IBM Cloud Orchestrator, Version 2.5

Checking OpenStack prerequisites

Ensure that your OpenStack environment meets the software prerequisites for your IBM® Cloud Orchestrator installation. You can either install IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack that is part of the IBM Cloud Orchestrator product or you can install an OpenStack distribution of another vendor (Bring your own OpenStack). Note that you can connect IBM Cloud Orchestrator only to a single OpenStack instance (one-to-one mapping).

Prerequisites for IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack

For IBM Cloud Orchestrator, ensure that your IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack installation meets the following requirements:

IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack V4.3 Fix Pack 2 (OpenStack Kilo release).
Ensure that IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack V4.3 Fix Pack 2 is installed (OpenStack Kilo release). For information about IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack prerequisites, see the IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack documentation.
Shared Keystone service.
The IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack installation uses a single Keystone service. In a multi-region installation, the Keystone service must run on the OpenStack Controller of the first region that is installed. OpenStack's Identity Federation is not supported by IBM Cloud Orchestrator.
Fresh installation.
The IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack installation is a fresh installation. No users, projects, or domains are defined other than those that are created during the basic OpenStack installation.
Use the OpenStack capabilities through the IBM Cloud Orchestrator interface.
A parallel usage of the IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack installation through IBM Cloud Orchestrator and standard OpenStack is not supported. If an IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack installation is configured to be used by IBM Cloud Orchestrator, all user activities must be done through the IBM Cloud Orchestrator interface, and not through the OpenStack interfaces. The OpenStack Self-Service interface must only be used as described in the IBM Cloud Orchestrator documentation.
One OpenStack region per hypervisor type.
Each region must have only one hypervisor type. IBM Cloud Orchestrator does not support using multiple types of hypervisor within a region.
Customized simple token setup.
The IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack distribution provides the simple token enhancement that is required and used by IBM Cloud Orchestrator. For more information about how to set up the simple token, see Customizing passwords and secrets and Data bags in the IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack documentation.
Do not install the self-service user interface extension of IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack.
The self-service user interface extension of IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack does not work with IBM Cloud Orchestrator and it must not be installed. If it is installed, see Uninstalling the self-service user interface on Linux to uninstall it.

IBM Cloud Orchestrator supports the following hypervisors in an IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack environment:

Hyper-V
KVM
PowerVC
VMware
z/VM®

For information about hypervisor requirements in an IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack environment, see IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack virtualization environment prerequisites .

Note: To support VMware hypervisors in an IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack environment, set the following options in the VMware Nova configuration file in the /etc/nova directory on the VMware OpenStack Controller (the default name of the file is nova-vcenter-Cluster.conf):

force_config_drive=always
customization_enabled = false

the sections where to insert them is for force_config_drive:

[DEFAULT]

while for customization_enabled is:

[vmware]

then restart the compute service. The file name is customized from the cluster name that is specified instead of reporting the default value.

Note: If you want to deploy Windows images, use the latest version of the cloudbase-init tool while creating the Windows image to support the OpenStack updates related to the network interface management of Windows images.

Note: If you install fix packs for IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack or you do other maintenance work that updates the topology through knife, the configuration that is done for IBM Cloud Orchestrator might be overwritten. In this case, rerun the configuration scripts.

Note: If you add a new region to IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack after it was configured for IBM Cloud Orchestrator, the new region is not correctly set up to work with IBM Cloud Orchestrator . Run the configuration scripts also for the new region.

Prerequisites for an OpenStack environment of a different vendor

For general OpenStack requirements, see the documentation for your chosen OpenStack product.

For IBM Cloud Orchestrator, ensure that your OpenStack installation (Bring your own OpenStack) meets the following requirements:

OpenStack Kilo release.
OpenStack Kilo release is installed. Refer to the documentation of your OpenStack product.
Shared Keystone service.
The OpenStack installation uses a single Keystone service. Federation is not supported. For more information, see your OpenStack documentation.
Fresh installation.
The OpenStack installation is a fresh installation. No users, projects, or domains are defined other than those that are created during the basic OpenStack installation.
Use OpenStack capabilities through the IBM Cloud Orchestrator interface.
A parallel usage of the OpenStack installation through IBM Cloud Orchestrator and standard OpenStack is not supported. If an OpenStack installation is configured to be used by IBM Cloud Orchestrator, all user activities must be done through the IBM Cloud Orchestrator interface, and not through the OpenStack interfaces. The OpenStack interfaces must only be used as described in the IBM Cloud Orchestrator documentation.
Install IBM Cloud Orchestrator extensions for OpenStack.
You must install Horizon extensions, as described in Installing the IBM Cloud Orchestrator extensions for Horizon.
Configure V3 API endpoints for Keystone.
You must reconfigure Keystone, as described in Configuring V3 API endpoints for Keystone.
Adding roles, users, and projects to Keystone.
You must create IBM Cloud Orchestrator specific roles, projects, and users, as described in Adding roles, users, and projects to Keystone.
Enable the Cinder V1 API.
The Cinder V1 API must be enabled and V1 endpoints must be defined, as described in Enabling the Cinder V1 API.
Multiple regions with a shared Keystone service.
Multiple regions are allowed, but they must use one shared Keystone. Each region must have only one hypervisor type. IBM Cloud Orchestrator does not support using multiple types of hypervisor within a region.
Install the Simple Token security provider.
Extensions to Keystone must be installed. IBM Cloud Orchestrator needs a simple token security provider to be installed on Keystone.

In certain situations vendor-specific OpenStack distribution extensions might not work with IBM Cloud Orchestrator. A vendor-specific distribution must comply the IBM Cloud Orchestrator’s prerequisites. In addition, the OpenStack distribution must be reconfigured and enhanced to the needs of IBM Cloud Orchestrator. Otherwise, the OpenStack distribution of this vendor is not supported by IBM Cloud Orchestrator.

Note: IBM Cloud Orchestrator is tested with the OpenStack community standard configurations. If your OpenStack distribution uses different configurations, for example, in the security profiles of the OpenStack services, IBM Cloud Orchestrator might not work. Refer to your OpenStack distribution documentation about these changes that are compared to standard community.

Note: During the installation, Keystone and other services must be specifically configured to support IBM Cloud Orchestrator. Refer to your OpenStack distribution documentation if this configuration interferes with the process used by your distribution to deliver fixes and updates. If the fixes overwrite or undo configuration changes that are done for IBM Cloud Orchestrator, redo these changes for IBM Cloud Orchestrator again before you start working with IBM Cloud Orchestrator after applying the OpenStack fixes.

Note: The reconfiguration for IBM Cloud Orchestrator might also interfere if you plan to add new regions to your OpenStack installation. Refer to your OpenStack documentation if the installation process of your OpenStack distribution can tolerate the configuration that is done for IBM Cloud Orchestrator.

Depending on the database backend, OpenStack might be case-sensitive.