Getting Started with Pulumi and OpenStack

Pulumi is an open-source infrastructure-as-code (IaC) platform that enables you to define, deploy, and manage cloud infrastructure using familiar programming languages like Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, and C#. By leveraging your existing coding skills and knowledge, Pulumi allows you to build, deploy, and manage infrastructure on any cloud provider, including AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, Kubernetes, and OpenStack. Unlike traditional tools that rely on YAML files or domain-specific languages, Pulumi offers a modern approach by utilizing general-purpose programming languages for greater flexibility and expressiveness. This means you can use standard programming constructs—such as loops, conditionals, and functions—to create complex infrastructure deployments efficiently.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC) has revolutionized the way we manage and deploy cloud resources. Pulumi, a modern IaC tool, allows you to define cloud infrastructure using familiar programming languages. When combined with OpenStack, an open-source cloud computing platform, you gain unparalleled flexibility and control over your cloud environments. In this guide, we'll walk you through getting started with Pulumi and OpenStack. We will do so by creating an secure entry point (bastion server) and exposing securely by only allowing access to the server via ssh.

Prerequisites

An OpenStack account with appropriate permissions.
Basic knowledge of programming (we'll use Python in this guide).
Python installed on your machine (version 3.6 or higher).
Git installed (optional but recommended).

What is Pulumi?

Pulumi is an open-source IaC tool that enables you to define and manage cloud resources using general-purpose programming languages like Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, and C#. Unlike traditional templating languages or domain-specific languages (DSLs), Pulumi leverages the full power of these languages, including loops, conditions, and functions.

Setting Up Your Environment

Before we dive in, ensure your environment is ready:

OpenStack Credentials: Obtain your OpenStack authentication credentials (e.g., auth_url, project_name, username, password, region_name).
Install Python: If you haven't installed Python yet, download it from the official website and follow the installation instructions.
Install Git: While optional, Git is useful for version control. Download it from the official website.

Installing Pulumi

Pulumi provides a straightforward installation process you can follow the instructions bellow or you can go to the official website:

MacOS

The easiest way is to install via brew. For more information visit the official website.

brew install pulumi/tap/pulumi

For linux utilize the Installer Script

Run the following command in your terminal or command prompt:

curl -fsSL https://get.pulumi.com | sh

This script downloads and installs the Pulumi CLI to ~/.pulumi/bin, adding it to your PATH. Don't forget to add ~/.pulumi/bin to your PATH.

Verifying the Installation

Check that Pulumi is installed correctly:

pulumi version

You should see the Pulumi version number printed out.

Configuring Pulumi for OpenStack

Pulumi interacts with OpenStack through environment variables or a configuration file. If you have a working clouds.yaml config file then you can add it to your project as shown in step 3 in the Deploying resources to OpenStack Flex section.

If you do not have a working clouds config file. We'll use environment variables for simplicity.

Setting Environment Variables

Set the following environment variables with your OpenStack credentials:

export OS_AUTH_URL="https://your-openstack-auth-url"
export OS_PROJECT_NAME="your-project-name"
export OS_USERNAME="your-username"
export OS_PASSWORD="your-password"
export OS_REGION_NAME="your-region-name"

Replace the placeholders with your actual credentials.

Optional Variables

You might also need to set additional variables like OS_USER_DOMAIN_NAME or OS_PROJECT_DOMAIN_NAME depending on your OpenStack setup.

Creating Your First Pulumi Project

Now, let's create a Pulumi project to deploy resources to OpenStack.

Step A: Initialize Pulumi's self-managed backend

For this demo we will not be using pulumi cloud. Instead we will use a self-managed backend. To keep things simple we will use our local filesystem. For more information on managing backends and state visit the official site.

pulumi login --local

You will see Logged into <my-machine> as <my-user> (file://~). This will result in the storing of all stacks created in a JSON format in the directory ~/.pulumi.

