OpenStack Nova is a key component of the OpenStack cloud computing platform. It provides the compute service, allowing users to manage and provision virtual machines (VMs) and other resources in a distributed environment. Nova is responsible for the creation, scheduling, and management of instances (VMs) across a cluster of compute nodes.
Here are some key aspects and features of OpenStack Nova:
- Architecture: Nova follows a distributed architecture, where it consists of multiple components working together. The main components are the Nova API, Nova Scheduler, Nova Conductor, and Nova Compute. These components communicate with each other to perform different functions in the lifecycle of an instance.
- Instance Lifecycle: Nova manages the lifecycle of instances, starting from their creation, launching, and monitoring to their termination. It provides the necessary APIs and services for users to manage instances throughout their lifecycle.
- Virtual Machine Management: Nova allows users to create, update, delete, and manage virtual machines. It provides features such as VM flavors (specifying compute, memory, and storage resources), booting from various sources (images, volumes), attaching volumes, and managing networks.
- Hypervisor Support: Nova supports multiple hypervisors, including KVM, Xen, VMware, and Hyper-V. This enables users to choose the hypervisor that best suits their requirements and infrastructure.
- Networking: Nova integrates with other OpenStack networking services like Neutron to provide network connectivity to instances. It supports features such as attaching instances to specific networks, defining security groups and rules, and managing floating IPs.
- Scheduling: Nova Scheduler is responsible for determining the best compute node to place an instance based on various factors such as availability, resource utilization, and affinity/anti-affinity policies. It ensures efficient utilization of compute resources across the cloud environment.
- High Availability: Nova provides features for high availability and fault tolerance. It supports features like live migration, which allows instances to be moved between compute nodes without downtime, and instance evacuation in case of compute node failure.
- API and CLI: Nova provides a comprehensive RESTful API that enables users to interact with the service programmatically. It also offers a command-line interface (CLI) for performing administrative and management tasks.
- Extensions and Plugins: Nova allows for extensibility through the use of extensions and plugins. Extensions can add additional functionality to Nova, while plugins enable integration with other services and technologies.
- Integration with OpenStack: Nova works closely with other OpenStack services like Keystone (identity service) and Glance (image service) to provide a complete cloud infrastructure solution.
Overall, OpenStack Nova plays a crucial role in the OpenStack ecosystem by providing the compute service for managing virtual machines and instances. It offers flexibility, scalability, and a wide range of features for building and managing cloud environments.
OpenStack Compute consists of the following areas and their components:
1. nova-api service
2. nova-compute service
3. nova-scheduler service
4. nova-conductor service
5. nova-novncproxy daemon
6. nova-spicehtml5proxy daemon