---
title: "Installing vNIOS in the OpenStack Environment"
canonical: "https://docs.infoblox.com/space/vniosopstack/1098055742/Installing%20vNIOS%20in%20the%20OpenStack%20Environment"
format: markdown
---
> ⚠️ **Note**
> ⚠️ 
> ⚠️ - Before you issue commands with OpenStack, ensure that your environment contains the necessary credentials. You can do this by sourcing the keystonerc_admin file that is created during the OpenStack installation. For more information, refer to the section *Getting Credentials* *for* *a* *CLI* in the *OpenStack* *CLI* *Guide*.
> ⚠️ - Installation of vNIOS for OpenStack is supported only in Ubuntu and Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments.

To install the vNIOS instance in an OpenStack environment, complete the following steps:

1. In OpenStack, run `source keystonerc_admin` to set up the OpenStack environment.
2. Upload the qcow2 file for the specified vNIOS model to OpenStack. For more information, see *[Requirements](https://infoblox-docs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/vniosopstack/pages/1097400363/Deploying+vNIOS+for+OpenStack#KVM_OpenStack_Requirements)*.
3. Set up the OpenStack flavors, as described in the *[Setting up the OpenStack Flavors for vNIOS](#Setting_up_OpenStack_Flavors)* section[.](#)
4. Import the vNIOS instance into OpenStack, as described in the *[Importing the vNIOS Instance into OpenStack](#Importing_vNIOS_to_OpenStack)* section.
5. Set up security groups, as described in the *[Setting Up Security Groups](#Setting_up_Security_Groups)* section.
6. Proceed with deploying the vNIOS for OpenStack instances.

> ⚠️ **Note**  
> ⚠️ The serial console output for instances deployed in the OpenStack environment may have inconsistencies as the console output is from the VGA port. To view the console output for an instance, Infoblox recommends that you use the serial port connected to that instance.

# > Macro (anchor)

Setting up the OpenStack Flavors for vNIOS

After you upload the qcow2 file, set up the OpenStack flavors for your vNIOS models. Each flavor corresponds to different vCPU, RAM, disk size, and functionality.  
Infoblox enables you to choose the size of the virtual disk that you use for reporting. To do so, you must create a vNIOS instance and associate an additional disk with it. You can add an ephemeral disk in the flavor that is used to create an instance. Note that the value for the ephemeral disk must be non-zero.  
To set up the vNIOS OpenStack flavors, run the following command:

`openstack flavor create <name> --id <ID> --ram <Memory> --disk <disk> --vcpus <cpu> --swap 0 --ephemeral 0 –public` 

| **Parameter** | **Description** |
| --- | --- |
| `name` | Defines the name of the flavor for the vNIOS instance. For reporting, mention the name of the reporting model. |
| `id` | Defines the unique ID of the OpenStack flavor for the vNIOS instance. |
| `ram` | Specifies the RAM size in megabytes. |
| `disk` | Specifies the disk space in gigabytes. |
| `vcpus` | Specifies the number of virtual CPUs. |
| `swap` | Sets the swap space to 0. |
| `ephemeral` | Sets the ephemeral space to 0. |
| `public` | Makes the flavor public. |

Following is a sample command:

`openstack flavor create NIOSv926 --id 1 --ram 32768 --disk 500 --vcpus 8 --swap 0 --ephemeral 0 --public`

For the list of vNIOS OpenStack flavors with their specifications, see *[vNIOS for OpenStack X6 Series](https://docs.infoblox.com/space/vniosspec/1488322601/vNIOS+for+OpenStack+X6+Series)* and *[vNIOS for OpenStack X5 Series](https://docs.infoblox.com/space/vniosspec/1488846894/vNIOS+for+OpenStack+X5+Series)*.

To manage the vNIOS OpenStack flavors, use the standard OpenStack API. For example, run `openstack flavor-list` to show the created flavors.

# > Macro (anchor)

Importing the vNIOS Instance into OpenStack

Use the following command to create a vNIOS instance in OpenStack:

- For Ubuntu-based OpenStack:  
`openstack image create --disk-format qcow2 --container-format bare --shared --file <location of the qcow2 image>`  
Example:  
`openstack image create --disk-format qcow2 --container-format bare --shared --file nios-9.0.5-52728-5501324ffb0c-2024-09-03-12-15-13-fixed-500G.qcow2 nios903`
- For Red Hat OpenStack:  
`chmod 777 <qcow2 image name>`  
`openstack image create --disk-format qcow2 --public --file <location of the qcow2 image> <image-name-on-openshift>`  
Example:  
`openstack image create --disk-format qcow2 --public --file nios-9.0.4-50212-ee11d5834df9-2023-11-23-00-16-36-fixed-500G.qcow2 nios904`

# > Macro (anchor)

Setting up Security Groups

When you set up your OpenStack environment, you can create an additional security group "vnios-sec-group" or add certain protocol rules to the existing or default security groups to allow specific network traffic. You can configure basic settings as described in *the Basic Configuration* section below, or configure optional settings for Grid communication and for other protocols such as DNS and DHCP. For more information, refer to the *[Infoblox NIOS Documentation](https://docs.infoblox.com/space/NIOS/35400616/NIOS)*.

Note that this section contains sample scripts that you can use to establish specific protocol rules.

## Basic Configuration

1. Create a security group.  
The following example is for creating a security group by name `vnios-sec-group`:  
`openstack security group create vnios-sec-group`
2. Add rules to the security group to allow specific network traffic on required ports.  
The following example creates a rule that allows only HTTPS traffic on port 443:  
`openstack security group rule create --protocol tcp --dst-port 443 --ethertype IPv4 vnios-sec-group`