Configuring Web or Serial Console

Overview

There are two types of console which are available in Bare Metal service, one is web console (Node web console) which is available directly from web browser, another is serial console (Node serial console).

Node web console

The web console can be configured in Bare Metal service in the following way:

  • Install shellinabox in ironic conductor node. For RHEL/CentOS, shellinabox package is not present in base repositories, user must enable EPEL repository, you can find more from FedoraProject page.

    Installation example:

    Ubuntu:
    sudo apt-get install shellinabox

Fedora 21/RHEL7/CentOS7:
    sudo yum install shellinabox

Fedora 22 or higher:
     sudo dnf install shellinabox

    You can find more about shellinabox on the shellinabox page.

    You can optionally use the SSL certificate in shellinabox. If you want to use the SSL certificate in shellinabox, you should install openssl and generate the SSL certificate.

    1. Install openssl, for example:

      Ubuntu:
     sudo apt-get install openssl

Fedora 21/RHEL7/CentOS7:
     sudo yum install openssl

Fedora 22 or higher:
     sudo dnf install openssl

    2. Generate the SSL certificate, here is an example, you can find more about openssl on the openssl page:

      cd /tmp/ca
openssl genrsa -des3 -out my.key 1024
openssl req -new -key my.key  -out my.csr
cp my.key my.key.org
openssl rsa -in my.key.org -out my.key
openssl x509 -req -days 3650 -in my.csr -signkey my.key -out my.crt
cat my.crt my.key > certificate.pem

  • Customize the console section in the Bare Metal service configuration file (/etc/ironic/ironic.conf), if you want to use SSL certificate in shellinabox, you should specify terminal_cert_dir. for example:

    [console]

#
# Options defined in ironic.drivers.modules.console_utils
#

# Path to serial console terminal program. Used only by Shell
# In A Box console. (string value)
#terminal=shellinaboxd

# Directory containing the terminal SSL cert (PEM) for serial
# console access. Used only by Shell In A Box console. (string
# value)
terminal_cert_dir=/tmp/ca

# Directory for holding terminal pid files. If not specified,
# the temporary directory will be used. (string value)
#terminal_pid_dir=<None>

# Time interval (in seconds) for checking the status of
# console subprocess. (integer value)
#subprocess_checking_interval=1

# Time (in seconds) to wait for the console subprocess to
# start. (integer value)
#subprocess_timeout=10

  • Append console parameters for bare metal PXE boot in the Bare Metal service configuration file (/etc/ironic/ironic.conf), including right serial port terminal and serial speed, serial speed should be same serial configuration with BIOS settings, so that os boot process can be seen in web console, for example:

    pxe_* driver:

     [pxe]

     #Additional append parameters for bare metal PXE boot. (string value)
     pxe_append_params = nofb nomodeset vga=normal console=tty0 console=ttyS0,115200n8

  • Configure node web console.

    Enable the web console, for example:

    ironic node-update <node-uuid> add driver_info/<terminal_port>=<customized_port>
ironic node-set-console-mode <node-uuid> true

    Check whether the console is enabled, for example:

    ironic node-validate <node-uuid>

    Disable the web console, for example:

    ironic node-set-console-mode <node-uuid> false
ironic node-update <node-uuid> remove driver_info/<terminal_port>

    The <terminal_port> is driver dependent. The actual name of this field can be checked in driver properties, for example:

    ironic driver-properties <driver>

    For *_ipmitool and *_ipminative drivers, this option is ipmi_terminal_port. Give a customized port number to <customized_port>, for example 8023, this customized port is used in web console url.

    Get web console information for a node as follows:

    ironic node-get-console <node-uuid>
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Property        | Value                                                                |
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| console_enabled | True                                                                 |
| console_info    | {u'url': u'http://<url>:<customized_port>', u'type': u'shellinabox'} |
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

    You can open web console using above url through web browser. If console_enabled is false, console_info is None, web console is disabled. If you want to launch web console, see the Configure node web console part.

Node serial console

Serial consoles for nodes are implemented using socat. In Newton, the following drivers support socat consoles for nodes:

  • agent_ipmitool_socat
  • fake_ipmitool_socat
  • pxe_ipmitool_socat

Serial consoles can be configured in the Bare Metal service as follows:

  • Install socat on the ironic conductor node. Also, socat needs to be in the $PATH environment variable that the ironic-conductor service uses.

    Installation example:

    Ubuntu:
    sudo apt-get install socat

Fedora 21/RHEL7/CentOS7:
    sudo yum install socat

Fedora 22 or higher:
    sudo dnf install socat

  • Append console parameters for bare metal PXE boot in the Bare Metal service configuration file ([pxe] section in /etc/ironic/ironic.conf), including the serial port terminal and serial speed. Serial speed must be the same as the serial configuration in the BIOS settings, so that the operating system boot process can be seen in the serial console. In the following example, the console parameter ‘console=ttyS0,115200n8’ uses ttyS0 for console output at 115200bps, 8bit, non-parity:

    pxe_* driver:

     [pxe]

     #Additional append parameters for bare metal PXE boot. (string value)
     pxe_append_params = nofb nomodeset vga=normal console=ttyS0,115200n8

  • Configure node console.

    Enable the serial console, for example:

    ironic node-update <node-uuid> add driver_info/ipmi_terminal_port=<port>
ironic node-set-console-mode <node-uuid> true

    Check whether the serial console is enabled, for example:

    ironic node-validate <node-uuid>

    Disable the serial console, for example:

    ironic node-set-console-mode <node-uuid> false
ironic node-update <node-uuid> remove driver_info/ipmi_terminal_port

Serial console information is available from the Bare Metal service. Get serial console information for a node from the Bare Metal service as follows:

ironic node-get-console <node-uuid>
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Property        | Value                                                                |
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| console_enabled | True                                                                 |
| console_info    | {u'url': u'tcp://<host>:<port>', u'type': u'socat'}                  |
+-----------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

If console_enabled is false or console_info is None then the serial console is disabled. If you want to launch serial console, see the Configure node console.