Step B: Create a New Directory

Create and navigate to a new directory for your project:

mkdir pulumi-openstack-flex-demo
cd pulumi-openstack-flex-demo

Step C: Initialize the Pulumi Project

Run the Pulumi new command to bootstrap a new project utilizing all the python defaults. It will also ask you setup a passphrase to protect config/secrets.

pulumi new python -y

This command does the following: - Creates a new Pulumi project using the OpenStack Python template. - Installs necessary dependencies. - Prompts you for a project name, description, and stack name. ** Depending on your system you might be asked to install the python venv module.

Step D: Review the Generated Files

The template generates several files:

Pulumi.yaml: The project metadata.
__main__.py: The main program where you'll define your infrastructure.
requirements.txt: Python dependencies.
Pulumi.dev.yaml: The Projects stack that was automatically created for you.
venv: This directory has a virtual python environment to help faciliate development.

Note

Pulumi stacks are isolated instances of your infrastructure configurations that enable you to manage multiple environments—such as development, staging, and production—within the same project. By having many stacks for the same project, you can deploy the same infrastructure code with different settings or parameters tailored to each environment, ensuring consistent and efficient infrastructure management across all stages.

Deploying Resources to OpenStack Flex

Let's modify __main__.py to deploy a simple resource, such as an OpenStack instance.

Step 0: Active the venv that was created

Activate the virtual environment

Fish Shell:

source venv/bin/activate.fish

Bash, sh, zsh Shells:

source venv/bin/activate

Depending on your shell configuration it might show you that you are now utilizing a virtual environment. You can also verify by doing the following:

which python

This will return something like

/home/debian/pulumi-openstack-flex-demo/venv/bin/python

Step 1: Install the OpenStack Provider

Ensure the Pulumi OpenStack provider is installed:

pip install pulumi-openstack

Step 2: Update requirements.txt

Add pulumi-openstack to your requirements.txt:

pulumi
pulumi-openstack

Run pip install -r requirements.txt to install dependencies.

Step 3: Update your Pulumi.yaml to utilize your OpenStack flex `clouds.yaml`

Edit your Pulumi.yaml file and add the following:

  openstack:cloud:
    value: <replace with cloud>

Make sure you replace with your cloud value. In my config my cloud is called rxt. The final file should look something like:

name: pulumi-openstack-flex-demo
description: A minimal Python Pulumi program
runtime:
  name: python
  options:
    toolchain: pip
    virtualenv: venv
config:
  pulumi:tags:
    value:
      pulumi:template: Python
  openstack:cloud:
    value: rxt

Step 4: Define an OpenStack Instance

Edit main.py and add the following code:

"""A Python Pulumi program"""

import pulumi_openstack as openstack
import pulumi

config = pulumi.Config()

demo_name = "openstack-demo"

server_flavor = config.require("bastion_server_flavor")
bastion_srv_name = "bastion01-" + demo_name

# Get External Network
ext_net_name = config.require("ext_net_name")
ext_net = openstack.networking.get_network(name=ext_net_name)

ssh_public_key = config.require("ssh_public_key")

# Create a key pair for SSH access
keypair = openstack.compute.Keypair(
    "keypair",
    name=demo_name + "-key",
    public_key=ssh_public_key,
)

# Create a Private network
private_network = openstack.networking.Network(
    demo_name + "-private-net",
    name=demo_name + "-private-net",
    admin_state_up=True,
)

# Create a subnet within the newly created private network
private_subnet = openstack.networking.Subnet(
    demo_name + "-private-subnet",
    name=demo_name + "-private-subnet",
    network_id=private_network.id,
    cidr="192.168.0.0/24",
    ip_version=4,
    dns_nameservers=["8.8.8.8"],
    #    gateway_ip=private_subnet_gateway,
)


# Create a router to connect the private network to the public network
router = openstack.networking.Router(
    demo_name + "-router",
    admin_state_up=True,
    external_network_id=ext_net.id,
)

router_interface = openstack.networking.RouterInterface(
    demo_name + "-router_interface",
    router_id=router.id,
    subnet_id=private_subnet.id,
)


