openstack-manuals/doc/common/section_compute-configure-vnc.xml
Laurel Michaels 5494ca6e20 fixed outdated reference to novnc
The cloud admin guide contained these
out-of-date commands:

apt-get install novnc
service novnc restart

I changed them to the current syntax,
which is:

apt-get install nova-novncproxy
service nova-novncproxy restart

Change-Id: Ib4e2d79951f6a122535dd0fbe7134e6cca59b494
Closes-Bug: 1394345
2014-11-30 15:12:12 -05:00

287 lines
13 KiB
XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
version="5.0"
xml:id="getting-started-with-vnc-proxy">
<title>VNC console proxy</title>
<para>The VNC proxy is an OpenStack component that enables compute
service users to access their instances through VNC
clients.</para>
<para>The VNC console connection works as follows:</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>A user connects to the API and gets an
<literal>access_url</literal> such as,
<literal>http://<replaceable>ip:port</replaceable>/?token=xyz</literal>.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The user pastes the URL in a browser or uses it as a
client parameter.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The browser or client connects to the proxy.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The proxy talks to <systemitem class="service"
>nova-consoleauth</systemitem> to authorize the token for
the user, and maps the token to the
<emphasis>private</emphasis> host and port of the VNC server
for an instance.</para>
<para>The compute host specifies the address that the proxy
should use to connect through the
<filename>nova.conf</filename> file option,
<option>vncserver_proxyclient_address</option>. In this way,
the VNC proxy works as a bridge between the public network and
private host network.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>The proxy initiates the connection to VNC server and
continues to proxy until the session ends.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>The proxy also tunnels the VNC protocol over WebSockets so that the
<systemitem>noVNC</systemitem> client can talk to VNC servers. In general, the VNC
proxy:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Bridges between the public network where the clients live and the private network where
VNC servers live.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Mediates token authentication.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Transparently deals with hypervisor-specific connection
details to provide a uniform client experience.</para>
<figure xml:id="novnc-process">
<title>noVNC process</title>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata
fileref="../common/figures/novnc/SCH_5009_V00_NUAC-VNC_OpenStack.png"
format="PNG" width="5in"/>
</imageobject>
</mediaobject>
</figure>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<section xml:id="about-nova-consoleauth">
<info>
<title>About nova-consoleauth</title>
</info>
<para>Both client proxies leverage a shared service to manage
token authentication called <systemitem class="service"
>nova-consoleauth</systemitem>. This service must be running
for either proxy to work. Many proxies of either type can be run
against a single <systemitem class="service"
>nova-consoleauth</systemitem> service in a cluster
configuration.</para>
<para>Do not confuse the <systemitem class="service"
>nova-consoleauth</systemitem> shared service with
<literal>nova-console</literal>, which is a XenAPI-specific
service that most recent VNC proxy architectures do not
use.</para>
</section>
<section xml:id="typical-deployment">
<title>Typical deployment</title>
<para>A typical deployment has the following components:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>A <systemitem class="service"
>nova-consoleauth</systemitem> process. Typically runs on
the controller host.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>One or more <systemitem class="service"
>nova-novncproxy</systemitem> services. Supports
browser-based noVNC clients. For simple deployments, this
service typically runs on the same machine as <systemitem
class="service">nova-api</systemitem> because it operates
as a proxy between the public network and the private
compute host network.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>One or more <literal>nova-xvpvncproxy</literal>
services. Supports the special Java client discussed here.
For simple deployments, this service typically runs on the
same machine as <systemitem class="service"
>nova-api</systemitem> because it acts as a proxy between
the public network and the private compute host
network.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>One or more compute hosts. These compute hosts must have
correctly configured options, as follows.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section xml:id="vnc-configuration-options">
<title>VNC configuration options</title>
<para>To customize the VNC console, use the following configuration options:</para>
<xi:include href="../common/tables/nova-vnc.xml"/>
<note>
<para>To support <link
xlink:href="http://docs.openstack.org/trunk/config-reference/content/configuring-openstack-compute-basics.html#section_configuring-compute-migrations"
>live migration</link>, you cannot specify a specific IP
address for <literal>vncserver_listen</literal>, because that
IP address does not exist on the destination host.</para>
</note>
<note>
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>The <literal>vncserver_proxyclient_address</literal> defaults to
<literal>127.0.0.1</literal>, which is the address of the compute host that
Compute instructs proxies to use when connecting to instance servers.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>For all-in-one XenServer domU deployments, set this to 169.254.0.1.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>For multi-host XenServer domU deployments, set to a dom0 management IP on the
same network as the proxies.</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>For multi-host libvirt deployments, set to a host management IP on the same
network as the proxies.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
