How to Install Your Own Cloud Platform with

OpenStack in RHEL/CentOS 7
OpenStack is a free and open-source software platform which provides IAAS (infrastructure-as-
a-service) for public and private clouds.

OpenStack platform consists of several inter-related projects that control hardware, storage,
networking resources of a datacenter, such as: Compute, Image Service, Block Storage, Identity
Service, Networking, Object Storage, Telemetry, Orchestration and Database.

The administration of those components can be managed through the web-based interface or with
the help of OpenStack command line.

Install OpenStack in CentOS 7 and RHEL 7

This tutorial will guide you on how you can deploy your own private cloud infrastructure with
OpenStack installed on a single node in CentOS 7 or RHEL 7 or Fedora distributions by using
rdo repositories, although the deployment can be achieved on multiple nodes.

Requirements

1. Minimal Installation of CentOS 7

Step 1: Initial System Configurations

1. Before you begin preparing the node in order to deploy your own virtual cloud infrastructure,
first login with root account and assure that the system is up to date.

2. Next, issue the ss -tulpn command to list all running services.

List All Running Linux Services

3. Next, identify, stop, disable and remove unneeded services, mainly postfix, NetworkManager and
firewalld. At the end the only daemon that would be running on your machine should be sshd.

# systemctl stop postfix firewalld NetworkManager

4. Completely disable Selinux policy on the machine by issuing the below commands. Also edit
/etc/selinux/config file and set SELINUX line from enforcing to disabled as illustrated on the
below screenshot.

# setenforce 0
# getenforce
# vi /etc/selinux/config

Disable SELinux

5. On the next step using the hostnamectl command to set your Linux system hostname. Replace
the FQDN variable accordingly.
# hostnamectl set-hostname cloud.centos.lan

Set Linux System Hostname

6. Finally, install ntpdate command in order to synchronize time with a NTP server on your
premises near your physical proximity.

# yum install ntpdate

Step 2: Install OpenStack in CentOS and RHEL

7. OpenStack will be deployed on your Node with the help of PackStack package provided by rdo
repository (RPM Distribution of OpenStack).

In order to enable rdo repositories on RHEL 7 run the below command.

# yum install https://www.rdoproject.org/repos/rdo-release.rpm

On CentOS 7, the Extras repository includes the RPM that actives the OpenStack repository.
Extras is already enabled, so you can easily install the RPM to setup the OpenStack repository:

# yum install -y centos-release-openstack-mitaka

8. Now it’s time to install PackStack package. Packstack represents a utility which facilitates the
deployment on multiple nodes for different components of OpenStack via SSH connections and
Puppet modules.

Install Packstat package in Linux with the following command:

# yum install openstack-packstack

9. On the next step generate an answer file for Packstack with the default configurations which will
be later edited with the required parameters in order to deploy a standalone installation of
Openstack (single node).

The file will be named after the current day timestamp when generated (day, month and year).

# packstack --gen-answer-file='date +"%d.%m.%y"'.conf

10. Now edit the generated answer configuration file with a text editor.

# vi 13.04.16.conf

and replace the following parameters to match the below values. In order to be safe replace the
passwords fields accordingly.

CONFIG_NTP_SERVERS=0.ro.pool.ntp.org

Please consult http://www.pool.ntp.org/en/ server list in order to use a public NTP server near your
physical location.

Add NTP Server in Packstack

CONFIG_PROVISION_DEMO=n

Add Provision in Packstack

CONFIG_KEYSTONE_ADMIN_PW=your_password for Admin user

Add Admin Account in Packstack

Access OpenStack dashboard via HTTP with SSL enabled.

CONFIG_HORIZON_SSL=y

Enable HTTPS for OpenStack

The root password for MySQL server.

CONFIG_MARIADB_PW=mypassword1234

Set MySQL Root Password in OpenStack

Setup a password for nagiosadmin user in order to access Nagios web panel.
CONFIG_NAGIOS_PW=nagios1234

Set Nagios Admin Password

11. After you finished editing save and close the file. Also, open SSH server configuration file and
uncomment PermitRootLogin line by removing the front hashtag as illustrated on the below
screenshot.

# vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Enable SSH Root Login

Then restart SSH service to reflect changes.

# systemctl restart sshd

Step 3: Start Openstack Installation Using Packstack Answer File

12. Finally start Openstack installation process via the answer file edited above by running the
below command syntax:

# packstack --answer-file 13.04.16.conf

13. Once the installation of OpenStack components is successfully completed, the installer will
display a few lines with the local dashboard links for OpenStack and Nagios and the required
credentials already configured above in order to login on both panels.
OpenStack Installation Completed

The credentials are also stored under your home directory in keystonerc_admin file.

14. If for some reasons the installation process ends with an error regarding httpd service, open
/etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf file and make sure you comment the following line as illustrated below.

#Listen 443 https

Then restart Apache daemon to apply changes.

# systemctl restart httpd.service

Note: In case you still can’t browse Openstack web panel on port 443 restart the installation process
from beginning with the same command issued for the initial deployment.

# packstack --answer-file /root/13.04.16.conf

Step 4: Remotely Access OpenStack Dashboard

15. In order to access OpenStack web panel from a remote host in your LAN navigate to your
machine IP Address or FQDN/dashboard via HTTPS protocol.

Due to the fact that you’re using a Self-Signed Certificate issued by an untrusted Certificate
Authority an error should be displayed on your browser.

Accept the error and login to the dashboard with the user admin and the password set on
CONFIG_KEYSTONE_ADMIN_PW parameter from answer file set above.

https://192.168.1.40/dashboard
OpenStack Login Dashboard
Openstack Projects

16. Alternatively, if you opted to install Nagios component for OpenStack, you can browse Nagios
web panel at the following URI and login with the credentials setup in answer file.

https://192.168.1.40/nagios
Nagios Login Dashboard
Nagios Linux Monitoring Interface

That’s all! Now you can start setup your own internal cloud environment. Now follow the next
tutorial that will explain how to link the server physical NIC to openstack bridge interface and
manage Openstack from web panel.