Prepare A Lab For Murano

This section provides basic information about lab’s system requirements. It also contains a description of a test which you may use to check if your hardware fits the requirements. To do this, run the test and compare the results with baseline data provided.

System prerequisites

Supported Operation Systems

  • Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS
  • RHEL/CentOS 6.4

System packages are required for Murano

Ubuntu

  • gcc
  • python-pip
  • python-dev
  • libxml2-dev
  • libxslt-dev
  • libffi-dev
  • libmysqlclient-dev
  • libpq-dev
  • python-openssl
  • mysql-client
  • python-mysqldb

CentOS

  • gcc
  • python-pip
  • python-devel
  • libxml2-devel
  • libxslt-devel
  • libffi-devel
  • postgresql-devel
  • pyOpenSSL
  • mysql
  • MySQL-python

Lab Requirements

Criteria Minimal Recommended
CPU 4 core @ 2.4 GHz 24 core @ 2.67 GHz
RAM 8 GB 24 GB or more
HDD 2 x 500 GB (7200 rpm) 4 x 500 GB (7200 rpm
RAID Software RAID-1 (use mdadm as it will improve read performance almost two times) Hardware RAID-10

Table: Hardware requirements

There are a few possible storage configurations except the shown above. All of them were tested and were working well.

  • 1x SSD 500+ GB

  • 1x HDD (7200 rpm) 500+ GB and 1x SSD 250+ GB (install the system onto

    the HDD and mount the SSD drive to folder where VM images are)

  • 1x HDD (15000 rpm) 500+ GB

Test Your Lab Host Performance

We have measured time required to boot 1 to 5 instances of Windows system simultaneously. You can use this data as the baseline to check if your system is fast enough.

You should use sysprepped images for this test, to simulate VM first boot.

Steps to reproduce test:

  1. Prepare Windows 2012 Standard (with GUI) image in QCOW2 format. Let’s assume that its name is ws-2012-std.qcow2

  2. Ensure that there is NO KVM PROCESSES on the host. To do this, run command:

    ># ps aux | grep kvm
    
  3. Make 5 copies of Windows image file:

    ># for i in $(seq 5); do \
    cp ws-2012-std.qcow2 ws-2012-std-$i.qcow2; done
    
  4. Create script start-vm.sh in the folder with .qcow2 files:

    #!/bin/bash
    [ -z $1 ] || echo "VM count not provided!"; exit 1
    for i in $(seq $1); do
    echo "Starting VM $i ..."
    kvm -m 1024 -drive file=ws-2012-std-$i.qcow2,if=virtio -net user -net nic,model=virtio -nographic -usbdevice tablet -vnc :$i & done
    
  5. Start ONE instance with command below (as root) and measure time between VM’s launch and the moment when Server Manager window appears. To view VM’s desktop, connect with VNC viewer to your host to VNC screen :1 (port 5901):

    ># ./start-vm.sh 1
    
  6. Turn VM off. You may simply kill all KVM processes by

    ># killall kvm
    

7. Start FIVE instances with command below (as root) and measure time interval between ALL VM’s launch and the moment when LAST Server Manager window appears. To view VM’s desktops, connect with VNC viewer to your host to VNC screens :1 thru :5 (ports 5901-5905):

># ./start-vm.sh 5
  1. Turn VMs off. You may simply kill all KVM processes by

    ># killall kvm
    

Baseline Data

The table below provides baseline data which we’ve got in our environment.

Avg. Time refers to the lab with recommended hardware configuration, while Max. Time refers to minimal hardware configuration.

  Boot ONE instance Boot FIVE instances
Avg. Time 3m:40s 8m
Max. Time 5m 20m

Host Optimizations

Default KVM installation could be improved to provide better performance.

The following optimizations may improve host performance up to 30%:

  • change default scheduler from CFQ to Deadline
  • use ksm
  • use vhost-net

Installing and Running the Development Version

The contrib/devstack directory contains the files necessary to integrate Murano with Devstack.

  1. Follow Devstack documentation to setup a host for Devstack. Then clone Devstack source code.

  2. Copy Murano integration scripts to Devstack either by setting environment variable or providing complete path to devstack directory. Below one is using environment variable:

    $ export DEVSTACK_DIR=<complete path to devstack directory(clonned)>
    $ cp lib/murano ${DEVSTACK_DIR}/lib
    $ cp lib/murano-dashboard ${DEVSTACK_DIR}/lib
    $ cp extras.d/70-murano.sh ${DEVSTACK_DIR}/extras.d
    
  3. Create a localrc file as input to devstack.

  4. The Murano, Neutron and Heat services are not enabled by default, so they must be enabled in localrc before running stack.sh. This example localrc file shows all of the settings required for Murano:

    # Enable Neutron
    ENABLED_SERVICES+=,q-svc,q-agt,q-dhcp,q-l3,q-meta,neutron
    
    # Enable Heat
    enable_service heat h-api h-api-cfn h-api-cw h-eng
    
    # Enable Murano
    enable_service murano murano-api murano-engine
    
  5. Deploy your OpenStack Cloud with Murano:

    $ ./stack.sh
    

Installing and Running Manually

Prepare Environment

Install Prerequisites

First you need to install a number of packages with your OS package manager. The list of packages depends on the OS you use.

