OpenStack

OpenStack is an open-source Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud computing project. OpenStack was founded by Rackspace Cloud and NASA which now includes over 150 companies including Dell, HP, IBM, AMD, Intel, Canonical (makers of Ubuntu), SUSE Linux, Red Hat and Cisco.

The mission of Openstack is to allow companies of all sizes to run their own private clouds using standard hardware. Openstack has open APIs that tightly integrate with Rackspace Cloud and are even compatible with Amazon Web Services.

OpenStack Modules

OpenStack is currently made up of three main modules; Compute, Object Storage and Image Service.

OpenStack Compute (Nova)

OpenStack Compute (code-name Nova) is open source software that allows you to provision and manage large networks of virtual machines. It gives you the software, control panels, and APIs required to operate a cloud, including running instances, managing networks, and controlling access through users and projects.

OpenStack Object Storage (Swift)

OpenStack Object Storage (code-name Swift) is open source software that uses clusters of standardized servers to store up to petabytes of data that is redundant, scaleable and fast. OpenStack Object Storage is a long-term storage system for large amounts of static data that can be retrieved, leveraged, and updated. Object Storage uses a distributed architecture with no central point of control, providing greater scalability, redundancy and permanence.

OpenStack Image Service (Glance)

OpenStack Image Service (code-name Glance) provides discovery, registration, and delivery services for virtual disk images. The Image Service API server provides a standard REST interface for querying information about virtual disk images stored in a variety of back-end stores, including OpenStack Object Storage. Clients can register new virtual disk images with the Image Service, query for information on publicly available disk images, and use the Image Service’s client library for streaming virtual disk images.

More information on OpenStack

For more information about how the Slate Technology Group can help deploy and support the OpenStack Platform please visit our deploying private clouds page.

For more information on OpenStack please visit their website –  OpenStack

* Some of the information on this page was supplied by OpenStack.com