TechDogs-"A Beginner’s Guide To Understanding OpenStack Cloud Software"

Cloud

A Beginner’s Guide To Understanding OpenStack Cloud Software

By TechDogs Editorial Team

TechDogs
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Overview

Have you ever looked up at an overcast sky and wondered, "What are clouds made of?"
Well, we're here to tell you - it's mostly Linux servers!

Don't get us wrong, we're all supporters of science and technology - but that was our segue into today's topic, OpenStack Cloud Software. It is a set of open-source, cloud-based software modules that provide the framework for building and managing public and private cloud infrastructure. It helps enterprises aggregate, provision and monitor resources such as compute and storage and deliver them when needed.

These resources can also include hardware or virtual machines (VMs) and are managed using Application Programming Interfaces to provide orchestration and fault management. This is how global businesses and enterprises can efficiently scale, monitor and support high-availability activities.

Jump in and learn about OpenStack Cloud; it may run in the background but is the star of the show!
TechDogs-"A Beginner’s Guide To Understanding OpenStack Cloud Software" The Ray Of Light In The Dark!
Answer us this - have you used any of the following applications: LinkedIn, Asana, Dropbox or Verizon? If yes, we're here to introduce you to one of the stars that made your superb digital experience feasible. It is impossible not to interact with the cloud in our modern digital landscape. Nearly every software application can be transitioned to the cloud for faster access, more reliability and easier management. However, for businesses to transition to the cloud they needed to address a few issues - the need for standardization, easy implementation, low cost and scope for customization.

That's how OpenStack was born! It is a free, open-source cloud-based platform that controls massive compute, storage and networking resources through an Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). It provides a dashboard that gives business administrators complete visibility, empowering them to provision required resources. Businesses can deploy OpenStack in a public cloud platform, private cloud or at the edge of a Distributed Computing systems. Despite its name, OpenStack Cloud can also be deployed on premises!

Join us as we explore more about OpenStack Cloud Platform is, how it came into being, its working, advantages and future.
 

What Is OpenStack Cloud?


OpenStack is an open-source cloud infrastructure for providing compute and storage resources, both physical and virtual, to developers and organizations that want to use them. It is mostly deployed as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) in both public and private clouds, where users can access virtual servers and other resources.

The platform is made up of interconnected components that control various, multi-vendor hardware pools (a collection of resources that are kept ready to use) of processing, storage and networking resources. Users can manage these resources using a web-based dashboard or command-line tools (coding). It has more connections than the characters in Netflix's Dark had with one another! The OpenStack community collaborates twice a year to discuss and release frequent development milestones, which means it improves during each upgrade.

Now, let's take a look at the evolution of OpenStack Cloud software. 
 

History Of OpenStack Cloud


In July 2010, Rackspace Hosting, an American cloud computing company based in Texas and NASA (yep, they just have their hands in every jar!) announced the release of an open-source cloud-software initiative known as OpenStack. Their mission statement was "to produce the ubiquitous Open-Source Cloud Computing platform that will meet the needs of public and private clouds regardless of size, by being simple to implement and massively scalable."

The project's goal was to assist organizations in providing cloud computing services that run on standard hardware. Three months later, on 21 October 2010, the community's first official release, code-named Austin, was released, with plans to develop regular software updates every few months. The initial code was derived from NASA's Nebula platform as well as Rackspace's Cloud Files framework. NASA's Nebula team collaborated with Rackspace to merge the cloud stack and open stack modules to create what we now call OpenStack Cloud platform.

You must be thinking, with NASA involved, the working of OpenStack Cloud must seem like rocket science! Fret not, we're here to simplify it for you.
 

How Does OpenStack Cloud Work?


TechDogs-"How Does OpenStack Cloud Work? "A Screengrab Of Programmers Near Screen With Open Code Script
OpenStack is not a traditional application but rather a platform made up of several dozen separate components that communicate with one another via API commands. A cloud environment does not necessarily need all the components. Organizations can choose to install a subset of the available elements required to build their desired cloud environment, based on the features and functionality they require.

OpenStack also utilizes two other foundation technologies: an operating system (such as Linux) and a virtualization platform (VMware or Citrix). The operating system handles OpenStack commands and data, while the virtualization engine handles the virtual machine hardware resources used by OpenStack projects. Administrators can provision and manage resources once the OS, virtualization platform and OpenStack components are deployed and configured correctly.

For example, an administrator can log into their OpenStack environment to monitor and manage each cloud component through a dashboard. Administrators can also create and connect new compute and storage instances to reconfigure the network behavior. Additionally, an administrator can connect various other services or components, such as performance monitoring to identify if a provisioned instance is working as expected.