# Create a security group allowing load balancer port
sec_group = openstack.networking.SecGroup(
    demo_name + "-sec_group",
    name=demo_name + "-sec_group",
    description="Security group for " + demo_name + " control plane",
    tags=[demo_name],
)

# Allow Load Balancer Ingress port 50000
openstack.networking.SecGroupRule(
    demo_name + "-allow_22_port",
    security_group_id=sec_group.id,
    direction="ingress",
    ethertype="IPv4",
    protocol="tcp",
    port_range_min=22,
    port_range_max=22,
    remote_ip_prefix="0.0.0.0/0",
)

bastion_port = openstack.networking.Port(
    bastion_srv_name,
    name=bastion_srv_name,
    network_id=private_network.id,
    fixed_ips=[{"subnet_id": private_subnet.id}],
    security_group_ids=[sec_group.id],
)

bastion = openstack.compute.Instance(
    bastion_srv_name,
    name=bastion_srv_name,
    flavor_name=server_flavor,
    image_id="727958e9-d037-45d1-9716-ea7ac322fe02",
    key_pair=keypair.name,
    networks=[{"port": bastion_port.id}],
    user_data =f"""#!/bin/bash
    apt-get update
    """,
)

bastion_fip = openstack.networking.FloatingIp(
        bastion_srv_name,
        pool=ext_net.name,
        port_id=bastion_port.id,
    )

pulumi.export("bastion_ip", bastion_fip.address)

Step 5: Deploy the Stack

Run the following commands:

Set your public key for the current dev stack:

pulumi config set ssh_public_key $(cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub)
pulumi config set ext_net_name PUBLICNET

Note

Replace with your public ssh key and your External network Name if it's something different.

Preview the Changes:

pulumi preview

This command shows you what resources will be created and it should look something like following:

Enter your passphrase to unlock config/secrets
    (set PULUMI_CONFIG_PASSPHRASE or PULUMI_CONFIG_PASSPHRASE_FILE to remember):
Enter your passphrase to unlock config/secrets
Previewing update (dev):
     Type                                     Name                             Plan
 +   pulumi:pulumi:Stack                      getting-started-dev              create
 +   ├─ openstack:networking:SecGroupRule     openstack-demo-allow_22_port     create
 +   ├─ openstack:networking:Subnet           openstack-demo-private-subnet    create
 +   ├─ openstack:compute:Keypair             keypair                          create
 +   ├─ openstack:networking:Network          openstack-demo-private-net       create
 +   ├─ openstack:networking:SecGroup         openstack-demo-sec_group         create
 +   ├─ openstack:networking:Router           openstack-demo-router            create
 +   ├─ openstack:networking:Port             bastion01-openstack-demo         create
 +   ├─ openstack:networking:FloatingIp       bastion01-openstack-demo         create
 +   ├─ openstack:networking:RouterInterface  openstack-demo-router_interface  create
 +   └─ openstack:compute:Instance            bastion01-openstack-demo         create

Outputs:
    bastion_ip: output<string>

Resources:
    + 11 to create

Deploy the Stack:

pulumi up

Pulumi will display the proposed changes and prompt for confirmation. Type yes to proceed.

Step 6: Verify the Deployment

After deployment, Pulumi will output the instance_ip. You can SSH into your new instance:

ssh ubuntu@<instance_ip>

Replace with the IP address provided in the output section:

Outputs:
    bastion_ip      : "XX.XXX.XXX.XXX".

Conclusion

Congratulations! You've successfully deployed an OpenStack instance using Pulumi. This guide covered the basics of setting up Pulumi with OpenStack, but there's much more to explore. You can define more complex infrastructures, manage configurations, and leverage Pulumi's state management for robust deployments. The best part is that you can use the programing language of your choosing.

Next Steps

Explore Pulumi Stacks: Learn how to manage different environments (e.g., dev, prod) using Pulumi stacks.
Pulumi Configuration: Use pulumi config to manage configuration variables securely.
CI/CD Integration: Integrate Pulumi deployments into your continuous integration and deployment pipelines.