Installing AppFormix for OpenStack in HA

HA Design Overview

AppFormix Platform can be deployed to multiple hosts for high availability. Platform services continue to communicate using an API proxy that listens on a virtual IP address. Only one host will have the virtual IP at a time, and so only one API proxy will be the “active” API proxy at a time.

The API proxy is implemented by HAProxy. HAProxy is configured to use services in active-standby or load-balanced active-active mode, depending on the service.

At most, one host will be assigned the virtual IP at any given time. This host is considered the “active” HAproxy. The virtual IP address is assigned to a host by keepalived, which uses VRRP protocol for election.

Services are replicated in different modes of operation. In the “active-passive” mode, HAProxy sends all requests to a single “active” instance of a service. If the service fails, then HAProxy will select a new “active” from the other hosts, and begin to send requests to the new “active” service.In the “active-active” mode, HAProxy load balances requests across hosts on which a service is operational.

AppFormix Platform can be deployed in a 3-node, 5-node, or 7-node configuration for high availability.

Requirements

Each host, on which AppFormix Platform is installed, has the following requirements.

• Hardware Requirements
• Software Requirements
• Connectivity
• AppFormix Agent Supported Platforms

Installing AppFormix for High Availability

To install AppFormix to multiple hosts for high availability:

1. Install Ansible on the installer node. Ansible will install docker and docker-py on the appformix_controller.

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   # sudo apt-get install python-pip python-dev build-essential libssl-dev libffi-dev    
   # sudo pip install ansible==1.9.6 markupsafe httplib2 
   

   For Ansible 2.3:

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   # sudo pip install ansible==2.3 markupsafe httplib2 cryptography==1.5

2. Install python and python-pip on all the Platform Hosts so that Ansible can run between the installer node and the appformix_controller node.

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   # sudo apt-get install -y python python-pip

3. Install python pip package on the hosts where AppFormix Agents run.

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   # apt-get install -y python-pip

4. To enable passwordless login to all Platform Hosts by Ansible, create an SSH public key on the node where Ansible playbooks are run and then copy the key to all the Platform Hosts.

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   # ssh-keygen -t rsa                                 #Creates Keys
   # ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub <platform_host_1>.........#Copies key from the node to all platform hosts
   # ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub <platform_host_2>.........#Copies key from the node to all platform hosts
   # ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub <platform_host_3>.........#Copies key from the node to all platform hosts

5. Use the sample_inventory file as a template to create a host file. Add all the Platform Hosts and compute hosts details.

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   # List all compute hosts which needs to be monitored by AppFormix
   [compute]
   203.0.113.5
   203.0.113.17
   # AppFormix controller hosts
   [appformix_controller]
   203.0.113.119 keepalived_vrrp_interface=eth0
   203.0.113.120 keepalived_vrrp_interface=eth0
   203.0.113.121 keepalived_vrrp_interface=eth0
   

   Note:

   Note: In the case of 5-node or 7-node deployment, list all the nodes under appformix_controller.

6. At top-level of the distribution, create a directory named group_vars and then create a file named all inside this directory.

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   # mkdir group_vars
   # touch group_vars/all
   

   Add the following entries to the newly created all file:

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   appformix_vip: <ip-address>
   appformix_docker_images:
   - /path/to/appformix-platform-images-<version>.tar.gz
   - /path/to/appformix-dependencies-images-<version>.tar.gz
   - /path/to/appformix-openstack-images-<version>.tar.gz

7. Copy and source the openrc file from the OpenStack controller node (/etc/contrail/openrc) to the AppFormix Controller to authenticate the adapter to access admin privileges over the controller services.

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   root@installer_node:~# cat /etc/contrail/openrc
   export OS_USERNAME=<admin user>
   export OS_PASSWORD=<password>
   export OS_TENANT_NAME=admin
   export OS_AUTH_URL=http://<openstack-auth-URL>/v2.0/
   export OS_NO_CACHE=1
   root@installer_node:~# source /etc/contrail/openrc

8. Run Ansible with the created inventory file.

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    ansible-playbook -i inventory appformix_openstack.yml

9. If running the playbooks as root user then this step can be skipped. As a non-root user (for example. “ubuntu”), the user “ubuntu” needs access to the docker user group. The following command adds the user to the docker group.

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   sudo usermod -aG docker ubuntu