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104 changes: 104 additions & 0 deletions source/adminguide/extensions.rst
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.. Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
distributed with this work for additional information#
regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
software distributed under the License is distributed on an
"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
specific language governing permissions and limitations
under the License.


Extensions
==========

Extensions are a new mechanism introduced in Apache CloudStack to allow administrators to extend the platform's functionality by integrating external systems or custom workflows. Currently, CloudStack supports a single extension type called Orchestrator.

In the UI, extensions can be managed under *Extensions* menu.

|extensions.png|

Overview
^^^^^^^^

An extension in CloudStack is defined as an external binary (written in any programming language) that implements specific actions CloudStack can invoke. This allows operators to manage resource lifecycle operations outside CloudStack, such as provisioning VMs in third-party systems or triggering external automation pipelines.

Extensions are managed through the API and UI, with support for configuration, resource mappings, and action execution.

|create-extension.png|

Configuration
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Administrators can define and manage the following components of an extension:

- Path: A path to a file or script that will be executed during extension operations.

- Configuration Details: Key-value properties used by the extension at runtime.

- Resource Mappings: Association between extensions and CloudStack resources such as clusters, etc.

Path and Availabilty
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The path for an extension can point to any binary or executable script. If no explicit path is provided, CloudStack uses a default base Bash script. The state of the path is validated across all management servers. In the UI, the Availabilty is displayed as Not Ready if the file is missing, inaccessible, or differs across management servers.

All extension files are stored under a directory named after the extension within `/usr/share/cloudstack-management/extensions`.

Payload
^^^^^^^

CloudStack sends structured JSON payloads to the extension binary during each operation. These payloads are written to .json files stored under `/var/lib/cloudstack/management/extensions`. The extension binary is expected to read the file and return an appropriate result. CloudStack automatically attempts to clean up payload files older than one day.

Orchestrator Extension
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

An Orchestrator extension enables CloudStack to delegate VM orchestration to an external system. Key features include:

- Cluster Mapping: Orchestrator extensions can be associated with one or more CloudStack clusters.

- Hosts: Multiple hosts can be added to such clusters, ideally pointing to different physical or external hosts.

- Instance Lifecycle Support: Extensions can handle basic VM actions like prepare, deploy, start, stop, reboot, status and delete.

- Configuration Details: Key-value configuration details can be specified at different levels - extension, cluster mapping, host, template, service offering, instance.

- Custom Actions: Admins can define custom actions beyond the standard VM operations.

- Instance Preparation: Orchestrator extensions can optionally perform a preparation step during instance deployment. This step is executed before the instance is started on the external system. It allows the extension to update certain instance details in CloudStack. CloudStack sends a structured JSON containing the instance configuration, and the extension can respond with the values it wishes to modify. Currently, only a limited set of fields can be updated: the instance’s VNC password, MAC address, details, and the IPv4/IPv6 addresses of its NICs.

- Networking: If networking is setup properly on the external system (See :ref:`built-in extensions networking <proxmox-networking>` for more details.), the Virtual Router in CloudStack can connect to the external VMs and provide DHCP, DNS, and routing services.

**Note**: User data and ssh-key injection from within CloudStack is not supported for the external VMs in this release. The External systems should handle user-data and ssh-key injections natively using other mechanisms.

|extension.png|


CloudStack provides sample built-in orchestrator extensions for demonstration and testing purposes.

.. note::
- When a CloudStack host linked to an orchestrator extension is placed into Maintenance mode, all running instances on the host will be stopped.

- For hosts linked to extensions, CloudStack will report zero for CPU and memory capacity, and host metrics will reflect the same. During instance deployment, capacity checks are the responsibility of the extension executable; CloudStack will not perform any capacity calculations.

- Some of the features that rely on interaction with VMs, such as VM snapshots, live migration, VM scaling, VM autoscaling groups, VNF appliance, Kubernetes clusters, etc are currently not supported for instances managed by orchestrator extensions.

