Table of Contents

1. Overview

Intended Audience

Document Change History

Additional Resources

Contact Rackspace

2. What's New in Rackspace Private Cloud Software v 2.0

OpenStack Folsom

OpenStack Block Storage

OpenStack Object Storage

Proxy Settings

Monitoring and Reporting

Dashboard Update

Cloud Files Image Storage

MySQL Replication Backup and Recovery

Core Software Support Offering

3. Known Issues

Issues Connecting to a Compute Node in an All-In-One Install

Intermittent collectd Issues

Horizon Dashboard Admin Cookie Issues

Rackspace Logo in Horizon Dashboard

Chapter 1. Overview

Rackspace has developed Rackspace Private Cloud Software, a fast, free, and easy way to download and install a Rackspace Private Cloud powered by OpenStack in any data center. Rackspace Private Cloud Software is suitable for anyone who wants to install a stable, tested, and supportable OpenStack private cloud, and can be used for all scenarios from initial evaluations to production deployments.

Rackspace Private Cloud Software v 2.0 (Alamo) supports the Folsom release of OpenStack.

Intended Audience

This document describes the updates in Rackspace Private Cloud Software v 2.0 and any known issues in the product. You should already be familiar with Rackspace Private Cloud Software and have prior knowledge of OpenStack and cloud computing, basic Linux administration skills, and a side of bacon. :)

Document Change History

This version of the Rackspace Private Cloud Software Release Notes replaces and obsoletes all previous versions. The most recent changes are described in the table below:

Additional Resources

• Rackspace Private Cloud Software Home Page
• Rackspace Private Cloud Knowledge Center
• Rackspace Private Cloud Forums

Contact Rackspace

For more information about sales and support, contact us at opencloudinfo@rackspace.com. For feedback on the product and the documentation, contact us at RPCFeedback@rackspace.com. For the documentation, you can also leave a comment at the Knowledge Center.

Chapter 2. What's New in Rackspace Private Cloud Software v 2.0

Rackspace Private Cloud Software v 2.0 has the following new features and documentation.

• OpenStack Folsom
• OpenStack Block Storage
• OpenStack Object Storage
• Proxy Support
• Monitoring and Reporting
• Dashboard Update
• Cloud Files Image Storage
• MySQL Replication Backup and Recovery
• Core Software Support Offering

OpenStack Folsom

Rackspace Private Cloud Software v 2.0 uses the Folsom code base of OpenStack for Compute (Nova), Image Service (Glance), Dashboard (Horizon), Identity (Keystone), Object Storage (Swift), and Block Storage (Cinder).

OpenStack Networking (Quantum) is not currently supported, and complete Folsom API updates have not been completed at this time.

There is no method for a direct upgrade from a v 1.0 cluster to a v 2.0 cluster; instead, you will have to create a new cluster with the Alamo v 2.0 installer. If you want Rackspace assistance in managing and migrating backup images from a v 1.0 cluster to a v 2.0 cluster, please email us at opencloudinfo@rackspace.com.

If your OpenStack environment was not installed with Rackspace Private Cloud Software but you still want to use Rackspace Private Cloud cookbooks, you must update your environment variables to include a package_component attribute. The attribute should be set to folsom to be compatible with our cookbooks, as in the following example:

  "default_attributes": {
    "mysql": {
      "allow_remote_root": true,
      "root_network_acl": "%"
    },
    "package_component": "folsom",
    "floating": "false"
  },

OpenStack Block Storage

Rackspace has developed a set of OpenStack Block Storage (Cinder) chef recipes, combined into a cookbook, that can be used to configure a Cinder node or group of nodes. For configuration instructions, refer to "Configuring OpenStack Block Storage" in the Rackspace Private Cloud Getting Started Guide.

With the Rackspace Private Cloud Cinder recipes, you can install the services across multiple nodes or all together on a single node. The Rackspace Private Cloud cookbooks provide convenient chef roles to assist in installing services on nodes. The cinder-api, cinder-scheduler, and cinder-volume roles, when applied to a node, will install the respective services by running the relevant recipes. The cinder-all meta-role includes all three cinder roles.

OpenStack Object Storage

Rackspace has developed a set of OpenStack Object Storage (Swift) chef recipes, combined into cookbooks, that can be used to configure a Swift cluster compatible with a cluster created with Rackspace Private Cloud Software.

