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Before getting started, be sure to source your openrc file.
Key Pairs
A key pair is required before launching an instance, as the public key needs to be injected into the instance during the provisioning process. The following command will generate the pair, and output the private key:
Code Block $ openstack keypair create <key_name> >> my_key.pem
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The root storage for an instance is solely for volatile application data such as kernel operations and applications. Rapid Access Cloud users are provided with a default 500GB of storage that can be used in the form of volumes to be attached to instances and treated no differently by the instance than an internal hard drive would be to a bare-metal server. Attaching volumes to instances is handled by the openstack server command detailed under managing instances. For volume backup, see managing snapshots and images.
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Create a volume from a snapshot (see snapshots and images below):
Code Block $ openstack volume create --snapshot <snapshot_id_or_name> <volume_name>
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While it is true that instances in the Rapid Access Cloud are intended to be ephemeral, it is still possible to capture the state of an instance at any moment and save it as an image that can in turn be provisioned in a similar fashion to deploying a new instance using openstack server create as outlined above. This permits the ability to back-up an instance for safe keeping or create a base image with required applications already installed if you want to rapidly deploy many instances with a similar role. Volume snapshots are point-in-time stateful ‘freeze’ of a volume, meaning the volume itself cannot be attached after a snapshot is taken. (see volumes above for creating new volumes from snapshots)
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Note about volume snapshots: Notice the use of the --force switch when taking a snapshot of an attached volume; the snapshot will work and not fail, however if there are open files being actively written to the validity of the data being cloned cannot be guaranteed. |
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OS X tools
Ensure you have the Developer Tools (Xcode) with the Command Line Tools for OS X.
Open the Terminal application.
Install pip (a package management system for software packages written in python):
Code Block $ sudo easy_install pip
Install the openstack command line tool:
Code Block $ pip install --user python-openstackclient
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