Red Hat OpenStack Certification Workflow Guide
For Use with Red Hat OpenStack 13, 14, and 15
Abstract
Chapter 1. Introduction
This version of the workflow guide validates components that implement the OpenStack APIs for networking, block storage, data processing, and file share services with Red Hat OpenStack Platform.
In addition, the certification workflow guide certifies applications that rely on OpenStack services or APIs and facilitate an OpenStack deployment. It complements the Cloud Infrastructure with additional functionalities such as configuration, scaling and management.
Before starting the certification process, we recommend that you read the Red Hat OpenStack Certification Policy Guide to understand the requirements and policies for Red Hat OpenStack Certification.
The term "OpenStack deployment-under-test" used in this guide refers to the node where the plugin/application-under-test and Undercloud Director node is installed.
Chapter 2. Getting Help and Giving Feedback
If you experience difficulty with a procedure described in this documentation, Open a Support Case in the Customer Portal.
The Customer Portal offers the following services and information:
- Search or browse through technical support articles and solutions pertaining to Red Hat products
- Submit a support case to Red Hat Global Support Services (GSS), and
- Access product documentation
Personal emails are not tracked as a support mechanism and do not include a Response Time or Service Level Agreement.
Questions During Certification
During the certification process, you may need to ask or reply to a question about topics which affect a specific certification. These questions and responses are recorded in the Additional Comments section of the Dialog Tab of the certification entry.
It is not within the scope of the certification workflow to resolve product defect and/or compatibility issues identified during testing. These issues can block a certification and might might require resolution before the certification can proceed. Resolving these issues should be accomplish through your Engineering Partner Manager or other engineering engagements.
We Need Feedback!
If you see a way to make this guide better, or if you think of a way to improve the certification workflow, or program, we would love to hear from you! Submit a bug in Bugzilla. Try to be as specific as possible; include the section number and some of the surrounding text.
Chapter 3. Prerequisites
Red Hat OpenStack Certification prequiste comprises of the Program Membership, and Product Requirements.
3.1. Program Membership, Accounts, and Entitlements
Partners are expected to have a Vendor Single Sign On (SSO) account, a Product profile, and must compulsorily complete the Align, Build and Certify (ABC) Workflow on Red Hat Connect for Technology Partners before beginning the certification process. The SSO credentials will be used to access Red Hat products, the certification toolset and other Red Hat assets.
If you have questions on Vendor account/profile, Product profile or software entitlements, send an email to connect@redhat.com .
3.2. Product Requirements
The certification process assures that a certified solution/product meets all the requirements of an enterprise cloud and is jointly supported by Red Hat and your organization. A certified product is listed on Red Hat OpenStack Certification Ecosystem Page.
The certification specific policies and requirements are covered in Red Hat OpenStack Certification Policy Guide.
Chapter 4. Test Environment Overview
The following diagram depicts the environment setup required for testing of an OpenStack deployment-under-test. The diagram includes the certification packages that need to be installed on each host (color coded).
Figure 4.1. Test Environment Setup

The primary application that is implemented in the Red Hat Certification workflow is a client server application. You can launch Red Hat Certification web user interface on a different host (test server) and use the web user Interface (UI) to run certification tests on an OpenStack deployment-under-test (test client). Using the Red Hat Certification web user interface you can:
- Generate requests for new certifications
- Submit logs
- Conduct discussions with the certification team
It is recommended to setup a test server to run OpenStack Certification tests on the system-under- test/test client. This allows testing of multiple test clients from a single test server, enables quick validation and prevents resource constraints.
4.1. Preparing the OpenStack Deployment-under-Test
Install the relevant version of Red Hat OpenStack Platform (against which the certification is required) using Red Hat OpenStack Platform Product Documentation. After Red Hat OpenStack Platform is installed, read the product documentation to understand its usage and configuration.
It is mandatory to use the Red Hat OpenStack Platform director for installation as it is the supported toolset for installing and managing a Red Hat OpenStack Platform environment in production.
After installing Red Hat OpenStack Platform, install the plugin/driver or application that needs to be certified on an Overcloud node. Complete the following steps after the installation:
- Ensure you have a private (tenant) network and private subnet in the OpenStack deployment that is under test.
- Create an admin tenant owned router and add the private (tenant) subnet as one of that router’s interfaces in your OpenStack deployment.
- Create an external (provider) network and a public subnet. Configure the external network as the above router’s gateway in your OpenStack deployment.
Run the command using the Keystone command-line client.
