===================
Configuration Guide
===================

The static configuration for nova lives in two main files: ``nova.conf`` and
``policy.yaml``. These are described below. For a bigger picture view on
configuring nova to solve specific problems, refer to the :doc:`Nova Admin
Guide </admin/index>`.

Configuration
-------------

* :doc:`Configuration Guide </admin/configuration/index>`: Detailed
  configuration guides for various parts of your Nova system. Helpful
  reference for setting up specific hypervisor backends.

* :doc:`Config Reference <config>`: A complete reference of all
  configuration options available in the ``nova.conf`` file.

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   * :doc:`Sample Config File <sample-config>`: A sample config
     file with inline documentation.

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   config

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      sample-config

Policy
------

Nova, like most OpenStack projects, uses a policy language to restrict
permissions on REST API actions.

* :doc:`Policy Concepts <policy-concepts>`: Starting in the Ussuri
  release, Nova API policy defines new default roles with system scope
  capabilities. These new changes improve the security level and
  manageability of Nova API as they are richer in terms of handling access at
  system and project level token with 'Read' and 'Write' roles.

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   policy-concepts

* :doc:`Policy Reference <policy>`: A complete reference of all
  policy points in nova and what they impact.

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   * :doc:`Sample Policy File <sample-policy>`: A sample nova
     policy file with inline documentation.

.. # NOTE(mriedem): This is the section where we hide things that we don't
   # actually want in the table of contents but sphinx build would fail if
   # they aren't in the toctree somewhere.
.. # NOTE(amotoki): toctree needs to be placed at the end of the secion to
   # keep the document structure in the PDF doc.
.. toctree::
   :hidden:

   policy

.. # NOTE(amotoki): Sample files are only available in HTML document.
   # Inline sample files with literalinclude hit LaTeX processing error
   # like TeX capacity exceeded and direct links are discouraged in PDF doc.
.. only:: html

   .. toctree::
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      sample-policy

Extra Specs
-----------

Nova uses *flavor extra specs* as a way to provide additional information to
instances beyond basic information like amount of RAM or disk. This information
can range from hints for the scheduler to hypervisor-specific configuration
instructions for the instance.

* :doc:`Extra Spec Reference <extra-specs>`: A complete reference for all extra
  specs currently recognized and supported by nova.

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   extra-specs