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Added [ironic] topic.

On 10/04/2018 06:06 PM, Chris Friesen wrote:
> While discussing the "Add HPET timer support for x86 guests" 
> blueprint[1] one of the items that came up was how to represent what are 
> essentially flags that impact both scheduling and configuration.  Eric 
> Fried posted a spec to start a discussion[2], and a number of nova 
> developers met on a hangout to hash it out.  This is the result.
> 
> In this specific scenario the goal was to allow the user to specify that 
> their image required a virtual HPET.  For efficient scheduling we wanted 
> this to map to a placement trait, and the virt driver also needed to 
> enable the feature when booting the instance.  (This can be generalized 
> to other similar problems, including how to specify scheduling and 
> configuration information for Ironic.)
> 
> We discussed two primary approaches:
> 
> The first approach was to specify an arbitrary "key=val" in flavor 
> extra-specs or image properties, which nova would automatically 
> translate into the appropriate placement trait before passing it to 
> placement.  Once scheduled to a compute node, the virt driver would look 
> for "key=val" in the flavor/image to determine how to proceed.
> 
> The second approach was to directly specify the placement trait in the 
> flavor extra-specs or image properties.  Once scheduled to a compute 
> node, the virt driver would look for the placement trait in the 
> flavor/image to determine how to proceed.
> 
> Ultimately, the decision was made to go with the second approach.  The 
> result is that it is officially acceptable for virt drivers to key off 
> placement traits specified in the image/flavor in order to turn on/off 
> configuration options for the instance.  If we do get down to the virt 
> driver and the trait is set, and the driver for whatever reason 
> determines it's not capable of flipping the switch, it should fail.

Ironicers, pay attention to the above! :) It's a green light from Nova 
to use the traits list contained in the flavor extra specs and image 
metadata when (pre-)configuring an instance.

> It should be noted that it only makes sense to use placement traits for 
> things that affect scheduling.  If it doesn't affect scheduling, then it 
> can be stored in the flavor extra-specs or image properties separate 
> from the placement traits.  Also, this approach only makes sense for 
> simple booleans.  Anything requiring more complex configuration will 
> likely need additional extra-spec and/or config and/or unicorn dust.

Ironicers, also pay close attention to the advice above. Things that are 
not "scheduleable" -- in other words, things that don't filter the list 
of hosts that a workload can land on -- should not go in traits.

Finally, here's the HPET os-traits patch. Reviews welcome (it's tiny patch):

https://review.openstack.org/608258

Best,
-jay

> Chris
> 
> [1] https://blueprints.launchpad.net/nova/+spec/support-hpet-on-guest
> [2] 
> https://review.openstack.org/#/c/607989/1/specs/stein/approved/support-hpet-on-guest.rst 
> 
> 
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