diff --git a/deploy-guide/source/configure.rst b/deploy-guide/source/configure.rst index b1d646774c..4c3e259957 100644 --- a/deploy-guide/source/configure.rst +++ b/deploy-guide/source/configure.rst @@ -43,6 +43,27 @@ host. See our :dev_docs:`User Guide ` and :dev_docs:`Reference Guide ` for more details. +#. Review the ``user_variables.yml`` file to configure global and role specific + deployment options. The file contains some example variables and comments but + you can get the full list of variables in each role's specific documentation. + + .. note:: + + One imporant variable is the ``install_method`` which configures the installation + method for the OpenStack services. The services can either be deployed from + source (default) or from distribution packages. Source based deployments are closer + to a vanilla OpenStack installation and allow for more tweaking and customizations. On + the other hand, distro based deployments generally provide a package combination which + has been verified by the distributions themselves. However, this means that updates are + being released less often and with a potential delay. Moreover, this method might offer + fewer opportunities for deployment customizations. The ``install_method`` variable is set + during the initial deployment and you **must not** change it as OpenStack-Ansible is not + able to convert itself from one installation method to the other. As such, it's + important to judge your needs against the pros and cons of each method before making + a decision. Please note that the ``distro`` installation method was introduced during + the Rocky cycle, and as a result of which, Ubuntu 16.04 is not supported due to the + fact that there are no Rocky packages for it. + The configuration in the ``openstack_user_config.yml`` file defines which hosts run the containers and services deployed by OpenStack-Ansible. For example, hosts listed in the ``shared-infra_hosts`` section run containers for diff --git a/etc/openstack_deploy/user_variables.yml b/etc/openstack_deploy/user_variables.yml index d024710d50..597bb76371 100644 --- a/etc/openstack_deploy/user_variables.yml +++ b/etc/openstack_deploy/user_variables.yml @@ -21,6 +21,12 @@ ## Debug and Verbose options. debug: false +## Installation method for OpenStack services +# Default option (source) is to install the OpenStack services using PIP +# packages. An alternative method (distro) is to use the distribution cloud +# repositories to install OpenStack using distribution packages +install_method: source + ## Common Glance Overrides # Set glance_default_store to "swift" if using Cloud Files backend # or "rbd" if using ceph backend; the latter will trigger ceph to get diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/openstack-distribution-packages-176e5d8a5ef3ad4b.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/openstack-distribution-packages-176e5d8a5ef3ad4b.yaml new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..9c95496bbd --- /dev/null +++ b/releasenotes/notes/openstack-distribution-packages-176e5d8a5ef3ad4b.yaml @@ -0,0 +1,8 @@ +--- +features: + - | + Deployers can now set the ``install_method`` to either ``source`` (default) + or ``distro`` to choose the method for installing OpenStack services on the + hosts. This only applies to *new* deployments. Existing deployments which + are source based, cannot be converted to the new ``distro`` method. + For more information, please refer to the `Deployment Guide `_.