How to Install DevStack* in Linux*

Introduction

OpenStack* is a set of software tools for building and managing cloud computing platforms for public and private clouds.

According to the OpenStack web site, “DevStack is a series of extensible scripts used to quickly bring up a complete OpenStack environment based on the latest versions of everything from git master. It is used interactively as a development environment and as the basis for much of the OpenStack project’s functional testing.”

It is tricky to install DevStack* using the instructions found on the OpenStack web site since it assumes that you have certain knowledge about the network, about setting user accessing rights, and so on.

This article shows step-by-step how to install DevStack in CentOS* 7.

Installation

The following steps show you how to install DevStack:

1. Install CentOS 7.
   1. Go to the CentOS web site and download the latest 64-bit version of CentOS.
   2. The best way to install CentOS is to use the entire hard drive. During the installation, make sure to:
      1. Set up the network in advance; otherwise, you will have to set it up manually later on in the process, in order to download DevStack.
      2. Ensure that the user has administrative rights by checking the Make this user administrator option, as seen in Figure 1.

          

         Figure 1: Set user account.

      3. Do not select any additional packages, just use the default installation option, which is the minimum installation option as recommended by the instructions at devstack.org.
   Now we are ready to download DevStack.
2. Download DevStack.
   1. Use the following command to download:

      git clone https://git.openstack.org/openstack-dev/devstack

      You will see the error command not found as shown in Figure 2:

      Figure 2:Error when executing command git.

      The command git is not found because it is not included in the OS when installing the OS with the minimum installation option.

   2. Use the following command to install the git package:
      sudo yum install git
   3. After git is installed correctly, rerun this command to download DevStack:

      git clone https://git.openstack.org/openstack-dev/devstack

      If the DevStack download is successful, you will see a message like the one in Figure 3:

      Figure 3:Downloading DevStack.

      After the download, the directory devstack will be created in the current directory.

3. Change the directory to devstack. Use the following command to change the directory:
   cd devstack
4. Create a local configuration file named local.conf. Create the file local.conf in the directory devstack with the following content:

   	[[local|localrc]]
   	ADMIN_PASSWORD=secret
   	DATABASE_PASSWORD=$ADMIN_PASSWORD
   	RABBIT_PASSWORD=$ADMIN_PASSWORD
   	SERVICE_PASSWORD=$ADMIN_PASSWORD

5. Install DevStack. Use the following command to begin the installation:

   ./stack.sh

   During the installation the script prompts for users to enter the password. Alternatively, to continue without a password just hit the enter key, as shown in Figure 4:

   Figure 4:The script prompts to give users the option to enter the password.

6. Check to make sure DevStack is installed correctly. If DevStack is installed correctly, you should see a message as shown in Figure 5

    

   Figure 5:Messages shown after DevStack is finished installing.

   After DevStack is installed, check to make services like Keystone*, Glance*, Nova*, and Cinder* exist by typing the name of those services at the prompt. For example, type:

   nova

   If the system returns with the error command not found, then we know that DevStack was not installed successfully.

Conclusion

This article describes a straightforward and easy way to install DevStack in CentOS.