對於OpenStack的具體安裝，可以查看“五嶽之巔”的博客 http://blog.chinaunix.net/uid/22414998/frmd/154248.html 講解較爲詳細。
以下內容是如何在linux命令行下進行nova-compute實例的相關操作，這些操作均可以通過OpenStack的Horizon服務在web界面上完成，本文只是作者筆記，供參考用。
客戶端系統環境：
ubuntu-desktop-12.04
python-novaclient glance-client swift kvm
export SERVICE_TOKEN=admin
export OS_TENANT_NAME=admin
export OS_USERNAME=admin
export OS_PASSWORD=admin
export OS_AUTH_URL="http://192.168.111.128:5000/v2.0/"
export SERVICE_ENDPOINT=http://192.168.111.128:35357/v2.0
以上是客戶端主機系統的基本要求，本文中由於Nova是安裝在192.168.111.128上面的，所以讀者應根據實際情況設置。
在擁有以上的環境後，可以通過命令操作來查看、創建、管理實例。
查看Image的信息：
root@client:~# nova image-list
+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------+--------+
| ID | Name | Status | Server |
+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------+--------+
| 50a278f9-54e2-485c-9592-f0e485689df0 | ubuntu-12.04 | ACTIVE | |
+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------+--------+
root@client:~# nova image-list
+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------+--------+
| ID | Name | Status | Server |
+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------+--------+
| 50a278f9-54e2-485c-9592-f0e485689df0 | ubuntu-12.04 | ACTIVE | |
+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------+--------+
查看可用的kvm實例化配置信息：
root@client:~# nova flavor-list
+----+--------------+-----------+------+-----------+------+-------+-------------+
| ID | Name | Memory_MB | Disk | Ephemeral | Swap | VCPUs | RXTX_Factor |
+----+--------------+-----------+------+-----------+------+-------+-------------+
| 1 | m1.tiny | 512 | 0 | 0 | | 1 | 1.0 |
| 2 | m1.small | 2048 | 10 | 20 | | 1 | 1.0 |
| 3 | m1.medium | 4096 | 10 | 40 | | 2 | 1.0 |
| 4 | m1.large | 8192 | 10 | 80 | | 4 | 1.0 |
| 5 | m1.xlarge | 16384 | 10 | 160 | | 8 | 1.0 |
| 6 | svr_2-512-10 | 512 | 10 | 20 | | 2 | 1.0 |
+----+--------------+-----------+------+-----------+------+-------+-------------+
啓動一個實例：
root@client:~# nova boot --flavor=1 --image=50a278f9-54e2-485c-9592-f0e485689df0 testserver
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Property | Value |
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
| OS-DCF:diskConfig | MANUAL |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:host | None |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:hypervisor_hostname | None |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:instance_name | instance-00000004 |
| OS-EXT-STS:power_state | 0 |
| OS-EXT-STS:task_state | scheduling |
| OS-EXT-STS:vm_state | building |
| accessIPv4 | |
| accessIPv6 | |
| adminPass | sJcaPJYp22Fc |
| config_drive | |
| created | 2012-12-22T06:36:02Z |
| flavor | m1.tiny |
| hostId | |
| id | 6b92ce5a-5499-4b42-a346-13b78e28d3e8 |
| image | ubuntu-12.04 |
| key_name | |
| metadata | {} |
| name | testserver |
| progress | 0 |
| status | BUILD |
| tenant_id | dac9bcbdf94d4764b1fc919b126727ca |
| updated | 2012-12-22T06:36:02Z |
| user_id | bb1468f01a8548cf8160836ca6a82679 |
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+
該實例使用flavor中ID爲1的資源配置，鏡像使用ID爲50a278f9-54e2-485c-9592-f0e485689df0 的鏡像，實例的顯示名稱爲testserver
啓動完該實例後，直觀的從web上看：
命令行查看實例情況：
root@client:~# nova list
+--------------------------------------+------------+--------+----------+
| ID | Name | Status | Networks |
+--------------------------------------+------------+--------+----------+
| 6b92ce5a-5499-4b42-a346-13b78e28d3e8 | testserver | ACTIVE | |
+--------------------------------------+------------+--------+----------+
查看實例的詳細信息：
root@client:~# nova show 6b92ce5a-5499-4b42-a346-13b78e28d3e8
+-------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Property | Value |
+-------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| OS-DCF:diskConfig | MANUAL |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:host | svr1 |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:hypervisor_hostname | None |
| OS-EXT-SRV-ATTR:instance_name | instance-00000004 |
| OS-EXT-STS:power_state | 1 |
| OS-EXT-STS:task_state | None |
| OS-EXT-STS:vm_state | active |
| accessIPv4 | |
| accessIPv6 | |
| config_drive | |
| created | 2012-12-22T06:36:02Z |
| flavor | m1.tiny |
| hostId | 0cb64f5bbe94b0a71f29d17025afe844d0fd047f8dae71d0142ebae1 |
| id | 6b92ce5a-5499-4b42-a346-13b78e28d3e8 |
| image | ubuntu-12.04 |
| key_name | |
| metadata | {} |
| name | testserver |
| progress | 0 |
| status | ACTIVE |
| tenant_id | dac9bcbdf94d4764b1fc919b126727ca |
| updated | 2012-12-22T06:36:05Z |
| user_id | bb1468f01a8548cf8160836ca6a82679 |
+-------------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------+