openstack-manuals/doc/common/section_dashboard_launch_instances_from_image.xml

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  xml:id="dashboard_launch_instances_from_image">
    <title>Launch an instance from an image</title>
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    <para>Instances are virtual machines that run inside the
        cloud.</para>
    <para>You can launch an instance directly from one of the
        available OpenStack images. The OpenStack Image service
        provides a pool of images that are accessible to members of
        different projects. When you launch an instance from an image,
        OpenStack creates a local copy of the image on the respective
        compute node where the instance is started.</para>
    <para>Alternatively, you can launch an instance from an image that
        you have copied to a persistent volume.</para>
    <para>To launch an instance, specify the following
        parameters:</para>
    <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
            <para>The <guilabel>instance source</guilabel>, which is
                an image or snapshot. Alternatively, you can boot from
                a volume, which is block storage, to which you've
                copied an image or snapshot.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
            <para>The <guilabel>image</guilabel> or
                    <guilabel>snapshot</guilabel>, which represents
                the operating system.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
            <para>A <guilabel>name</guilabel> for your instance.
           </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
            <para>The <emphasis role="bold">flavor</emphasis> for your
                instance, which defines the compute, memory, and
                storage capacity of nova computing instances. A flavor
                is an available hardware configuration for a server.
                It defines the size of a virtual server that can be
                launched.</para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
            <para>Access and security credentials, which include one
                or both of the following credentials:</para>
            <itemizedlist>
                <listitem>
                    <para>A <emphasis role="bold">keypair</emphasis>
                        for your instance, which are SSH credentials
                        that are injected into images when they are
                        launched. For this to work, the image must
                        contain the <literal>cloud-init</literal>
                        package. Create at least one keypair for each
                        project. If you already have generated a
                        keypair with an external tool, you can import
                        it into OpenStack. You can use the keypair for
                        multiple instances that belong to that
                        project.</para>
                </listitem>
                <listitem>
                    <para>A <emphasis role="bold">security
                            group</emphasis>, which defines which
                        incoming network traffic is forwarded to
                        instances. Security groups hold a set of
                        firewall policies, known as <emphasis
                            role="italic">security group
                            rules</emphasis>.</para>
                </listitem>
            </itemizedlist>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
            <para>If needed, you can assign a <emphasis role="bold"
                    >floating (public) IP address</emphasis> to a
                running instance and attach a block storage device, or
                volume, for persistent storage.</para>
        </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
    <procedure>
        <title>To launch an instance:</title>
        <step>
            <para>Log in to the OpenStack dashboard.</para>
        </step>
        <step>
            <para>If you are a member of multiple projects, select a
                project from the drop-down list at the top of the
                    <guilabel>Project</guilabel> tab.</para>
        </step>
        <step>
            <para>Click the <guilabel>Images &amp; Snapshot</guilabel>
                category.</para>
            <para>The dashboard shows the images that have been
                uploaded to OpenStack Image service and are available
                for this project.</para>
        </step>
        <step>
            <para>Select an image and click
                    <guibutton>Launch</guibutton>. The
                    <guilabel>Launch Image</guilabel> window appears: <figure>
                    <title>OpenStack dashboard - Launch Instances
                        window</title>
                    <mediaobject>
                        <imageobject>
                            <imagedata
                                fileref="figures/launch_instances.png"
                                width="6in" contentwidth="6in"/>
                        </imageobject>
                    </mediaobject>
                </figure></para>
        </step>
        <step>
            <para>Specify the following parameters:</para>

            <itemizedlist>
                <listitem>
                    <para>Enter an instance name to assign to the
                        virtual machine.</para>
                </listitem>
                <listitem>
                    <para>From the <guilabel>Flavor</guilabel>
                        drop-down list, select the size of the virtual
                        machine to launch.</para>
                </listitem>
                <listitem>
                    <para>Optionally, select a keypair.</para>
                    <para>In case an image uses a static root password
                        or a static key set (neither is recommended),
                        you do not need to provide a keypair on
                        starting the instance.</para>
                </listitem>
                <listitem>
                    <para>In <guilabel>Instance Count</guilabel>,
                        enter the number of virtual machines to launch
                        from this image.</para>
                </listitem>
                <listitem>
                    <para>Assign the instance to the default security
                        group. If you added rules to this group, the
                        instance implements these rules.</para>
                </listitem>
               <!-- <listitem>
                    <para>If you want to boot from volume, click the
                        respective entry to expand its options. Set
                        the options as described in Launching
                        Instances from a Volume.</para>
                </listitem> -->
            </itemizedlist>
        </step>
        <step>
            <para>Click <guibutton>Launch Instance</guibutton>. The
                instance is launched on any of the compute nodes in
                the cloud.</para>
        </step>
    </procedure>
    <para>After you have launched an instance, switch to the
            <guilabel>Instances &amp; Volumes</guilabel> category to
        view the instance name, its (private or public) IP address,
        size, status, task, and power state.</para>
    <figure>
        <title>OpenStack dashboard - Instances</title>
        <mediaobject>
            <imageobject>
                <imagedata fileref="figures/instances.png" width="6in"
                    contentwidth="6in"/>
            </imageobject>
        </mediaobject>
    </figure>
    <para>If you did not provide a keypair on starting and have not
        touched security groups or rules so far, by default the
        instance can only be accessed from inside the cloud through
        VNC at this point. Even pinging the instance is not possible.</para>
</section>