Red Hat OpenStack Administration I: Core Operations for Domain Operators

Procedures for managing RHOSP classrooms are different than for production environments. Typically, OpenStack overclouds require resilient, low latency communication between all undercloud and overcloud nodes. Nodes can be taken offline or rebooted for maintenance, with no loss of functionality, due to redundant service configuration. In production, the full environment is rarely, if ever, shut down completely.

The major difference in a classroom environment is that it is built smaller than recommended for production use. This course uses virtual machines either deployed online or on a single physical system. Most training locations, both online and physical, automatically shut down student systems after timed use or after hours. Although automated shutdowns are not graceful, current RHOSP versions are resilient enough that classrooms restart and operate without difficulty.

SectionFigure 0.2: CL110-RHOSP16 classroom network topology shows the classroom environment node and network topology. This course refers to the nodes and network elements from this diagram regularly. It is recommended to copy this diagram for easy reference, by printing it or saving the image or page to your desktop.

This classroom configuration is prebuilt for your course using a default RHOSP Director-based deployment using customized TripleO templates. The templates used for this build are located in the stack user's home directory on director, in the templates subdirectory.

Figure 0.2: CL110-RHOSP16 classroom network topology

Resetting your classroom environment is the procedure to set some or all of your classroom nodes back to their beginning state when the course was first created. Resetting allows you to clean your virtual machines, and start exercises over again. It is also a simple method for clearing a classroom issue which is blocking your progress and is not easily solved.

This RHOSP classroom has some specific constraints when you wish to reset part or all of your environment. In most Red Hat Training courses, individual systems can be reset separately as needed. However, in a course that uses an infrastructure cluster, such as the RHOSP overcloud, cluster nodes cannot be reset unless the whole cluster of nodes is reset together.

You may be instructed to reset a specific, named node, which always means a single virtual machine. However, if you are asked to reset the overcloud, then it is intended that you reset all OpenStack cluster nodes together. The commands for resetting individual nodes are discussed in the upcoming Sectionthe section called “Controlling Your Systems” section.

An OpenStack overcloud cluster consists of multiple nodes of various role types, working together as a single deployment environment. Along with the undercloud node that manages the overcloud, they all have a stateful relationship with each other, such as knowledge of activity status, required access keys, and pending responses. Resetting only a single cluster node could have that node lose necessary information and fail to communicate with other nodes after restarting. Resetting only a single cluster node could result in that node losing necessary information and fail to communicate with other nodes after restarting.

[kiosk@foundation ~]$ rht-vmctl reset undercloud
[kiosk@foundation ~]$ rht-vmctl reset overcloud

[kiosk@foundation ~]$ rht-vmctl reset all

Repositories suitable for RPM package installation are available locally in your environment at http://content.example.com/rhosp16.0/x86_64/dvd/.

Software documentation is available at http://materials.example.com/docs/, which contains subdirectories for files in PDF and single page HTML format.

You are assigned remote computers in a Red Hat Online Learning classroom Self-paced courses are accessed through a web application hosted at If your course is an instructor-led virtual training, you will be provided with your course location URL Log in to this site using your Red Hat Customer Portal user credentials.

Controlling the Virtual Machines

The virtual machines in your classroom environment are controlled through web page interface controls The state of each classroom virtual machine is displayed on the Lab Environment tab.

At the start of an exercise, if instructed to reset a single virtual machine node, click ACTION → Reset for only the specific virtual machine.

At the start of an exercise, if instructed to reset all virtual machines, click ACTION → Reset on every virtual machine in the list.

If you want to return the classroom environment to its original state at the start of the course, then click DELETE to remove the entire classroom environment After the lab has been deleted, click CREATE to provision a new set of classroom systems.

The Auto-stop and Auto-destroy Timers

The Red Hat Online Learning enrollment entitles you to a set allotment of computer time To help conserve your allotted time, the ROLE classroom uses timers, which shut down or delete the classroom when the appropriate timer expires.

To adjust the timers, locate the two + buttons at the bottom of the course management page Click the auto-stop + button to add another hour to the auto-stop timer Click the auto-destroy + button to add another day to the auto-destroy timer There is a maximum for auto-stop at 11 hours, and a maximum auto-destroy at 14 days Be careful to keep the timers set while you are working, so as to not have your environment unexpectedly shut down Be careful not to set the timers unnecessarily high, which could waste your subscription time allotment.