Using the HybridFox plugin to manage Openstack Nova

Introduction

A recurrent question about the distro is why we don't embed the Openstack Reference Dashboard UI with the distro. The answer is very simple: it can't manage floating IPs, and we think this is a basic feature for most of our potential customers. We tried to reenable this feature and give it back to the community, but the Dashboard was migrating from the EC2 API to the new Openstack API, and it was the OS API the one that lacked of this feature. Does it mean you cannot use the Dashboard with the distro? No, not at all. You can use it, but it will lack of the support for floating IPs.

Obviously it's only a question of time before the Dashboard (and the OS API) support all these features. Probably Diablo will support this and much more features (specially the new network stuff). In the meantime, we are using a Firefox plugin that supports Openstack Nova EC2 compatible API. The plugin is called Hybridfox and it's very well known by Eucalyptus and Amazon users. With this plugin you have access to all the EC2-compatible features of Openstack Nova, and honestly it works very well.

Install the plugin

To install the plugin, you need to download it and install it directly from the download page of their website (you won't find it in the Firefox Plugin official page). The version you have to install is the latest version of the 1.6 release. You can download it directly from this link. You will need to restart the browser after the installation.

Starting Hybridfox

After opening the browser, you will need to go to Tools > Hybridfox. The management interface will appear.

Connecting to the Openstack Nova EC2 endpoint

First we need to add the Openstack Nova endpoint where our cloud platform is running. Click on Regions, a form with the list of cloud platforms available will be displayed. 

Now, you have to enter three parameters:

• Region name: be smart and choose wisely. This is the name of your platform, so choose whatever name you want.
• Type: Openstack. 
• Endpoint URL: this is the endpoint where your platform is listening for EC2 API requests. You can find this endpoint url in the novarc file generated when creating a new project, in the EC2_URL environment variable.

Ok, you are done, click the Add button and your region is configured.

Adding credentials

Credentials are the information you need to access the platform. Following the EC2 pattern, it's a combination of an access key and a secret key. So, clicking on Credentials a list of available credentials will be displayed.

You have to enter these four parameters:

• Account name: a text describing the account name. It can be the name you gave when created the account, for example.
• AWS Access key: You can find this access key in the novarc file generated when creating a new project, in the EC2_ACCESS_KEY environment variable
• AWS Secret Access key: You can find this access key in the novarc file generated when creating a new project, in the EC2_SECRET_KEY environment variable
• Preferred Region: You have to choose the Region you just created in the former step.
  Click the Add button and your credentials are done. You can start to manage your account with the plugin.

Managing the cloud

First of all, select the Region and Account from each combo. The credentials will load and then the information about your resources will be displayed on each tab.

There are a few tutorials on how to manage EC2 and Eucalyptus with Hybridfox. They all apply to Openstack Nova, so you can go and check them if you need some help about the plugin.