$ openstack role create Member
The software packages required on the OpenStack deployment-under-test/test client must be installed by subscribing to Red Hat Certification channel via CDN. This ensures that the required dependencies are automatically installed.
The OpenStack deployment-under-test/test client refers to the node where the plugin/application-under-test is installed.
For more information, refer Test Environment Overview. To install the required software packages on the OpenStack deployment-under-test/test client, complete the following steps:
Complete the following steps on the node where the OpenStack plugin-under-test/application-under-test is installed.
Run the following command to register your host using Red Hat Subscription Management:
# subscription-manager register
Use your RHN credentials for the registration.
Run the following command to display the list of available subscriptions for your system:
# subscription-manager list --available
From the list of available subscriptions, search for the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository. Make a note of the subscription and its Pool ID.
ImportantThe Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository provides the certification packages.
Run the following command to attach the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository to your system:
# subscription-manager attach --pool=[pool_ID]
Replace [pool_ID] with the Pool ID of the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository.
It is mandatory to use the correct Pool ID with the
# subscription-manager attach --pool
command to attach the required subscription to the system.To verify the list of subscriptions your system has currently attached, at any time, run the
# subscription-manager list --consumed
command. Ensure that the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository is attached to your system.Run the following command to subscribe to Red Hat Certification channel:
# subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-cert-rpms
Run the following command to install the
redhat-certification-openstack
package. This automatically installs the required dependencies:# yum install redhat-certification-openstack
Run the following command to start the Red Hat Certification back-end server listener process:
# rhcertd start
Result
The OpenStack deployment-under-test (which refers to the node where the plugin/application-under-test is installed) is now prepared for certification testing.
4.2. Preparing the Test Server
The software packages required on the test server must be installed by subscribing to Red Hat Certification channel via CDN. This ensures that the required dependencies are automatically installed.
To install the required software packages on the test server, complete the following steps:
- Select a persistent RHEL 7 host which can act as the test server host. The chosen RHEL 7 host should be able to access Red Hat services including the certification channels and use the same network as the OpenStack deployment-under-test (test client).
Run the following command to register your host using Red Hat Subscription Management:
# subscription-manager register
Use your RHN credentials for the registration.
Run the following command to display the list of available subscriptions for your system:
# subscription-manager list --available
From the list of available subscriptions, search for the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository. Make a note of the subscription and its Pool ID.
ImportantThe Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository provides the certification packages.
Run the following command to attach the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository to your system:
# subscription-manager attach --pool=[pool_ID]
Replace [pool_ID] with the Pool ID of the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository.
It is mandatory to use the correct Pool ID with the
# subscription-manager attach --pool
command to attach the required subscription to the system.To verify the list of subscriptions your system has currently attached, at any time, run the
# subscription-manager list --consumed
command. Ensure that the subscription which provides the Red Hat Certification (for RHEL Server) repository is attached to your system.Run the following command to subscribe to Red Hat Certification channel:
# subscription-manager repos --enable=rhel-7-server-cert-rpms
Run the following command to install the
redhat-certification
package on the host:# yum install redhat-certification
Run the following command to start Apache, Red Hat Certification back-end server and the server listener process:
# rhcertd start
Result
The test server (RHEL 7.x host) is now prepared. The redhat-certification
package provides Red Hat Certification web UI which can be used to run certification tests on the OpenStack deployment-under-test/test client.
4.3. Proxy Settings for Test Server and Test Client
If your network utilizes a proxy, you may need to manually configure the test server and/or test client for the proxy as outlined below:
In the test server, update the /etc/rhcert.xml
file as per the following settings:
<urls> <proxy-url protocol="http">PROXY_SERVER:PROXY_PORT</proxy-url> <proxy-url protocol="https">PROXY_SERVER:PROXY_PORT</proxy-url> </urls>
Replace PROXY_SERVER with the IP or dns-name of your proxy server, and PROXY_PORT with your proxy port number.
For example:
<proxy-url protocol="http">http://rhcert-example.redhat.com:3148<proxy-url> <proxy-url protocol="https">https://rhcert-example.redhat.com:3148<proxy-url>
To open port 80 and port 8009 on test server and test client, run the rhcert-cli register command.
For more information, we recommend you to refer How can we access to the Hardware Certification (rhcertd web interface) via proxy?
Chapter 5. Certification Workflow Overview
The following diagram represents the entire OpenStack Certification workflow along with the roles & responsibilities of Red Hat and the Partners.
Figure 5.1. Certification Workflow Overview

5.1. Creating a Certification Request
To create a new certification request, complete the following steps:
- In your test server, launch Red Hat Certification web user interface in a browser using the http://<machine-IP> link.
