OpenStack and xcat

This wiki page is for the development of XCAT/OpenStack Senior Project for IBM.

Documentation

xCat Wiki 6.2.0 SMAPI book is here : http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/xcat/index.php?title=XCAT_zVM But we should use the 5.4.0 SMAPI book which is here : http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/zvm/v5r4/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.zvm.v54.dmse6/hcsl8b30.htm This has entries like: Create a virtual network LAN Create a virtual switch Execute a SMAPI function.

Open Stack http://www.openstack.org/

z/VM System Management Application Programming SMAPI functions tie into lots of different z/VM systems management tasks, so here's a link to the particular SMAPI functions for connectivity: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/zvm/v6r2/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.zvm.v620.dmse6%2Fhcsl8c1134.htm&path=6_18_3_1_9

Design proposal

1) INTRODUCTION

This design proposal is for the project that aims to make it possible to make a connection between Openstack and xCat.

2) CURRENT SITUATION

Currently we cannot establish a connection from an open stack client to an Xcat client. There is no plugin for Xcat to make this connection.

Currently we have installed openstack on our computers. We have researched openstack functions that we should use for making the connection. We also researched Xcat functions.

3) GOALS

Our project's main goal is to create a connection between Openstack and Xcat. We will develop a plugin for Xcat that will make this connection possible. We should be able to connect to xCat installation on the Watson mainframe from our workstations which has openstack installed.

4) CREATIVE STRATEGY

We plan to develop the plugin to be able to create connections for virtual switches. The openstack plugin open vSwitch provides the necessary environment required through virtual switches. The coding of the plugin will be done in python because xCat is mostly python based so it will be easy to run on.

5) PROCESS

First we will research the xcat function that we will extend and write a plugin for. After we finish the research part, we will start coding the plugin itself. The development process of the code,we will develop the code. After we complete the first version of the code, we will start the debugging process and iterate on the code itself until all the bugs are corrected. After we finish debugging the code, we will test the plugin to see if it meets the requirements. Finally, we will deliver the plugin. for all of the tasks, we will create documentations.