuss the installation of OpenStack on a single node in CentOS 7. Below are the steps to follow to complete your installation process.
yum install -y centOS release - openstack - newton
yum update -y
yum install -y openstack -packstack
packstack --allinone
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Note: In case of an error in the installation of packages using packstack, you can refer to the answer file (an xml based file created by packstack that contains all the setup and configuration details of your OpenStack installation.)
packstack --answer -file =/root/answers.txt
The below image shows the terminal window on completion of OpenStack installation.>
Once the OpenStack Dashboard is installed successfully, we need to know how to work with the various features of the dashboard. The subsequent sections will discuss the primary factors to be known in order to access the OpenStack Dashboard and work with it.
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Once OpenStack is installed successfully in the VM, we will have to access the Dashboard. Steps to access OpenStack Dashboard are as follows.
cat keystonerc_admin
Related Article: OpenStack Authentication |
Eg: 10.0.2.15/dashboard
Note: Javascript and cookies should be enabled in your browser
Source: https://www.tecmint.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/OpenStack-Login-Dashboard.png
Based on the user role, the interface and functions of the dashboard vary. When logged in as an administrator, the dashboard offers two primary tabs - Project and Admin. As an end-user, only one tab will be visible - Project. In the subsequent sections, we shall see the key aspects of these tabs present in the OpenStack Dashboard.
The Admin Tab is used to view the size and current usage of any cloud deployment, set threshold for end-users, manage cloud instances, images, flavors, volumes, networks, and many more. The Admin tab contains a list of sections. Let us see the function of the key sections below.
Related Article: Advanced Openstack |
The key section in the Admin tab |
Function |
Overview |
Gives the basic reports like RAM size, usage summary, volume storage, etc. |
Resource Usage |
Shows various usage reports like the Daily Report, Stats, etc. |
Hypervisors |
Gives the hypervisor (Virtual Machine Monitor) summary report. |
Host Aggregate |
Allows admins to create and update host aggregates by grouping hosts together and viewing details of Availability Zones(AZ). AZs are the metadata information for partitioning a cloud and this is visible to end-users as well. |
Instances |
Displays the running instances and allows admins to pause, resume, suspend, restart, reboot, and remove the same. |
Flavors |
Flavor defines the memory and storage capacity of an instance. The flavors tab helps the admin view, create, update, and delete flavors |
Volumes |
Volumes are blocks that can be attached or detached from an instance at any point in time. The Volume tab allows admins and users to view, add, update or delete any volume type. |
Images |
The images tab allows admins to get the list of images already available. It also allows the addition or removal of any custom image. |
Default |
Displays the default quotas of the available resources. |
System Information |
Gives current status of available OpenStack services. It has two sub-tabs - Compute Service and Block Storage Service |
Identity Panel |
The Identity Panel for an admin user comprises the following subsections.
|
An end-user gets access to the projects within the OpenStack dashboard. Within the project, a user can create, delete or update multiple instances. The project can broadly be classified under three heads - Compute, Network, Object Store, Orchestration. Let us see the key features of these sections
Project - Compute Tab |
Function |
Overview |
Displays summary of the project |
Instances |
Allows users to pause, resume, suspend, restart, reboot, and remove available instances. Also enables users to create a snapshot from instances |
Volumes |
Allows users to add, edit and delete volumes and volume snapshots |
Images |
Enables users to view or edit snapshots of instances, view public images, etc |
Access and Security |
This section contains the below subsections:
|
Project - Network Tab |
Functions |
Network Topology |
View the topography of network |
Networks |
Add, update, and manage networks. |
Routers |
Add or update subnets |
Related Article: Creating a Sandbox Network Server for Neutron with VirtualBox |
Project - Object Store Tab |
Function |
Containers |
Containerization is the technique of isolating software processes from the underlying Operating System. The Containers section in the OpenStack dashboard helps users to create and manage containers |
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Project - orchestration Tab |
Functions |
Stacks |
Used to manage multiple cloud applications and instances with the help of Restful APIs |
Once OpenStack is installed and the dashboard is created, users need to create VM instances in the dashboard. Before starting the creation process of VM instance, we need to have the below 2 options available.
Once the above-mentioned prerequisites are met, login to the dashboard and follow the below steps to launch your own VM instance in the OpenStack Dashboard.
By inserting an SSH key pair to a VM instance during its launch, stronger security is ensured to the VM instance. Let us see how to create an SSH key pair inside the OpenStack dashboard, below.
Related Article: OpenStack Dashboard to Launch Instances |
An OpenStack admin can provide a permanent network to end-users or grant them permission to create, connect, or delete networks. Such networks are known as Tenant Networks.
Quick steps to create a tenant network in the OpenStack Dashboard
Related Article: OpenStack Object Storage |
It is necessary to attach a floating IP to your VM instance to facilitate accessing private and public cloud networks. Floating IPs can be associated any time with the VM Instance right from the time of its creation. Typically, there will be a number of floating IPs available for users to pick and attach to their VMs. The Association of floating IPs to the VM instances facilitates connecting to these instances even from external networks. Let us see how to associate a floating IP with your VM instance at the time of the creation of the instance.
Follow the below steps to add floating IP to your VM instance from the “Access & Security” section.
You can also allocate a floating IP to an instance from the “Access & Security” tab following the below steps.
Conclusion
With the higher demand for open source tools and cloud computing in the current era, OpenStack holds a strong position in the global IT industry. The Horizon is a massive interface with a wide array of resources. The above article is written taking the Newton version of OpenStack into consideration and the key features of the OpenStack dashboard are covered in this content.
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Ravindra Savaram is a Technical Lead at Mindmajix.com. His passion lies in writing articles on the most popular IT platforms including Machine learning, DevOps, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, RPA, Deep Learning, and so on. You can stay up to date on all these technologies by following him on LinkedIn and Twitter.