Now that we know how OpenStack works, let's explore deeper!
 

What Are The Most Important Components Of The OpenStack Cloud?


Before we understand the different components of OpenStack Cloud, let us look at the entire ecosystem -

TechDogs-"What Are The Most Important Components Of The OpenStack Cloud? "A Screengrab Of Entire Ecosystem Of OpenStack Cloud
That's impressive, right? OpenStack's architecture is modular, with various code names for its components. The developer community contributes these software components, with improvements being made each year. Adopters of OpenStack can choose to incorporate some, or all these components based on their business requirements.

OpenStack configurations vary but typically begin with a few key components for standard requirements: compute (Nova), images (Glance), networking (Neutron), storage (Cinder or Swift), identity management (Keystone), dashboard (Horizon), search (Searchlight) and resource management (Placement).

Although there are more components, these are the ones most commonly used by developers and enterprises to leverage OpenStack Cloud infrastructure. With such a comprehensive scope you can bet there are more benefits to implementing OpenStack than you can count on your fingers!
 

What Are The Benefits Of OpenStack?


Businesses that deploy and maintain an OpenStack cloud infrastructure enjoy various benefits, such as an infrastructure that supports rapid innovation, cuts down time-to-market, improves scalability, optimizes resource utilization and adheres to regulatory compliance guidelines. However, the most significant advantages of OpenStack Cloud are:
 
  • Affordability

    OpenStack is available freely as open-source software, so there is no upfront fee to acquire and use OpenStack.

  • Reliability

    With over a decade of development and regular updates, OpenStack provides a comprehensive and proven production-ready platform for enterprises to develop and deploy applications on private or public clouds. Moreover, it provides scalable storage, high performance, robust data security, which is why it enjoys broad recognition across domains.

  • Vendor Neutrality

    As OpenStack is open-source in nature, most organizations leveraging it can avoid vendor lock-in. This means they don't have to commit to one vendor as the OpenStack platform has individual components that offer the same functionalities.


Furthermore, OpenStack Cloud encourages collaboration and engagement as its developer community meets biannually to discuss issues, resolve bugs and improve the overall performance of the platform.
 

The Future Of OpenStack Cloud

 
According to Statista, the market and consumer data specialist, OpenStack's global public cloud revenues have gone from $755 million (2016) to $1737 million (2021) in just under six years! That shows an impressive increase in the adoption of OpenStack and signals that it will only increase in the future as cloud becomes the norm. Very few open-source cloud platforms enjoy the same support by leading software hosting and development firms as OpenStack does - another reason to believe it has a bright future.

As more enterprises worldwide trust and rely on OpenStack to manage their business-critical systems and cloud application, it will adapt and redefine its infrastructure to cater to their needs. As the future will be open-source, we can expect that OpenStack isn't going anywhere anytime soon!
 

Conclusion


The vast scope of the OpenStack platform and the sheer number of interconnected components can be perplexing, if not intimidating. Although we can use a handful of these components to build a functional hybrid cloud environment, businesses gradually end up deploying additional functionalities over time to expand their cloud's operational and business capabilities.

That is the power of open-source platforms such as OpenStack - a buzzing developer community that regularly comes up with valuable upgrades. We mean, there's a reason it is the fastest-growing open-source project in history!

*The OpenStack foundation renamed itself as "Open Infrastructure Foundation" in 2020.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is OpenStack Cloud?


OpenStack Cloud is an open-source infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) platform designed to provide compute and storage resources, both physical and virtual, to users and organizations. It offers a web-based dashboard and command-line tools for managing these resources efficiently across public and private clouds. OpenStack comprises interconnected components that control diverse hardware pools, enabling seamless resource allocation and management.

How does OpenStack Cloud work?


OpenStack operates as a platform composed of several dozen separate components communicating through API commands. It doesn't require all components for a functional cloud environment, allowing organizations to tailor deployments based on their specific needs. Once deployed and configured alongside an operating system and virtualization platform, administrators can provision and manage resources through the dashboard, create instances, and connect various services to ensure optimal performance.

What are the benefits of OpenStack Cloud?


Businesses leveraging OpenStack Cloud enjoy numerous advantages, including affordability, reliability, and vendor neutrality. As open-source software, OpenStack incurs no upfront costs, making it accessible to enterprises of all sizes. Its proven track record, regular updates, and robust features ensure reliability and scalability, fostering rapid innovation and adherence to regulatory compliance. Additionally, its vendor-neutral nature mitigates vendor lock-in, providing flexibility and freedom of choice for organizations seeking cloud solutions.

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