12. OpenStack Cinder Driver¶

12.1. Requirements¶

1. A TrueNAS^® 11.0 or newer system to provide storage.
2. A computer running the Newton release of OpenStack or newer, with these minimum hardware requirements:
   • 4 GiB of RAM
   • 4-core CPU
   • 40 GiB storage disk

12.2. Installation¶

The Cinder driver is packaged as a .zip file for simple download and extraction. To obtain the driver, please contact iXsystems Customer Support at truenas-support@ixsystems.com.

Log in to a console on the OpenStack system. Switch user to stack with su - stack. Extract the contents of the Cinder driver .zip file to /opt/stack/cinder/cinder/volume/drivers/.

Log in to the TrueNAS^® system and create a new dataset named cinder. Note the TrueNAS^® IP address, root username, and password. Locate the base name of the iSCSI target by navigating to Sharing → Block(iSCSI) → Target → Global Configuration → Base Name. This information is needed to configure the Cinder driver before it can be used in the OpenStack interface.

12.3. Configuration¶

On the OpenStack computer, edit /etc/cinder/cinder.conf. Some sections of this file must be edited and some user-defined parameters must be added.

Modify the existing lines in cinder.conf to these values:

default_volume_type = ixsystems-iscsi
enabled_backends = ixsystems-iscsi, lvmdriver-1

Table 12.3.1 explains the added parameters and their possible values:

Here is an example of typical additional parameter settings for a TrueNAS^® system at IP address 10.3.1.81:

[ixsystems-iscsi]
iscsi_helper = tgtadm
volume_dd_blocksize = 512
volume_driver = cinder.volume.drivers.ixsystems.iscsi.FreeNASISCSIDriver
ixsystems_login = root
ixsystems_password = thisisdummypassword
ixsystems_server_hostname = 10.3.1.81
ixsystems_volume_backend_name = iXsystems_FREENAS_Storage
ixsystems_iqn_prefix = iqn.2005-10.org.freenas.ctl
ixsystems_datastore_pool = cinder-tank
ixsystems_vendor_name = iXsystems
ixsystems_storage_protocol = iscsi

Restart the OpenStack computer to reload cinder.conf and initialize the Cinder service properly. After this reboot, the Cinder service can be restarted manually:

# /usr/local/bin/cider-volume --config-file /etc/cinder/cinder.conf & echo $! >/opt/stack/status/stack/c-vol.pid; fg || echo "c-vol failed to start" | tee "/opt/stack/status/stack/c-vol.failure".

The Cinder driver is now available in the OpenStack web interface.

Open a web browser, go to the IP address of the OpenStack system, and log in with the OpenStack user name and password. Click Connect. Navigate from Admin → System → Volumes → Volume Types and click Create Volume Type. The window shown in Figure 12.3.1 appears.

Fig. 12.3.1 Creating the ixsystems-iscsi Volume Type

Enter ixsystems-iscsi in the Name field and ensure the Public box is checked. An optional Description field is also available. Click Create Volume Type to create the volume type. The list is automatically refreshed when the task is finished.

12.4. Using the Cinder Driver¶

Cinder is used to manage volumes in the Project and Admin sections of the OpenStack interface.

12.4.1. Managing Volumes with Cinder by Project¶

The Project → Compute → Volumes section manages volumes on a per-project basis. To change projects, click the project name dropdown menu displayed in the upper left area of the interface, next to the openstack logo.

Figure 12.4.1 shows an example of the Project/Compute/Volumes interface with the Volumes tab visible:

Fig. 12.4.1 Interface for Managing Project Volumes

Every volume in the project displays in a reference list. The list is sortable by any of the column titles. Users can also type custom filters to locate specific items. Options to Create, Accept Transfer of a volume from another project, and Delete Volumes are available.

An existing volume can be modified by checking the checkbox next to the volume Name, then opening the Actions pulldown menu. Table 12.4.1 lists the action, the equivalent cinder CLI command, and a description of the configurable settings:

Table 12.4.1 OpenStack Single Volume Actions¶

Action	Configurables
Edit Volume	Adjust name and description of a volume, or make a volume Bootable
Extend Volume	Enter a new size in GiB
Manage Attachments	View and adjust volume attachment to instances
Create Snapshot	Enter a snapshot name and description; snapshot limits are shown
Change Volume Type	Choose a new type and migration policy
Upload to Image	Enter an image name and choose a disk format: QCOW2, Raw, VDI, or VMDK
Create Transfer	Enter recipient project name
Update Metadata	Move items into the existing metadata column or create a custom metadata key

12.4.1.1. Project Volume Snapshots¶

Any snapshot of a volume displays in the Volume Snapshots tab, seen in Figure 12.4.2:

Fig. 12.4.2 Project Volume Snapshots Tab

As with the other interface elements, the list can be sorted and filtered. The Actions drop-down menu has options to create a volume from an existing snapshot, edit a snapshot name and description, delete snapshots, and update snapshot metadata.

12.4.2. Administering All Volumes with Cinder¶

Cinder functions within the Admin section manage volumes, volume types, and volume snapshots for all projects on the system. Navigate from Admin → System → Volumes to see these management tabs. Every created item is displayed in the master list regardless of project. This list can be sorted or filtered as needed.

12.4.2.1. Managing Volumes¶

Figure 12.4.3 shows the Volumes tab:

Fig. 12.4.3 OpenStack Volumes Tab

Table 12.4.2 shows the different options, the cinder CLI equivalents, and a description of the configurable elements.

Tip

Volumes can be managed or deleted in this section, but not created. Volume creation is handled in the Project → Compute → Volumes tab.

Table 12.4.2 Cinder Volume Management Options¶

Action	Configurables
Manage Volumes	Type the volume identifier, host, and volume name to make it visible in OpenStack; other configurable elements are Volume Name, Description, Metadata, Volume Type, Availability Zone, and Bootable
Delete Volumes	Warning: volumes deleted here cannot be recovered
Update Volume Status	Select a new status from the dropdown menu; volume status is normally set automatically
Unmanage Volume	Unmanaging a volume makes it invisible in OpenStack, but does not delete it
Migrate Volume	Choose a new Destination Host from the dropdown menu; there is also an option to Force Host Copy, which bypasses driver optimizations
Update Metadata	Choose items to move to the Existing Metadata column; custom keys can also be added

12.4.2.2. Manage Volume Types¶

Figure 12.4.4 shows how all created volume types are listed in this tab. If the cinder.conf file was edited as shown above in the Cinder driver installation, two types are visible: ixsystems-iscsi and lvmdriver-1.

Fig. 12.4.4 OpenStack Volume Types Tab

A number of actions can be applied to either volume type, as Table 12.4.3 shows:

Table 12.4.3 Volume Type Actions¶

Action	Configurables
Create Volume Type	Name, description, and visible to “Public”
Delete Volume Types	Warning: action is permanent
Create QoS Spec	Provide a name and consumer for the new Quality of Service spec; choose back-end to associate the policy with Cinder
Create Encryption	Type a provider and control location; custom cipher and key size can also be designated
View/Create Extra Specs	Click Create to enter and save a new key/value pair
Manage QoS Spec Association	Select a QoS spec from the drop-down menu
Edit Volume Type	Modify the volume type name, description, and public fields
Update Metadata	Add new metadata items to the volume type; custom keys can be created

12.4.2.3. Manage Volume Snapshots¶

This tab is very similar to managing snapshots of a single project. The only difference is that snapshots from all projects are visible in the list. Figure 12.4.5 shows an example:

Fig. 12.4.5 Manage All Projects Volume Snapshots

Options to Delete, Update Status, and Update Metadata for each listed snapshot are available.