Getting started with the OpenStack API

Knowledge Base

KB0051238

Getting started with the OpenStack API


Icons/System/eye-open Created with Sketch. 673 Views 13.10.2022 Configuration

Objective

In order to automate your operations on the Public Cloud, it is possible to use OpenStack APIs to generate different scripts.

The Nova client was previously used to manage your instances and their disks. It is now deprecated and the commands have been merged into the Python OpenStack client.

For example, you can start creating an additional instance when your monitoring tools detect a peak load in order to avoid saturation on your infrastructure. It is also possible to schedule snapshot creation on a regular basis at the same time.

This guide will help you take the OpenStack APIs into your hands to manage your instances using the Python OpenStack client.

Requirements

Please refer to the following guides:

Instructions

You can obtain the list of possible commands by reading the embedded documentation:

admin@server-1:~$ openstack command list

You can filter the commands displayed by indicating the group.

admin@server-1:~$ openstack command list --group compute

It is also possible to get information about a command by adding "help" in front of it:

admin@server-1:~$ 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 ...

You can obtain the Python Client documentation from the OpenStack Website.

Basic Operations

Adding an SSH Public Key

As a first step, it is necessary to add a Public SSH key to connect to the instances.

  • List commands associated with SSH keys
admin@server-1:~$ 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 a Public SSH key
admin@server-1:~$ openstack keypair create --public-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub SSHKEY
  • List available SSH Keys:
admin@server-1:~$ openstack keypair list
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------+------+
| Name          | Fingerprint                                     | Type |
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------+------+
| SSHKEY        | 5c:fd:9d:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:3a | ssh  |
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------+------+

Listing the instance models

Next, you will need to obtain the ID of the model that you would like to use:

admin@server-1:~$ openstack flavor list
+--------------------------------------+-----------------+--------+------+-----------+-------+-----------+
| ID                                   | Name            |    RAM | Disk | Ephemeral | VCPUs | Is Public |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------+--------+------+-----------+-------+-----------+
| 0062dad0-f93c-4d7d-bde7-6add4ad6baaa | win-b2-15-flex  |  15000 |   50 |         0 |     4 | True      |
| 022f8ac5-b6a7-4365-9db8-c69775d67a2d | t2-180          | 180000 |   50 |         0 |    60 | True      |
| 07124b62-dd6d-4bf2-80d7-d9ea3c923cf3 | i1-180          | 180000 |   50 |         0 |    32 | True      |
| 0cb50da2-cd4d-4a14-8a22-bbc59d94c814 | c2-120-flex     | 120000 |   50 |         0 |    32 | True      |
| 0d338e52-cfba-4e32-914e-c2ea19d2a9df | d2-4            |   4000 |   50 |         0 |     2 | True      |
| 0dbcff05-2da0-40a6-87dc-96a1e98d9ffc | b2-30           |  30000 |  200 |         0 |     8 | True      |
| 11530c24-bc02-48c3-b272-802791795176 | i1-45           |  45000 |   50 |         0 |     8 | True      |
| 11fc4ed3-5198-4043-b093-063787a144e1 | c2-7            |   7000 |   50 |         0 |     2 | True      |
| 13d9146d-f519-4f8b-b87c-245d76bd21b0 | b2-120-flex     | 120000 |   50 |         0 |    32 | True      |
| ...                                  | ...             | ...    | ..   | ...       |       | ...       |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------+--------+------+-----------+-------+-----------+

Listing available images

Finally, you need to obtain the ID of the image you want to use on the instance:

admin@server-1:~$ openstack image list 
+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+--------+
| ID                                   | Name                                          | Status |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+--------+
| 8990fbbb-bd7e-4c57-8b19-a162e12c5195 | AlmaLinux 8                                   | active |
| f1d2e56e-faec-4fd4-8493-dcf4c4201b40 | AlmaLinux 8 - UEFI                            | active |
| a243240a-ca1f-4a53-a3bd-30c4f96b241f | AlmaLinux 8 - cPanel                          | active |
| 1be04371-252f-48be-81fb-1cb89ea55778 | AlmaLinux 9                                   | active |
| df89529f-8b4f-4534-9ddc-0092e30bcc97 | AlmaLinux 9 - UEFI                            | active |
| 81c5ebbc-04fd-40f8-83aa-9b2bae8769f2 | Centos 7                                      | active |
| b753f820-37cd-437a-b301-3423caf27637 | Centos 7 - Analytics - Ambari pre-warmed      | active |
| 81ddd059-41b0-493e-a1e2-a278139b7bbb | Centos 7 - Analytics - Base image             | active |
| ...                                  | ...                                           | ...    |
+--------------------------------------+-----------------------------------------------+--------+

Creating an instance

With the information that has been previously obtained, it is now possible to create an instance:

admin@server-1:~$ openstack server create --key-name SSHKEY --flavor d2-2 --image "Ubuntu 22.04" InstanceTest
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Field                       | Value                                               |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| OS-DCF:diskConfig           | MANUAL                                              |
| OS-EXT-AZ:availability_zone |                                                     |
| OS-EXT-STS:power_state      | NOSTATE                                             |
| 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                  |                                                     |
| accessIPv6                  |                                                     |
| addresses                   |                                                     |
| adminPass                   | xxxxxxxxxxxx                                        |
| config_drive                |                                                     |
| created                     | 2022-10-13T19:05:54Z                                |
| flavor                      | d2-2 (14c5fa3f-fdad-45c4-9cd1-14dd99c341ee)         |
| hostId                      |                                                     |
| id                          | xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx                |
| image                       | Ubuntu 22.04 (0ea24976-fb6c-46ef-acb5-0cb88b0493aa) |
| key_name                    | SSHKEY                                              |
| name                        | InstanceTest                                        |
| progress                    | 0                                                   |
| project_id                  | xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                    |
| properties                  |                                                     |
| security_groups             | name='default'                                      |
| status                      | BUILD                                               |
| updated                     | 2022-10-13T19:05:55Z                                |
| user_id                     | xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                    |
| volumes_attached            |                                                     |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+

After a few moments, you can verify the list of instances to find the newly created instance:

admin@server-1:~$ openstack server list                                                                 
+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------+-------------------------------------+--------------+--------+
| ID                                   | Name         | Status | Networks                            | Image        | Flavor |
+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------+-------------------------------------+--------------+--------+
| xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx | InstanceTest | ACTIVE | Ext-Net=xxxx:xxxx::xxxx, 51.xx.xx.x | Ubuntu 22.04 | d2-2   |
+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------+-------------------------------------+--------------+--------+

Deleting an instance

You can delete an instance with the following command:

admin@server-1:~$ openstack server delete InstanceTest

Go further

Join our community of users.

Related articles