OPCP - How to Deploy an Instance via OpenStack APIs

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KB0073601

OPCP - How to Deploy an Instance via OpenStack APIs


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Objective

This guide details the steps to install an OPCP node by creating an instance through the OpenStack APIs. Before deploying services on your OPCP clusters, you must have at least one installed and active node.

Requirements

Instructions

You can obtain a list of available OpenStack commands using the following command:

openstack command list

You can filter the displayed commands by specifying a group:

openstack command list --group compute

You can also get information about a specific command by adding help before it:

openstack help flavor list 

usage: openstack flavor list [-h] [-f {csv,json,table,value,yaml}] [-c COLUMN]
                             [--quote {all,minimal,none,nonnumeric}] [--noindent]
                             [--max-width <integer>] [--fit-width] [--print-empty]
                             [--sort-column SORT_COLUMN]
                             [--sort-ascending | --sort-descending] [--public | --private | --all]
                             [--min-disk <min-disk>] [--min-ram <min-ram>] [--long]
                             [--marker <flavor-id>] [--limit <num-flavors>]

List flavors ...

Check the OpenStack client documentation directly on the OpenStack website.

Retrieve the Parameters Needed to Create an Instance

Create a Private Network and a Subnet

Step 1: Create the Private Network

Before deploying your instance, it is generally necessary to create a private network so that it is accessible within your local infrastructure. If you already have a network with a subnet in your project that you want to use, you can skip this creation step and directly list your networks to get the name or ID of the desired network.

openstack network create $NETWORK_NAME
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field                     | Value                                |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| admin_state_up            | UP                                   |
| availability_zone_hints   |                                      |
| availability_zones        |                                      |
| created_at                | 2025-11-05T15:18:06Z                 |
| description               |                                      |
| dns_domain                | None                                 |
| id                        | da5ed9ae-65c2-441b-99f4-75d8eb87c214 |
| ipv4_address_scope        | None                                 |
| ipv6_address_scope        | None                                 |
| is_default                | False                                |
| is_vlan_transparent       | None                                 |
| mtu                       | 1500                                 |
| name                      | opcp-docs                            |
| port_security_enabled     | True                                 |
| project_id                | 057ac6e82ade49078a5c66f4371eaf22     |
| provider:network_type     | vlan                                 |
| provider:physical_network | physnet1                             |
| provider:segmentation_id  | 2140                                 |
| qos_policy_id             | None                                 |
| revision_number           | 1                                    |
| router:external           | Internal                             |
| segments                  | None                                 |
| shared                    | False                                |
| status                    | ACTIVE                               |
| subnets                   |                                      |
| tags                      |                                      |
| updated_at                | 2025-11-05T15:18:06Z                 |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------+

By default, a network is visible only to the project that created it (as well as to administrator users). If you want to create a network shared across all your projects, you can use the --share parameter. To share a network only with specific projects, you must use OpenStack's Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) mechanism: Neutron RBAC Documentation.

Additionally, if you want to create the network in a specific VLAN, you can specify it with the following parameters:

  • --provider-network-type vlan
  • --provider-physical-network physnet1
  • --provider-segment $VLAN_ID

For example, if you want to create a shared private network in VLAN 2025 named opcpdocs:

openstack network create --share --provider-network-type vlan --provider-physical-network physnet1 --provider-segment 2025 opcpdocs
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field                     | Value                                |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| admin_state_up            | UP                                   |
| availability_zone_hints   |                                      |
| availability_zones        |                                      |
| created_at                | 2025-11-05T15:34:30Z                 |
| description               |                                      |
| dns_domain                | None                                 |
| id                        | 2a92f464-e1c0-4daa-8ecd-b3ba6b3b96da |
| ipv4_address_scope        | None                                 |
| ipv6_address_scope        | None                                 |
| is_default                | False                                |
| is_vlan_transparent       | None                                 |
| mtu                       | 1500                                 |
| name                      | opcpdocs                             |
| port_security_enabled     | True                                 |
| project_id                | 07f0c728fe844d778cda63ca28547937     |
| provider:network_type     | vlan                                 |
| provider:physical_network | physnet1                             |
| provider:segmentation_id  | 2025                                 |
| qos_policy_id             | None                                 |
| revision_number           | 1                                    |
| router:external           | Internal                             |
| segments                  | None                                 |
| shared                    | True                                 |
| status                    | ACTIVE                               |
| subnets                   |                                      |
| tags                      |                                      |
| updated_at                | 2025-11-05T15:34:30Z                 |
+---------------------------+--------------------------------------+

Once the network is created, you can list it using the command:

openstack network list --name $NETWORK_NAME
+--------------------------------------+-----------+---------+
| ID                                   | Name      | Subnets |
+--------------------------------------+-----------+---------+
| 2a92f464-e1c0-4daa-8ecd-b3ba6b3b96da | opcp-docs |         |
+--------------------------------------+-----------+---------+

If needed, you can list all networks by removing the --name argument.