- Type your Red Hat account credentials previously enabled for certification in the Username and Password fields. Click Login.
- Click the New Certification button. This will take you to Choose the Red Hat Certification web page.
- From the Product drop-down list, select Red Hat OpenStack Platform Plugin. The Version and Platform value gets generated automatically. However, partners can select the version, platform and RHEL version fields according to their requirement. Click Next . This will take you to Choose the product to be certified web page.
- Select the Vendor and Make items from the drop-down list. Click Next. This will take you to Common Questions web page.
Provide the following relevant information in the fields:
In the Component field, select the component that you want to include for certification. The Install Guide field is a mandatory field.
ImportantThe Director Integration guide can be a text, URL, or a file.
- In the Director Integration field, choose Yes or No.
- If the Director Integration is selected as Yes, select the type of Director Template, and provide the details in the Director Instructions field.
- Click Next.
- This will take you to Create Red Hat OpenStack Platform Certification web page. Select the protocols and features compatible with your plugin. Click Create.
- A notification of the requested OpenStack certification gets displayed.
The information which you provide in the Product Name and the Public Catalog URL fields is used by customers in locating the certified product entry (after a successful certification) on Red Hat OpenStack Certification Ecosystem Page.
Chapter 6. Certification Tests
Certification tests must be run on the OpenStack deployment-under-test based on the type of OpenStack application undergoing certification. For more information on certification targets, see Red Hat OpenStack Certification Policy Guide.
6.1. Running Certification Tests for Products Implementing OpenStack APIs
If the OpenStack application undergoing certification falls under this category (see Red Hat OpenStack Certification Policy Guide for more details), complete the following steps on the test server to run certification tests on the OpenStack deployment-under-test/test client.
This category includes OpenStack plugins/drivers which implement OpenStack APIs for Networking, Block Storage, Data Processing and File Share services.
6.2. Running OpenStack API/Tempest Tests and Supportability Tests
- In your test server launch Red Hat certification web UI in a browser using the http://machine-ip link
- Type Red Hat account credentials enabled for certification in the Username and Password fields. Click Login .
- On the Red Hat Certification Home Page, click the Server settings tab.
In the Register a System field, type the hostname or IP address of the Overcloud node where the plugin-under-test/driver-under-test is installed and then click Add.
For more information on registering a system, refer to Registering a System using Redhat-Certification.
Click the existing product entry from Red Hat Certification Home Page and then the relevant certification entry from the Certifications Page.
Figure 6.1. Available Certification Test
For RHOSP 14, follow the steps in section Running Multi-Host Test in RHOSP 14
For RHOSP 13 continue with the following the steps:
- In the Testing Page, click Add System.
In the Select Host Page, select the host/hostname of the Overcloud node where the plugin-under-test/driver-under-test is installed and then click Test.
A certification test plan is created on the Testing Page for plugin-under-test/driver-under-test.
After the certification test plan run is complete and the test plan is ready, the status column displays a “Finished test run” status and a Continue Testing button.
Figure 6.2. Continue Testing
- Click Continue Testing.
- In the Testing page, select openstack/supportable, openstack/director, and openstack/tempest_config checkboxes and then select the relevant Feature test checkbox from the openstack/cinder_*, openstack/manila_*, openstack/neutron_* and openstack/sahara options based on the type of OpenStack plugin/driver undergoing certification.
Click Run Selected.
Figure 6.3. Run Tempest API and Supportable Tests
Certification tests are run on the Overcloud node where the plugin-under-test/driver-under-test is configured. The supportable test run is followed by the relevant API/Tempest test run.
Result
Certification tests are run on the plugin-under-test/driver-under-test. The status of the certification test run is displayed on the Testing Page under the relevant hostname.
Figure 6.4. Test Run Status

After the test run completes, the test logs from the openstack/supportable, openstack/director, and the API/ Tempest tests are stored in .xml.gz
format. . Refer to Section 7.1, “Viewing and Submitting the Test Logs using web UI” to submit the test logs.
6.3. Running Multi-Host Test in RHOSP 14
In the Testing Page, click Select Test Systems.
In the Select Host Page, the Partner decides which host will run the test from the selected roles. From the drop-down list, choose the role for a host as controller or compute.
Click Test
NoteThe test generated for Controller node depends on the features that the Partner plugin supports. Tests for Compute node includes supportable, sosreport, self_check, and director.
Click Start Test Run. The mandatory tests will get executed, however, you can check or uncheck the optional tests. The test run executes at the same time for Controller and Compute nodes.
