OpenStack Cactus Adds Some Interesting Features

OpenStack (see previous CloudAve coverage), the Open Source Cloud Platform project spearheaded by Rackspace, today announced the release of the next stable version, codenamed Cactus. Even though this release is more about making the compute code more stable, they also have some interesting new features for their compute and storage products. Some of the interesting news since my last post on OpenStack are:

• Gluster, Korean Telecom and Arista Networks joined the OpenStack partner ecosystem
• Rick Clark, Project Lead of OpenStack since its inception, left the project and Rackspace to join Cisco. His departure created some controversy regarding the control exerted by Rackspace but it seems to have died down for the time being. The upcoming OpenStack Design Summit and Conference should, hopefully, address some of the issues
• A little more than a week back, Cisco made a proposal in the OpenStack community to add a Network as a Service. They added a few new ideas and extended the other Network as a Service proposal in the community

Three of the interesting features in the current release include extensive support for all the major hypervisors including VMware vSphere (the integration is still considered to be weak), KVM Live Migration (I know HexaGrid support KVM Live migration but if any other cloud platform supports this, please ping me) and support for large scale deployments. Other new features in this release include:

Compute:

• Enhanced network management features, including IPv6 support for flat networking, advanced network configuration and QoS management with XenServer
• New OpenStack API 1.1 with support for extensions, which allow developers to innovate more quickly by adding extensions to their local OpenStack installations ahead of the code being accepted by the OpenStack community as a whole
• Multi-cluster region support, which allows administrators to manage servers in clusters, and create fault zones and availability zones. Service providers are going to like these features
• Support for enterprise storage solutions, including Solaris iSCSI and HP SAN

Storage:

• An enhanced authentication system
• The ability to collect and serve data that enables integration of service provider billing solutions or internal chargebacks
• Static web serving for faster and easier access to content. I guess this is making into the release after some noise came from Amazon about how one can run their website from S3

Glance:

• Security enhancements including image verification
• A new command line tools that makes user experience better

With OpenStack Conference and Design Summit is just 2 weeks away, this release clears way for discussion on the roadmap and other organizational issues at the event. The next release, codenamed Diablo, is scheduled for 2011.

Conclusion

I like the way the project is evolving with features targeting both the service providers and enterprises. Even though the compute code in this version is mature compared to previous releases, I have been hearing from users and ecosystem partners that the first release of 2012 will be the ultimate production ready code. Already OpenStack storage has gained good traction and if the buzz around it is any indication, users (both service providers and enterprises) are waiting for the compute to be production ready. I am attending the OpenStack Conference and Design Summit in the month end and I will post my thoughts after the event.

Related articles

• OpenStack ‘floating Linux kernel’ rides VMware hypervisor (go.theregister.com)
• Open Cubed: Meet the New Cloud Stack (nytimes.com)
• OpenStack Opens Up Voting Process (nytimes.com)