openstack-manuals/doc/config-reference/source/compute/scheduler.rst

==========
Scheduling
==========

Compute uses the ``nova-scheduler`` service to determine how to
dispatch compute requests. For example, the ``nova-scheduler``
service determines on which host a VM should launch.
In the context of filters, the term ``host`` means a physical
node that has a ``nova-compute`` service running on it.
You can configure the scheduler through a variety of options.

Compute is configured with the following default scheduler
options in the ``/etc/nova/nova.conf`` file:

.. code-block:: ini

   scheduler_driver_task_period = 60
   scheduler_driver = nova.scheduler.filter_scheduler.FilterScheduler
   scheduler_available_filters = nova.scheduler.filters.all_filters
   scheduler_default_filters = RetryFilter, AvailabilityZoneFilter, RamFilter, DiskFilter, ComputeFilter, ComputeCapabilitiesFilter, ImagePropertiesFilter, ServerGroupAntiAffinityFilter, ServerGroupAffinityFilter

By default, the ``scheduler_driver`` is configured as a filter scheduler,
as described in the next section. In the default configuration,
this scheduler considers hosts that meet all the following criteria:

* Have not been attempted for scheduling purposes (``RetryFilter``).
* Are in the requested availability zone (``AvailabilityZoneFilter``).
* Have sufficient RAM available (``RamFilter``).
* Have sufficient disk space available for root and ephemeral storage
  (``DiskFilter``).
* Can service the request (``ComputeFilter``).
* Satisfy the extra specs associated with the instance type
  (``ComputeCapabilitiesFilter``).
* Satisfy any architecture, hypervisor type, or virtual machine mode
  properties specified on the instance's image properties
  (``ImagePropertiesFilter``).
* Are on a different host than other instances of a group (if requested)
  (``ServerGroupAntiAffinityFilter``).
* Are in a set of group hosts (if requested) (``ServerGroupAffinityFilter``).

The scheduler caches its list of available hosts;
use the ``scheduler_driver_task_period`` option to specify
how often the list is updated.

.. note::

   Do not configure ``service_down_time`` to be much smaller than
   ``scheduler_driver_task_period``; otherwise, hosts appear to
   be dead while the host list is being cached.

For information about the volume scheduler, see the `Block Storage section
<http://docs.openstack.org/admin-guide/blockstorage-manage-volumes.html>`_
of OpenStack Administrator Guide.

The scheduler chooses a new host when an instance is migrated.

When evacuating instances from a host, the scheduler service honors
the target host defined by the administrator on the
:command:`nova evacuate` command.
If a target is not defined by the administrator, the scheduler
determines the target host. For information about instance evacuation,
see `Evacuate instances <http://docs.openstack.org/admin-guide/
compute-node-down.html#evacuate-instances>`_ section of the
OpenStack Administrator Guide.

.. _compute-scheduler-filters:

Filter scheduler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The filter scheduler (``nova.scheduler.filter_scheduler.FilterScheduler``)
is the default scheduler for scheduling virtual machine instances.
It supports filtering and weighting to make informed decisions on
where a new instance should be created.

When the filter scheduler receives a request for a resource, it first
applies filters to determine which hosts are eligible for consideration
when dispatching a resource. Filters are binary: either a host is
accepted by the filter, or it is rejected. Hosts that are accepted by
the filter are then processed by a different algorithm to decide which
hosts to use for that request, described in the :ref:`weights` section.

.. figure:: ../figures/filteringWorkflow1.png

   **Filtering**

The ``scheduler_available_filters`` configuration option in ``nova.conf``
provides the Compute service with the list of the filters that are used
by the scheduler. The default setting specifies all of the filter that
are included with the Compute service:

.. code-block:: ini

   scheduler_available_filters = nova.scheduler.filters.all_filters

This configuration option can be specified multiple times.
For example, if you implemented your own custom filter in Python called
``myfilter.MyFilter`` and you wanted to use both the built-in filters
and your custom filter, your ``nova.conf`` file would contain:

.. code-block:: ini

   scheduler_available_filters = nova.scheduler.filters.all_filters
   scheduler_available_filters = myfilter.MyFilter

The ``scheduler_default_filters`` configuration option in ``nova.conf``
defines the list of filters that are applied by the ``nova-scheduler``
service. The default filters are:

.. code-block:: ini

   scheduler_default_filters = RetryFilter, AvailabilityZoneFilter, RamFilter, ComputeFilter, ComputeCapabilitiesFilter, ImagePropertiesFilter, ServerGroupAntiAffinityFilter, ServerGroupAffinityFilter

Compute filters
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following sections describe the available compute filters.

AggregateCoreFilter
-------------------

Filters host by CPU core numbers with a per-aggregate
``cpu_allocation_ratio`` value. If the per-aggregate value
is not found, the value falls back to the global setting.
If the host is in more than one aggregate and more than
one value is found, the minimum value will be used.
For information about how to use this filter,
see :ref:`host-aggregates`. See also :ref:`CoreFilter`.

