OpenStack Dev Server Setup CentOS

Deploy: DevStack / PoC
2026-04-17T07:12:20+00:00
Step-by-step guide to installing and configuring DevStack on CentOS Stream 9 for OpenStack 2024.2 development.

OpenStack Dev Server Setup CentOS Stream 9

This guide installs DevStack on CentOS Stream 9 for the OpenStack 2024.2 (Dalmatian) release.

Step 1: System Preparation

Update the system and install build dependencies:

sudo dnf update -y
sudo dnf install -y git vim python3-devel gcc libffi-devel openssl-devel \
    python3-pip python3-virtualenv screen net-tools

Disable SELinux and firewalld:

sudo setenforce 0
sudo sed -i 's/^SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=permissive/' /etc/selinux/config
sudo systemctl disable --now firewalld

Step 2: Create the Stack User

Create the stack user with passwordless sudo access:

sudo useradd -s /bin/bash -d /opt/stack -m stack
sudo chmod +x /opt/stack
echo "stack ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL" | sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/stack
sudo -u stack -i

Step 3: Clone DevStack

Clone the repository and checkout the stable branch:

git clone https://opendev.org/openstack/devstack -b stable/2024.2
cd devstack

Step 4: Configure local.conf

Create local.conf with OVN networking (replace 10.0.0.10 with your host IP):

cat > local.conf <<'EOF'
[[local|localrc]]
ADMIN_PASSWORD=devstack
DATABASE_PASSWORD=devstack
RABBIT_PASSWORD=devstack
SERVICE_PASSWORD=devstack
HOST_IP=10.0.0.10

Q_AGENT=ovn
Q_ML2_PLUGIN_MECHANISM_DRIVERS=ovn
Q_ML2_TENANT_NETWORK_TYPE=geneve
OVN_L3_CREATE_PUBLIC_NETWORK=true

enable_service placement-api
enable_service tempest

RECLONE=False
LOGFILE=/opt/stack/logs/stack.sh.log
LOG_COLOR=True
VERBOSE=True
EOF

Step 5: Run DevStack

Execute the installation script:

./stack.sh

Step 6: Verify the Installation

Source credentials and verify services:

source openrc admin admin
openstack service list
openstack endpoint list
openstack hypervisor list

Development Workflow

Clone and setup project:

pip3 install git-review
cd /opt/stack
git clone https://opendev.org/openstack/nova
cd nova
git review -s

Create branch and commit:

git checkout -b my-feature stable/2024.2
git add .
git commit -m "Add my feature"

Run tests:

pip3 install tox
tox -e py311
tox -e py311 -- nova.tests.unit.test_my_feature
tox -e pep8

Run integration tests:

source openrc admin admin
tempest run --smoke
tempest run --regex tempest.api.compute.servers

Apply Gerrit patch:

cd /opt/stack/nova
git review -d <change-number>
sudo systemctl restart devstack@n-api

Debugging

Run a service manually with pdb:

sudo systemctl stop devstack@n-api
cd /opt/stack/nova
python3 -m nova.cmd.api

Add remote debugging to code:

import remote_pdb
remote_pdb.set_trace('0.0.0.0', 4444)

Connect via telnet localhost 4444.

Troubleshooting

  • Pip failures: pip3 install -U pip setuptools
  • SELinux blocking: Verify getenforce returns Permissive
  • OVN failures: Check journalctl -u ovs-vswitchd and journalctl -u ovn-controller
  • Tempest errors: Ensure tempest is installed in the virtual environment
  • RECLONE errors: Set RECLONE=False in local.conf