.. index: Introduction

.. _Introduction:

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Introduction to Fuel™ for OpenStack
===================================

OpenStack is an extensible, versatile, and flexible cloud management platform. 
By exposing its portfolio of cloud infrastructure services – compute, storage, 
networking and other core resources — through ReST APIs, OpenStack enables a 
wide range of control over these services, both from the perspective of an 
integrated Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) controlled by applications, as 
well as automated manipulation of the infrastructure itself.

This architectural flexibility doesn’t set itself up magically. It asks you, the 
user and cloud administrator, to organize and manage an extensive array of 
configuration options. Consequently, getting the most out of your OpenStack 
cloud over time – in terms of flexibility, scalability, and manageability – 
requires a thoughtful combination of complex configuration choices. This can be 
very time consuming and requires a significant amount of studious documentation 
to comprehend.

Mirantis Fuel™ for OpenStack was created to eliminate exactly these problems. 
This step-by-step guide takes you through this process of:

* Configuring OpenStack and its supporting components into a robust cloud 
  architecture
* Deploying that architecture through an effective, well-integrated automation 
  package that sets up and maintains the components and their configurations
* Providing access to a well-integrated, up-to-date set of components known to 
  work together

Fuel™ for OpenStack can be used to create virtually any OpenStack configuration. 
To make things easier, the installation includes several pre-defined 
architectures. For the sake of simplicity, this guide emphasises a single, 
common reference architecture; the multi-node, high-availability configuration. 
We begin with an explanation of this architecture, then move on to the details 
of creating the configuration in a test environment using VirtualBox. Finally, 
we give you the information you need to know to create this and other OpenStack 
architectures in a production environment.

This guide assumes that you are familiar with general Linux commands and 
administration concepts, as well as general networking concepts. You should have 
some familiarity with grid or virtualization systems such as Amazon Web Services 
or VMware, as well as OpenStack itself, but you don't need to be an expert.

The Fuel User Guide is organized as follows:

* :ref:`About Fuel <About_Fuel>`, gives you an 
  overview of Fuel and gives you a general idea of how it works.

* :ref:`Reference Architecture <Reference-Architecture>`, provides a 
  general look at the components that make up OpenStack.

* :ref:`Create a multi-node OpenStack cluster using Fuel UI <Create-Cluster-UI>`,
  takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a high-availability 
  OpenStack cluster using Fuel Web. 

* :ref:`Deploy an OpenStack cluster using Fuel CLI <Deploy-Cluster-CLI>`, 
  takes you step-by-step through the more advanced process of creating a 
  high-availability OpenStack cluster using the standard Fuel tools.

* :ref:`Production Considerations <Production>`, looks at the 
  real-world questions and problems involved in creating an OpenStack cluster 
  for production use. We discuss issues such as network layout and hardware 
  requirements, and provide tips and tricks for creating a cluster of up to 100 
  nodes.

* With the current (3.1) release Fuel UI (aka FuelWeb) and Fuel CLI 
  (aka Fuel Library) has been integrated. We encourage all users to use the Fuel 
  UI for installation and configuration. However, 
  the standard Fuel CLI installation process is still available for those who 
  prefer a more detailed approach to deployment. Even with a utility as powerful 
  as Fuel, creating an OpenStack cluster can be complex, and  
  :ref:`Frequently Asked Questions <FAQ>` covers many of the issues that tend 
  to arise during the process. 

Lets start off by taking a look at Fuel itself. We'll start by explaining what 
it is and :ref:`how Fuel works <How-Fuel-Works>` , and then move to the process 
of installation itself.