AggregateDiskFilter
-------------------

Filters host by disk allocation with a per-aggregate
``disk_allocation_ratio`` value. If the per-aggregate value
is not found, the value falls back to the global setting.
If the host is in more than one aggregate and more than
one value is found, the minimum value will be used.
For information about how to use this filter,
see :ref:`host-aggregates`. See also :ref:`DiskFilter`.

AggregateImagePropertiesIsolation
---------------------------------

Matches properties defined in an image's metadata against
those of aggregates to determine host matches:

* If a host belongs to an aggregate and the aggregate defines
  one or more metadata that matches an image's properties,
  that host is a candidate to boot the image's instance.

* If a host does not belong to any aggregate,
  it can boot instances from all images.

For example, the following aggregate ``myWinAgg`` has the
Windows operating system as metadata (named 'windows'):

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova aggregate-details MyWinAgg
   +----+----------+-------------------+------------+---------------+
   | Id | Name     | Availability Zone | Hosts      | Metadata      |
   +----+----------+-------------------+------------+---------------+
   | 1  | MyWinAgg | None              | 'sf-devel' | 'os=windows'  |
   +----+----------+-------------------+------------+---------------+

In this example, because the following Win-2012 image has the
``windows`` property, it boots on the ``sf-devel`` host
(all other filters being equal):

.. code-block:: console

   $ glance image-show Win-2012
   +------------------+--------------------------------------+
   | Property         | Value                                |
   +------------------+--------------------------------------+
   | Property 'os'    | windows                              |
   | checksum         | f8a2eeee2dc65b3d9b6e63678955bd83     |
   | container_format | ami                                  |
   | created_at       | 2013-11-14T13:24:25                  |
   | ...

You can configure the ``AggregateImagePropertiesIsolation``
filter by using the following options in the ``nova.conf`` file:

.. code-block:: ini

   # Considers only keys matching the given namespace (string).
   # Multiple values can be given, as a comma-separated list.
   aggregate_image_properties_isolation_namespace = <None>

   # Separator used between the namespace and keys (string).
   aggregate_image_properties_isolation_separator = .

.. _AggregateInstanceExtraSpecsFilter:

AggregateInstanceExtraSpecsFilter
---------------------------------

Matches properties defined in extra specs for an instance type
against admin-defined properties on a host aggregate.
Works with specifications that are scoped with
``aggregate_instance_extra_specs``.
Multiple values can be given, as a comma-separated list.
For backward compatibility, also works with non-scoped specifications;
this action is highly discouraged because it conflicts with
:ref:`ComputeCapabilitiesFilter` filter when you enable both filters.
For information about how to use this filter, see the
:ref:`host-aggregates` section.

AggregateIoOpsFilter
--------------------

Filters host by disk allocation with a per-aggregate
``max_io_ops_per_host`` value. If the per-aggregate value
is not found, the value falls back to the global setting.
If the host is in more than one aggregate and more than one
value is found, the minimum value will be used.
For information about how to use this filter,
see :ref:`host-aggregates`. See also :ref:`IoOpsFilter`.

AggregateMultiTenancyIsolation
------------------------------

Ensures that the tenant (or list of tenants) creates all instances only
on specific :ref:`host-aggregates`. If a host is in an aggregate that has
the ``filter_tenant_id`` metadata key, the host creates instances from only
that tenant or list of tenants. A host can be in different aggregates. If a
host does not belong to an aggregate with the metadata key, the host can
create instances from all tenants. This setting does not isolate the
aggregate from other tenants. Any other tenant can continue to build
instances on the specified aggregate.

AggregateNumInstancesFilter
---------------------------

Filters host by number of instances with a per-aggregate
``max_instances_per_host`` value. If the per-aggregate value
is not found, the value falls back to the global setting.
If the host is in more than one aggregate and thus more than
one value is found, the minimum value will be used.
For information about how to use this filter, see :ref:`host-aggregates`.
See also :ref:`NumInstancesFilter`.

AggregateRamFilter
------------------

Filters host by RAM allocation of instances with a per-aggregate
``ram_allocation_ratio`` value. If the per-aggregate value is not
found, the value falls back to the global setting.
If the host is in more than one aggregate and thus more than
one value is found, the minimum value will be used.
For information about how to use this filter, see :ref:`host-aggregates`.
See also :ref:`ramfilter`.

AggregateTypeAffinityFilter
---------------------------

This filter passes hosts if no ``instance_type`` key is set or the
``instance_type`` aggregate metadata value contains the name of the
``instance_type`` requested.  The value of the ``instance_type``
metadata entry is a string that may contain either a single
``instance_type`` name or a comma-separated list of ``instance_type``
names, such as ``m1.nano`` or ``m1.nano,m1.small``.
For information about how to use this filter, see :ref:`host-aggregates`.
See also :ref:`TypeAffinityFilter`.

AllHostsFilter
--------------

This is a no-op filter. It does not eliminate any of the available hosts.

AvailabilityZoneFilter
----------------------

Filters hosts by availability zone. You must enable this filter
for the scheduler to respect availability zones in requests.

