Chapter 5. Configuring Load-balancing service flavors

Load-balancing service (octavia) flavors are sets of provider configuration options that you create. When users request load balancers, they can specify that the load balancer be built using one of the defined flavors. You define a flavor for each load-balancing provider driver, which exposes the unique capabilities of the respective provider.

To create a new Load-balancing service flavor:

  1. Decide which capabilities of the load-balancing provider you want to configure in the flavor.
  2. Create the flavor profile with the flavor capabilities you have chosen.
  3. Create the flavor.
Important

The topics about flavors contained in this section are in technology preview in Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13, 28 October 2020 maintenance release and later. For more information on the support scope for features marked as technology previews, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

5.1. Listing Load-balancing service provider capabilities

You can review the list of capabilities that each Load-balancing service (octavia) provider driver exposes.

Important

The flavor feature described in this section is in technology preview in Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13, 28 October 2020 maintenance release and later. For more information on the support scope for features marked as technology previews, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

Prerequisites

  • You must have OpenStack administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the undercloud host as the stack user.

  2. Source the undercloud credentials file: 

    $ source ~/stackrc

  3. List the capabilities for each driver: 

    $ openstack loadbalancer provider capability list <provider>

    Replace <provider> with the name or UUID of the provider.

    Example

    $ openstack loadbalancer provider capability list amphora

    The command output lists all of the capabilities that the provider supports.

    Sample output

    +-----------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| name                  | description                                       |
+-----------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| loadbalancer_topology | The load balancer topology. One of: SINGLE - One  |
|                       | amphora per load balancer. ACTIVE_STANDBY - Two   |
|                       | amphora per load balancer.                        |
| ...                   | ...                                               |
+-----------------------+---------------------------------------------------+

  4. Note the names of the capabilities that you want to include in the flavor that you are creating.

Additional resources

5.2. Defining flavor profiles

Load-balancing service (octavia) flavor profiles contain the provider driver name and a list of capabilities. You use flavor profiles to create flavors that users specify to create a load balancer.

Important

The flavor feature described in this section is in technology preview in Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13, 28 October 2020 maintenance release and later. For more information on the support scope for features marked as technology previews, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

Prerequisites

  • You must have OpenStack administrator privileges.
  • You must know which load-balancing provider and which of its capabilities you want to include in the flavor profile.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the undercloud host as the stack user.

  2. Source the undercloud credentials file: 

    $ source ~/stackrc

  3. Create a flavor profile: 

    $ openstack loadbalancer flavorprofile create --name <profile_name> --provider <provider_name> --flavor-data '{"<capability>": "<value>"}'

    Example

    $ openstack loadbalancer flavorprofile create --name amphora-single-profile --provider amphora --flavor-data '{"loadbalancer_topology": "SINGLE"}'

    Sample output

    +---------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field         | Value                                |
+---------------+--------------------------------------+
| id            | 72b53ac2-b191-48eb-8f73-ed012caca23a |
| name          | amphora-single-profile               |
| provider_name | amphora                              |
| flavor_data   | {"loadbalancer_topology": "SINGLE"}  |
+---------------+--------------------------------------+

    In this example, a flavor profile is created for the amphora provider. When this profile is specified in a flavor, the load balancer that users create by using the flavor is a single amphora load balancer.

Verification steps

  • When you create a flavor profile, the Load-balancing service validates the flavor values with the provider to ensure that the provider can support the capabilities that you have specified.

Additional resources

5.3. Creating Load-balancing service flavors

You create a user-facing flavor for the Load-balancing service (octavia) by using a flavor profile. The name that you assign to the flavor is the value that users specify when they create a load balancer.

Important

The flavor feature described in this section is in technology preview in Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13, 28 October 2020 maintenance release and later. For more information on the support scope for features marked as technology previews, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

Prerequisites

  • You must have OpenStack administrator privileges.
  • You must have created a flavor profile.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the undercloud host as the stack user.

  2. Source the undercloud credentials file: 

    $ source ~/stackrc

  3. Create a flavor: 

    $ openstack loadbalancer flavor create --name <flavor_name> \
--flavorprofile <flavor-profile> --description "<string>"
    Tip

    Provide a detailed description so that users can understand the capabilities of the flavor that you are providing.

    Example

    $ openstack loadbalancer flavor create --name standalone-lb --flavorprofile amphora-single-profile --description "A non-high availability load balancer for testing."

    Sample output

    +-------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Field             | Value                                |
+-------------------+--------------------------------------+
| id                | 25cda2d8-f735-4744-b936-d30405c05359 |
| name              | standalone-lb                        |
| flavor_profile_id | 72b53ac2-b191-48eb-8f73-ed012caca23a |
| enabled           | True                                 |
| description       | A non-high availability load         |
|                   | balancer for testing.                |
+-------------------+--------------------------------------+

    In this example, a flavor has been defined. When users specify this flavor, they create a load balancer that uses one Load-balancing service instance (amphora) and is not highly available.

Note

Disabled flavors are still visible to users, but users cannot use the disabled flavor to create a load balancer.

Additional resources