In this new opportunity we will talk about an open and scalable platform for the creation of private and public clouds, that is, of Openstack.
openstack was created as an infrastructure work project of "Open Source" (Open Source) under the figure of an online service (IaaS) for the creation and administration of large groups of virtual private servers in a data center.
The objectives of this were to support interoperability between cloud services to build cloud services (the same as Amazon) in their own data centers. OpenStack, is currently available for free under the Apache 2.0 license. Therefore, many often refer to OpenStack on informational sites like Linux Cloud, that is, "Linux of the cloud". Others compare it to projects such as Eucalyptus y Apache CloudStack, two other open source cloud initiatives.
And how is Openstack structured?
OpenStack has a modular architecture which currently consists of eleven (11) components:
- Not going: To provide virtual machines (VMs) on demands (On request) required.
- Swift: To provide a scalable storage system that supports the storage of necessary objects.
- cinder: For provide persistent block storage for hosting the running virtual machines.
- glance: To offer the list and storage of virtual disk images with which they will work.
- Keystones: To provide the authentication and authorization technology for all OpenStack services to run.
- Horizon: To provide the modular web user interface (UI) for interaction with OpenStack services.
- Neutron: To provide the required network connectivity as a service between the interface devices that control the OpenStack built-in services.
- Ceilometer: To provide a single point of contact for billing systems.
- Heat: Para provides the orchestration services for multiple cloud applications from different vendors and technologies.
- Trove: To provide database provisioning as a unified service for deployed relational and non-relational database engines.
- Sahara Desert: Para offers the data processing services required for resources managed by OpenStack.
And how was Openstack born?
La National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in conjunction with Rackspace, they developed OpenStack. RackSpace provided the code that powers the cloud file storage and content delivery service (Cloud Files) and Production Cloud Servers (Cloud Servers). The NASA gave the technology that supports Nebula, its own cloud computing service, with features of high performance, networking and efficient data storage management, to achieve the management of large sets of scientific data.
OpenStack officially became a fully independent non-profit organization in 2012 September. The OpenStack Community, created around it is supervised by a board of directors, which is made up of many direct and indirect competitors, such as IBM, Intel and VMware.
And what makes Openstack so successful, practical and used?
OpenStack aims to build a cloud platform, type CMP (Cloud Management Platform) that facilitates the construction and management of different elements within an infrastructure to achieve cloud services to its customers (users). If we compare the VMware stack, openstack would be at the same level of vCAC I vCD).
OpenStack has a large capacity for extensibility through APIs his "Easy" to implement and adapt (very much in the style of AWS), administrations and of the type "Vendor free", so many "Service Providers » they have turned to see OpenStack as a key alternative to your own cloud infrastructure initiatives. OpenStack with its modular technology based on the requirements of "Cloud" that need to be delivered allows to integrate different projects to the architecture created in a progressive and stable way.
What is Openstack NOT?
OpenStack is not:
- A product: It is actually a set of services, which create a cloud, with technology Open Source, which allows its modification, adaptation and personalization in favor of its own needs that can then be shared and contributed with those of the community. OpenStack is maintained and controlled by the Foundation OpenStack.
- A Hypervisor: It is more than a simple virtualization element, since it is an element that is in a layer well above the cloud, it has the height of competitors such as vCD y vCAC (VMware) and with others CMP's de third parties (3) that are out there.
- 100% Free: Only the code to be open, since the costs of maintenance, training, troubleshooting, management and maintenance of the layers that are below (eg vSphere, networking, storage, etc.) they have or may have an associated cost depending on the provider and / or technology used. Additionally, some Linux Distros are starting to offer their "Flavor" (versions) of OpenStack itself, adding associated value, a cost not for the code but for the support and the rest.
- Only for Service Providers: OpenStack It can be used by any type of Institution, Company, Organizations and not only by Service Providers (SPs), since clearly the modularity and ease of consumption through its APIs, makes the product so interesting for SPs and any other interested party.
AND WHAT IS CLOUD COMPUTING?
According to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) OpenStack It can be defined or conceived as a model of scalable services on demand for the allocation and consumption of computing resources. All this encompassing the use of infrastructures, applications, data (information) and a set of services integrated by the reserves of computing resources, networks, data (information) and storage capacity. And also assuming that these elements can be built, supplied, deployed and released quickly, with a small effort of development, control and interaction on the part of the Cloud Computing provider, in order to satisfy the current needs of the client.
The provision of cloud computing services can be associated with three (3) specific business models:
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): This Business Model offers the consumer (user) the provision of processing, storage, networks and any other computing resources necessary to install software, including the operating system and applications. Except the control over the underlying cloud system but the Operating System and its Applications. Example: Amazon Web Services EC2.
- Platform as a Service (PaaS): This Business Model offers the consumer (user) the ability to run applications developed or contracted by third parties, from the programming languages or interfaces provided by the provider. Except control over the underlying system or over the infrastructure resources.
- Software as a Service (SaaS): This Business Model offers the consumer (user) the ability to use the provider's applications that run on the cloud infrastructure. Applications are accessed from client devices through interfaces, for example a web browser. In this case, the user only has access to a configuration interface of the provided software.
The provision of cloud computing services can be associated with three (3) specific implementation models:
- Public Cloud: This Cloud Deployment Model makes the infrastructure and logical resources that are part of the environment available to the general public or a wide group of users. It is usually owned by a provider who manages the infrastructure and services offered. Example: GoogleApps service.
- Private Cloud: This Cloud Deployment Model allows the infrastructure to be managed solely by one organization. The administration of applications and services can be carried out by the same organization or by a third party. The associated infrastructure can be within the organization or outside of it. Example: Any cloud service owned by the organization or contracted to a provider but whose resources are exclusive to that organization.
- Community Cloud: This Cloud Deployment Model allows the infrastructure to be shared by various organizations and its main objective is to support a specific community that has a similar set of concerns (mission, security or regulatory compliance requirements, etc.). Like the Private Cloud, it can be managed by organizations or by a third party and the infrastructure can be in their own facilities or outside of them. Example: The service provided by www.apps.gov of the US government, which provides cloud computing services to government agencies.
- Hybrid Cloud: This Cloud Implementation Model allows two or more types of previous Cloud Clouds to be combined, keeping them as separate entities but united by standardized or proprietary technologies, which allow the portability of managed data and applications.
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