Install and configure the Bare Metal service

This section describes how to install and configure the Bare Metal service, code-named ironic, manually from packages on one of the three popular families of Linux distributions.

Alternatively, you can use one of the numerous projects that install ironic. One of them is provided by the bare metal team:

• Bifrost installs ironic in the standalone mode (without the rest of OpenStack).

More installation projects are developed by other OpenStack teams:

• Kolla can install ironic in containers as part of OpenStack.

• OpenStack-Ansible has a role to install ironic.

• TripleO uses ironic for provisioning bare metal nodes and can also be used to install ironic.

Install and configure prerequisites

The Bare Metal service is a collection of components that provides support to manage and provision physical machines. You can configure these components to run on separate nodes or the same node. In this guide, the components run on one node, typically the Compute Service’s compute node.

It assumes that the Identity, Image, Compute, and Networking services have already been set up.

Set up the database for Bare Metal

The Bare Metal service stores information in a database. This guide uses the MySQL database that is used by other OpenStack services.

In MySQL, create an ironic database that is accessible by the ironic user. Replace IRONIC_DBPASSWORD with a suitable password:

# mysql -u root -p
mysql> CREATE DATABASE ironic CHARACTER SET utf8mb3;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON ironic.* TO 'ironic'@'localhost' \
       IDENTIFIED BY 'IRONIC_DBPASSWORD';
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON ironic.* TO 'ironic'@'%' \
       IDENTIFIED BY 'IRONIC_DBPASSWORD';

Note

When creating the database to house Ironic, specifically on MySQL/MariaDB, the character set cannot be 4 byte Unicode characters. This is due to an internal structural constraint. UTF8, in these database platforms, has traditionally meant utf8mb3, short for “UTF-8, 3 byte encoding”, however the platforms are expected to move to utf8mb4 which is incompatible with Ironic.

Running on SQLite

It is possible to run the Bare Metal service with SQLite as the database backend. However, take into account the following limitations:

• You have to run Ironic in the all-in-one mode (see configuring single-process ironic). You cannot have multiple conductors this way.

• You should use WAL mode for the database. Ironic will try to enable it for you, but it can only be done for a fresh database.

• Even in the WAL mode, SQLite has limited write concurrency. If you experience “database is locked” errors, try reducing the frequency of periodic tasks. If that still does not help, you may need to use a server-based database.

• Not all database migrations are supported on SQLite. You may need to re-create the database on upgrades.

To use SQLite, configure your connection like this:

[database]
connection = sqlite:////full/path/to/ironic.sqlite

Note

This is not a typo! A full path requires 4 slashes.

If in doubt, use MySQL/MariaDB instead.

Install and configure components

Using DNF on RHEL/CentOS Stream and RDO packages:

# dnf install openstack-ironic-api openstack-ironic-conductor python3-ironicclient

On Ubuntu/Debian:

# apt-get install ironic-api ironic-conductor python3-ironicclient

On openSUSE/SLES:

# zypper install openstack-ironic-api openstack-ironic-conductor python3-ironicclient

Warning

Support for SUSE systems is best effort, it is not tested in the CI.

The Bare Metal service is configured via its configuration file. This file is typically located at /etc/ironic/ironic.conf.

Although some configuration options are mentioned here, it is recommended that you review all the Sample Configuration File so that the Bare Metal service is configured for your needs.

It is possible to set up an ironic-api and an ironic-conductor services on the same host or different hosts. Users also can add new ironic-conductor hosts to deal with an increasing number of bare metal nodes. But the additional ironic-conductor services should be at the same version as that of existing ironic-conductor services.

Configuring ironic-api service

1. The Bare Metal service stores information in a database. This guide uses the MySQL database that is used by other OpenStack services.

