System documentation requirements¶

System roles and types¶

The two broadly defined types of nodes that generally make up an OpenStack installation are:

Infrastructure nodes

The nodes that run the cloud related services such as the OpenStack Identity service, the message queuing service, storage, networking, and other services required to support the operation of the cloud.

Compute, storage, or other resource nodes

Provide storage capacity or virtual machines for your cloud.

System inventory¶

Documentation should provide a general description of the OpenStack environment and cover all systems used (production, development, test, etc.). Documenting system components, networks, services, and software often provides the bird’s-eye view needed to thoroughly cover and consider security concerns, attack vectors and possible security domain bridging points. A system inventory may need to capture ephemeral resources such as virtual machines or virtual disk volumes that would otherwise be persistent resources in a traditional IT system.

Network topology¶

A network topology should be provided with highlights specifically calling out the data flows and bridging points between the security domains. Network ingress and egress points should be identified along with any OpenStack logical system boundaries. Multiple diagrams may be needed to provide complete visual coverage of the system. A network topology document should include virtual networks created on behalf of tenants by the system along with virtual machine instances and gateways created by OpenStack.

Services, protocols and ports¶

Knowing information about organizational assets is typically a best practice, therefore it is beneficial to create a table which contains information regarding the service, protocols and ports being utilized in the OpenStack deployment. The table can be created from information derived from a CMDB or can be constructed manually. The table can be customized to include an overview of all services running within the cloud infrastructure. The level of detail contained in this type of table can be beneficial as the information can immediately inform, guide, and assist with validating security requirements. Standard security components such as firewall configuration, service port conflicts, security remediation areas, and compliance become easier to maintain when concise information is available. An example of this type of table is provided below:

Referencing a table of services, protocols and ports can help in understanding the relationship between OpenStack components. It is highly recommended that OpenStack deployments have information similar to this on record.