.. _ComputeCapabilitiesFilter:

ComputeCapabilitiesFilter
-------------------------

Matches properties defined in extra specs for an instance type
against compute capabilities. If an extra specs key contains
a colon (``:``), anything before the colon is treated as a namespace
and anything after the colon is treated as the key to be matched.
If a namespace is present and is not ``capabilities``, the filter
ignores the namespace. For backward compatibility, also treats the
extra specs key as the key to be matched if no namespace is present;
this action is highly discouraged because it conflicts with
:ref:`AggregateInstanceExtraSpecsFilter` filter when you enable both filters.

.. _ComputeFilter:

ComputeFilter
-------------

Passes all hosts that are operational and enabled.

In general, you should always enable this filter.

.. _CoreFilter:

CoreFilter
----------

Only schedules instances on hosts if sufficient CPU cores are available.
If this filter is not set, the scheduler might over-provision a host
based on cores. For example, the virtual cores running on an instance
may exceed the physical cores.

You can configure this filter to enable a fixed amount of vCPU
overcommitment by using the ``cpu_allocation_ratio`` configuration
option in ``nova.conf``. The default setting is:

.. code-block:: ini

   cpu_allocation_ratio = 16.0

With this setting, if 8 vCPUs are on a node, the scheduler allows
instances up to 128 vCPU to be run on that node.

To disallow vCPU overcommitment set:

.. code-block:: ini

   cpu_allocation_ratio = 1.0

.. note::

   The Compute API always returns the actual number of CPU cores available
   on a compute node regardless of the value of the ``cpu_allocation_ratio``
   configuration key. As a result changes to the ``cpu_allocation_ratio``
   are not reflected via the command line clients or the dashboard.
   Changes to this configuration key are only taken into account internally
   in the scheduler.

NUMATopologyFilter
------------------

Filters hosts based on the NUMA topology that was specified for the
instance through the use of flavor ``extra_specs`` in combination
with the image properties, as described in detail in the
`related nova-spec document <http://specs.openstack.org/openstack/
nova-specs/specs/juno/implemented/virt-driver-numa-placement.html>`_.
Filter will try to match the exact NUMA cells of the instance to
those of the host. It will consider the standard over-subscription
limits each cell, and provide limits to the compute host accordingly.

.. note::

   If instance has no topology defined, it will be considered for any host.
   If instance has a topology defined, it will be considered only for NUMA
   capable hosts.

DifferentHostFilter
-------------------

Schedules the instance on a different host from a set of instances.
To take advantage of this filter, the requester must pass a scheduler hint,
using ``different_host`` as the key and a list of instance UUIDs as
the value. This filter is the opposite of the ``SameHostFilter``.
Using the :command:`nova` command-line client, use the ``--hint`` flag.
For example:

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova boot --image cedef40a-ed67-4d10-800e-17455edce175 --flavor 1 \
     --hint different_host=a0cf03a5-d921-4877-bb5c-86d26cf818e1 \
     --hint different_host=8c19174f-4220-44f0-824a-cd1eeef10287 server-1

With the API, use the ``os:scheduler_hints`` key. For example:

.. code-block:: json

   {
       "server": {
           "name": "server-1",
           "imageRef": "cedef40a-ed67-4d10-800e-17455edce175",
           "flavorRef": "1"
       },
       "os:scheduler_hints": {
           "different_host": [
               "a0cf03a5-d921-4877-bb5c-86d26cf818e1",
               "8c19174f-4220-44f0-824a-cd1eeef10287"
           ]
       }
   }

.. _DiskFilter:

DiskFilter
----------

Only schedules instances on hosts if there is sufficient disk space
available for root and ephemeral storage.

You can configure this filter to enable a fixed amount of disk
overcommitment by using the ``disk_allocation_ratio`` configuration
option in the ``nova.conf`` configuration file.
The default setting disables the possibility of the overcommitment
and allows launching a VM only if there is a sufficient amount of
disk space available on a host:

.. code-block:: ini

   disk_allocation_ratio = 1.0

DiskFilter always considers the value of the ``disk_available_least``
property and not the one of the ``free_disk_gb`` property of
a hypervisor's statistics:

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova hypervisor-stats
   +----------------------+-------+
   | Property             | Value |
   +----------------------+-------+
   | count                |  1    |
   | current_workload     |  0    |
   | disk_available_least |  29   |
   | free_disk_gb         |  35   |
   | free_ram_mb          |  3441 |
   | local_gb             |  35   |
   | local_gb_used        |  0    |
   | memory_mb            |  3953 |
   | memory_mb_used       |  512  |
   | running_vms          |  0    |
   | vcpus                |  2    |
   | vcpus_used           |  0    |
   +----------------------+-------+

As it can be viewed from the command output above, the amount of the
available disk space can be less than the amount of the free disk space.
It happens because the ``disk_available_least`` property accounts
for the virtual size rather than the actual size of images.
If you use an image format that is sparse or copy on write so that each
virtual instance does not require a 1:1 allocation of a virtual disk to a
physical storage, it may be useful to allow the overcommitment of disk space.