.. include:: extensions/custom_actions.rst

.. include:: extensions/builtin_extensions.rst

.. include:: extensions/troubleshooting.rst

.. include:: extensions/developer.rst

.. Images


.. |extensions.png| image:: /_static/images/extensions.png
.. |create-extension.png| image:: /_static/images/create-extension.png
.. |extension.png| image:: /_static/images/extension.png
241 changes: 241 additions & 0 deletions source/adminguide/extensions/builtin_extensions.rst
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.. Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
distributed with this work for additional information#
regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
"License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
software distributed under the License is distributed on an
"AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
specific language governing permissions and limitations
under the License.


Built-in Orchestator Extensions
===============================

CloudStack provides sample built-in orchestrator extensions for Proxmox and Hyper-V. These extensions are intended for demonstration and testing purposes.
The extension files are located at `/usr/share/cloudstack-management/extensions/Promox` and `/usr/share/cloudstack-management/extensions/HyperV` respectively.
The Proxmox extension is written in shell script, while the Hyper-V extension is written in python.
Both of these extensions support some custom actions in addition to the standard VM actions like deploy, start, stop, reboot, status and delete.
After installing or upgrading Cloudstack, these extensions will show up as disabled on the Extensions page in the UI.

|built-in-extensions.png|

**Note**: These extension may undergo changes with different CloudStack releases and backwards compatibility is not guaranteed.

Proxmox
^^^^^^^^

The Proxmox Cloudstack extension is written in shell script and communicates with a Proxmox cluster using the `Proxmox VE API`_ over HTTPS.

Before using the Proxmox extension, ensure that the Proxmox datacenter is configured correctly and accessible to CloudStack.

Get the Api Token-Secret from Proxmox
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If not already set up, create a new API Token in the Proxmox UI by navigating to `Datacenter > Permissions > API Tokens`.
Uncheck the `Privilege Separation` checkbox in the `Add: Token` dialog or give permission to the API Token
by navigating to `Datacenter > Permissions > Add > API Tokens Permission` and setting Role = `PVEAdmin` and Path = `/vms`.
Note down the **user**, **token**, and **secret**.

|proxmox-add-token.png|
|proxmox-api-token-permission.png|

To check whether the **token** and **secret** are working fine, you can check the following from the CloudStack Management Server:

.. code-block:: bash

export PVE_TOKEN='root@pam!<PROXMOX_TOKEN>=<PROXMOX_SECRET>'

curl -s -k -H "Authorization: PVEAPIToken=$PVE_TOKEN" https://<PROXMOX_URL>:8006/api2/json/version | jq

It should return a JSON response similar to this:

.. code-block:: json

{
"data": {
"repoid": "ec58e45e1bcdf2ac",
"version": "8.4.0",
"release": "8.4"
}
}

Adding Proxmox to CloudStack
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To set up the Proxmox extension, follow these steps in CloudStack:

#. **Enable extension.** Enable the extension by clicking the `Enable` button on the `Extensions` page in the UI.
#. **Create Cluster**. Create a Cluster with hypervisor type `External` and extension type `Proxmox`.

|proxmox-add-cluster.png|

#. **Add Host.** Add a host to the newly created cluster with the following details:

If the Proxmox nodes use a shared API endpoint or credentials, the `url`, `user`, `token`, and `secret` can be set in the Extension's `Configuration Details` instead of per host. However, `node` and `network_bridge` must still be specified individually for each host.

|proxmox-add-host.png|

**Note**: If the TLS certificate cannot be verified when cloudstack connects to the Proxmox node, add the detail **verify_tls_certificate** and set it to **false** to skip certificate verification.

#. **Create Template.** A Template in CloudStack can map to either a `Template` or an `ISO` in Proxmox.
Provide a dummy `url` and template name. Select `External` as the hypervisor and `Proxmox` as the extension. Under `External Details`, specify:

* **template_type**: `template` or `iso`
* **template_id**: ID of the template in Proxmox (if `template_type` is `template`)

|proxmox-add-template.png|

* **iso_path**: full path to the ISO in Proxmox (if `template_type` is `iso`)
|proxmox-add-iso.png|

Note: Templates and ISOs should be stored on shared storage when using multiple Proxmox nodes. Or copy the template/iso to each host's local storage at the same location.

