OpenStack being opensource is a very popular and powerful Infrastructure as a Service platform, used by many individuals and organizations worldwide. Having said that, OpenStack users might end up facing certain issues or bugs at least at some point in time. This blog attempts to address some of the best ways to deal with such tricky issues – so, let’s get into it:
1) Identify OpenStack projects associated with the Bug
First thing that one should do when they encounter a bug is to identify which part of OpenStack it mostly relates to, i.e., if the bug is with respect to the compute, networking or the UI. This will make it easier to debug as there are hundreds of files in OpenStack.
Once you have identified the bug, login to the particular node and check the logs for any useful clues about the location or the root cause of the bug. Now, let’s assume you got some useful information from the logs, you can place some log statements in that file if you feel you need more information. Alternatively, you can also get into that file and make the necessary changes to resolve the bug. Logs are available in the path /var/logs/.
2) Finding a workaround
Now, what if you are having a hard time debugging or you don’t get much information from the logs to resolve the issue yourself? The first thing you can do is to look out for alternatives if any to overcome the bug, for example, let’s assume you are facing an issue when you are trying to do something from the Dashboard, the best alternative is to check if the issue can be reproduced from the CLI. If the issue isn’t emanating from the CLI, look for any other plugins available to get the issue sorted.
3) Search for community bugs registered in the OpenStack project
Yet another thing that one should primarily do is surf the web and find if anybody has already faced the same issue and possibly find a solution from them or if somebody else has posted a solution for it, because many times it so happens the bug you are facing is a common bug and many others would have faced the same and there could be a possible solution existing already.
4) Raise community bug
Now, let’s say none of the above methods worked for you and you are still at the same place where you started, you need not feel lost, you still have some hope as you can readily raise a community bug. In case you aren’t familiar with this concept, community in this context refers to the OpenStack community which is responsible for all the OpenStack APIs and releases. Raising a community bug is nothing but escalating or bringing the bug to the notice of the OpenStack community.
What do you need to raise a community bug?
Create an Ubuntu One account if you don’t have one already. Login to your account, then open OpenStack launchpad, click on bug, and then on report a bug. Type in the description of the bug giving all the details including how it can be reproduced and which project of OpenStack it relates to and submit it. Wait for the bug to be confirmed which should approximately take 2 days, and then the community will handle the bug and post a solution for it.
Hope you found these steps useful and good luck working with the OpenStack.
Anurag is a Software Engineer at Happiest Minds Technologies Pvt Ltd who works closely on developing OpenStack and web-based applications. He is passionate about cloud computing and takes a keen interest in acquiring a more in-depth understanding and knowledge about OpenStack as well as other cloud platforms.
