Launch an instance¶

This section creates the necessary virtual networks to support launching instances. Networking option 1 includes one provider (external) network with one instance that uses it. Networking option 2 includes one provider network with one instance that uses it and one self-service (private) network with one instance that uses it.

The instructions in this section use command-line interface (CLI) tools on the controller node. However, you can follow the instructions on any host that the tools are installed.

For more information on the CLI tools, see the OpenStackClient documentation for Pike, the OpenStackClient documentation for Queens, or the OpenStackClient documentation for Rocky.

To use the dashboard, see the Dashboard User Documentation for Pike, the Dashboard User Documentation for Queens, or the Dashboard User Documentation for Rocky.

Create virtual networks¶

Create virtual networks for the networking option that you chose when configuring Neutron. If you chose option 1, create only the provider network. If you chose option 2, create the provider and self-service networks.

After creating the appropriate networks for your environment, you can continue preparing the environment to launch an instance.

Create m1.nano flavor¶

The smallest default flavor consumes 512 MB memory per instance. For environments with compute nodes containing less than 4 GB memory, we recommend creating the m1.nano flavor that only requires 64 MB per instance. Only use this flavor with the CirrOS image for testing purposes.

$ openstack flavor create --id 0 --vcpus 1 --ram 64 --disk 1 m1.nano

+----------------------------+---------+
| Field                      | Value   |
+----------------------------+---------+
| OS-FLV-DISABLED:disabled   | False   |
| OS-FLV-EXT-DATA:ephemeral  | 0       |
| disk                       | 1       |
| id                         | 0       |
| name                       | m1.nano |
| os-flavor-access:is_public | True    |
| properties                 |         |
| ram                        | 64      |
| rxtx_factor                | 1.0     |
| swap                       |         |
| vcpus                      | 1       |
+----------------------------+---------+

Generate a key pair¶

Most cloud images support public key authentication rather than conventional password authentication. Before launching an instance, you must add a public key to the Compute service.

Source the demo project credentials:
```
$ . demo-openrc
```

Generate a key pair and add a public key:

$ ssh-keygen -q -N ""
$ openstack keypair create --public-key ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub mykey

+-------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| Field       | Value                                           |
+-------------+-------------------------------------------------+
| fingerprint | ee:3d:2e:97:d4:e2:6a:54:6d:0d:ce:43:39:2c:ba:4d |
| name        | mykey                                           |
| user_id     | 58126687cbcc4888bfa9ab73a2256f27                |
+-------------+-------------------------------------------------+

Note

Alternatively, you can skip the ssh-keygen command and use an existing public key.

Verify addition of the key pair:

$ openstack keypair list

+-------+-------------------------------------------------+
| Name  | Fingerprint                                     |
+-------+-------------------------------------------------+
| mykey | ee:3d:2e:97:d4:e2:6a:54:6d:0d:ce:43:39:2c:ba:4d |
+-------+-------------------------------------------------+

Add security group rules¶

By default, the default security group applies to all instances and includes firewall rules that deny remote access to instances. For Linux images such as CirrOS, we recommend allowing at least ICMP (ping) and secure shell (SSH).

Add rules to the default security group:

Permit ICMP (ping):

$ openstack security group rule create --proto icmp default

+-------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field             | Value                                |
+-------------------+--------------------------------------+
| created_at        | 2017-03-30T00:46:43Z                 |
| description       |                                      |
| direction         | ingress                              |
| ether_type        | IPv4                                 |
| id                | 1946be19-54ab-4056-90fb-4ba606f19e66 |
| name              | None                                 |
| port_range_max    | None                                 |
| port_range_min    | None                                 |
| project_id        | 3f714c72aed7442681cbfa895f4a68d3     |
| protocol          | icmp                                 |
| remote_group_id   | None                                 |
| remote_ip_prefix  | 0.0.0.0/0                            |
| revision_number   | 1                                    |
| security_group_id | 89ff5c84-e3d1-46bb-b149-e621689f0696 |
| updated_at        | 2017-03-30T00:46:43Z                 |
+-------------------+--------------------------------------+

Permit secure shell (SSH) access:

$ openstack security group rule create --proto tcp --dst-port 22 default

+-------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field             | Value                                |
+-------------------+--------------------------------------+
| created_at        | 2017-03-30T00:43:35Z                 |
| description       |                                      |
| direction         | ingress                              |
| ether_type        | IPv4                                 |
| id                | 42bc2388-ae1a-4208-919b-10cf0f92bc1c |
| name              | None                                 |
| port_range_max    | 22                                   |
| port_range_min    | 22                                   |
| project_id        | 3f714c72aed7442681cbfa895f4a68d3     |
| protocol          | tcp                                  |
| remote_group_id   | None                                 |
| remote_ip_prefix  | 0.0.0.0/0                            |
| revision_number   | 1                                    |
| security_group_id | 89ff5c84-e3d1-46bb-b149-e621689f0696 |
| updated_at        | 2017-03-30T00:43:35Z                 |
+-------------------+--------------------------------------+