To enable scheduling instances while overcommitting disk resources on the
node, adjust the value of the ``disk_allocation_ratio`` configuration
option to greater than ``1.0``:

.. code-block:: ini

   disk_allocation_ratio > 1.0

.. note::

   If the value is set to ``>1``, we recommend keeping track of the free
   disk space, as the value approaching ``0`` may result in the incorrect
   functioning of instances using it at the moment.

.. _GroupAffinityFilter:

GroupAffinityFilter
-------------------

.. note::

   This filter is deprecated in favor of :ref:`ServerGroupAffinityFilter`.

The GroupAffinityFilter ensures that an instance is scheduled on to a host
from a set of group hosts. To take advantage of this filter, the requester
must pass a scheduler hint, using ``group`` as the key and an arbitrary name
as the value. Using the :command:`nova` command-line client,
use the ``--hint`` flag. For example:

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova boot --image IMAGE_ID --flavor 1 --hint group=foo server-1

This filter should not be enabled at the same time as
:ref:`GroupAntiAffinityFilter` or neither filter will work properly.

.. _GroupAntiAffinityFilter:

GroupAntiAffinityFilter
-----------------------

.. note::

   This filter is deprecated in favor of :ref:`ServerGroupAntiAffinityFilter`.

The GroupAntiAffinityFilter ensures that each instance in a group is on
a different host. To take advantage of this filter, the requester must
pass a scheduler hint, using ``group`` as the key and an arbitrary name
as the value. Using the :command:`nova` command-line client,
use the ``--hint`` flag. For example:

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova boot --image IMAGE_ID --flavor 1 --hint group=foo server-1

This filter should not be enabled at the same time as
:ref:`GroupAffinityFilter` or neither filter will work properly.

.. _ImagePropertiesFilter:

ImagePropertiesFilter
---------------------

Filters hosts based on properties defined on the instance's image.
It passes hosts that can support the specified image properties contained
in the instance. Properties include the architecture, hypervisor type,
hypervisor version (for Xen hypervisor type only), and virtual machine mode.

For example, an instance might require a host that runs an ARM-based
processor, and QEMU as the hypervisor.
You can decorate an image with these properties by using:

.. code-block:: console

   $ glance image-update img-uuid --property architecture=arm --property hypervisor_type=qemu

The image properties that the filter checks for are:

architecture
  describes the machine architecture required by the image.
  Examples are ``i686``, ``x86_64``, ``arm``, and ``ppc64``.

hypervisor_type
  describes the hypervisor required by the image.
  Examples are ``xen``, ``qemu``, and ``xenapi``.

  .. note::

     ``qemu`` is used for both QEMU and KVM hypervisor types.

hypervisor_version_requires
  describes the hypervisor version required by the image.
  The property is supported for Xen hypervisor type only.
  It can be used to enable support for multiple hypervisor versions,
  and to prevent instances with newer Xen tools from being provisioned
  on an older version of a hypervisor. If available, the property value
  is compared to the hypervisor version of the compute host.

  To filter the hosts by the hypervisor version, add the
  ``hypervisor_version_requires`` property on the image as metadata and
  pass an operator and a required hypervisor version as its value:

  .. code-block:: console

     $ glance image-update img-uuid --property hypervisor_type=xen --property hypervisor_version_requires=">=4.3"

vm_mode
  describes the hypervisor application binary interface (ABI) required
  by the image. Examples are ``xen`` for Xen 3.0 paravirtual ABI,
  ``hvm`` for native ABI, ``uml`` for User Mode Linux paravirtual ABI,
  ``exe`` for container virt executable ABI.

IsolatedHostsFilter
-------------------

Allows the admin to define a special (isolated) set of images and a special
(isolated) set of hosts, such that the isolated images can only run on
the isolated hosts, and the isolated hosts can only run isolated images.
The flag ``restrict_isolated_hosts_to_isolated_images`` can be used to
force isolated hosts to only run isolated images.

The admin must specify the isolated set of images and hosts in the
``nova.conf`` file using the ``isolated_hosts`` and ``isolated_images``
configuration options. For example:

.. code-block:: ini

   isolated_hosts = server1, server2
   isolated_images = 342b492c-128f-4a42-8d3a-c5088cf27d13, ebd267a6-ca86-4d6c-9a0e-bd132d6b7d09

.. _IoOpsFilter:

IoOpsFilter
-----------

The IoOpsFilter filters hosts by concurrent I/O operations on it.
Hosts with too many concurrent I/O operations will be filtered out.
The ``max_io_ops_per_host`` option specifies the maximum number of
I/O intensive instances allowed to run on a host.
A host will be ignored by the scheduler if more than
``max_io_ops_per_host`` instances in build, resize, snapshot,
migrate, rescue or unshelve task states are running on it.

