Managing our OpenStack environment through a command-line interface allows us to have complete control of our cloud environment, but having a web-based interface that operators and administrators can use to manage their environments and instances makes this process easier. OpenStack Dashboard, known as Horizon, provides this graphical, web-based, user interface. Horizon is a web service that runs from an Apache installation, using Python's Web Service Gateway Interface (WSGI) and Django, a rapid development web framework.

With OpenStack Dashboard installed, we can manage all the core components of our OpenStack environment.