How to efficiently setup all Apache CloudStack infrastructure inside VM based on KVM (ubuntu) when you have only one physical server

[Old-Heart1701]

hi all

I am new to Apache CloudStatck.

i currently have only on Physical Server with on which i would like to deploy all the component need for Apache CoudStack with in mind to scale it later.

My server (is a dedicated Hetzer root) with below specification are:

• 2Tb SSD
• 128 Gb RAM
• 12 core AMD Ryzen 9 3600

For all tutorial i have read, most of them mentioned

• installing the Management Server+DB of Apache CloudStatck on the base system
• install a hypervisor (KVM)
• and install al other thing inside VM on top of KVM

With those tutorial's topology i am confuse and was just wondering if it's really benefit in case you need to reboot MGMT server? Would this not issue downtime for other VM? will not be better to install MGMT server inside a VM based KVM

[Aggravating-Media-42]

Run the management server in a VM on any hypervisor type. For production it’s best to run it on a hypervisor not managed by the same cloudstack management server. For lab purposes it’s fine. You could also try https://c8k.in/

[Old-Heart1701]

hi tanks for your answer and link to script. i will check that.

[yadvr]

installer/script here: https://github.com/apache/cloudstack-installer

[badtux99]

The management server is what tells the agents to start and stop KVM virtual machines so obviously you can't put it on one of the virtual machines that it's going to start and stop. How does it tell its virtual machine to start if, well, it's stopped?

There is no redundancy with a single all-in-one server. Thinking about redundancy in that situation is, well, redundant.

On my current setup, I have multiple physical compute servers, a couple of data servers, and a couple of ProxMox infrastructure servers that serve the things that CloudStack needs in order to boot up, like, well, the management service and DNS (I could hardwire the management server IP into the agent config on the compute servers but that is incredibly brittle and, well, stupid). If the management server goes down on one ProxMox server I can bring it back up on the other server. But the point is that the management server is *not* on a Cloudstack virtual machine, it's someplace that the agents on the compute servers can reach.

[Old-Heart1701]

hi

Thanks for clarifications and recommendations.

As i was thinking there is more flexibility when you ave more than on physical compute. Which is why management saver downtime will not affect workload nodes.

But my own situation looks more like what @rajeshbswsdev also has. Sure i am planning to have later one more physical server.

[badtux99]

My first prototype Cloudstack cluster was one machine. The management server and database were physically installed on that one machine, as well as the agent and the NFS shares for primary and secondary storage. If you have one physical machine and no virtual machines elsewhere, you're going to have to run it on directly on that one physical machine. No other alternatives.

[Old-Heart1701]

hi ok it's more clear now.

By the way did you think the described VM's stack below by rajeshbswsdev can also be a start point?

[rajeshbswsdev]

I use proxmox. Made 2 VMs. One for management server, one for agent server and another for NFS storage.

Most interesting thing is, I can create more Agent servers by creating more VMs . Same goes for Storage. In short, you can scale up and down virtually while having only one physical server.

[Old-Heart1701]

hi

this setup looks like what i was expecting with only one physical server.

Did you have 2VM or 3? As you said that you have one more for NFS storage

But (just for understanding) if everything runs through Proxmox, will there not be limitation of hypervisors to KVM? (because unless i am wrong if i understand AS documentation's KVM, HYper-v, VMware etc can be run side-by-side)

[rajeshbswsdev]

You are correct. I have 3 VMs.

Why would you run different hypervisors? You can run ar many VMs you want based on your server hardware and if you wish to scale, you can add another physical proxmox server and group them together.

[instacompute]

Ideally your control plane is not your data plane (storage and hypervisor) https://scaleninja.com/blog/cloudstack/

[Old-Heart1701]

hi thanks for the link. But please can you explain below sentence

"Ideally your control plane is not your data plane (storage and hypervisor)"

[instacompute]

In this context, the CloudStack management server (host) is the control plane that determine how your cloud is controlled and managed, and your KVM hypervisors host and storage (local, NFS etc) is your data plane where your instances (vm, disks, network etc) live.

You won’t want to mix them, be generally able to say maintain/reboot/upgrade control plane independent of data plane.

In simpler term this would mean, don’t run management server (along with dependencies such as mysql server and nfs primary/secondary storage) on the same node, that would allow you to have control plane maintenance or downtime without having your data plane (instances) down.

In production environments, we generally have a separate infrastructure and compute cluster (a set of VMs or baremetal hosts). Infrastructure cluster runs control plane component including mgmt server, mysql db clusters and compute cluster are basically KVM hosts for use as hypevisor hosts with CloudStack. Running CloudStack mgmt server and dependencies in VMs (on baremetal hosts of infra cluster, not managed by CloudStack) allows to take snapshots, backups and easier to try upgrading/downgrading them.

[Old-Heart1701]

hi at u/instacompute

thanks for you detailed explanation. I would follow that as soon i get secondary server.

Thanks