   Configure the location of the database via the connection option. In the following, replace IRONIC_DBPASSWORD with the password of your ironic user, and replace DB_IP with the IP address where the DB server is located:

   [database]
   
   # The SQLAlchemy connection string used to connect to the
   # database (string value)
   connection=mysql+pymysql://ironic:IRONIC_DBPASSWORD@DB_IP/ironic?charset=utf8
   

2. Configure the ironic-api service to use the RabbitMQ message broker by setting the following option. Replace RPC_* with appropriate address details and credentials of RabbitMQ server:

   [DEFAULT]
   
   # A URL representing the messaging driver to use and its full
   # configuration. (string value)
   transport_url = rabbit://RPC_USER:RPC_PASSWORD@RPC_HOST:RPC_PORT/
   

   Alternatively, you can use JSON RPC for interactions between ironic-conductor and ironic-api. Enable it in the configuration and provide the keystone credentials to use for authentication:

   [DEFAULT]
   
   rpc_transport = json-rpc
   
   [json_rpc]
   
   # Authentication type to load (string value)
   auth_type = password
   
   # Authentication URL (string value)
   auth_url=https://IDENTITY_IP:5000/
   
   # Username (string value)
   username=ironic
   
   # User's password (string value)
   password=IRONIC_PASSWORD
   
   # Project name to scope to (string value)
   project_name=service
   
   # Domain ID containing project (string value)
   project_domain_id=default
   
   # User's domain id (string value)
   user_domain_id=default
   

   If you use port other than the default 8089 for JSON RPC, you have to configure it, for example:

   [json_rpc]
   port = 9999
   

3. Configure the ironic-api service to use these credentials with the Identity service. Replace PUBLIC_IDENTITY_IP with the public IP of the Identity server, PRIVATE_IDENTITY_IP with the private IP of the Identity server, replace IRONIC_PASSWORD with the password you chose for the ironic user in the Identity service and replace MEMCACHED_SERVER with the hostname of the memcached server:

   [DEFAULT]
   
   # Authentication strategy used by ironic-api: one of
   # "keystone" or "noauth". "noauth" should not be used in a
   # production environment because all authentication will be
   # disabled. (string value)
   auth_strategy=keystone
   
   [keystone_authtoken]
   
   # Authentication type to load (string value)
   auth_type=password
   
   # Complete public Identity API endpoint (string value)
   www_authenticate_uri=http://PUBLIC_IDENTITY_IP:5000
   
   # Complete admin Identity API endpoint. (string value)
   auth_url=http://PRIVATE_IDENTITY_IP:5000
   
   # Service username. (string value)
   username=ironic
   
   # Service account password. (string value)
   password=IRONIC_PASSWORD
   
   # Service tenant name. (string value)
   project_name=service
   
   # Domain name containing project (string value)
   project_domain_name=Default
   
   # User's domain name (string value)
   user_domain_name=Default
   
   # memcached setting (string value)
   memcached_servers=MEMCACHED_SERVER:11211
   

4. Create the Bare Metal service database tables:

   $ ironic-dbsync --config-file /etc/ironic/ironic.conf create_schema
   

5. Restart the ironic-api service:

   RHEL/CentOS/SUSE:

   sudo systemctl restart openstack-ironic-api
   

   Ubuntu/Debian:

   sudo service ironic-api restart
   

Configuring ironic-api behind mod_wsgi

Bare Metal service comes with an example file for configuring the ironic-api service to run behind Apache with mod_wsgi.

Note

This is optional, the ironic APIs can be run using independent scripts that provide HTTP servers. But it is generally considered more performant and flexible to run them using a generic HTTP server that supports WSGI (such as Apache or nginx).

1. Install the apache service:

   Fedora/RHEL8/CentOS8:

   sudo dnf install httpd
   

   Debian/Ubuntu:

   apt-get install apache2
   

   SUSE:

   zypper install apache2
   

2. Download the etc/apache2/ironic file from the Ironic project tree and copy it to the apache sites:

   Fedora/RHEL8/CentOS8:

   sudo cp etc/apache2/ironic /etc/httpd/conf.d/ironic.conf
   

   Debian/Ubuntu:

   sudo cp etc/apache2/ironic /etc/apache2/sites-available/ironic.conf
   

   SUSE:

   sudo cp etc/apache2/ironic /etc/apache2/vhosts.d/ironic.conf
   

3. Edit the recently copied <apache-configuration-dir>/ironic.conf:

   1. Modify the WSGIDaemonProcess, APACHE_RUN_USER and APACHE_RUN_GROUP directives to set the user and group values to an appropriate user on your server.

   2. Modify the WSGIScriptAlias directive to point to the automatically generated ironic-api-wsgi script that is located in IRONIC_BIN directory.

   3. Modify the Directory directive to set the path to the Ironic API code.

   4. Modify the ErrorLog and CustomLog to redirect the logs to the right directory (on Red Hat systems this is usually under /var/log/httpd).

