This is really heavy going for a newcomer to OpenStack: Chapter 10. Install the Networking service in OpenStack Installation Guide for Ubuntu 12.04 (LTS) - havana

[Graham Klyne]

As you say: "This chapter is a bit more adventurous than we would like." I'm really struggling with this. I don't know where my root problems may lie, so it's hard to offer a concise, targeted bug report. Here are a few of the problems I'm experiencing, which may or may not be related.

1. I had a working openstack system before I started on trying to install neutron, but now the nova command no longer works:

    # nova list
    ERROR: The server has either erred or is incapable of performing the requested operation. (HTTP 500) (Request-ID: req-de8180cb-e3fe-46aa-9614-b6c475f88472). I've googled messages from the log files, but with no success.

(I finally tracked down this to the firewall configuration: "If you do not want to use a firewall in Compute or Networking, set firewall_driver=nova.virt.firewall.NoopFirewallDriver in both config files, and comment out or remove security_group_api=neutron in the /etc/nova/nova.conf file, otherwise you may encounter ERROR: The server has either erred or is incapable of performing the requested operation. (HTTP 500) when issuing nova list commands." - http://docs.openstack.org/trunk/install-guide/install/apt/content/install-neutron.dedicated-controller-node.html. I thought I did want to have the option of using firewalls, and thought I had set everything up as described. In the end, I just turned it off.)

2. There are several references to "neutron" commands, but having installed all the packages indicated, and even separately installed "pip install python-neutronclient" (which just reported that everything was already installed, but not at the latest version) I don't have a "neutron" command. (As I'm concerned about compatibility issues, I haven't done the --upgrade option.)

3. The organization of the material is confusing for me, coming to this with limited knowledge of OpenStack and virtualization technologies. I'm trying to install a single-node environment with everything on a single server, but the instructions for installing Neutron mostly assume multi-node setups. Buried in the section for a dedicated controller node is this: "If you wish to have a combined controller/compute node follow these instructions, and then those for the compute node." (If Neutron is not intended to be operable in a single-server environment, please say so clearly, up front, and indicate alternatives.)

4. The coverage of openvswitch is very scrappy. It seems to assume a lot of pre-existing knowledge about network virtualization tools. In particular, I find the references to reassigning IP address from physical devices to bridge devices to be very confusing, without indicating how the suggested changes are accomplished.

There are more details that I'm still stumbling over. My main suggestion is that there be a clear section detailing the steps needed for setting up a single-server node (possibly just as links to the relevant subsections, but clearly signposted in the introduction), which I think is how many people will initially approach OpenStack. The hardest part for a newcomer is getting an initial system up and running. The networking in particular seems to have a bewildering array of options with very little guidance as to which are appropriate in an initial installation.

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Built: 2014-01-24T08:46:40 00:00
git SHA: 6474487a04c00e1fd3b7fe7f251d3f4306b66ec1
URL: http://docs.openstack.org/trunk/install-guide/install/apt/content/ch_neutron.html
source File: file:/home/jenkins/workspace/openstack-install-deploy-guide-ubuntu/doc/install-guide/ch_neutron.xml
xml:id: ch_neutron

[Matt Kassawara (ionosphere80)]

Graham,

We're redesigning the Neutron section of the installation guide for Icehouse to include concise architectural requirements with diagrams and streamlining the configuration process for each node. Given the complexities of network traffic flow with Neutron, we decided to stick with the three-node architecture to assist with explaining the latter and assisting with troubleshooting.

Matt

[Matt Kassawara (ionosphere80)]

Addressed in the following patches:

https://review.openstack.org/80872
https://review.openstack.org/82696
https://review.openstack.org/81983
https://review.openstack.org/82331