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Nimbus 2.5 Zero To Cloud Guide

This "zero to cloud" guide contains configuration information for system administrators working with Nimbus.

This is the main way Nimbus is installed and if this is your first time installing it, it is highly recommended that you follow this process exactly.

When you have finished the guide, you will have a working cloud configuration that serves remote users using the cloud-client, EC2 clients such as boto, and S3 clients such as s3cmd.

If you are unfamiliar with the cloud client, it may be good to get access to a working installation to try it out first, but it is not necessary. You could also look over the cloud overview documentation to get context.

The guide is broken up into different pages. As you make your way through, in sequence, you must complete each page's instructions. By the end of each page you will have been able to test your work such that you know you can move on.

  • Service Dependencies

    On this page, you will install any missing dependencies for the service node.

  • Service Installation

    On this page, you will install the Nimbus central services and image repository (Cumulus), and use a cloud client to access your cloud as a remote client.

    This will however only work in "fake mode" which means that the service is only pretending to start VMs. In later steps you will enable VMMs, connect them with the central service, and have a working cloud setup.

  • Install DHCPd and Configure Networking

    On this page, you will install a central DHCPd daemon (or integrate with an existing one) and configure the networking addresses you want to give out to virtual machines when they boot.

  • Install VMM Software

    On this page, you will install the Nimbus VMM software (workspace-control) and any of its dependencies (including Xen or KVM as well as libvirt, if these are not present already).

    workspace-control contains scripts that will help you test that your Xen/KVM/libvirt installation will work with the programmatic access patterns that Nimbus uses.

  • SSH Setup

    On this page, you will configure SSH on your cluster so that the Nimbus components can properly and securely communicate.

  • Final Tests

    On this page, you will remotely test the system with the cloud client like you did before. But this time, a virtual machine will be started for you as expected.

    This page also describes what to do next after completing the guide.