4. Stop and disable the ironic-api service. If ironic-api service is started, the port will be occupied. Apache will fail to start:

   Fedora/RHEL8/CentOS8/SUSE:

   sudo systemctl stop openstack-ironic-api
   sudo systemctl disable openstack-ironic-api
   

   Debian/Ubuntu:

   sudo service ironic-api stop
   sudo service ironic-api disable
   

5. Enable the apache ironic in site and reload:

   Fedora/RHEL8/CentOS8:

   sudo systemctl reload httpd
   

   Debian/Ubuntu:

   sudo a2ensite ironic
   sudo service apache2 reload
   

   SUSE:

   sudo systemctl reload apache2
   

Note

The file ironic-api-wsgi is automatically generated by pbr and is available in IRONIC_BIN directory. It should not be modified.

Configure another WSGI container

A slightly different approach has to be used for WSGI containers that cannot use ironic-api-wsgi. For example, for gunicorn:

gunicorn -b 0.0.0.0:6385 'ironic.api.wsgi:initialize_wsgi_app(argv=[])'

If you want to pass a configuration file, use:

gunicorn -b 0.0.0.0:6385 \
    'ironic.api.wsgi:initialize_wsgi_app(argv=["ironic-api", "--config-file=/path/to/_ironic.conf"])'

Configuring ironic-conductor service

1. Replace HOST_IP with IP of the conductor host.

   [DEFAULT]
   
   # IP address of this host. If unset, will determine the IP
   # programmatically. If unable to do so, will use "127.0.0.1".
   # (string value)
   my_ip=HOST_IP
   

   Note

   If a conductor host has multiple IPs, my_ip should be set to the IP which is on the same network as the bare metal nodes.

2. Configure the location of the database. Ironic-conductor should use the same configuration as ironic-api. Replace IRONIC_DBPASSWORD with the password of your ironic user, and replace DB_IP with the IP address where the DB server is located:

   [database]
   
   # The SQLAlchemy connection string to use to connect to the
   # database. (string value)
   connection=mysql+pymysql://ironic:IRONIC_DBPASSWORD@DB_IP/ironic?charset=utf8
   

3. Configure the ironic-conductor service to use the RabbitMQ message broker by setting the following option. Ironic-conductor should use the same configuration as ironic-api. Replace RPC_* with appropriate address details and credentials of RabbitMQ server:

   [DEFAULT]
   
   # A URL representing the messaging driver to use and its full
   # configuration. (string value)
   transport_url = rabbit://RPC_USER:RPC_PASSWORD@RPC_HOST:RPC_PORT/
   

   Alternatively, you can use JSON RPC for interactions between ironic-conductor and ironic-api. Enable it in the configuration and provide the keystone credentials to use for authenticating incoming requests (can be the same as for the API):

   [DEFAULT]
   
   rpc_transport = json-rpc
   
   [keystone_authtoken]
   
   # Authentication type to load (string value)
   auth_type=password
   
   # Complete public Identity API endpoint (string value)
   www_authenticate_uri=http://PUBLIC_IDENTITY_IP:5000
   
   # Complete admin Identity API endpoint. (string value)
   auth_url=http://PRIVATE_IDENTITY_IP:5000
   
   # Service username. (string value)
   username=ironic
   
   # Service account password. (string value)
   password=IRONIC_PASSWORD
   
   # Service tenant name. (string value)
   project_name=service
   
   # Domain name containing project (string value)
   project_domain_name=Default
   
   # User's domain name (string value)
   user_domain_name=Default
   

   You can optionally change the host and the port the JSON RPC service will bind to, for example:

   [json_rpc]
   host_ip = 192.168.0.10
   port = 9999
   

   Warning

   Hostnames of ironic-conductor machines must be resolvable by ironic-api services when JSON RPC is used.

4. Configure credentials for accessing other OpenStack services.

   In order to communicate with other OpenStack services, the Bare Metal service needs to use service users to authenticate to the OpenStack Identity service when making requests to other services. These users’ credentials have to be configured in each configuration file section related to the corresponding service:

   • [neutron] - to access the OpenStack Networking service

   • [glance] - to access the OpenStack Image service

   • [swift] - to access the OpenStack Object Storage service

   • [cinder] - to access the OpenStack Block Storage service

   • [inspector] - to access the OpenStack Bare Metal Introspection service

   • [service_catalog] - a special section holding credentials the Bare Metal service will use to discover its own API URL endpoint as registered in the OpenStack Identity service catalog.

