Dashboard Console not working - opesntack on Oracle Linux 6.6

Question

I have installed openstack using the instructions at http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/openstack/linux/documentation/oracle-openstack-user-guide-2296176.pdf
I have a Oracle Linux 6.6 as the controller and two nodes of Oracle VM 3.3.2 as compute nodes. I managed to get an instance up and running but not sure how to connect to those instances. When I navigate to the console tab of the instance vnc connects successfully the be screen is blank and I think its not accepting any keyboard inputs as well.
How do I get the console to work from the dashboard (or connect via a vnc viewer)? Alternately I have used DHCP in the instance and know the private IP of the instance (192.168.1.100), how do I ssh to the instance?
Amish.

Answer 1

Hi Amish,
I saw your comment in other thread and I'll try to answer your questions in the best way I can - but this is huge topic. Please keep in mind that I'm also newbie in this area too and I've encountered many problems getting basic OpenStack installation working, like you. Some of them are still not solved for me either. I also did not get any help here
Networking in OpenStack is IMO difficult to understand, especially for people like me who are accustom with traditional approach. So this is how I understand it now:
Networking can be purely software driven and in this case it is carried out by openvswitch (http://openvswitch.org - better get accustom with it if you are not yet). Simple linux bridge - utilized by Oracle VM - is not used by OpenStack. Also there can be hardware plugins which can move some of network features to hardware - but I have no experience in this area.
There are two types of networks you can create in OpenStack: provider and tenant one:
Provider networks (also called flat networks) are equivalent of what you set in Oracle VM Manager and in typical (old fashioned) IT world. These are networks which in OpenStack are defined by cloud administrator (You) and bound to existing physical network which are already set by network administrator. For example you have couple of ports on your servers connected to LAN switches, some of them are in access mode some are trunks of specific VLANs. Also routers and other network services are managed outside of your cloud.
You need to define these networks in OpenStack before any user can connect their VMs to them. The most important part is that can do this from the GUI .
On the other hand there are so called: tenant networks. These are networks which are under cloud user administration. These are like cloud private networks (if you know Ops Center or Exalogic there is similar notion there) - which are created on-demand by your users. You as cloud administrator only create some limits (quotas) regarding how many such networks can be created by user. But obviously you - as cloud administrator - also need to define mechanisms which allow such networks be created on demand. This also has to be done from command line by editing some files - before users can create tenant networks.
The mechanism I'm talking about can be: VLAN, VxLAN, GRE.
First one is the only one currently supported by Oracle and it is quite simple: you, in cooperation with your network administrator reserve range (or set) of traditional VLANs and configure them on network switches where your servers are connected (I mean server ports which you dedicate for tenant networks - not all because you need other network for management, etc). Then you define this set in some OpenStack files to let it manage them on its own. For example: you have got 20 VLANs from network department for exclusive use for your cloud. Nobody knows what each VLAN will be used for yet. This will be allocated by cloud users on-demand. Openstack will just allocate VLAN upon user request and will not allow other users to create their private networks on the same VLAN.
Better approach is to use VxLAN which is tunneling mechanism. You don't need pool of VLANs in this case but you just set tunneling rules and then OpenStack creates private networks using secure tunnels over L3 network which you define first. VxLAN is standard, you can read about it and it is used by OpenStack for Solaris. Unfortunately this did not work for me and Release Notes from Oracle OpenStack for Linux says that it is not supported yet.
There is also GRE - which is also tunneling and is similar to VxLAN - but it did not work for me either.
Where it is all configured? Basic setup is created by packstack using CONFIG_NEUTRON_OVS_* variables. However I used packstack only for installation and then I modified configuration files on all nodes. The most important file where configuration is kept is: /etc/neutron/plugin.ini. In this files you set framework on which provider and tenant networks are build. The most important section is [OVS], for example:
[OVS]
enant_network_type=vlan
enable_tunneling=false
integration_bridge=br-int
bridge_mappings=physnet1:br-eth3
network_vlan_ranges=physnet1:2032:2032,physnet1:3010:3020
This example is from compute node. It says: I have one physical network: physnet1 which is supported by virtual switch called br-eth3. You need to create this virtual switch on your own! OpenStack networking deamons (Neutron) do not create virtual switches - they only reconfigure them if needed. Physical network is just name which you can use later on if you setup provider network.
Also, in the example you tell OpenStack that you have 11 VLANs available on physnet1 network. Similar configuration has to be done on controller node (but it is only because in simple topology your controller is also network node)
Then I dedicated first VLAN: 2032 for provider network. This was accomplished by command issued on controller node.
# neutron net-create --router:external=true --provider:network_type=vlan  --provider:physical_network=physnet1 --provider:segmentation_id=2032 labnet
From that moment this network (called "labnet") should appear in the GUI and you can connect VMs to it. Users might also do this if you mark it as "shared".
Also users should be able to create their private networks and this will allocate VLANs from 3010 to 3020 - so there can be only 10 private networks created totally in your cloud now.
Of course this is example and you can build completely different setup. You can use different ports for provider networks and for tenants one. You do not need VLANs for provider networks and theoretically for tenant too - but you would have to have plenty of ports for this. If you manage to get VxLAN working - then please share your experience here.
I strongly recommend reading following information sources (Oracle does  not provide this details in their documentation):
OpenStack Docs: Current
https://developer.rackspace.com/blog/neutron-networking-the-building-blocks-of-an-openstack-cloud/  there are more blog entries (followups) on this topic - look for them using keyword "neutron"
https://www.rdoproject.org/forum/discussion/875/does-rdo-support-flat-network-type-/p1
As for blank VM console:
I've also had this problem when I used Cirros VM images. However when I imported the template I use on my Oracle VM - then console was working correctly. I think this is more connected with VM configuration then OpenStack. AFAIK you can connect to console directly using vnc client - at least you can configure Nova in that way that it allows external VNC connections.
Regards,
Michal