Step 2: Create the Subnet

By default, the only required information to create a subnet on your network is the CIDR you want to configure and the network you just created:

openstack subnet create --network $NETWORK_NAME --subnet-range 192.168.120.0/24 $SUBNET_NAME

However, if you want to specify an allocation pool, you can define it using various parameters.
For example, to create a subnet with CIDR 192.168.120.0/24, allocating only 50 IP addresses from the CIDR, and using a specific gateway, you can use the following command:

openstack subnet create --network opcpdocs --subnet-range 192.168.120.0/24 --allocation-pool start=192.168.120.11,end=192.168.120.60 --gateway 192.168.120.8 opcpdocs-subnet
+----------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field                | Value                                |
+----------------------+--------------------------------------+
| allocation_pools     | 192.168.120.11-192.168.120.60        |
| cidr                 | 192.168.120.0/24                     |
| created_at           | 2025-11-05T16:17:58Z                 |
| description          |                                      |
| dns_nameservers      |                                      |
| dns_publish_fixed_ip | None                                 |
| enable_dhcp          | True                                 |
| gateway_ip           | 192.168.120.8                        |
| host_routes          |                                      |
| id                   | b532e25f-3aae-4396-99e9-ad6811a03a6e |
| ip_version           | 4                                    |
| ipv6_address_mode    | None                                 |
| ipv6_ra_mode         | None                                 |
| name                 | opcpdocs-subnet                      |
| network_id           | 2a92f464-e1c0-4daa-8ecd-b3ba6b3b96da |
| project_id           | 07f0c728fe844d778cda63ca28547937     |
| revision_number      | 0                                    |
| segment_id           | None                                 |
| service_types        |                                      |
| subnetpool_id        | None                                 |
| tags                 |                                      |
| updated_at           | 2025-11-05T16:17:58Z                 |
+----------------------+--------------------------------------+

This subnet can be used to deploy an instance, allowing OpenStack to assign an IP address to it during installation.

Adding a Public SSH Key

First, you need to add a public SSH key to connect to your instances.

  • List the SSH key-related commands:
openstack help | grep keypair
  keypair create  Create new public or private key for server ssh access
  keypair delete  Delete public or private key(s)
  keypair list    List key fingerprints
  keypair show    Display key details
  • Add the public SSH key:
openstack keypair create --public-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub $SSHKEY
  • List available SSH keys:
openstack keypair list
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------+------+
| Name          | Fingerprint                                     | Type |
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------+------+
| SSHKEY        | 5c:fd:9d:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:3a | ssh  |
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------+------+

List Instance Flavors

Next, retrieve the ID or name of the flavor you want to use:

openstack flavor list
+--------------------------------------+---------------------+---------+------+-----------+-------+-----------+
| ID                                   | Name                |     RAM | Disk | Ephemeral | VCPUs | Is Public |
+--------------------------------------+---------------------+---------+------+-----------+-------+-----------+
| 4e731d33-4c1e-4286-bc63-68c2cba3bc59 | gpu                 |     400 |  900 |         0 |   128 | True      |
| 8bc6b1e0-dfdd-44d8-83fb-cef5e8fb6ec2 | scale-2             |     256 | 4000 |         0 |    32 | True      |
| f975e49a-fd75-4a7e-868e-2842972e82e2 | hsm                 |     512 | 4000 |         0 |   128 | True      |
| fcd2c556-9a16-4532-a5c8-e9d9275ba78f | scale-1             |     128 | 2000 |         0 |    24 | True      |
| ff5b4d7d-46c9-4bf5-b300-f1f465661e64 | scale-3             |     256 | 4000 |         0 |    48 | True      |
+--------------------------------------+---------------------+---------+------+-----------+-------+-----------+

List Available Images

Finally, get the ID or name of the image to use for the instance:

openstack image list
+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+--------+
| ID                                   | Name                                          | Status |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+--------+
| 6540686f-0150-496b-a894-03d95ef8bc7e | ironic-agent.initramfs                        | active |
| 5f6d4237-023b-4a25-8ceb-7051ffc6d632 | ironic-agent.kernel                           | active |
| 7600f9fc-fc1f-4fb8-aaa3-878bb9399d26 | CentOS 9 OPCP                                 | active |
| ebabdaaa-a52d-4246-9790-e77ba5c49519 | Debian 12 LVM OPCP                            | active |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+--------+

