Substation - OpenStack Terminal UI¶
Terminal Interface for OpenStack Cloud Management¶
Substation is a comprehensive terminal user interface for OpenStack that provides operators with powerful, efficient, and intuitive cloud infrastructure management capabilities.
Translation: It's a terminal app for managing OpenStack that doesn't make you want to rage-quit at 3 AM.
Why Substation?¶
Performance First (Because Slow Tools Cost Sleep)¶
- Designed for up to 60-80% API call reduction through multi-level caching
- Target: Sub-second response times for most operations (actual performance depends on OpenStack deployment)
- Parallel search across 6 OpenStack services simultaneously
- Real-time performance monitoring with automatic regression detection
Operator Focused (Built By Operators Who've Been There)¶
- Keyboard-driven navigation (mouse optional)
- Context-aware help (press
?when lost) - Multi-region support for distributed clouds
- Comprehensive error recovery with exponential backoff retry
Quick Links¶
Getting Started¶
- Quick Start Guide - Get up and running in 1 minute
- Installation - Detailed installation instructions
- Configuration - clouds.yaml setup
For Operators¶
- Navigation Guide - Master keyboard shortcuts
- Common Workflows - Everyday operations
- Troubleshooting - When things go wrong
For Developers¶
- Developer Guide - Contributing to Substation
- FormBuilder Guide - Building forms
- API Reference - Using Substation packages
Deep Dives¶
- Architecture - System design and patterns
- Performance - Optimization and benchmarks
- Security - Protection and best practices
- Object Storage - Swift integration, ETAG optimization, and best practices
What You Get¶
Complete OpenStack Resource Management¶
- Compute (Nova): Servers, flavors, keypairs, server groups
- Networking (Neutron): Networks, subnets, routers, security groups, floating IPs
- Storage (Cinder): Volumes, snapshots, backups
- Object Storage (Swift): Containers, objects, bulk transfers with ETAG optimization
- Images (Glance): OS images and snapshots
- Secrets (Barbican): Secure credential storage
Advanced Features¶
- Intelligent Caching - Multi-level (L1/L2/L3) cache hierarchy
- Parallel Search - Cross-service search in < 500ms
- Batch Operations - Process 100+ resources simultaneously
- Real-time Updates - Auto-refresh with configurable intervals
- Health Monitoring - Performance metrics and alerting
System Requirements¶
- OS: macOS 13+ or Linux
- Terminal: Any terminal with ncurses support
- OpenStack: Designed for Queens or later releases (Caracal+ recommended for full feature compatibility)
- Note: Version detection is not enforced - Substation will attempt to work with any Keystone v3 endpoint
- Older releases may have limited functionality or compatibility issues
- Memory: 200MB+ (with 100MB cache for 10K resources)
Getting Help¶
- Built-in Help: Press
?at any time in Substation - FAQ - Frequently asked questions
- Troubleshooting Guide - Common issues and solutions
- GitHub Issues: Report bugs and request features
License¶
Substation is open-source software licensed under the MIT License.
Translation: Free as in beer and speech. Use it. Fork it. Break it. Fix it. Share it.
Remember: You're not alone. Every OpenStack operator has been woken up at 3 AM. At least now you have a tool that doesn't make it worse.
Built by operators who've been there. For operators who are there now.