This book assumes a moderate level of the Linux operating system and cloud computing concepts. While this edition has been enhanced with richer content based on the latest updates in OpenStack, being familiar with the OpenStack ecosystem is very important. A basic knowledge and understanding of the network jargon, system management tools, and architecture design patters is required. Unlike the first edition, this book uses Ansible as the main system management tool for the OpenStack infrastructure management. It uses the OpenStack-Ansible official project, which is available in github https://github.com/openstack/openstack-ansible. Thus, a good understanding of the YAML syntax is a big plus.
Feel free to use any tool for the test environment such as Oracle’s VirtualBox, Vagrant, or VMware workstation. The lab setup can run OpenStack-Ansible using All-In-One build(OSA) found in the OpenStack-Ansible github repository. The book recommends installing the OpenStack environment on physical hardware to accomplish a production ready environment. Thus, a physical network infrastructure should be in place. On the other hand, running OpenStack in a virtual environment for testing purposes is possible if virtual network configuration is properly configured.
In this book, the following software list is required:
- Operating System: CentOS 7 or Ubuntu 14.04
- OpenStack – Mitaka or later release
- VirtualBox 4.5 or newer
- Vagrant 1.7 or newer
- Ansible server 2.2 or newer
As you run the OpenStack installation in a development environment, the following minimum hardware resources are required:
- A host machine with CPU hardware virtualization support
- 8 CPU cores
- 12 GB RAM
- 60 GB free disk space
- Two network interface cards
Internet connectivity is required to download the necessary packages for OpenStack and other tools. Additionally, refer to the http://docs.openstack.org guide for detailed instructions on installing the latest versions of OpenStack or to update the package that no longer exists in the older versions.