Instance Installation

With the previously gathered information, you can create an instance to deploy an operating system along with your SSH public key on the desired flavor:

openstack server create --key-name OPCPdocs2 --flavor scale-1 --image "Debian 12 LVM OPCP" --network opcpdocs OPCPdocs-server
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Field                               | Value                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| OS-DCF:diskConfig                   | MANUAL                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| OS-EXT-AZ:availability_zone         | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:host                | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:hostname            | opcpdocs-server                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:hypervisor_hostname | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:instance_name       | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:kernel_id           | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:launch_index        | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:ramdisk_id          | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:reservation_id      | r-900xkw3k                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:root_device_name    | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:user_data           | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-EXT-STS:power_state              | N/A                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| OS-EXT-STS:task_state               | scheduling                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| OS-EXT-STS:vm_state                 | building                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
| OS-SRV-USG:launched_at              | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| OS-SRV-USG:terminated_at            | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| accessIPv4                          | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| accessIPv6                          | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| addresses                           | N/A                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| adminPass                           | VbRFzvGnk9rP                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| config_drive                        | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| created                             | 2025-11-05T16:41:32Z                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| description                         | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| flavor                              | description=, disk='2000', ephemeral='0', extra_specs.:architecture='bare_metal', extra_specs.resources:CUSTOM_DISCOVERED='1', extra_specs.resources:DISK_GB='0', extra_specs.resources:MEMORY_MB='0', extra_specs.resources:VCPU='0',         |
|                                     | extra_specs.trait:CUSTOM_SCALE1='required', id='scale-1', is_disabled=, is_public='True', location=, name='scale-1', original_name='scale-1', ram='128', rxtx_factor=, swap='0', vcpus='24'                                                    |
| hostId                              | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| host_status                         | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| id                                  | 2f9c2e41-b4dc-4787-a3ef-9b2b2d686dbb                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| image                               | Debian 12 LVM OPCP (ebabdaaa-a52d-4246-9790-e77ba5c49519)                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| key_name                            | OPCPdocs2                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| locked                              | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| locked_reason                       | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| name                                | OPCPdocs-server                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| pinned_availability_zone            | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| progress                            | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| project_id                          | 07f0c728fe844d778cda63ca28547937                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| properties                          | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| security_groups                     | name='default'                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
| server_groups                       | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| status                              | BUILD                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| tags                                |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| trusted_image_certificates          | None                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| updated                             | 2025-11-05T16:41:32Z                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
| user_id                             | b1481b3f72e8aecda9a623b215085227f9d85170f4fc4524b3a4ab1a0b97dfde                                                                                                                                                                               |
| volumes_attached                    |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

By default, the instance to be installed is automatically selected from the pool of nodes in Available status, for which the required traits of the flavor match the requested installation. This means a physical server meeting the constraints described by the traits will be selected.

After a few minutes, the instance is deployed, and you can list your installed instances using the following command:

openstack server list
+--------------------------------------+-----------------+--------+-------------------------+---------------------+---------+
| ID                                   | Name            | Status | Networks                | Image               | Flavor  |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------+--------+-------------------------+---------------------+---------+
| 2f9c2e41-b4dc-4787-a3ef-9b2b2d686dbb | OPCPdocs-server | ACTIVE | opcpdocs=192.168.120.59 | Debian 12 LVM OPCP  | scale-1 |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------+--------+-------------------------+---------------------+---------+

If you want to install the instance on a specific node, you can specify the node ID in your command:

openstack server create --flavor $flavor_ID --image $image_ID --network $network_ID --key-name $your_keyname --availability-zone nova::$baremetal_node_ID $server_name

You must ensure that the node is Available and has the required traits to deploy the desired flavor.

To check the current state of a node and retrieve its ID, you can consult our documentation: OPCP Node Lifecycle.

Deleting an Instance

You can delete an instance with the following command:

openstack server delete $INSTANCE_ID

Your node will go into Cleaning state. This step involves a hardware reset of the physical server and erasure of the data on its disks. During this step, the instance will no longer appear in the instance list; however, the node will not be immediately available for a new installation. Please consider this delay during your maintenance operations. The operation may take several minutes before the node is Available again and ready for a new deployment.

References

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