Openstack – An Open Cloud?

July 27, 2010 by ArchieIndian | 1 Comment

There has been a lot of discussion regarding Openstack, once Rackspace decided to opensource the software behind its cloud storage and computing platforms.With NASA and Rackspace supporting the project, it could not have skipped the attention of Tech Blogs. Being from a community which believes in Opensource and is always its best to promote the same, we thought of taking a closer look at Openstack and How this NASA, Rackspace partnership is like creating an Android for the Cloud Platform?

So, What the hell is OpenStack?

What is hell is Openstack?

So, OpenStack is an opensource project supported by some major players like Rackspace, NASA, Dell and many others which are working towards building a open platform for Cloud. Find the full list here.

Why do we need such an open platform for the cloud?

End of Vendor Lock in : Anyone who has worked on the cloud and has shifted his vendor at some point in time will understand the pain caused by the different ways in the interaction happens among various components of the Cloud for different vendors. With an open standard like Openstack coming in, you can move around the various vendors who adopt Openstack without sweating for the next full making code changes. This will in turn keep the Cloud Vendors honest with their service levels.

We trust Openstack technology wise: Quoting the The NextWeb “First off, let’s put the OpenStack project into perspective. NASA had a problem. The organization needed on-demand increases for storage and processing power. In answer to that problem, NASA built Nebula, an infrastructure cloud platform that was built to meet the needs specific to NASA. As Nebula grew, however, NASA realized that there were parts that were going to have to be custom built, as there was simply no service available to meet their needs. This is where Rackspace comes into the picture. Rackspace and NASA have combined the best of both of their technologies to provide OpenStack, thus solving each other’s problems.” The ReadWriteWeb says “OpenStack will feature several cloud infrastructure components including a fully distributed object store based on Rackspace Cloud Files.

This level of computational capability makes Nebula viable for any enterprise or government agency.“

NASA Nebula is one of the world’s most powerful cloud computing platforms. For instance, Nebula is processing the images from a camera that is orbiting Mars and taking images of the planet for use in the WorldWide telescope, a project of Microsoft Research. Nebula processed -- and now hosts -- more than 100 terabytes of high-resolution images, the equivalent of 20,000 DVDs worth of information.

More Vendors, More Developers, More Options : With OpenStack available in the open, many more vendors can just use the code and build on the top of it and give fanatic service to serve the ultimate purpose of OpenSource. Developers can build new tools on the top of OpenStack standards and make life more and more easier for the customers. It also opens up a business for the developers who want to develop for the Cloud.

What can be the implications and questions around this project?

Amazon has some real competition in the Cloud space. There is no doubt in the fact that Cloud Computing is Amazon’s baby but to make the cloud space more competitive, we needed something more open coming out.
Can Google throw in some of its weight behind the project can give it a major boost?
Can Openstack pull in Microsoft Azure in some way to work in favor of this project?

With NASA backing the project, nothing seems too difficult, but Is Rackspace just banking on it’s fanatic support to differentiate themselves from other vendors having given out their code or is there more to it?

We will soon be covering the major hurdles in the way of Openstack and how it performs. Our team of developers is also becoming active having a look at Openstack and evaluating how good it is ?For now, you can read more about Openstack:

http://www.openstack.org/blog/

http://www.openstack.org/

http://gigaom.com/2010/07/18/openstack/

http://www.cloudera.com/blog/2010/07/rackspace’s-openstack-shows-the-way-for-public-cloud-vendors/

http://www.opensources.com/2010/07/19/why-rackspaces-open-cloud-just-might-work/

http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/07/openstack-rackspace-and-nasa-n.php

http://gigaom.com/2010/07/19/why-openstack-matters-cloud-insiders-weigh-in/

http://gigaom.com/2010/07/25/why-openstack-has-its-work-cut-out/

http://scobleizer.com/2010/07/18/rackspace-announces-opensource-cloud/

http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2010/07/19/roundup-is-openstack-a-game-changer/

http://thenextweb.com/us/2010/07/19/rackspace-issues-a-challenge-to-the-cloud-industry-goes-open-source-with-openstack/

http://techcrunch.com/2010/07/18/openstack-org-rackspace-open-sources-their-cloud-services-platform-and-gets-nasa-on-board/