How do I deploy a Virtual Canary on OpenStack?

Deploy a Virtual Canary on OpenStack by uploading the QCOW2 image, launching the instance, and linking it to your Console for full monitoring and remote management capabilities.

Canaries aren't just Hardware devices. You can run Canaries within your OpenStack infrastructure, using the same Console as the rest of your Canary fleet.

Requirements

The OpenStack VM requirements for a fully functioning bird are:

• Disk space larger than 10GB
• 2GB memory
• Single CPU core

Follow the steps below to create your OpenStack Canary:

Step 1: Log in to your Console

Step 2: Add a new Canary

1. Click the + Add icon.
2. Click Add New Canary.

Step 3: Select Add OpenStack Canary

Step 4: Download ZIP

Click on Download Zip to download the OpenStack Canary archive to your local machine.

Once the download is completed, unzip the file to a storage location on your local machine. There is 1 file with a .qcow2 extension in the ZIP archive.

Step 5: Navigate to OpenStack

Open the OpenStack Horizon UI and navigate to the "Images" page.

Choose Create Image.

Step 6: Upload Canary image

Upload your OpenStack Canary image to OpenStack.

1. Specify an image name.
2. Click Choose file, browse to the OpenStack Canary Image QCOW2 file you extracted from the Zip in Step 4 (the file will end in .qcow2), and select it.
3. Ensure Format is set to "QCOW2".
4. Click Create Image.

Step 7: Launch Canary

Select your newly uploaded Canary image and click Launch.

Step 8: Configure the instance

Configure the instance details.

1. Provide a name for the new Canary instance.
2. Click Next.

Configure the instance Source.

1. Ensure the Boot Source is set to "Image".
2. Allocate a volume of size 10GB (or more).
3. Ensure your uploaded Canary image appears under "Allocated".
4. Click Next to proceed.

Select the Instance Flavour, we recommend "ds2G".

Allocate a network to your instance. The added network should allow at least outbound DNS traffic.

There is no need to configure additional network ports if a network is selected (as above). Skip forward by clicking Next to reach the Security Groups page.

Allocate an appropriate security group. We recommend a permissive group to expose services configured on the Canary.

You can now start the configured instance by clicking Launch Instance.

Step 9: Confirm new Canary

On your Console, you should see a pop-up to confirm your new Canary.

1. If you have multiple Flocks, choose one for your new Canary.
2. Click Add Canary.

Step 10: Manage your Canary

Your Virtual Canary will boot and connect back to your Console. This may take a minute or two.

You can set up your Virtual Canary from within your Console using remote management by following the guide found here.