OpenStack Administration with Ansible 2 - Second Edition

Walter Bentley

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781787120136
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Informatik
• Subtopic: Cloud Computing

Orchestrate and automate your OpenStack cloud operator tasks with Ansible 2.0About This Book• Automate real-world OpenStack cloud operator administrative tasks• Construct a collection of the latest automation code to save time on managing your OpenStack cloud• Manage containers on your cloud and check the health of your cloud using NagiosWho This Book Is ForThis book is aimed at OpenStack-based cloud operators and infrastructure and sys administrators who have some knowledge of OpenStack and are seeking to automate taxing and manual tasks. This book is also for people new to automating cloud operations in general and the DevOps practice in particular.What You Will Learn• Efficiently execute OpenStack administrative tasks• Familiarize yourself with how Ansible 2 works and assess the defined best practices• Create Ansible 2 playbooks and roles• Automate tasks to customize your OpenStack cloud• Review OpenStack automation considerations when automating administrative tasks• Examine and automate advanced OpenStack tasks and designated use cases• Get a high-level overview of OpenStack and current production-ready projects• Explore OpenStack CLI tools and learn how to use themIn DetailMost organizations are seeking methods to improve business agility because they have realized just having a cloud is not enough. Being able to improve application deployments, reduce infrastructure downtime, and eliminate daily manual tasks can only be accomplished through some sort of automation.We start with a brief overview of OpenStack and Ansible 2 and highlight some best practices. Each chapter will provide an introduction to handling various Cloud Operator administration tasks such as managing containers within your cloud; setting up/utilizing open source packages for monitoring; creating multiple users/tenants; taking instance snapshots; and customizing your cloud to run multiple active regions. Each chapter will also supply a step-by-step tutorial on how to automate these tasks with Ansible 2.Packed with real-world OpenStack administrative tasks, this book will walk you through working examples and explain how these tasks can be automated using one of the most popular open source automation tools on the market today.Style and approachThis book is a concise, fast-paced guide filled with real-world scenarios that will execute OpenStack administrative tasks efficiently. It serves as a quick reference guide for not just OpenStack functions, but also for creating future Ansible code.

OpenStack Administration with Ansible 2 Second Edition

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OpenStack Administration with Ansible 2 Second Edition

Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing

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First published: January 2016

Second edition: December 2016

Production reference: 1221216

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78712-163-8

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Credits

Author Walter Bentley	Copy Editor Dipti Mankame
Reviewer Travis Truman	Project Coordinator Judie Jose
Commissioning Editor Pratik Shah	Proofreader Safis Editing
Acquisition Editor Rahul Nair	Indexer Francy Puthiry
Content Development Editor Abhishek Jadhav	Graphics Kirk D'Penha
Technical Editor Mohd Riyan Khan	Production Coordinator Deepika Naik

About the Author

Walter Bentley is a Rackspace Private Cloud Technical Marketing Engineer and author with a diverse background in production systems administration and solutions architecture. He has more than 15 years of experience in sectors such as online marketing, financial, insurance, aviation, the food industry, education, and now in technology. In the past, he was typically the requestor, consumer, and advisor to companies in the use of technologies such as OpenStack. Today, he’s an OpenStack promoter and cloud educator. In his current role, Walter helps customers build, design, and deploy private clouds built on OpenStack. That includes professional services engagements around operating OpenStack clouds and DevOps engagements creating playbooks/roles with Ansible. He presents and speaks regularly at OpenStack Summits, AnsibleFest, and other technology conferences, plus webinars, blog posts and technical reviews. His first book, OpenStack Administration with Ansible, was released in 2016.

I would like to thank my wife and best friend Tasha for allowing me to take on this life changing opportunity for the second time around. Without her understanding and support I do not think it could have all happened. She is truly my life’s motivation. Also, wish to thank my wonderful daughters, London and Rio, for bringing so much joy to our lives. Thank you to my mother and father for cultivating the technical spirit within me from a very early age (that Commodore 64 was definitely my springboard…LOL).

I would also like to thank my coworker and fellow architect Kevin Jackson for providing me with the courage to take on this project. I also wish to give deep thanks and gratitude to all of my mentors over the years I have had the privilege to work for and with. Those individuals include David Bartlett, Tyrone Paige, Steve Contrabasso, and Mike Childress. Their multitude of great advice has allowed me to be where I am today.

About the Reviewer

Travis Truman has 20+ years of experience in the technology industry. His previous roles include software engineering, software product architecture, SaaS platform architecture, and VP of Engineering in several Philadelphia-area startups. Travis is a regular contributor to open source software and has contributed code to OpenStack, Ansible, GopherCloud, Terraform, Packer, Consul, and many other projects powering modern cloud computing. Travis currently works as a Cloud Architect focused on OpenStack, AWS, and Azure for a Fortune 50 media and technology company based in Philadelphia.

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Preface

As OpenStack has begun to be considered more of a mainstream cloud platform, the challenge of operating it after it is built has become prevalent. While all cloud tasks can be executed via the API or CLI tool on a one-by-one basis, this would not be the best way to handle larger cloud deployments. The need for more of an automated approach to administering OpenStack is now clear. Most organizations are seeking methods to improve business agility and have realized just having a cloud is not enough. Being able to improve application deployments, reduce infrastructure downtime, and eliminate daily manual tasks can only be accomplished through some sort of automation. OpenStack and Ansible will help any organization close that gap. With the many Infrastructure-as-a-Service capabilities OpenStack has to offer coupled with Ansible, an ease of use configuration management tool, assures a more complete cloud implementation.

Whether you are new to OpenStack or a seasoned cloud administrator, this book will aid you in managing your OpenStack cloud once it is all set up. Packed with real-world OpenStack administrative tasks, we will first step through those working examples natively and then transition to walking through instructions on how to automate these tasks using one of the most popular open source automation tools, Ansible.

Ansible has become a market leader in the Open Source orchestration and automation space. With it too being built using Python, similar to OpenStack, it makes for an easy marriage. The ability to leverage existing and/or new OpenStack modules will allow you to quickly move along your playbook creation.

We will start with a brief overview of OpenStack and Ansible, highlighting some best practices. Next, the beginning of each following chapter will allow you to become more familiar with handling Cloud Operator administration tasks such as creating multiple users/tenants, managing containers, customizing your clouds quotas, taking instance snapshots, setting up active-active regions, running cloud health checks, and more. Finally, each chapter will conclude with a step-by-step tutorial on how to automate those tasks with Ansible. As an added bonus, the fully functional Ansible code will be published on GitHub for your reference while reviewing the chapter and/or for later review.

Consider this book to be a 2-for-1 learning experience, a deep OpenStack-based cloud administrative knowledge and familiarity with how Ansible works. As the reader, you will be encouraged to put hands to the keyboard and give the tasks a try.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introduction to OpenStack, provides the high-level overview of OpenStack and the projects that make up this cloud platform. Th...