   For simplicity, you can use the same service user for all services. For backward compatibility, this should be the same user configured in the [keystone_authtoken] section for the ironic-api service (see “Configuring ironic-api service”). However, this is not necessary, and you can create and configure separate service users for each service.

   Under the hood, Bare Metal service uses keystoneauth library together with Authentication plugin, Session and Adapter concepts provided by it to instantiate service clients. Please refer to Keystoneauth documentation for supported plugins, their available options as well as Session- and Adapter-related options for authentication, connection and endpoint discovery respectively.

   In the example below, authentication information for user to access the OpenStack Networking service is configured to use:

   • Networking service is deployed in the Identity service region named RegionTwo, with only its public endpoint interface registered in the service catalog.

   • HTTPS connection with specific CA SSL certificate when making requests

   • the same service user as configured for ironic-api service

   • dynamic password authentication plugin that will discover appropriate version of Identity service API based on other provided options

     • replace IDENTITY_IP with the IP of the Identity server, and replace IRONIC_PASSWORD with the password you chose for the ironic user in the Identity service

   [neutron]
   
   # Authentication type to load (string value)
   auth_type = password
   
   # Authentication URL (string value)
   auth_url=https://IDENTITY_IP:5000/
   
   # Username (string value)
   username=ironic
   
   # User's password (string value)
   password=IRONIC_PASSWORD
   
   # Project name to scope to (string value)
   project_name=service
   
   # Domain ID containing project (string value)
   project_domain_id=default
   
   # User's domain id (string value)
   user_domain_id=default
   
   # PEM encoded Certificate Authority to use when verifying
   # HTTPs connections. (string value)
   cafile=/opt/stack/data/ca-bundle.pem
   
   # The default region_name for endpoint URL discovery. (string
   # value)
   region_name = RegionTwo
   
   # List of interfaces, in order of preference, for endpoint
   # URL. (list value)
   valid_interfaces=public
   

   By default, in order to communicate with another service, the Bare Metal service will attempt to discover an appropriate endpoint for that service via the Identity service’s service catalog. The relevant configuration options from that service group in the Bare Metal service configuration file are used for this purpose. If you want to use a different endpoint for a particular service, specify this via the endpoint_override configuration option of that service group, in the Bare Metal service’s configuration file. Taking the previous Networking service example, this would be

   [neutron]
   ...
   endpoint_override = <NEUTRON_API_ADDRESS>
   

   (Replace <NEUTRON_API_ADDRESS> with actual address of a specific Networking service endpoint.)

5. Configure enabled drivers and hardware types as described in Enabling drivers and hardware types.

   1. If you enabled any driver that uses Direct deploy, Swift backend for the Image service must be installed and configured, see Configure the Image service for temporary URLs. Ceph Object Gateway (RADOS Gateway) is also supported as the Image service’s backend, see Ceph Object Gateway support.

6. Configure the network for ironic-conductor service to perform node cleaning, see Node cleaning from the admin guide.

7. Restart the ironic-conductor service:

   RHEL/CentOS/SUSE:

   sudo systemctl restart openstack-ironic-conductor
   

   Ubuntu/Debian:

   sudo service ironic-conductor restart
   

Configuring single-process ironic

As an alternative to starting separate API and conductor instances, you can start ironic services that combine an API and a conductor in the same process. This may be particularly beneficial in environments with limited resources and low number of nodes to handle.

Note

This feature is available starting with the Yoga release series.

1. Start with setting up the environment as described in both Configuring ironic-api service and Configuring ironic-conductor service, but do not start any services. Merge configuration options into a single configuration file.

   Note

   Any RPC settings will only take effect if you have more than one combined service started or if you have additional conductors.

   If you don’t plan to have more than one conductor, you can disable the RPC completely:

   [DEFAULT]
   rpc_transport = none
   

2. Stop existing services if they are already started:

   RHEL/CentOS/SUSE:

   sudo systemctl stop openstack-ironic-api
   sudo systemctl stop openstack-ironic-conductor
   

   Ubuntu/Debian:

   sudo service ironic-api stop
   sudo service ironic-conductor stop
   

3. Start or restart the ironic service:

   RHEL/CentOS/SUSE:

   sudo systemctl restart openstack-ironic
   

   Ubuntu/Debian:

   sudo service ironic restart