JsonFilter
----------

The JsonFilter allows a user to construct a custom filter by passing
a scheduler hint in JSON format. The following operators are supported:

* =
* <
* >
* in
* <=
* >=
* not
* or
* and

The filter supports the following variables:

* ``$free_ram_mb``
* ``$free_disk_mb``
* ``$total_usable_ram_mb``
* ``$vcpus_total``
* ``$vcpus_used``

Using the :command:`nova` command-line client, use the ``--hint`` flag:

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova boot --image 827d564a-e636-4fc4-a376-d36f7ebe1747 \
     --flavor 1 --hint query='[">=","$free_ram_mb",1024]' server1

With the API, use the ``os:scheduler_hints`` key:

.. code-block:: json

   {
       "server": {
           "name": "server-1",
           "imageRef": "cedef40a-ed67-4d10-800e-17455edce175",
           "flavorRef": "1"
       },
       "os:scheduler_hints": {
           "query": "[>=,$free_ram_mb,1024]"
       }
   }

MetricsFilter
-------------

Filters hosts based on meters ``weight_setting``.
Only hosts with the available meters are passed so that
the metrics weigher will not fail due to these hosts.

.. _NumInstancesFilter:

NumInstancesFilter
------------------

Hosts that have more instances running than specified by the
``max_instances_per_host`` option are filtered out when this filter
is in place.

PciPassthroughFilter
--------------------

The filter schedules instances on a host if the host has devices that
meet the device requests in the ``extra_specs`` attribute for the flavor.

.. _RamFilter:

RamFilter
---------

Only schedules instances on hosts that have sufficient RAM available.
If this filter is not set, the scheduler may over provision a host
based on RAM (for example, the RAM allocated by virtual machine
instances may exceed the physical RAM).

You can configure this filter to enable a fixed amount of RAM
overcommitment by using the ``ram_allocation_ratio`` configuration
option in ``nova.conf``. The default setting is:

.. code-block:: ini

   ram_allocation_ratio = 1.5

This setting enables 1.5&nbsp;GB instances to run on any compute node
with 1 GB of free RAM.

RetryFilter
-----------

Filters out hosts that have already been attempted for scheduling purposes.
If the scheduler selects a host to respond to a service request,
and the host fails to respond to the request, this filter prevents
the scheduler from retrying that host for the service request.

This filter is only useful if the ``scheduler_max_attempts``
configuration option is set to a value greater than zero.

SameHostFilter
--------------

Schedules the instance on the same host as another instance in a set
of instances. To take advantage of this filter, the requester must
pass a scheduler hint, using ``same_host`` as the key and a
list of instance UUIDs as the value.
This filter is the opposite of the ``DifferentHostFilter``.
Using the :command:`nova` command-line client, use the ``--hint`` flag:

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova boot --image cedef40a-ed67-4d10-800e-17455edce175 --flavor 1 \
     --hint same_host=a0cf03a5-d921-4877-bb5c-86d26cf818e1 \
     --hint same_host=8c19174f-4220-44f0-824a-cd1eeef10287 server-1

With the API, use the ``os:scheduler_hints`` key:

.. code-block:: json

   {
       "server": {
           "name": "server-1",
           "imageRef": "cedef40a-ed67-4d10-800e-17455edce175",
           "flavorRef": "1"
       },
       "os:scheduler_hints": {
           "same_host": [
               "a0cf03a5-d921-4877-bb5c-86d26cf818e1",
               "8c19174f-4220-44f0-824a-cd1eeef10287"
           ]
       }
   }

.. _ServerGroupAffinityFilter:

ServerGroupAffinityFilter
-------------------------

The ServerGroupAffinityFilter ensures that an instance is scheduled
on to a host from a set of group hosts. To take advantage of this filter,
the requester must create a server group with an ``affinity`` policy,
and pass a scheduler hint, using ``group`` as the key and the server
group UUID as the value.
Using the :command:`nova` command-line tool, use the ``--hint`` flag.
For example:

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova server-group-create --policy affinity group-1
   $ nova boot --image IMAGE_ID --flavor 1 --hint group=SERVER_GROUP_UUID server-1

.. _ServerGroupAntiAffinityFilter:

ServerGroupAntiAffinityFilter
-----------------------------

The ServerGroupAntiAffinityFilter ensures that each instance in a group is
on a different host. To take advantage of this filter, the requester must
create a server group with an ``anti-affinity`` policy, and pass a scheduler
hint, using ``group`` as the key and the server group UUID as the value.
Using the :command:`nova` command-line client, use the ``--hint`` flag.
For example:

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova server-group-create --policy anti-affinity group-1
   $ nova boot --image IMAGE_ID --flavor 1 --hint group=SERVER_GROUP_UUID server-1

SimpleCIDRAffinityFilter
------------------------

Schedules the instance based on host IP subnet range.
To take advantage of this filter, the requester must specify a range
of valid IP address in CIDR format, by passing two scheduler hints:

build_near_host_ip
  The first IP address in the subnet (for example, ``192.168.1.1``)

cidr
  The CIDR that corresponds to the subnet (for example, ``/24``)

Using the :command:`nova` command-line client, use the ``--hint`` flag.
For example, to specify the IP subnet ``192.168.1.1/24``:

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova boot --image cedef40a-ed67-4d10-800e-17455edce175 --flavor 1 \
     --hint build_near_host_ip=192.168.1.1 --hint cidr=/24 server-1

With the API, use the ``os:scheduler_hints`` key:

.. code-block:: json

   {
       "server": {
           "name": "server-1",
           "imageRef": "cedef40a-ed67-4d10-800e-17455edce175",
           "flavorRef": "1"
       },
       "os:scheduler_hints": {
           "build_near_host_ip": "192.168.1.1",
           "cidr": "24"
       }
   }

TrustedFilter
-------------

Filters hosts based on their trust. Only passes hosts that
meet the trust requirements specified in the instance properties.