</note>
</section>
<section xml:id="nova-vncproxy-replaced-with-nova-novncproxy">
<info>
<title>nova-novncproxy (noVNC)</title>
</info>
<para>You must install the <package>noVNC</package> package, which contains the <systemitem
class="service">nova-novncproxy</systemitem> service. As root, run the following
command:</para>
<programlisting language="bash" role="gutter: false"><prompt>#</prompt> <userinput>apt-get install nova-novncproxy</userinput></programlisting>
<para>The service starts automatically on installation.</para>
<para>To restart the service, run:</para>
<programlisting language="bash" role="gutter: false"><prompt>#</prompt> <userinput>service nova-novncproxy restart</userinput></programlisting>
<para>The configuration option parameter should point to your
<filename>nova.conf</filename> file, which includes the
message queue server address and credentials.</para>
<para>By default, <systemitem class="service"
>nova-novncproxy</systemitem> binds on
<literal>0.0.0.0:6080</literal>.</para>
<para>To connect the service to your Compute deployment, add the following configuration options
to your <filename>nova.conf</filename> file:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>vncserver_listen</literal>=<replaceable>0.0.0.0</replaceable>
</para>
<para>Specifies the address on which the VNC service should
bind. Make sure it is assigned one of the compute node
interfaces. This address is the one used by your domain
file.</para>
<programlisting language="bash" role="gutter: false"> &lt;graphics type="vnc" autoport="yes" keymap="en-us" listen="0.0.0.0"/></programlisting>
<note>
<para>To use live migration, use the
<replaceable>0.0.0.0</replaceable> address.</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<literal>vncserver_proxyclient_address</literal>=<replaceable>127.0.0.1</replaceable>
</para>
<para>The address of the compute host that Compute instructs proxies to use when connecting
to instance <literal>vncservers</literal>.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
<section xml:id="faq-about-vnc">
<info>
<title>Frequently asked questions about VNC access to virtual
machines</title>
</info>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Q: What is the difference between
<literal>nova-xvpvncproxy</literal> and <systemitem
class="service">nova-novncproxy</systemitem>?</emphasis>
</para>
<para>A: <literal>nova-xvpvncproxy</literal>, which ships with OpenStack Compute, is a proxy
that supports a simple Java client. <systemitem class="service"
>nova-novncproxy</systemitem> uses noVNC to provide VNC support through a web
browser.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Q: I want VNC support in the OpenStack dashboard. What services
do I need? </emphasis></para>
<para>A: You need <systemitem class="service"
>nova-novncproxy</systemitem>, <systemitem class="service"
>nova-consoleauth</systemitem>, and correctly configured
compute hosts.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Q: When I use <command>nova get-vnc-console</command> or click
on the VNC tab of the OpenStack dashboard, it hangs. Why? </emphasis></para>
<para>A: Make sure you are running <systemitem class="service"
>nova-consoleauth</systemitem> (in addition to <systemitem
class="service">nova-novncproxy</systemitem>). The proxies
rely on <systemitem class="service"
>nova-consoleauth</systemitem> to validate tokens, and
waits for a reply from them until a timeout is reached.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><emphasis role="bold">Q: My VNC proxy worked fine during
my all-in-one test, but now it doesn't work on multi host.
Why? </emphasis></para>
<para>A: The default options work for an all-in-one install,
but changes must be made on your compute hosts once you
start to build a cluster. As an example, suppose you have
two servers:</para>
<programlisting language="bash" role="gutter: false">PROXYSERVER (public_ip=172.24.1.1, management_ip=192.168.1.1)
COMPUTESERVER (management_ip=192.168.1.2)</programlisting>
<para>Your <systemitem class="service"
>nova-compute</systemitem> configuration file must set the
following values:</para>
<programlisting language="bash" role="gutter: false"># These flags help construct a connection data structure
vncserver_proxyclient_address=192.168.1.2
novncproxy_base_url=http://172.24.1.1:6080/vnc_auto.html
xvpvncproxy_base_url=http://172.24.1.1:6081/console
# This is the address where the underlying vncserver (not the proxy)
# will listen for connections.
vncserver_listen=192.168.1.2</programlisting>
<note>
<para><literal>novncproxy_base_url</literal> and
<literal>xvpvncproxy_base_url</literal> use a public IP;
this is the URL that is ultimately returned to clients,
which generally do not have access to your private
network. Your PROXYSERVER must be able to reach
<literal>vncserver_proxyclient_address</literal>,
because that is the address over which the VNC connection
is proxied.</para>
</note>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis role="bold">Q: My noVNC does not work with recent
versions of web browsers. Why?</emphasis>
</para>
<para>A: Make sure you have installed
<literal>python-numpy</literal>, which is required to
support a newer version of the WebSocket protocol
(HyBi-07+).</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<emphasis role="bold">Q: How do I adjust the dimensions of
the VNC window image in the OpenStack
dashboard?</emphasis></para>
<para>A: These values are hard-coded in a Django HTML
template. To alter them, edit the
<filename>_detail_vnc.html</filename> template file. The
location of this file varies based on Linux distribution. On
Ubuntu 14.04, the file is at
<filename>/usr/share/pyshared/horizon/dashboards/nova/instances/templates/instances/_detail_vnc.html</filename>.</para>
<para>Modify the <option>width</option> and
<option>height</option> options, as follows:</para>
<programlisting language="bash" role="gutter: false">&lt;iframe src="{{ vnc_url }}" width="720" height="430"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</programlisting>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</section>
</section>