Setting up a Virtual Machine via Command Line Interface

Setting up the OpenStack Client

We can install the OpenStack client using Python. Let's install the Miniconda package manager which includes Python.

python --version

Python 3.9.1

Now, we can install the client using pip.

pip install python-openstackclient

Check your installation by calling OpenStack with version flag.

openstack --version

openstack 5.5.0

Download RC file using the Web User Interface. Then, activate the script.

source <project-name>-openrc.sh

The prompt will ask your CSC username and password.

Configuring SSH Keys

Create a new for your SSH key.

KEY_NAME="openstack-mydevice"

Create .ssh directory to your home directory with read and write privileges for the user.

mkdir -p ~/.ssh
chmod 700 ~/.ssh

We can list files and directories on our home directory and select .ssh directory using the command ls -la ~ | grep ssh. Output should be similar to the text below.

drwx------.  2 <user> <group> 4096 Aug 18 08:17 .ssh

Now, we can create the key pair with OpenStack client and store it into the .ssh directory.

openstack keypair create $KEY_NAME > ~/.ssh/$KEY_NAME.pem

We should also protect the SSH key with a password.

ssh-keygen -p -f ~/.ssh/$KEY_NAME.pem

Finally, change the key to read-only.

chmod 400 ~/.ssh/$KEY_NAME.pem

We can verify the privileges of the key using the command ls -la ~/.ssh | grep $KEY_NAME.pem. Output should be similar to the text below.

-r--------.  1 <user> <group> 1676 Aug 17 08:51 $KEY_NAME.pem

Creating a Virtual Machine

To select which virtual machine we want to use, we can list the available images in YAML format as below. We use YAML format because it is easy to read and concise.

openstack image list -f yaml

Similarly, we can list the available flavors.

openstack flavor list -f yaml

Next, we should define a name for our virtual machine.

SERVER_NAME="genie"

Now, we will choose to create a virtual machine with Ubuntu 20.04 image, with standard tiny flavor using the previously defined name and SSH key.

openstack server create $SERVER_NAME \
    --image="Ubuntu-20.04" \
    --flavor="standard.tiny" \
    --key-name=$KEY_NAME

We can list all of our virtual machines as below.

openstack server list -f yaml

Configuring Security Groups

Creating SSH Group

We will name the SSH group SSH.

SSH_GROUP="SSH"

Now, we can create a new security group with the name.

openstack security group create $SSH_GROUP

For security reasons we want that only our IP address can connect to the virtual machine with SSH. We can retrieve our IP address and bind it to a variable from the command line as follows.

REMOTE_IP=`curl https://ifconfig.me`

Finally, we can add a new rule to the SSH security group, which allows only SSH connections from our IP address to the virtual machine.

openstack security group rule create $SSH_GROUP \
    --proto="tcp" \
    --remote-ip="$REMOTE_IP/32" \
    --dst-port="22"

Creating HTTP Group

We will name the HTTP group as HTTP.

HTTP_GROUP="HTTP"

Now, we can create the HTTP group.

openstack security group create $HTTP_GROUP

Finally, we will add a rule that allows traffic from all IPs to the port 80, the default for HTTP traffic.

openstack security group rule create $HTTP_GROUP \
    --proto="tcp" \
    --remote-ip="0.0.0.0/0" \
    --dst-port="80"

Creating HTTPS Group

We will name the HTTPS group as HTTPS.

HTTPS_GROUP="HTTPS"

Now, we can create the HTTPS group.

openstack security group create $HTTPS_GROUP

Finally, we will add a rule that allows traffic from all IPs to the port 443, the default for HTTPS traffic.

openstack security group rule create $HTTPS_GROUP \
    --proto="tcp" \
    --remote-ip="0.0.0.0/0" \
    --dst-port="443"

Adding Groups to Virtual Machine

Finally, we can add the security groups to our virtual machine.

openstack server add security group $SERVER_NAME $SSH_GROUP
openstack server add security group $SERVER_NAME $HTTP_GROUP
openstack server add security group $SERVER_NAME $HTTPS_GROUP

Configuring a Floating IP

We can create a floating IP as below.

openstack floating ip create public -f yaml

The YAML formatted output will look similar to the text below.

created_at: '2021-08-18T08:22:13Z'
# ...
floating_ip_address: 128.214.252.233
floating_network_id: 26f9344a-2e81-4ef5-a018-7d20cff891ee
id: 826e990f-220f-4c2c-b41a-c5205b314267
name: 128.214.252.233
# ...

Alternatively, we can list all of our floating IPs.

openstack floating ip list -f yaml

Output will look similar to the text below.

- Fixed IP Address: null
  Floating IP Address: 128.214.252.233
  Floating Network: 26f9344a-2e81-4ef5-a018-7d20cff891ee
  ID: 826e990f-220f-4c2c-b41a-c5205b314267
  Port: null
  Project: 418d555e93d04a1688f305ee19d41e56

Now, we can choose the created floating IP, by copying the value from the floating_ip_address or Floating IP Address field.

FLOATING_IP="128.214.252.233"

Finally, let's associate the floating IP with our virtual machine.

openstack server add floating ip $SERVER_NAME $FLOATING_IP

Configuring Persistent Storage

We can create a persistent storage for our virtual machine. Let's start by naming it.

VOLUME_NAME="genie-volume"

Now, we will create a persistent storage with size of 1 GB.

openstack volume create $VOLUME_NAME \
    --description="genie volume" \
    --size=1

Finally, we can attach the storage to our virtual machine.

openstack server add volume $SERVER_NAME $VOLUME_NAME