OpenStack

See: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/OpenStack

Introduction

This wiki web page documents the possible implementation of the OpenStack cloud infrastructure (IaaS) using the Ubuntu server operating system, in order to evaluate the possible deployment as a private on-campus cloud for the Stellenbosch University Library. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

Watch the video: http://insights.ubuntu.com/video/what-is-openstack

A brief overview of OpenStack is displayed below.

OpenStack Provisioning

MAAS (Metal As A Service) is the service from Ubuntu which provides easy installation of metal servers to the OpenStack cloud and provides the "Standard Hardware" layer pictured above. Once the metal servers are provisioned then "Juju" charms are used to install components of the OpenStack cloud which provides the "OpenStack Shared Services" layer pictured above. Finally cloud services ("Your Applications") are provided by the "OpenStack Dashboard" pictured above.

OpenStack Demo Server Download

A live CD of the demo server can be downloaded from the following link:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-cloud-live/releases/12.04/ubuntu-12.04-cloud-live-amd64.iso

OpenStack Demo Server Instructions

These instructions apply to a 64bit computer registered on the campus network and should be applied by someone experienced with linux system administration.

1. Create a bootable USB stick from the CD and then boot your test computer with the USB stick.
2. After booting the USB stick on your test computer, open the Google Chrome browser on the Unity Launcher and open an internet connection by going to https://inetkey.sun.ac.za.
3. Open the "GettingStarted" file on the desktop and follow the instructions.
4. The credentials for logging into the "Dashboard" are:

username = ubuntu

password = ubuntu123

OpenStack Online Evaluation

• https://trystack.org

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Private Cloud References

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenStack
• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/MAAS
• http://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuCloudInfrastructure

South African Public Cloud Service Providers

• http://www.rsaweb.co.za/cloud-servers
• http://www.virtualservers.co.za
• http://www.afrihost.com/site/product/cloud_hosting
• http://www.gam.co.za/index.php?class=page&objectID=4c56a262a765d

International Public Cloud Service Providers

• http://aws.amazon.com
• http://cloud.google.com
• http://www.rackspace.com
• http://www.lunacloud.com
• http://www.digitalocean.com
• http://dreamhost.com

Cloud Hosting Evaluation

• OJS public cloud hosting in South Africa
• OJS private cloud hosting on campus
• http://www.igeek.co.za/2011/02/08/cloud-hosting-packages-compared-south-africa
• http://www.hostcount.com

Cloud Storage Evaluation

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_storage

Amazon

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Google

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Rackspace

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Calculation

As can be seen from the above screenshots, the average price per GB is approx R1 as per the exchange rates on 2012/08/07. In addition it costs about R2 per GB to pull the data back out of the cloud.

Therefore to store 6TB (6000GB) in the cloud per year costs the following at today's exchange rates (2012/08/07):

R1x6000X12=R72000

Note: One double-sided DVD can store 8GB of data, therefore 6TB=750 double-sided DVD's or 1500 single-sided DVD's of data.

Amazon Glacier

• http://aws.amazon.com/glacier

Amazon Glacier is an extremely low-cost storage service that provides secure and durable storage for data archiving and backup. In order to keep costs low, Amazon Glacier is optimized for data that is infrequently accessed and for which retrieval times of several hours are suitable.

Cloud Standards

• http://cloud-standards.org

News

• http://chucksblog.emc.com/chucks_blog/2012/12/emc-joins-openstack.html
• http://zulcss.wordpress.com
• http://www.virtualizationpractice.com
• http://24x7x0.wordpress.com
• http://memeburn.com/2012/08/what-is-the-cloud-computing-scenario-for-2012
• http://www.learnospirit.com/get-your-own-cloud-with-ubuntu-and-the-eucalyptus-platform
• http://uksysadmin.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/screencast-video-of-an-install-of-openstack-essex-on-ubuntu-12-04-under-virtualbox
• http://www.thewhir.com/whir-tv/joseph-b-george-discusses-dells-openstack-powered-cloud-solution
• http://victorpalau.net/2012/08/15/arm-server-on-a-prezi

Alternatives

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimbula
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CloudStack
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltacloud
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_(computing)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenNebula
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Web_Services
• http://opencompute.org

Diagrams

• http://visual.ly/cloud-computing-reference-guide

How-to guides

• http://www.cybera.ca/tech-radar/lets-build-cloud-openstack
• http://thoughtsoncloud.com/index.php/2012/12/six-step-methodology-for-architecting-for-public-clouds

Conclusion

OpenStack is an early project and has not matured into a production product but it is fully open source and based on open cloud standards. CloudStack is a product, however it is "owned" by Citrix, therefore not an open product.

An open private production cloud using OpenStack with open cloud standards will probably be production ready in 2014 when Ubuntu 14.04 is released and when other internet broadband providers come online.