Ubuntu

$ sudo apt-get install python-pip python-dev \
> libmysqlclient-dev libpq-dev \
> libxml2-dev libxslt1-dev \
> libffi-dev

Fedora

Note

Fedora support wasn’t thoroughly tested. We do not guarantee that Murano will work on Fedora.

$ sudo yum install gcc python-setuptools python-devel python-pip

CentOS

$ sudo yum install gcc python-setuptools python-devel
$ sudo easy_install pip

Install tox

$ sudo pip install tox

Install And Configure Database

Murano can use various database types on backend. For development purposes SQLite is enough in most cases. For production installations you should use MySQL or PostgreSQL databases.

Warning

Although Murano could use PostgreSQL database on backend, it wasn’t thoroughly tested and should be used with caution.

To use MySQL database you should install it and create an empty database first:

$ apt-get install python-mysqldb mysql-server
$ mysql -u root -p
mysql> CREATE DATABASE murano;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON murano.* TO 'murano'@'localhost' \
    IDENTIFIED BY 'MURANO_DBPASS';
mysql> exit;

Install the API service and Engine

  1. Create a folder which will hold all Murano components.

    $ mkdir ~/murano
    
  2. Clone the Murano git repository to the management server.

    $ cd ~/murano
    $ git clone git://git.openstack.org/openstack/murano
    
  3. Set up Murano config file

    Murano has common config file for API and Engine servicies.

    First, generate sample configuration file, using tox

    $ cd ~/murano/murano
    $ tox -e genconfig
    

    And make a copy of it for further modifications

    $ cd ~/murano/murano/etc/murano
    $ ln -s murano.conf.sample murano.conf
    
  4. Edit murano.conf with your favorite editor. Below is an example which contains basic settings your are likely need to configure.

    Note

    The example below uses SQLite database. Edit [database] section if you want to use other database type.

    [DEFAULT]
    debug = true
    verbose = true
    rabbit_host = %RABBITMQ_SERVER_IP%
    rabbit_userid = %RABBITMQ_USER%
    rabbit_password = %RABBITMQ_PASSWORD%
    rabbit_virtual_host = %RABBITMQ_SERVER_VIRTUAL_HOST%
    notification_driver = messagingv2
    
    ...
    
    [database]
    backend = sqlalchemy
    connection = sqlite:///murano.sqlite
    
    ...
    
    [keystone]
    auth_url = 'http://%OPENSTACK_HOST_IP%:5000/v2.0'
    
    ...
    
    [keystone_authtoken]
    auth_uri = 'http://%OPENSTACK_HOST_IP%:5000/v2.0'
    auth_host = '%OPENSTACK_HOST_IP%'
    auth_port = 5000
    auth_protocol = http
    admin_tenant_name = %OPENSTACK_ADMIN_TENANT%
    admin_user = %OPENSTACK_ADMIN_USER%
    admin_password = %OPENSTACK_ADMIN_PASSWORD%
    
    ...
    
    [murano]
    url = http://%YOUR_HOST_IP%:8082
    
    [rabbitmq]
    host = %RABBITMQ_SERVER_IP%
    login = %RABBITMQ_USER%
    password = %RABBITMQ_PASSWORD%
    virtual_host = %RABBITMQ_SERVER_VIRTUAL_HOST%
    
  5. Create a virtual environment and install Murano prerequisites. We will use tox for that. Virtual environment will be created under .tox directory.

    $ cd ~/murano/murano
    $ tox
    
  6. Create database tables for Murano.

    $ cd ~/murano/murano
    $ tox -e venv -- murano-db-manage \
    > --config-file ./etc/murano/murano.conf upgrade
    
  7. Open a new console and launch Murano API. A separate terminal is required because the console will be locked by a running process.

    $ cd ~/murano/murano
    $ tox -e venv -- murano-api \
    > --config-file ./etc/murano/murano.conf
    
  8. Import Core Murano Library.

    $ cd ~/murano/murano
    $ tox -e venv -- murano-manage \
    > --config-file ./etc/murano/murano.conf \
    > import-package ./meta/io.murano
    
  9. Open a new console and launch Murano Engine. A separate terminal is

    required because the console will be locked by a running process.

    $ cd ~/murano/murano
    $ tox -e venv -- murano-engine --config-file ./etc/murano/murano.conf
    

Install Murano Dashboard

Murano API & Engine services provide the core of Murano. However, your need a control plane to use it. This section decribes how to install and run Murano Dashboard.
  1. Clone the repository with Murano Dashboard.

