Chapter 21. Miscellaneous overcloud configuration

Use the following configurations to configure miscellaneous features in the overcloud.

21.1. Debug modes

You can enable and disable the DEBUG level logging mode for certain services in the overcloud.

To configure debug mode for a service, set the respective debug parameter. For example, OpenStack Identity (keystone) uses the KeystoneDebug parameter.

Procedure

  • Set the parameter in the parameter_defaults section of an environment file: 

    parameter_defaults:
  KeystoneDebug: True

After you have set the KeystoneDebug parameter to True, the /var/log/containers/keystone/keystone.log standard keystone log file is updated with DEBUG level logs.

For a full list of debug parameters, see "Debug Parameters" in the Overcloud Parameters guide.

21.2. Configuring the kernel on overcloud nodes

Red Hat OpenStack Platform director includes parameters that configure the kernel on overcloud nodes.

ExtraKernelModules

Kernel modules to load. The modules names are listed as a hash key with an empty value: 

  ExtraKernelModules:
    <MODULE_NAME>: {}
ExtraKernelPackages

Kernel-related packages to install prior to loading the kernel modules from ExtraKernelModules. The package names are listed as a hash key with an empty value. 

  ExtraKernelPackages:
    <PACKAGE_NAME>: {}
ExtraSysctlSettings

Hash of sysctl settings to apply. Set the value of each parameter using the value key. 

  ExtraSysctlSettings:
    <KERNEL_PARAMETER>:
      value: <VALUE>

This example shows the syntax of these parameters in an environment file: 

parameter_defaults:
  ExtraKernelModules:
    iscsi_target_mod: {}
  ExtraKernelPackages:
    iscsi-initiator-utils: {}
  ExtraSysctlSettings:
    dev.scsi.logging_level:
      value: 1

21.3. Configuring the server console

Console output from overcloud nodes is not always sent to the server console. If you want to view this output in the server console, you must configure the overcloud to use the correct console for your hardware. Use one of the following methods to perform this configuration:

  • Modify the KernelArgs heat parameter for each overcloud role.
  • Customize the overcloud-hardened-uefi-full.qcow2 image that director uses to provision the overcloud nodes.

Prerequisites

Modifying KernelArgs with heat during deployment

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

  2. Source the stackrc credentials file: 

    $ source stackrc

  3. Create an environment file overcloud-console.yaml with the following content: 

    parameter_defaults:
  <role>Parameters:
    KernelArgs: "console=<console-name>"

    Replace <role> with the name of the overcloud role that you want to configure, and replace <console-name> with the ID of the console that you want to use. For example, use the following snippet to configure all overcloud nodes in the default roles to use tty0: 

    parameter_defaults:
  ControllerParameters:
    KernelArgs: "console=tty0"
  ComputeParameters:
    KernelArgs: "console=tty0"
  BlockStorageParameters:
    KernelArgs: "console=tty0"
  ObjectStorageParameters:
    KernelArgs: "console=tty0"
  CephStorageParameters:
    KernelArgs: "console=tty0"
  4. Include the overcloud-console-tty0.yaml file in your deployment command with the -e option.

Modifying the overcloud-hardened-uefi-full.qcow2 image

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

  2. Source the stackrc credentials file: 

    $ source stackrc

  3. Modify the kernel arguments in the overcloud-hardened-uefi-full.qcow2 image to set the correct console for your hardware. For example, set the console to tty1: 

    $ virt-customize --selinux-relabel -a overcloud-hardened-uefi-full.qcow2 --run-command 'grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="console=tty1"'

  4. Import the image into director: 

    $ openstack overcloud image upload --image-path overcloud-hardened-uefi-full.qcow2
  5. Deploy the overcloud.

Verification

  1. Log in to an overcloud node from the undercloud: 

    $ ssh tripleo-admin@<IP-address>

    Replace <IP-address> with the IP address of an overcloud node.

  2. Inspect the contents of the /proc/cmdline file and ensure that console= parameter is set to the value of the console that you want to use: 

    [tripleo-admin@controller-0 ~]$ cat /proc/cmdline
BOOT_IMAGE=(hd0,msdos2)/boot/vmlinuz-4.18.0-193.29.1.el8_2.x86_64 root=UUID=0ec3dea5-f293-4729-b676-5d38a611ce81 ro console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n81 no_timer_check crashkernel=auto rhgb quiet

21.4. Configuring external load balancing

An overcloud uses multiple Controllers together as a high availability cluster, which ensures maximum operational performance for your OpenStack services. In addition, the cluster provides load balancing for access to the OpenStack services, which evenly distributes traffic to the Controller nodes and reduces server overload for each node. You can also use an external load balancer to perform this distribution. For example, you can use your own hardware-based load balancer to handle traffic distribution to the Controller nodes.

For more information about configuring external load balancing, see the dedicated External Load Balancing for the Overcloud guide.

21.5. Configuring IPv6 networking

This section examines the network configuration for the overcloud. This includes isolating the OpenStack services to use specific network traffic and configuring the overcloud with IPv6 options.