Getting Started With HP Cloud#

HP Cloud is a major public cloud platform and uses the libcloud openstack driver. The current version of OpenStack that HP Cloud uses is Havana. When an instance is booted, it must have a floating IP added to it in order to connect to it and further below you will see an example that adds context to this statement.

Set up a cloud provider configuration file#

To use the openstack driver for HP Cloud, set up the cloud provider configuration file as in the example shown below:

/etc/salt/cloud.providers.d/hpcloud.conf:

hpcloud-config:
  # Set the location of the salt-master
  #
  minion:
    master: saltmaster.example.com

  # Configure HP Cloud using the OpenStack plugin
  #
  identity_url: https://region-b.geo-1.identity.hpcloudsvc.com:35357/v2.0/tokens
  compute_name: Compute
  protocol: ipv4

  # Set the compute region:
  #
  compute_region: region-b.geo-1

  # Configure HP Cloud authentication credentials
  #
  user: myname
  tenant: myname-project1
  password: xxxxxxxxx

  # keys to allow connection to the instance launched
  #
  ssh_key_name: yourkey
  ssh_key_file: /path/to/key/yourkey.priv

  driver: openstack

The subsequent example that follows is using the openstack driver.

Note

Changed in version 2015.8.0.

The provider parameter in cloud provider definitions was renamed to driver. This change was made to avoid confusion with the provider parameter that is used in cloud profile definitions. Cloud provider definitions now use driver to refer to the Salt cloud module that provides the underlying functionality to connect to a cloud host, while cloud profiles continue to use provider to refer to provider configurations that you define.

Compute Region#

Originally, HP Cloud, in its OpenStack Essex version (1.0), had 3 availability zones in one region, US West (region-a.geo-1), which each behaved each as a region.

This has since changed, and the current OpenStack Havana version of HP Cloud (1.1) now has simplified this and now has two regions to choose from:

region-a.geo-1 -> US West
region-b.geo-1 -> US East

Authentication#

The user is the same user as is used to log into the HP Cloud management UI. The tenant can be found in the upper left under "Project/Region/Scope". It is often named the same as user albeit with a -project1 appended. The password is of course what you created your account with. The management UI also has other information such as being able to select US East or US West.

Set up a cloud profile config file#

The profile shown below is a know working profile for an Ubuntu instance. The profile configuration file is stored in the following location:

/etc/salt/cloud.profiles.d/hp_ae1_ubuntu.conf:

hp_ae1_ubuntu:
    provider: hp_ae1
    image: 9302692b-b787-4b52-a3a6-daebb79cb498
    ignore_cidr: 10.0.0.1/24
    networks:
      - floating: Ext-Net
    size: standard.small
    ssh_key_file: /root/keys/test.key
    ssh_key_name: test
    ssh_username: ubuntu

Some important things about the example above:

  • The image parameter can use either the image name or image ID which you can obtain by running in the example below (this case US East):

# salt-cloud --list-images hp_ae1

  • The parameter ignore_cidr specifies a range of addresses to ignore when trying to connect to the instance. In this case, it's the range of IP addresses used for an private IP of the instance.

  • The parameter networks is very important to include. In previous versions of Salt Cloud, this is what made it possible for salt-cloud to be able to attach a floating IP to the instance in order to connect to the instance and set up the minion. The current version of salt-cloud doesn't require it, though having it is of no harm either. Newer versions of salt-cloud will use this, and without it, will attempt to find a list of floating IP addresses to use regardless.

  • The ssh_key_file and ssh_key_name are the keys that will make it possible to connect to the instance to set up the minion

  • The ssh_username parameter, in this case, being that the image used will be ubuntu, will make it possible to not only log in but install the minion

Launch an instance#

To instantiate a machine based on this profile (example):

# salt-cloud -p hp_ae1_ubuntu ubuntu_instance_1

After several minutes, this will create an instance named ubuntu_instance_1 running in HP Cloud in the US East region and will set up the minion and then return information about the instance once completed.

Manage the instance#

Once the instance has been created with salt-minion installed, connectivity to it can be verified with Salt:

# salt ubuntu_instance_1 ping

SSH to the instance#

Additionally, the instance can be accessed via SSH using the floating IP assigned to it

# ssh ubuntu@<floating ip>

Using a private IP#

Alternatively, in the cloud profile, using the private IP to log into the instance to set up the minion is another option, particularly if salt-cloud is running within the cloud on an instance that is on the same network with all the other instances (minions)

The example below is a modified version of the previous example. Note the use of ssh_interface:

hp_ae1_ubuntu:
    provider: hp_ae1
    image: 9302692b-b787-4b52-a3a6-daebb79cb498
    size: standard.small
    ssh_key_file: /root/keys/test.key
    ssh_key_name: test
    ssh_username: ubuntu
    ssh_interface: private_ips

With this setup, salt-cloud will use the private IP address to ssh into the instance and set up the salt-minion