Open Stack

On 02/26/2014 06:58 PM, Joe Topjian wrote:
> With those thoughts in mind, here are my $0.02:
> 
> I frequently work with system administrators new to OpenStack and
> planning to deploy once they learned how to use it. I've worked with
> Ubuntu, Red Hat, and Debian users. I don't try to convince them to pick
> one distro or the other -- that's their decision.
> 
> In all cases, I always have them focus on editing the various
> configuration files manually. This is for a few reasons:
> 
> 1. It works across all distros.
> 2. It invokes more of a rote learning mindset, which I find a benefit
> when learning something new. It works, too. By the time the user has
> reached installing the Cinder service, they already know the 3-step
> pattern (install packages, edit config file, restart service), as well
> as have a general idea of where the config file is located and what
> common settings are applied.
> 3. Even when they try to use a "helper" tool such as openstack-config or
> the debconf tool, they always have to go back to manually edit the
> configuration file for some reason or another (typo, option unique to
> their environment, etc).
> 
> To create a solid foundation for learning OpenStack, I feel the user
> must know their way around the configuration files, so I think the
> installation instructions should be as distro-agnostic and fundamental
> as possible.  As stated in Anne's original email, appendixes can be
> created for the distro-specific tools (and even the iniset devstack
> function). It won't be possible to get rid of all conditional markup, as
> each distro has a different way to install packages, restart services, etc.
> 
> Regarding the supplemental components of the install (RabbitMQ, MySQL,
> etc), I think a standard set of components should be used if they work
> across all distros. I understand that this might come across as
> endorsing the component as the "official" choice of an OpenStack
> installation, but that's not the intent. Instead, the intent is to use a
> standard set of working components in order to focus on the OpenStack
> installation itself. More time can be devoted to documenting the various
> OpenStack installation types (nova-network, neutron, object storage
> only, etc). Short of the AMQP service, I can't think of any other
> service that differs from distro to distro, but I think the idea is
> important.
> 
> Additionally, once a standard set of components is used, supplemental
> documentation (appendixes?) can be written by experts of different
> components. This allows install guide authors to focus on one set and
> not have to be a "jack of all trades" to support all possible components
> while at the same time tapping the community for experts in other areas.
> 
> So that's my opinion. I realize it holds little weight as I don't
> contribute as much to docs as I did a few months ago. But I do work
> hands-on with OpenStack every day and frequently meet with people to
> help them get started. These views are a result of my experience.


I have nothing against replacing openstack-config with general
instructions for editing - and placing openstack-config or crudini in an
appendix.

We can also write the install instructions in a more generic way, so say
for example:
On Ubuntu, install the package "cinder".
On Fedora, openSUSE ... install the package "openstack-cinder".

And have a distro specific appendix where it's documented that for
installing packages you run on Fedora "yum install $package", on
openSUSE "zypper install $package" ...
The disadvantage is that you cannot copy & paste the complete command-line.

Both should reduce some of the conditionals we currently have. I agree
with you that there are differences between distributions and their
packages and we should account for these.

I really suggest that somebody writes down what exactly is proposed
(incl. instruction on what to change) and perhaps converts a section or
two to see how it looks.

Andreas
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