Click on the generated test results, this will take you to the Progress tab. Click on the Submit Result. The Red Hat certification team verifies the test results.
NoteCurrently, multi-host testing does not support Sandboxing and CLI. Testing can be performed only through WebUI.
6.4. tempest_config Test
This test checks the generation of tempest_config based on the lab environment details. Being an interactive test it asks for the following details:
If the system under test is subscribed to OpenStack product repositories the tempest will be installed. If the product repositories are not installed you will get a failure notification that the tempest cannot be installed.
In the keystone auth url field, type the Keystone authentication URL that allows access to service endpoints.
Figure 6.5. Keystone Authentication URL
- In the OpenStack admin username field, type the OpenStack username of a user with the admin role.
- In the OpenStack admin password field, type the corresponding OpenStack password of the user with the admin role.
Modify the Edit tempest.conf field if required and then click Submit.
Figure 6.6. Edit Tempest.conf
The tempest_config test automatically generates a tempest.conf file during run-time. If you need to alter this configuration, place a full tempest.conf into the
/etc/redhat-certification-openstack
directory that will override the automatic configuration. The configuration override can assist in addressing tempest issues but it does not change the certification testing requirements to be satisfied by tempest.
While it is not explicitly required that tempest automatically corrects configuration of the testing environment for your product it is suggested that you open a bug with the upstream tempest project, against the RHOSP Tempest component, or the Red Hat Certification Component. The RHOS Tempest component link can be used to file the downstream bugs on bugzilla. Incase of the tempest issue, in the Component field select openstack-tempest from the drop-down list. If there is a bug in the component you can select the related component like, openstack-neutron, openstack-cinder or openstack-manila. This process will help you to avoid the repeated correction of configuration.
6.5. Running Certification Tests for Products Consuming OpenStack APIs
If the OpenStack application undergoing certification falls under this category see Red Hat OpenStack Certification Policy Guide, and perform the steps documented in the Section 4.2, “Preparing the Test Server” on the test server to run certification tests on the OpenStack deployment-under-test.
This category includes products which generally facilitate an OpenStack deployment or complement the Cloud Infrastructure with additional functionalities such as configuration, scaling and management. OpenStack management applications, monitoring applications and OpenStack-enabled applications such as virtual network functions fall in this category.
6.6. Running Trusted Container Test
Partners need to perform following steps on Red Hat certification web UI to run the trusted container test:
Select the trusted container test.
Figure 6.7. Trusted Container test in web UI
- Click on the Run Selected button.
As this session is interactive, during execution it will prompt to provide the following information:
- Reason for non Red Hat containers found on System-under-test
- Select the checkboxes for the containers for which test needs to be performed.
6.7. Running OpenStack Director Test and Supportability Tests
On Red Hat Certification Home Page, click the Server settings tab.
Figure 6.8. Server Settings
- In the Register a System field, type the hostname or IP address of the Overcloud node where the application-under-test is installed and then click Add.
Click the existing product entry from Red Hat Certification Home Page and then click the relevant certification entry from the Certifications Page.
Figure 6.9. Available Certification Test
The Progress Page opens and displays the certification tests available in the certification test suite and the progress of the previous runs (if any).
- Click the Testing link to open the Testing Page.
- In the Testing Page, click System.
In the Select Host Page, select the host/hostname of the Overcloud node where the application-under-test is configured and then click Test .
The Testing Page opens and a certification test plan is created for the application-under-test.
After the certification test plan run is complete and the test plan is ready, the status column displays a "Finished test run" status and a Continue Testing button.
Figure 6.10. Continue Testing
- Click Continue Testing.
Select interactive next to the openstack/supportable checkbox and then click Run Selected.
Figure 6.11. Run Supportable Tests
Result
Certification tests are run on the application-under-test. The status of the certification test run is displayed on the Testing Page under the relevant hostname.
Figure 6.12. Test Run Status

After the test run completes, the test logs from the openstack/supportable tests are stored in the same log file as for the openstack/director test on the test server. See section Section 7.1, “Viewing and Submitting the Test Logs using web UI” in the guide to submit the test logs.
6.8. Running Certification Tests using Red Hat Certification CLI
To run the certification tests using Red Hat Certification CLI (rhcert-cli), execute the following commands on the System Under Test (SUT):
#rhcert-cli clean #rhcert-cli plan #rhcert-cli run --test cinder_volumes
Tests to be run depends on the type of driver/plugin, and features implemented by the driver/plugin.
