Transform your openstack infrastructure with gnocchi: how to install it right

Gnocchi is an essential component of OpenStack’s monitoring and telemetry ecosystem. It provides a scalable and reliable time-series database for storing and querying metrics from your OpenStack cloud. This blog post will guide you through the installation process of Gnocchi in OpenStack, empowering you to gain deep insights into your cloud infrastructure’s performance and health.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following prerequisites in place:

• OpenStack installation with the following components enabled:
• Keystone
• Glance
• Nova
• Neutron
• Python 3.6 or later
• Virtualenv environment

Installing Gnocchi

1. Create a Virtual Environment

“`bash
python3 -m venv gnocchi-env
source gnocchi-env/bin/activate
“`

2. Install Gnocchi

“`bash
pip install gnocchi
“`

3. Create the Gnocchi Database

“`bash
gnocchi-db-manage –config-file /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf upgrade
“`

4. Create the Gnocchi User

“`bash
openstack user create —domain default –password-prompt gnocchi
openstack role add —project service —user gnocchi admin
“`

5. Create the Gnocchi Service

“`bash
openstack service create –name gnocchi –description “Gnocchi Telemetry Service” metering
“`

6. Create the Gnocchi Endpoint

“`bash
openstack endpoint create —region RegionOne gnocchi public http://controller:8041/v1
openstack endpoint create —region RegionOne gnocchi internal http://controller:8041/v1
openstack endpoint create —region RegionOne gnocchi admin http://controller:8041/v1
“`

7. Restart Gnocchi Services

“`bash
systemctl restart gnocchi-api gnocchi-metricd
“`

Configuring Gnocchi

1. Configure Gnocchi to Use Keystone

“`bash
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf keystone_authtoken auth_uri http://controller:5000
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf keystone_authtoken auth_url http://controller:5000
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf keystone_authtoken auth_plugin password
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf keystone_authtoken username gnocchi
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf keystone_authtoken password
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf keystone_authtoken project_domain_name default
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf keystone_authtoken project_name service
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf keystone_authtoken user_domain_name default
“`

2. Configure Gnocchi to Store Metrics in InfluxDB

“`bash
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf storage driver influxdb
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf influxdb url http://localhost:8086
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf influxdb user admin
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf influxdb password
crudini –set /etc/gnocchi/gnocchi.conf influxdb database gnocchi
“`

3. Restart Gnocchi Services

“`bash
systemctl restart gnocchi-api gnocchi-metricd
“`

Testing Gnocchi

1. Send a Test Metric

“`bash
gnocchi-metric create -n test-metric -v 123.45 -t 1640995200
“`

2. Query the Metric

“`bash
gnocchi-metric list-measures -m test-metric
“`

Monitoring Gnocchi

To monitor the health of Gnocchi, you can use the following commands:

“`bash
systemctl status gnocchi-api
systemctl status gnocchi-metricd
“`

Troubleshooting

If you encounter any issues during installation or configuration, refer to the following resources:

• [Gnocchi Documentation](https://docs.openstack.org/gnocchi/latest/)
• [OpenStack Forums](https://ask.openstack.org/)

The Bottom Line: Empowering Cloud Intelligence with Gnocchi

By installing Gnocchi in your OpenStack environment, you unlock a wealth of insights into your cloud infrastructure‘s performance and health. This valuable data empowers you to optimize resource utilization, identify bottlenecks, and ensure the smooth operation of your cloud services. Embrace Gnocchi today and elevate your cloud management capabilities to new heights.

Questions We Hear a Lot

1. What are the benefits of using Gnocchi?

Gnocchi provides a scalable and reliable time-series database that allows you to store, query, and analyze metrics from your OpenStack cloud. This data can be used to identify performance bottlenecks, optimize resource utilization, and troubleshoot issues.

2. What is the difference between Gnocchi and other monitoring solutions?

Gnocchi is designed specifically for OpenStack and integrates seamlessly with other OpenStack components. It also supports a wide range of metric types and provides a rich set of query capabilities.

3. How can I access Gnocchi‘s data?

You can access Gnocchi‘s data through the Gnocchi API or by using the gnocchi-cli command-line tool.