The title of this module is rather explicit, you will learn how to set
up your own cloud.
If you don't have the means for running your own cloud right now,
the OpenStack Foundation's Passport program could help you make the first steps.
Participating public cloud operators grant you a budget of $50 or $100
or so, and give you access to their cloud for a few weeks.
Eventually, however, you will have to set up your own cloud at home.
This course is based on Packstack, an OpenStack deployment tool
targeted to learning and proof of concept.
Several public cloud providers around the world allow you to sign up
for a free trial. Find the list on OpenStack.org/passport,
and select the provider that is geographically close to you.
In most cases, you will only get GUI access, no commandline access.
Packstack is backed by Red Hat and used in Red Hat training programs.
It's therefore the right practice tool to prepare for the RHCSA certificate.
You will deploy an all-in-one OpenStack server, which runs an entire
cloud on a single system. After some preparatory work, the cloud is
deployed by a single command. Depending on your internet connection
and disk speed, this can be done in a half-an-hour, but perhaps more
realistically in an hour. Packstack is part of the RDO project,
which stands for RMP Distribution of OpenStack.
This project also contains TripleO, the open-source version of Red
Hat's commercial cloud deployment tool, Director.
Let's start with a server. I strongly recommend a virtual machine,
it has the advantage of greater flexibility and allows taking
snapshots, for example. Personally, I was successful with VirtualBox
and with KVM. In this course, I will use KVM.
The most important characteristic of your server is its RAM,
6 GB should work, but more RAM won't hurt.
You will need about 50 GB disk space, if you use solid-state storage,
you will have a much better setup time. A single network interface is
sufficient, and the CPU is of no consequence for our purposes.
Any recent Intel-architecture CPU is fine.
You will install a minimal CentOS 7 on the server.
In case you install OpenStack Newton, it should be CentOS 7.3.
RHEL obviously works as well. Please disable the Network Manager and
the firewall daemon. OpenStack wants to manipulate the network and
firewall by itself, and it would clash with those tools.
You would see that very early in the process.
If you use CentOS, enable the CentOS OpenStack repositories,
and then update your system. Then install Packstack, and run the deployment command.