#. **Deploy Instance.** Deploy an instance using the template created above. Optionally, provide the detail `vm_name` to specify the name of the VM in Proxmox.
Otherwise, the CloudStack instance's internal name is used. The VM Id in Proxmox is mapped to the CloudStack instance and stored as a detail in CloudStack DB.
The instance will be provisioned on a randomly selected Proxmox host. The VM will be configured with the MAC address and VLAN ID as defined in CloudStack.

|proxmox-deploy-instance.png|

#. **Lifecycle operations.** Operations **Start**, **Stop**, **Reboot**, and **Delete** can be performed on the instance from CloudStack.

#. **Custom actions.** Custom actions **Create Snapshot**, **Restore Snapshot**, and **Delete Snapshot** are also supported for instances.

.. _proxmox-networking:
Configuring Networking
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Proxmox nodes and CloudStack hypervisor hosts must be connected via a VLAN trunked network. On each Proxmox node,
a bridge interface should be created and connected to the network interface that carries the VLAN-tagged traffic.
This bridge must be specified under Configuration Details (`network_bridge`) when registering the Proxmox node as a host in CloudStack.

When a VM is deployed, CloudStack includes the assigned MAC address and VLAN ID in the extension payload.
The VM created on the Proxmox node is configured with this MAC and connected to the corresponding VLAN via the specified bridge.

Upon boot, the VM broadcasts a VLAN-tagged DHCP request, which reaches the CloudStack Virtual Router (VR) handling that VLAN.
The VR responds with the appropriate IP address as configured in CloudStack. Once the VM receives the lease, it becomes fully integrated into the CloudStack-managed network.

Users can then manage the Hyper-V VM like any other CloudStack guest instance. Users can apply egress policies,
firewall rules, port forwarding, and other networking features seamlessly through the CloudStack UI or API.

Hyper-V
^^^^^^

The Hyper-V CloudStack extension is a Python-based script that communicates with the Hyper-V host using WinRM (Windows Remote Management) over HTTPS,
using NTLM authentication for secure remote execution of PowerShell commands that manage the full lifecycle of virtual machines.

Each Hyper-V host maps to a CloudStack host. Before using the Hyper-V extension, ensure that the Hyper-V host is accessible to the CloudStack Management Server via WinRM over HTTPS.

Configuring WinRM over HTTPS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Windows Remote Management (WinRM)** is a protocol developed by Microsoft for securely managing Windows machines remotely using **WS-Management (Web Services for Management)**.
It allows remote execution of PowerShell commands over HTTP or HTTPS and is widely used in automation tools such as **Ansible**, **Terraform**, and **Packer** for managing Windows infrastructure.

To enable WinRM over HTTPS on the Hyper-V host, ensure the following:

- WinRM is enabled and configured to listen on port 5986 (HTTPS).
- A valid TLS certificate is installed and bound to the WinRM listener. You may use a certificate from a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) or a self-signed certificate.
- The firewall on the Hyper-V host allows inbound connections on TCP port 5986.
- The CloudStack Management Server has network access to the Hyper-V host on port 5986.
- The Hyper-V host has a local or domain user account with appropriate permissions for managing virtual machines (e.g., creating, deleting, configuring VMs).

Sample powershell script to configure WinRM over HTTPS with self-signed TLS certificate is given below:

.. code-block:: powershell

Enable-PSRemoting -Force
$cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -DnsName "$env:COMPUTERNAME" -CertStoreLocation Cert:\LocalMachine\My
New-Item -Path WSMan:\LocalHost\Listener -Transport HTTPS -Address * -CertificateThumbprint $cert.Thumbprint -Force
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "WinRM HTTPS" -Name "WinRM-HTTPS" -Protocol TCP -LocalPort 5986 -Direction Inbound -Action Allow

Install pywinrm on CloudStack Management Server
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
**pywinrm** is a Python library that acts as a client to remotely execute commands on Windows machines via the WinRM protocol. Install it using ``pip3 install pywinrm``.

Host Details
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Apart from the `url`, `username` and `password`, the following details are required when adding a Hyper-V host in CloudStack:

* **network_bridge**: Name of the network bridge to use for VM networking. This bridge must be configured on the Hyper-V host and connected to the appropriate network interface as explained in the `Configuring Networking` section below.
* **vhd_path**: Path to the storage location where VM disks will be created.
* **vm_path**: Path to the storage location where VM configuration files and metadata will be stored.
* **verify_tls_certificate**: Set to `false` to skip TLS certificate verification for self-signed certificates.


