One question that has come up on the VMware Communities is, “How do I configure my desktop with the OpenStack CLI packages?”
Deploy The CLI Binaries
The community documentation has pretty good instructions on getting the various packages installed on Linux, Mac OS X, and even Windows. At a minimum, I recommend installing the following packages using pip:
- python-novaclient
- python-neutronclient
- python-cinderclient
- python-glanceclient
- python-heatclient
example:
sudo pip install python-novaclient
If you would like an automated method for deploying the CLI utilities, check out my openstack-client GitHub repo, which leverages Vagrant. I selected Ubuntu 15.04 as my operating system since it comes with Python version 2.7.9. Ubuntu 14.04 and earlier versions come with older Python versions which generate an annoying, but superficial, InsecurePlatformWarning message when you use the CLI.
Start Consuming OpenStack
Once you have configured your selected platform with the OpenStack CLI tools, it’s time to connect to VMware Integrated OpenStack!
If you have a verified SSL certificate in your installation, you can move forward with the openrc file that you can download from the Horizon Dashboard (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: OpenStack openrc file download location
If your VIO installation still has a self-signed certificate, you will need to work with the VIO administrator to get a copy of the vio.pem file stored on the load balancer VMs (/etc/ssl/vio.pem). Then, add the following line to your openrc file:
export OS_CACERT=/your/path/vio.pem
Be sure to specify the correct path in your file.
Next, load the openrc file contents as environment variables using the source command (Windows users will need to create environment variables that correspond to the openrc file contents using the standard System Properties dialog). You will be prompted for your password. Then, you will be able to run commands like nova list, cinder list, etc.
Let us know if you have any questions about getting the OpenStack CLI utilities working on your desktop!
Interested in learning more about VIO? Check out the VMware Product Walkthrough site and the VMware Integrated OpenStack product page.
