Features/OpenStack using virtual watchdog

= OpenStack using virtual watchdog =

Summary
Allow OpenStack users to specify a virtual watchdog device for guests.

Owner

 * Name: Richard Jones
 * Email: rjones@redhat.com

Current status

 * Targeted release: Fedora 18
 * Last updated: 2011-12-20
 * Percentage of completion: 00%

Detailed Description
QEMU/KVM supports a virtual watchdog device. This device lets you have the guest reboot automatically if it becomes unresponsive. It is a first line of recovery for servers.

There is currently no way to enable this device in OpenStack, even though OpenStack can be configured to use libvirt and KVM.

We would like to add a way to let users choose to enable the virtual watchdog device.

Benefit to Fedora
Users who install Fedora 17 and OpenStack Essex will be able to enable a virtual watchdog in their guests.

Scope
We will aim to get this feature into OpenStack upstream first, ensure that it is backported to Essex upstream, and then package it for Fedora 17.

How To Test
TBD. A test day has been booked for OpenStack.

User Experience
Users will be able to enable a watchdog device from the Nova command line.

Dependencies
(None, since QEMU in Fedora already has the virtual watchdog, and it can be enabled through libvirt which is already in Fedora)

Contingency Plan
No plan needed. If the feature is not ready, it can simply be dropped.

Comments and Discussion

 * See Talk:Features/OpenStack using virtual watchdog