Adding Hyper-V to CloudStack
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#. **Enable extension.** Enable the extension by clicking the `Enable` button on the `Extensions` page in the UI.
#. **Create Cluster**. Create a Cluster with hypervisor type `External` and extension type `HyperV`.

|hyperv-add-cluster.png|

#. **Add Host.** Add a host to the newly created cluster with the following details:

|hyperv-add-host.png|

#. **Create Template.** A Template in CloudStack can map to either a `Template` or an `ISO` in Hyper-V.
Provide a dummy `url` and template name. Select `External` as the hypervisor and `HyperV` as the extension. Under `External Details`, specify:

* **template_type**: `template` or `iso`
* **generation**: VM generation (1 or 2)
* **template_path**: Full path to the template .vhdx file in Proxmox (if `template_type` is `template`)

|hyperv-add-template.png|

* **iso_path**: full path to the ISO in HyperV (if `template_type` is `iso`)
* **vhd_size_gb**: Size of the VHD disk to create (in GB) (if `template_type` is `iso`)

|hyperv-add-iso.png|

Note: Templates and ISOs should be stored on shared storage when using multiple HyperV nodes. Or copy the template/iso to each host's local storage at the same location.

#. **Deploy Instance.** Deploy an instance using the template created above. The instance will be provisioned on a randomly selected Hyper-V host.
The VM will be configured with the MAC address and VLAN ID as defined in CloudStack.
The VM in Hyper-V is created with the name `'CloudStack instance's internal name' + '-' + 'CloudStack instance's UUID'` to keep it unique.

#. **Lifecycle operations.** Operations **Start**, **Stop**, **Reboot**, and **Delete** can be performed on the instance from CloudStack.

#. **Custom actions.** Custom actions **Suspend**, **Resume**, **Create Snapshot**, **Restore Snapshot**, and **Delete Snapshot** are also supported for instances.

Configuring Networking
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hyper-V hosts and CloudStack hypervisor hosts must be connected via a VLAN trunked network.
On each Hyper-V host, an external virtual switch should be created and bound to the physical network interface that carries VLAN-tagged traffic.
This switch must be specified in the Configuration Details (network_bridge) when adding the Hyper-V host to CloudStack.

When a VM is deployed, CloudStack includes the assigned MAC address and VLAN ID in the extension payload.
The VM is then created on the Hyper-V host with this MAC address and attached to the specified external switch with the corresponding VLAN configured.

Upon boot, the VM sends a VLAN-tagged DHCP request, which reaches the CloudStack Virtual Router (VR) responsible for that VLAN.
The VR responds with the correct IP address as configured in CloudStack. Once the VM receives the lease, it becomes fully integrated into the CloudStack-managed network.

Users can then manage the Hyper-V VM like any other CloudStack guest instance. Users can apply egress policies,
firewall rules, port forwarding, and other networking features seamlessly through the CloudStack UI or API.


.. _Proxmox VE API: https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/api-viewer/index.html

.. Images


.. |built-in-extensions.png| image:: /_static/images/built-in-extensions.png
.. |proxmox-add-cluster.png| image:: /_static/images/proxmox-add-cluster.png
.. |proxmox-add-host.png| image:: /_static/images/proxmox-add-host.png
.. |proxmox-add-token.png| image:: /_static/images/proxmox-add-token.png
.. |proxmox-api-token-permission.png| image:: /_static/images/proxmox-api-token-permission.png
.. |proxmox-add-template.png| image:: /_static/images/proxmox-add-template.png
.. |proxmox-add-iso.png| image:: /_static/images/proxmox-add-iso.png
.. |proxmox-deploy-instance.png| image:: /_static/images/proxmox-deploy-instance.png
.. |hyperv-add-cluster.png| image:: /_static/images/hyperv-add-cluster.png
.. |hyperv-add-host.png| image:: /_static/images/hyperv-add-host.png
.. |hyperv-add-template.png| image:: /_static/images/hyperv-add-template.png
.. |hyperv-add-iso.png| image:: /_static/images/hyperv-add-iso.png
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