Quick tutorial for booting a new Rackspace server with OpenStack's Nova client (CLI).

gistfile1.md

1. Install easy_install python package manager [Ref]:

    sh setuptools-0.6c9-py2.4.egg --prefix=~
   

2. Install Rackspace CLI based on OpenStack Nova:

    easy_install rackspace-novaclient
   

3. Export envvars (or in .bash_profile if you'd like) [Ref]:

    export OS_AUTH_URL=https://identity.api.rackspacecloud.com/v2.0/
    export OS_AUTH_SYSTEM=rackspace
    export OS_REGION_NAME=ORD
    export OS_USERNAME=<username>
    export OS_TENANT_NAME=chicago
    export NOVA_RAX_AUTH=1
    export OS_PASSWORD=<api_key>
    export OS_PROJECT_ID=chicago
    export OS_NO_CACHE=1
   

4. Confirm authentication, and find the flavor and image of your choosing:

    nova credentials
    nova image-list
    nova flavor-list
   

5. So to create the smallest Ubuntu Lucid server:

    nova boot mytestserver --image=d531a2dd-7ae9-4407-bb5a-e5ea03303d98 --flavor=2
   

6. Server will start booting, you'll be shown output info, and in a few minutes, you'll have a new server in Rackspace's Control Panel.