OpenStack pre-Mitaka users should watch 1984’s The Terminator

In the OpenStack pre-Mitaka release, the Horizon dashboard interface includes a button labeled, “Terminate Instances”. As a fan of James Cameron’s 1984 film, “The Terminator”, I had no problem wrapping my mind around what this button did. However, as an instructor of the OpenStack suite, I can say from experience that many people do struggle with what this button does.

I have to assume in 1984, the same people walked into “The Terminator” unsure of the motives of the Cyberdyne System Model 101 (CSM-101) as portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In Cameron’s world, in OpenStack’s world, and in Merriam-Webster’s world, the word ‘terminate’ means to, ‘bring to an end’. So if you press the button on the Horizon dashboard labeled, “terminate instances”, you just made that instance no longer exist. As in, gone forever. There is a soft-delete option that exists within Nova’s config, but as far as I know, it is not on by default. Generally, once a instance has been terminated, it is gone forever.

Beginning in the Mitaka build, the “Terminate Instances” button has been replaced with a “Delete Instance” button. Additionally, configuration of the ‘soft delete’ option has also been removed.

Read more about, “No more soft delete” in OpenStack.

If you’re struggling with OpenStack feel free to reach out. Seats in my public on-line OpenStack training class are available!