OpenStack Compute (nova)

Configure option to set display_name as instance_name

Registered by Sayali Lunkad

In this bp we need to add an option in the nova.conf file to be able to set the instance display_name same as the instance_name. The instance_name is usually of the format instance-<id_as_hex> where id_as_hex is a hexadecimal number that is generated from the instance name template. The idea here is that we ignore the user input of the instance name and set the instance display name same as the instance_name.

Blueprint information

Status:
Started
Approver:
None
Priority:
Undefined
Drafter:
Sayali Lunkad
Direction:
Needs approval
Assignee:
Sayali Lunkad
Definition:
New
Series goal:
None
Implementation:
Needs Code Review
Milestone target:
None
Started by
Sayali Lunkad

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The usefulness scenario is in a situation where you don’t want the user in the horizon interface or nova API having any say whatsoever ever in the name of their instance. The point of the configuration is to put the control of the host name into the hands of the OpenStack owner instead of the project owner.

The specific instance that this is important for is when you’re using external/public tenant networks. This makes zero sense if you’re an all-cloud private network with NAT to the public network, but in the case where you expose each instance to the public network through the use of a tenant external network, the name on the external network must be unique across the entire external network zone.

As a use case, consider “foo.com” as the DNS domain for the legacy environments. and “cloud.foo.com” for the private OpenStack networks (the fixed network and admin network). If we expose an external network into a tenant, those systems created by that tenant are going to be “display_name.foo.com” not “display_name.cloud.foo.com”. if a tenant operator puts in “mydnsserver” as their hostname, and it gets exposed to the foo.com external tenant network, then “mydnsserver” is non-unique on the network. Enforcing a naming standard on the Openstack environment tenant display names keeps from having two “mydnsserver” hosts on the same external DNS environment.
This is a major use case in enterprise cloud to not require the use of neutron NAT to reach the external/public network.

Gerrit topic: https://review.openstack.org/#q,topic:bp/instance-display-name,n,z

Addressed by: https://review.openstack.org/263353
    Allows to set display_name as instance_name

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