.. _TypeAffinityFilter:

TypeAffinityFilter
------------------

Dynamically limits hosts to one instance type. An instance can only be
launched on a host, if no instance with different instances types
are running on it, or if the host has no running instances at all.

Cell filters
~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following sections describe the available cell filters.

DifferentCellFilter
-------------------

Schedules the instance on a different cell from a set of instances.
To take advantage of this filter, the requester must pass a scheduler hint,
using ``different_cell`` as the key and a list of instance UUIDs as the value.

ImagePropertiesFilter
---------------------

Filters cells based on properties defined on the instance’s image.
This filter works specifying the hypervisor required in the image
metadata and the supported hypervisor version in cell capabilities.

TargetCellFilter
----------------

Filters target cells. This filter works by specifying a scheduler
hint of ``target_cell``. The value should be the full cell path.

.. _weights:

Weights
~~~~~~~

When resourcing instances, the filter scheduler filters and weights
each host in the list of acceptable hosts. Each time the scheduler
selects a host, it virtually consumes resources on it, and subsequent
selections are adjusted accordingly. This process is useful when the
customer asks for the same large amount of instances, because weight
is computed for each requested instance.

All weights are normalized before being summed up;
the host with the largest weight is given the highest priority.

.. figure:: ../figures/nova-weighting-hosts.png

   **Weighting hosts**

If cells are used, cells are weighted by the scheduler in the same
manner as hosts.

Hosts and cells are weighted based on the following options in
the ``/etc/nova/nova.conf`` file:

.. list-table:: Host weighting options
   :header-rows: 1
   :widths: 10, 25, 60

   * - Section
     - Option
     - Description
   * - [DEFAULT]
     - ``ram_weight_multiplier``
     - By default, the scheduler spreads instances across all hosts evenly.
       Set the ``ram_weight_multiplier`` option to a negative number if you
       prefer stacking instead of spreading. Use a floating-point value.
   * - [DEFAULT]
     - ``scheduler_host_subset_size``
     - New instances are scheduled on a host that is chosen randomly from a
       subset of the N best hosts. This property defines the subset size
       from which a host is chosen. A value of 1 chooses the first host
       returned by the weighting functions. This value must be at least 1.
       A value less than 1 is ignored, and 1 is used instead.
       Use an integer value.
   * - [DEFAULT]
     - ``scheduler_weight_classes``
     - Defaults to ``nova.scheduler.weights.all_weighers``.
       Hosts are then weighted and sorted with the largest weight winning.
   * - [DEFAULT]
     - ``io_ops_weight_multiplier``
     - Multiplier used for weighing host I/O operations. A negative
       value means a preference to choose light workload compute hosts.
   * - [DEFAULT]
     - ``soft_affinity_weight_multiplier``
     - Multiplier used for weighing hosts for group soft-affinity.
       Only a positive value is meaningful. Negative means that the
       behavior will change to the opposite, which is soft-anti-affinity.
   * - [DEFAULT]
     - ``soft_anti_affinity_weight_multiplier``
     - Multiplier used for weighing hosts for group soft-anti-affinity.
       Only a positive value is meaningful. Negative means that the
       behavior will change to the opposite, which is soft-affinity.
   * - [metrics]
     - ``weight_multiplier``
     - Multiplier for weighting meters. Use a floating-point value.
   * - [metrics]
     - ``weight_setting``
     - Determines how meters are weighted. Use a comma-separated list of
       metricName=ratio. For example: ``name1=1.0, name2=-1.0`` results in:
       ``name1.value * 1.0 + name2.value * -1.0``
   * - [metrics]
     - ``required``
     - Specifies how to treat unavailable meters:

       * True - Raises an exception. To avoid the raised exception,
         you should use the scheduler filter ``MetricFilter`` to filter
         out hosts with unavailable meters.
       * False - Treated as a negative factor in the weighting process
         (uses the ``weight_of_unavailable`` option).
   * - [metrics]
     - ``weight_of_unavailable``
     - If ``required`` is set to False, and any one of the meters set by
       ``weight_setting`` is unavailable, the ``weight_of_unavailable``
       value is returned to the scheduler.

For example:

.. code-block:: ini

   [DEFAULT]
   scheduler_host_subset_size = 1
   scheduler_weight_classes = nova.scheduler.weights.all_weighers
   ram_weight_multiplier = 1.0
   io_ops_weight_multiplier = 2.0
   soft_affinity_weight_multiplier = 1.0
   soft_anti_affinity_weight_multiplier = 1.0
   [metrics]
   weight_multiplier = 1.0
   weight_setting = name1=1.0, name2=-1.0
   required = false
   weight_of_unavailable = -10000.0

.. list-table:: Cell weighting options
   :header-rows: 1
   :widths: 10, 25, 60

   * - Section
     - Option
     - Description
   * - [cells]
     - ``mute_weight_multiplier``
     - Multiplier to weight mute children (hosts which have not sent
       capacity or capacity updates for some time).
       Use a negative, floating-point value.
   * - [cells]
     - ``offset_weight_multiplier``
     - Multiplier to weight cells, so you can specify a preferred cell.
       Use a floating point value.
   * - [cells]
     - ``ram_weight_multiplier``
     - By default, the scheduler spreads instances across all cells evenly.
