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OpenStack Host

If you don't already have an OpenStack cloud available, you can use the included metal/ module to deploy a single-node lab. For multi-node labs you will need to modify the included Ansible roles, or follow the Kolla Ansible documentation to manually deploy your own.

Initial Configuration​

Before we begin deployment, we need to configure the variables files globals.yml and main.yml in metal/vars/.

tip

Be sure to set these correctly, otherwise the deployment will not work.

  1. Search for the following values in globals.yml, and make sure they are set correctly.

    metal/vars/globals.yml
    # The desired static IP address of the node.
    kolla_internal_vip_address: "192.168.1.11"

    # The network interface that is connected to your local network.
    network_interface: "eno1"

    # The other network interface.
    # This one should NOT have an IP address, and doesn't need a connection.
    neutron_external_interface: "eno2"

  2. Make sure the highlighted values in main.yml are set correctly.

    metal/vars/main.yml
    ---
    common:
      # Name (path) of the venv, using the root user's home as the base.
      # Ex. A value of 'kolla-venv' will become '/root/kolla-venv'
      venv: kolla-venv

      # Target disk for the root filesystem.
      root_disk: nvme0n1

      # Path to your SSH pubkey file. This will be used to access the node.
      ssh_pubkey_file: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

    network:
      # The hostname to be assigned to the AIO OpenStack node.
      hostname: openstack.homelab.internal

      # A list of two public DNS resolvers to use for the network.
      public_dns_servers: ['1.1.1.1', '1.0.0.1']

      # Desired names (within OpenStack) of your 'public' network and subnet.
      # This network is attached to your LAN.
      public_network_name: public
      public_subnet_name: public

      # CIDR of your LAN subnet.
      public_subnet_cidr: 192.168.1.0/24

      # The IP address of your LAN gateway (your router).
      public_subnet_gateway_ip: 192.168.1.254

      # Range of the floating IP address pool for public OpenStack network.
      # This should be OUTSIDE of the DHCP range of your router, and should
      #  NOT include the IP address of your gateway or your OpenStack node.
      public_subnet_allocation_pool_start: 192.168.1.20
      public_subnet_allocation_pool_end: 192.168.1.100

Installing the host OS​

  1. Run 00-make-kickstart-iso.yml to generate an ISO file in output/.

    ansible-playbook 00-make-kickstart-iso.yml

  2. Write the ISO file to a USB drive (or use PXE boot), and boot from it.

    dd if=<iso-file> of=/dev/<usb-drive> bs=4M conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress

  3. Wait for the automated installer to complete (the system will reboot).

  4. SSH into your new node, and configure an additonal LVM Volume Group named cinder-standard on your disk or RAID array.

    Create Cinder volume group
    # Partition a virtual device / physical disk.
    gdisk /dev/<path-to-vdev>

    # Create a Physical Volume on the partition.
    pvcreate /dev/<path-to-vdev>1

    # Create a Volume Group with the Physical Volume.
    vgcreate cinder-standard /dev/<path-to-vdev>1

Deploying OpenStack​

  1. Run 10-deploy-openstack.yml against your new node.

    ansible-playbook -i <node-ip-address>, 10-deploy-openstack.yml

  2. Copy clouds.yaml to your OpenStack config directory.

    mkdir -p ~/.config/openstack
    cp output/clouds.yaml ~/.config/openstack/clouds.yaml

GitLab Runner​

This optional step will deploy a local GitLab Runner, in a Docker container, directly on the OpenStack host. This can be used to run Terraform CI/CD jobs.

Security Risk

Using a self-hosted runner can potentially be dangerous. If a malicious actor were to open a Merge Request containing exploit code, they could potentially execute that code on your OpenStack host (and within your network). To counter this risk, you should adjust your repository settings so that untrusted users cannot run CI jobs without explicit approval.

Deployment​

  1. Create a new Runner in your GitLab repository settings, with the tag openstack, and set the token environment variable on your local system.

    export GITLAB_RUNNER_TOKEN=<your-gitlab-runner-token>

  2. Go back to the Runners page, find the ID number of the runner, and set the ID environment variable on your local system.

    Tip

    The ID number will be in the format #12345678. Do NOT include the hash sign when setting the variable, only the digits.

    export GITLAB_RUNNER_ID=<your-gitlab-runner-id>

  3. Run 99-gitlab-runner.yml against your OpenStack host.

    ansible-playbook -i <node-ip-address>, 99-gitlab-runner.yml

  4. Refresh the Runners page in GitLab, and make sure your new runner has connected.