#rhcert-cli run --test supportable --test tempest_config --test cinder_volumes --test cinder_consistency_groups
The above tests are the mandatory tests for a plugin/driver for cinder that has volumes and consistency_group features implemented.
All component-based tests in openstack are tagged, which means the following commands will run all the tests for cinder, manila or neutron, respectively:
#rhcert-cli run --tag cinder #rhcert-cli run --tag manila #rhcert-cli run --tag neutron
After the tests run, the test logs/results are automatically collected in a single .xml.gz file. To save the test results/logs, run the following command on the image-under-test.
# rhcert-cli save --server [hostname/IP address of LTS]
In the above command LTS stands for Linux Test Server.
It is also possible to directly submit the test results/logs for validation without saving them on the image-under-test.
Chapter 7. Viewing and Submitting the Test Logs for Review
Partners can view and submit the test logs for review using the Red Hat certification web user interface(UI) or using the command line interface (CLI).
7.1. Viewing and Submitting the Test Logs using web UI
The test runs generate two log files based on the type of product undergoing certification. The log files generated are as follows:
- For Products Implementing OpenStack APIs: A consolidated log file for OpenStack API/Tempest and the OpenStack Supportability tests
- For Products Consuming OpenStack APIs: A single log file for OpenStack Supportability tests
It is mandatory to submit the log files generated based on your product type to Red Hat Certification services for review.
Test logs are also generated for every test type and may be viewed on Red Hat Certification application. However, it is mandatory to submit the consolidated log file for review using the procedure covered below.
- Launch Red Hat Certification web UI on the test server.
- On Red Hat Certification Home Page, from the Products Table, click the name of the product/image-under-test.
- From the Certification Page, click the relevant certification entry.
- Click the Testing link to open the Testing Page.
- In the Testing Page, click the results timestamp under the hostname of the Undercloud node on which you run the OpenStack Director test (openstack/director).
Results Timestamp Director
- From the Actions list, select an appropriate action based on the following details:
Result Actions
- To submit the test log file for review, select submit . To close the test log file, select close. The submit action is mandatory to submit the test log file for review.
- To save the test log file on a different Red Hat Certification server, select save . The save action transfers the test log file (in .xml.gz format) to a remote server which has Red Hat Certification application installed. If you save the test log file on a different Red Hat Certification server, you must submit the log file from the same server
- To download the test log file (in .xml.gz format), select download
- To delete the test log file from the server, select delete.
- In the Testing Page, click the results timestamp under the hostname of the Overcloud node on which you run OpenStack API/Tempest tests (if applicable) and OpenStack Supportability tests.
Results Timestamp Others
- Repeat step 6 and submit the test logs generated from the OpenStack API/Tempest tests (if applicable) and OpenStack Supportability and Director tests for review.
7.2. Viewing and Submitting the Test Logs using Red Hat Certification CLI
To submit the test logs using Red Hat Certification CLI, run the following command on the image-under-test.
# rhcert-cli submit
Type your Red Hat account credentials previously enabled for certifcation in the Red Hat Catalog Username and Password.The Certification ID is generated when you successfully create a certification request. Type the ID of the certification request in the Certification ID dialog box.
The # rhcert-cli submit
command works only if the image has a network that can connect to the Red Hat services. The command submits the latest timestamped test logs on your host/image to Red Hat certification services for review. The test log file is reviewed by Red Hat certification services and Red Hat Review team. The certification results are displayed on Red Hat Certification web user interface.
If the image-under-test does not have internet access, save the test logs on the image-under-test using the # rhcert-cli save --server [hostname/IP address of LTS]
command.
Chapter 8. Reviewing and Posting of Certification
The test log file submitted after a certification test run is validated by Red Hat certification services and the Review Team. The review team may get in touch with the partner using the Dialog tab on Red Hat Certification web user interface to confirm specific results and obtain more information.
In some instances, there may be a need to rerun some tests. However, the logs from the rerun can be submitted using the existing certification request. The final certification results are displayed on Red Hat Certification web user interface. To view certification results, check the Show In Progress Certifications button on Red Hat Certification web user interface.
After a successful certification, the certified product is listed on Red Hat OpenStack Certification Ecosystem Page.
Chapter 9. Recertification Workflow
For recertification requirements and policies, see Red Hat OpenStack Certification Policy Guide.
To recertify an OpenStack product, complete the following steps:
- See section Section 5.1, “Creating a Certification Request” in this guide and create a new certification request . It is mandatory to create a new certification request for recertification.
- Run the certification tests and proceed with the rest of the workflow as documented.
Revised on 2019-11-11 08:07:16 UTC