       Set the ``ram_weight_multiplier`` option to a negative number if you
       prefer stacking instead of spreading. Use a floating-point value.
   * - [cells]
     - ``scheduler_weight_classes``
     - Defaults to ``nova.cells.weights.all_weighers``, which maps to all
       cell weighers included with Compute. Cells are then weighted and
       sorted with the largest weight winning.

For example:

.. code-block:: ini

   [cells]
   scheduler_weight_classes = nova.cells.weights.all_weighers
   mute_weight_multiplier = -10.0
   ram_weight_multiplier = 1.0
   offset_weight_multiplier = 1.0

Chance scheduler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As an administrator, you work with the filter scheduler.
However, the Compute service also uses the Chance Scheduler,
``nova.scheduler.chance.ChanceScheduler``,
which randomly selects from lists of filtered hosts.

Utilization aware scheduling
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is possible to schedule VMs using advanced scheduling decisions.
These decisions are made based on enhanced usage statistics encompassing
data like memory cache utilization, memory bandwidth utilization,
or network bandwidth utilization. This is disabled by default.
The administrator can configure how the metrics are weighted in the
configuration file by using the ``weight_setting`` configuration option
in the ``nova.conf`` configuration file.
For example to configure metric1 with ratio1 and metric2 with ratio2:

.. code-block:: ini

   weight_setting = "metric1=ratio1, metric2=ratio2"

.. _host-aggregates:

Host aggregates and availability zones
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Host aggregates are a mechanism for partitioning hosts in an OpenStack
cloud, or a region of an OpenStack cloud, based on arbitrary characteristics.
Examples where an administrator may want to do this include where a group
of hosts have additional hardware or performance characteristics.

Host aggregates are not explicitly exposed to users.
Instead administrators map flavors to host aggregates.
Administrators do this by setting metadata on a host aggregate,
and matching flavor extra specifications.
The scheduler then endeavors to match user requests for instance of the
given flavor to a host aggregate with the same key-value pair in its metadata.
Compute nodes can be in more than one host aggregate.

Administrators are able to optionally expose a host aggregate as an
availability zone. Availability zones are different from host aggregates in
that they are explicitly exposed to the user, and hosts can only be in a
single availability zone. Administrators can configure a default availability
zone where instances will be scheduled when the user fails to specify one.

Command-line interface
----------------------

The :command:`nova` command-line client supports the following
aggregate-related commands.

nova aggregate-list
  Print a list of all aggregates.

nova aggregate-create <name> [availability-zone]
  Create a new aggregate named ``<name>``, and optionally in availability
  zone ``[availability-zone]`` if specified. The command returns the ID of
  the newly created aggregate. Hosts can be made available to multiple
  host aggregates. Be careful when adding a host to an additional host
  aggregate when the host is also in an availability zone. Pay attention
  when using the :command:`nova aggregate-set-metadata` and
  :command:`nova aggregate-update` commands to avoid user confusion when they
  boot instances in different availability zones.
  An error occurs if you cannot add a particular host to an aggregate zone
  for which it is not intended.

nova aggregate-delete <id>
  Delete an aggregate with id ``<id>``.

nova aggregate-details <id>
  Show details of the aggregate with id ``<id>``.

nova aggregate-add-host <id> <host>
  Add host with name ``<host>`` to aggregate with id ``<id>``.

nova aggregate-remove-host <id> <host>
  Remove the host with name ``<host>`` from the aggregate with id ``<id>``.

nova aggregate-set-metadata <id> <key=value> [<key=value> ...]
  Add or update metadata (key-value pairs) associated with the aggregate
  with id ``<id>``.

nova aggregate-update <id> <name> [<availability_zone>]
  Update the name and availability zone (optional) for the aggregate.

nova host-list
  List all hosts by service.

nova host-update --maintenance [enable | disable]
  Put/resume host into/from maintenance.

.. note::

   Only administrators can access these commands. If you try to use
   these commands and the user name and tenant that you use to access
   the Compute service do not have the ``admin`` role or the
   appropriate privileges, these errors occur:

   .. code-block:: console

      ERROR: Policy doesn't allow compute_extension:aggregates to be performed. (HTTP 403) (Request-ID: req-299fbff6-6729-4cef-93b2-e7e1f96b4864)

   .. code-block:: console

      ERROR: Policy doesn't allow compute_extension:hosts to be performed. (HTTP 403) (Request-ID: req-ef2400f6-6776-4ea3-b6f1-7704085c27d1)

Configure scheduler to support host aggregates
----------------------------------------------

One common use case for host aggregates is when you want to support
scheduling instances to a subset of compute hosts because they have
a specific capability. For example, you may want to allow users to
request compute hosts that have SSD drives if they need access to
faster disk I/O, or access to compute hosts that have GPU cards to
take advantage of GPU-accelerated code.

To configure the scheduler to support host aggregates, the
``scheduler_default_filters`` configuration option must contain the
``AggregateInstanceExtraSpecsFilter`` in addition to the other
filters used by the scheduler. Add the following line to
