Manage the cloud

Procedure 4.3. To use the nova client

1. Installing the python-novaclient package gives you a nova shell command that enables Compute API interactions from the command line. Install the client, and then provide your user name and password (typically set as environment variables for convenience), and then you have the ability to send commands to your cloud on the command line.

   To install python-novaclient, download the tarball from http://pypi.python.org/pypi/python-novaclient/2.6.3#downloads and then install it in your favorite python environment.

   $ curl -O http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/python-novaclient/python-novaclient-2.6.3.tar.gz
   $ tar -zxvf python-novaclient-2.6.3.tar.gz
   $ cd python-novaclient-2.6.3

   As root execute:

   # python setup.py install

2. Confirm the installation by running:

   $ nova help
   usage: nova [--version] [--debug] [--os-cache] [--timings]
               [--timeout <seconds>] [--os-username <auth-user-name>]
               [--os-password <auth-password>]
               [--os-tenant-name <auth-tenant-name>]
               [--os-tenant-id <auth-tenant-id>] [--os-auth-url <auth-url>]
               [--os-region-name <region-name>] [--os-auth-system <auth-system>]
               [--service-type <service-type>] [--service-name <service-name>]
               [--volume-service-name <volume-service-name>]
               [--endpoint-type <endpoint-type>]
               [--os-compute-api-version <compute-api-ver>]
               [--os-cacert <ca-certificate>] [--insecure]
               [--bypass-url <bypass-url>]
               <subcommand> ...

   	Note
   	This command returns a list of nova commands and parameters. To obtain help for a subcommand, run: $ nova help subcommand You can also refer to the OpenStack Command-Line Reference for a complete listing of nova commands and parameters.

3. Set the required parameters as environment variables to make running commands easier. For example, you can add --os-username as a nova option, or set it as an environment variable. To set the user name, password, and tenant as environment variables, use:

   $ export OS_USERNAME=joecool
   $ export OS_PASSWORD=coolword
   $ export OS_TENANT_NAME=coolu  

4. Using the Identity Service, you are supplied with an authentication endpoint, which Compute recognizes as the OS_AUTH_URL.

   $ export OS_AUTH_URL=http://hostname:5000/v2.0
   $ export NOVA_VERSION=1.1