Configuring LVM iSCSI Cinder driver

By default, cloud topologies for IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack are configured so that the controller node runs the block storage service (cinder-volumes) by using the LVM iSCSI Cinder driver. You can customize how the LVM group is created.

About this task

The LVM iSCSI Cinder driver is supported in the following environments:
Table 1. Summary of support details
Support options Details
Supported hypervisor types and architectures? KVM or QEMU on x86_64, and PowerKVM
Support for post-deployment customization? Yes
Supported topologies? All, except HA controller +n compute
Storage (Cinder) node? Controller or block storage node
Operating system and architecture on storage node? Red Hat Enterprise Linux® 7.1, 7.2, or 7.3 on x86_64 or ppc64

Complete the following steps to configure IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack to use the LVM iSCSI Cinder driver.

Procedure

  1. Add the following attributes as needed to your environment or node attribute file.
    Note: Attributes are added to one of the following depending on your topology:
    • Minimal topology (based on the example-ibm-os-allinone environment). Add the attributes to the override_attributes section of your environment file.
    • Controller +n compute topology (based on the example-ibm-os-single-controller-n-compute environment). Add attributes that are shared by all nodes to the default_attributes section of your environment file. Those attributes that are specific to individual nodes are added to the node attributes file.
    • openstack.block-storage.volume.driver: The default value is cinder.volume.drivers.lvm.LVMISCSIDriver
    • openstack.block-storage.volume.create_volume_group: The default value is set to false. To have IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack create the volume group during deployment, set this value to true.
    • openstack.block-storage.volume.volume_group_name: Set this value to the name of the LVM volume group to be used. The default name is cinder-volumes.
    • openstack.block-storage.volume.iscsi_ip_address: Change from 127.0.0.1 to the IP address of the block storage node; this is the controller or a block storage node.
  2. Determine how the LVM volume group will be created.
    IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack can create the volume group automatically during the deployment process, or you can create the volume group manually before deploying the block storage nodes.

    You can create a Linux Volume Manager (LVM) volume group that spans one or more physical block devices (entire disks or partitions). You can add block devices to the volume group later to increase capacity.

    Use the following topics to customize how the LVM volume group is created.

  3. When complete, return to the relevant topology deployment or update process and complete the remaining steps.