Remote cloud access

Remote control is available for API usage and command line usage.

DSP uses OpenStack and can be controlled with the python openstack client.

Getting the client

If it's not available natively in your environment (e.g. Ubuntu has a python3-openstackclient package), you can install the client from standard sources, typically this will look like:

user@host:~$ python3 -mvenv openstackenvironment
user@host:~$ . openstackenvironment/bin/activate
(openstackenvironment) user@host:~$ pip install python-openstackclient
Collecting python-openstackclient
[..]
Successfully installed [..]

Application credentials

To access the API, you need to use application credentials, available in OpenStack Horizon under Identity -> Application Credentials.

From that panel, you can request the creation of a new application credential by clicking the button "Create Application Credential".

Clicking it will open the dialog to create a new set of application credentials.

You must give your application credential a name and can optionally enter a descripition.

Once created, the application will be protected by a secret. This can be provided by your or generated automatically (for many uses you do not need to manage this directly).

If desired, it can be restricted how the application can be used (what operations it's allowed for). It's also possible to determine when it should expires. We recommend setting an expiration date no more than a year in the future.

[!IMPORTANT] For security reasons, we will start enforcing a finite life span for application credentials. The exact details of this is still to be determined, though.

If you press the "Create Application Credential" button, the credential will be created and shown. If you didn't specify a secret, the generated secret will also be shown.

For most uses, downloading the clouds.yaml or openrc file will be suitable and will contain the information needed to use the secret.

The application credentials panel also allows you to delete an application credential if it's no longer needed.

Connecting

Assuming the client is installed in PATH per above and there is a downloaded openrc file, it can be used as such:

user@host:~$ . ~/path/to/downloaded-openrc.sh
user@host:~$ openstack server list
+--------------------------------------+--------+--------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------+---------------------+
| ID                                   | Name   | Status | Networks                              | Image                    | Flavor              |
+--------------------------------------+--------+--------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------+---------------------+
| f353bdf8-9ab1-4b2b-b75c-4e0ab0d4c28b | test | ACTIVE | aidadatahubtest-net=10.36.138.141       | N/A (booted from volume) | verdi-sixteenthnode |
+--------------------------------------+--------+--------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------+---------------------+

it's also possible to use the YAML file:

user@host:~$ OS_CLIENT_CONFIG_FILE=~/path/to/downloaded-openrc.sh
user@host:~$ export OS_CLIENT_CONFIG_FILE
user@host:~$ openstack server list
+--------------------------------------+--------+--------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------+---------------------+
| ID                                   | Name   | Status | Networks                              | Image                    | Flavor              |
+--------------------------------------+--------+--------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------+---------------------+
| f353bdf8-9ab1-4b2b-b75c-4e0ab0d4c28b | test | ACTIVE | aidadatahubtest-net=10.36.138.141       | N/A (booted from volume) | verdi-sixteenthnode |
+--------------------------------------+--------+--------+---------------------------------------+--------------------------+---------------------+