``/etc/nova/nova.conf`` on the host that runs the ``nova-scheduler``
service to enable host aggregates filtering, as well as the other
filters that are typically enabled:

.. code-block:: ini

   scheduler_default_filters=AggregateInstanceExtraSpecsFilter,RetryFilter,AvailabilityZoneFilter,RamFilter,ComputeFilter,ComputeCapabilitiesFilter,ImagePropertiesFilter,ServerGroupAntiAffinityFilter,ServerGroupAffinityFilter

Example: Specify compute hosts with SSDs
----------------------------------------

This example configures the Compute service to enable users to request
nodes that have solid-state drives (SSDs). You create a ``fast-io``
host aggregate in the ``nova`` availability zone and you add the
``ssd=true`` key-value pair to the aggregate. Then, you add the
``node1``, and ``node2`` compute nodes to it.

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova aggregate-create fast-io nova
   +----+---------+-------------------+-------+----------+
   | Id | Name    | Availability Zone | Hosts | Metadata |
   +----+---------+-------------------+-------+----------+
   | 1  | fast-io | nova              |       |          |
   +----+---------+-------------------+-------+----------+

   $ nova aggregate-set-metadata 1 ssd=true
   +----+---------+-------------------+-------+-------------------+
   | Id | Name    | Availability Zone | Hosts | Metadata          |
   +----+---------+-------------------+-------+-------------------+
   | 1  | fast-io | nova              | []    | {u'ssd': u'true'} |
   +----+---------+-------------------+-------+-------------------+

   $ nova aggregate-add-host 1 node1
   +----+---------+-------------------+------------+-------------------+
   | Id | Name    | Availability Zone | Hosts      | Metadata          |
   +----+---------+-------------------+------------+-------------------+
   | 1  | fast-io | nova              | [u'node1'] | {u'ssd': u'true'} |
   +----+---------+-------------------+------------+-------------------+

   $ nova aggregate-add-host 1 node2
   +----+---------+-------------------+----------------------+-------------------+
   | Id | Name    | Availability Zone | Hosts                | Metadata          |
   +----+---------+-------------------+----------------------+-------------------+
   | 1  | fast-io | nova              | [u'node1', u'node2'] | {u'ssd': u'true'} |
   +----+---------+-------------------+----------------------+-------------------+

Use the :command:`nova flavor-create` command to create the ``ssd.large``
flavor called with an ID of 6, 8 GB of RAM, 80 GB root disk, and four vCPUs.

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova flavor-create ssd.large 6 8192 80 4
   +----+-----------+-----------+------+-----------+------+-------+-------------+-----------+
   | ID | Name      | Memory_MB | Disk | Ephemeral | Swap | VCPUs | RXTX_Factor | Is_Public |
   +----+-----------+-----------+------+-----------+------+-------+-------------+-----------+
   | 6  | ssd.large | 8192      | 80   | 0         |      | 4     | 1.0         | True      |
   +----+-----------+-----------+------+-----------+------+-------+-------------+-----------+

Once the flavor is created, specify one or more key-value pairs that
match the key-value pairs on the host aggregates with scope
``aggregate_instance_extra_specs``. In this case, that is the
``aggregate_instance_extra_specs:ssd=true`` key-value pair.
Setting a key-value pair on a flavor is done using the
:command:`nova flavor-key` command.

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova flavor-key ssd.large set aggregate_instance_extra_specs:ssd=true

Once it is set, you should see the ``extra_specs`` property of the
``ssd.large`` flavor populated with a key of ``ssd`` and a corresponding
value of ``true``.

.. code-block:: console

   $ nova flavor-show ssd.large
   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
   | Property                   | Value                                            |
   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------+
   | OS-FLV-DISABLED:disabled   | False                                            |
   | OS-FLV-EXT-DATA:ephemeral  | 0                                                |
   | disk                       | 80                                               |
   | extra_specs                | {u'aggregate_instance_extra_specs:ssd': u'true'} |
   | id                         | 6                                                |
   | name                       | ssd.large                                        |
   | os-flavor-access:is_public | True                                             |
   | ram                        | 8192                                             |
   | rxtx_factor                | 1.0                                              |
   | swap                       |                                                  |
   | vcpus                      | 4                                                |
   +----------------------------+--------------------------------------------------+

Now, when a user requests an instance with the ``ssd.large`` flavor,
the scheduler only considers hosts with the ``ssd=true`` key-value pair.
In this example, these are ``node1`` and ``node2``.

XenServer hypervisor pools to support live migration
----------------------------------------------------

When using the XenAPI-based hypervisor, the Compute service uses
host aggregates to manage XenServer Resource pools, which are
used in supporting live migration.

Configuration reference
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To customize the Compute scheduler, use the configuration option
settings documented in :ref:`nova-scheduler`.