OpenStack Object Storage integrates well with the compute layer and can be used as a backend for glance, providing an inexpensive, horizontally scalable store for all image and snapshot data. OpenStack Object Storage is NOT a block storage solution. It will not provide volumes that can be mounted by instances, and it will not provide any of the disk space running instances use directly.

For detailed instructions, refer to Rackspace Private Cloud Software Object Storage Installation. Note that only Escalation Software Support is available for Swift cluster installations. Core Software Support will be available for Swift clusters in a future release.

Proxy Settings

Rackspace Private Cloud Software v 2.0 allows you to enter a proxy gateway address during the installation process. When a proxy is enabled, all internet traffic going to and from the cluster will pass through the proxy, including the Rackspace Private Cloud installation files. After you define the type of node that you want to install, you will be prompted to enter the proxy address. If you do not have one, you can press Enter to leave it blank and skip the step.

Proxy settings can only be configured during the installation process. If you need to change the settings, it is recommended that you re-run the ISO.

Monitoring and Reporting

The OpenStack cluster can be monitored via the Graphite monitoring tool. This is automatically enabled in clusters installed with Alamo v 2.0. To access the Graphite dashboard, use the IP address for your controller node and port 8080, as in the following example:

http://172.16.137.10:8080

For general information about Graphite, refer to the Graphite wiki.

Customers can also sign up for Rackspace Core Software Support, a monitoring solution that is fully integrated into the Rackspace ticketing system and will trigger alerts to the Rackspace support team.

Dashboard Update

The Horizon dashboard installed by Alamo has been customized to offer a similar look and feel to that of the Rackspace Public Cloud. The change is to the skin only; no additional functionality has been added.

Users have the option to switch to the standard OpenStack Horizon dashboard if desired. For instructions, refer to "Restoring the Default OpenStack Dashboard" in the Rackspace Private Cloud Getting Started Guide.Cloud Files Image Storage

Rackspace Cloud Files can now be used as an OpenStack Image Storage (Glance) backend. To use Rackspace Cloud Files for image storage, you must have an account. To sign up, visit the Rackspace Cloud Files web site. For configuration instructions, refer to "Configuring OpenStack Image Storage" in the Rackspace Private Cloud Getting Started Guide.

MySQL Replication Backup and Recovery

Rackspace has created technical documentation that guides customers through a MySQL standby node and recovery configuration. This increases application layer resilience and protects customers using OpenStack controllers installed through Rackspace Private Cloud. For instructions, refer to "Advanced Backup and Recovery" in Rackspace Private Cloud Backup and Recovery.

Core Software Support Offering

In addition to the existing Rackspace Escalation Software Support offering, Rackspace has a new support offering for your OpenStack installation, called Core Software Support. Core Software Support is similar to the existing Rackspace Core Public Cloud offering; with Core Software Support, Rackspace will manage your OpenStack installation, patches, upgrades, and troubleshooting. You will manage build and manage your guest virtual machines.

More information about support offerings is available at http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/private/support/.

If you are interested in signing up for Core Support, email us at opencloudinfo@rackspace.com.

Chapter 3. Known Issues

The following issues have been identified in Rackspace Private Cloud Software v 2.0.

Issues Connecting to a Compute Node in an All-In-One Install

When a cluster includes an all-in-one node and an additional compute node, the all-in-one node may not be able to connect to the compute node. When adding a compute node to an all-in-one install, follow these steps to work around this issue:

1. Log into the all-in-one node and switch to root access with sudo -i.
2. Run chef-client on the node.
3. Proceed with the compute node installation as normal.

If the all-in-one node still cannot connect to the compute node, contact Rackspace Support for assistance.

Intermittent collectd Issues

Users may experience collectd failures with monitoring processes or after performing a failover to a standby node. In the event of a failure, kill any active collectd process and run chef-client on the node again.

Horizon Dashboard Admin Cookie Issues

Cookie issues associated with the admin user may cause the user to randomly switch between the demo project and the admin project. You may also experience connectivity issues if you do not log out correctly. This is related to a known issue in OpenStack.

To work around this issue, do not create instances when logged in as the admin user. To create new instances, use the demo project or a new project as a non-admin user.

Rackspace Logo in Horizon Dashboard

Clicking on the Rackspace logo in the Rackspace custom Horizon dashboard will generate an error. If you click on the logo, use the browser's Back button to return to the dashboard. This issue will be addressed in a future update.