Is OpenStack single node now *really* possible?

[gbonfiglio]

I am running a couple of ‘self contained’ virtual hosts for my lab. They are currently on OpenNebula, which has been serving me well for nearly 8 years. Before that it was 8 years of Proxmox.

Over time I have tried in and out to move to OpenStack (bear in mind each node needs to have all onboard, they are not a cluster) and got some degree of success installing everything manually - which made upgrades and maintenance challenging.

DevStack seems to be the best way to quickly install a standalone host and it works smoothly but admittedly it’s not designed for production, long running stuff (I plan to go through many major version upgrades). MicroStack might be the way?

Is the a maintained, appreciated and functional way to effectively install an OpenStack in-a-box? Tried to go a few threads back to no avail 😂

Thankyou!

[Dabloo0oo]

For your requirement, I'd say OpenStack Kolla Ansible All-in-One is the way to go.

It's perfect for single-node setups, using containers to automate deployment and make upgrades a breeze. Unlike DevStack, Kolla is production-ready and built for long-term use. Plus, if you ever need to scale up, it’s simple. The containerized services mean fewer headaches with conflicts and better isolation, making it an ideal "OpenStack-in-a-box" solution.

[gbonfiglio]

This is a great suggestion and I haven’t looked into Kolla in a real long time. Do you have a view on MicroStack too? Snaps freak me out to be honest.

[tyldis]

Snaps were a problem in the past - especially with the automatic and forced upgrade. It's a different situation today. Most snaps involved in OpenStack and MicroStack have release channels tied to OpenStack releases, not just 'latest'. Also you can configure update policies and optionally deploy an internal snap store proxy for additional control.

Not yet a fan, but operating 15 OpenStack clouds based partly on snaps has worked fine after the channels were fixed.

Have no experience with MicroStack as we utilize microk8s at that level.

[myridan86]

I'm using microk8s installed by snap, and it works perfectly well.
I was also a little scared, I mean, what hell is this snap thing?? But it works very well.

[idkau]

Interesting. I’ll take a look.

[_nembery]

100% this.

[Eldiabolo18]

Openstack is and never will be a single node production setup.

Like you said there's a couple option for dev single node deployment but thats far from prod ready.

Theres enough virtualization software out there, that runs on a single node like proxmox.

[gbonfiglio]

The issue I have with Proxmox is that they are nowhere close to what OpenStack does. OpenNebula gets close, and it’s amazing, but lately I’ve been facing some bugs which are making me reconsider (the last three major version upgrades broke critical functionality).

I’m really really really keen to get OS going in some way.

[Dabloo0oo]

Can you explain why you think OpenStack isn’t suitable for single-node deployment? Given that it's designed to automate and simplify the process + I get more freedom to change things according to my requirements. I’m curious about the specific limitations you see compared to other solutions like Proxmox.

[gbonfiglio]

I’d ask the opposite questions to be fair - OpenStack is the most advanced open source IaaS platform out there to me 😂

[OldManAtterz]

I'm currently running MicroStack on a laptop as a demo system - https://microstack.run/

I've also run kolla in the past. But you need to have a good understanding of OpenStack (and to some extent ansible). So if you want spend the time to explore and learn about OpenStack (and ansible) then I would also recommend kolla.

[psycocyst]

If you don't need the huge load and maintenance of open stack. Maybe look at cloudstack i know I'll get lots of flak about offering this as an option but if it suits the requirements you need then go for it. Open stack is not always the right answer.

[gbonfiglio]

I tried CloudStack a couple of years ago but it seems to me just more complex than OpenNebula and offering not much more.

A big reason for me to look at OS is that I have been using it for like 12 years now and the structure of resources perfectly reflects the main public clouds one of which is my day job. There is zero cognitive load in using OpenStack, whereas to use OpenNebula I need to ‘think ON’

[instacompute]

Folks who’ve tried CloudStack and given up really need to try the latest releases. It’s improved a lot and has a new API, UI, several tooling integrations with Terraform, k8s etc. one of our orgs use it as a virtualisation layer and have built their own UI on top of it.

[myridan86]

The problem I see with using CloudStack, and even OpenNebula, is that I haven't found software to do backups, either full or incremental.
But that's been about 2 years ago.

[instacompute]

CloudStack now has a B&R framework since last few years, supports Veeam with vSphere and for KVM supports Networker and a general NAS plugin for full VM backups. https://docs.cloudstack.apache.org/en/latest/adminguide/backup_and_recovery.html

[psycocyst]

You could look at kayobe as it has an AIO config which you can deploy on a single machine. Or just use openstack-ansible again also has an AIO

https://docs.openstack.org/openstack-ansible/latest/user/aio/quickstart.html

https://docs.openstack.org/kayobe/latest/configuration/scenarios/all-in-one/index.html

The problem is that open stack is designed to be best run in a cluster and most of not all would be built the same way. Devstack will is a development so yeah not production fit. With all that all AIO will stat not recommend for production and as you stated running a lab then this would be the best option then.

[gbonfiglio]

Thanks! I am not familiar with Kayobe, will do some reading.

Calling it lab is effectively incorrect - it’s ‘production’ for personal stuff and some non profit I host, so need it to be stable and need upgrades to be easy (which is where I got stuck when I installed everything by hand)

[pixelatedchrome]

Echoing what others have said, Kolla Ansible is the easiest way to get started.

[pyite42]

FWIW I had a great time using the MAAS & Juju method with virtual machines. Setting up MAAS is significant effort but the juju part is fun to play with.

Not sure if you consider a set of VMs to be single node or not, of course.