    $ cd ~/murano
    $ git clone git://git.openstack.org/openstack/murano-dashboard
    
  2. Clone horizon repository

    $ git clone git://git.openstack.org/openstack/horizon
    
  3. Create venv and install muranodashboard as editable module.

    $ cd horizon
    $ tox -e venv -- pip install -e ../murano-dashboard
    
  4. Copy muranodashboard plugin file.

    This step enables murano panel in horizon dashboard.

    $ cp ../murano-dashboard/muranodashboard/local/_50_murano.py openstack_dashboard/local/enabled/
    
  5. Prepare local settings.

    To get more information, check out official horizon documentation.

    $ cp openstack_dashboard/local/local_settings.py.example openstack_dashboard/local/local_settings.py
    
  6. Customize local settings according to Openstack installation.

    ...
    ALLOWED_HOSTS = '*'
    
    # Provide OpenStack Lab credentials
    OPENSTACK_HOST = '%OPENSTACK_HOST_IP%'
    
    ...
    
    # Set secret key to prevent it's generation
    SECRET_KEY = 'random_string'
    
    ...
    
    DEBUG_PROPAGATE_EXCEPTIONS = DEBUG
    

    Also, it’s better to change default session backend from browser cookies to database to avoid issues with forms during creating applications:

    ...
    DATABASES = {
        'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.sqlite3',
        'NAME': '/tmp/murano-dashboard.sqlite',
        }
    }
    
    SESSION_ENGINE = 'django.contrib.sessions.backends.db'
    

    If you do not plan to get murano service from keystone application catalog, provide where murano-api service is running:

    ...
    MURANO_API_URL = 'http://localhost:8082'
    
  7. Perform database synchronization.

    Optional step. Needed in case you set up database as a session backend.

    $ tox -e venv -- python manage.py syncdb
    

    You can reply ‘no’ since for development purpose separate user is not needed.

  8. Run Django server at 127.0.0.1:8000 or provide different IP and PORT parameters.

    $ tox -e venv -- python manage.py runserver <IP:PORT>
    

    Development server will be restarted automatically on every code change.

  9. Open dashboard using url http://localhost:8000

Import Murano Applications

Murano provides excellent catalog services, but it also requires applications which to provide. This section describes how to import Murano Applications from Murano App Incubator.

  1. Clone Murano App Incubator repository.

    $ cd ~/murano
    $ git clone git://git.openstack.org/openstack/murano-apps
    
  2. Import every package you need from this repository, using the command below.

    $ cd ~/murano/murano
    $ tox -e venv -- murano-manage \
    > --config-file ./etc/murano/murano.conf \
    > import-package ../murano-app-incubator/%APPLICATION_DIRECTORY_NAME%
    

Network Configuration

Murano may work in various networking environments and is capable to detect the current network configuration and choose the appropriate settings automatically. However, some additional actions are required to support advanced scenarios.

Nova network support

Nova Network is simplest networking solution, which has limited capabilities but is available on any OpenStack deployment without the need to deploy any additional components.

When a new Murano Environment is created, Murano checks if a dedicated networking service (i.e. Neutron) exists in the current OpenStack deployment. It relies on Keystone’s service catalog for that. If such a service is not present, Murano automatically falls back to Nova Network. No further configuration is needed in this case, all the VMs spawned by Murano will be joining the same Network.

Neutron support

If Neutron is installed, Murano enables its advanced networking features that give you ability to not care about configuring networks for your application.

By default it will create an isolated network for each environment and join all VMs needed by your application to that network. To install and configure application in just spawned virtual machine Murano also requires a router connected to the external network.

Automatic Neutron network configuration

To create router automatically, provide the following parameters in config file:

[networking]

external_network = %EXTERNAL_NETWORK_NAME%
router_name = %MURANO_ROUTER_NAME%
create_router = true

To figure out the name of the external network, perform the following command:

$ neutron net-external-list

During the first deploy, required networks and router with specified name will be created and set up.

Manual neutron network configuration

  • Step 1. Create public network
  • First, you need to check for existence of external networks. Login as admin and go to Project -> Network -> Network Topology. And check network type in network details at Admin -> Networks -> Network name page. The same action can be done via CLI by running neutron net-external-list. To create new external network examine OpenStack documentation.
../_images/1.png
  • Step 2. Create local network
  • Go to Project -> Network -> Networks.
  • Click Create Network and fill the form.
../_images/2.png ../_images/3.png
  • Step 3. Create router
  • Go to Project -> Network -> Routers
  • Click “Create Router”
  • In the “Router Name” field, enter the murano-default-router
../_images/4_1.png

If you specify a name other than murano-default-router, it will be necessary to change the following settings in the config file:

[networking]

router_name = %SPECIFIED_NAME%
create_router = false
  • Click on the specified router name
  • In the opened view click “Add interface”
  • Specify the subnet and IP address
../_images/4_2.png

And check the result in Network Topology tab.

../_images/5.png