Open Stack – a Cloud Management Platform

OpenStack is a cloud management platform that allows users to create virtual machines according to physical criteria (number of CPUs, amount of memory, disk storage, etc.) and a base image that can provide the operating system and the most suitable software. It also has features volume demand (such as Amazon EBS) via Cinder (block storage), and network on demand via quantum of cloud storage mode via Swift (a scalable redundant storage system).

Interoperability

As we all know OpenStack is based solely on open-source tools: Linux, Libvirt, QEMU / KVM, and is written in Python. It meets many standards ovf (open virtual machine format), qcow2 (to create a snapshot of existing files), EC2 or S3, and specific APIs (Nova).

Limitations and difficulties uncovered important features

Although highly evolved, it does not implement advanced functions like VMware HA / FT or charge distribution like VMware DRS.

Usual Features

• You can connect via a Web browser on a dashboard.
• You can create virtual machines, OS images, snapshots, manage networks, etc.
• You can also create a virtual machine from a template, and assign a public IP address.
• You can access your virtual machine via SSH and root access to the system.
• You can see how much resource used and how much it will cost by the end of the month for its use.
• The virtual machine can be rebooted/shut down.

You will find several interesting features in OpenStack, but the most remarkable features are; that you can access the dashboard from a web browser. Second, standard billing is ideal for a company that charges its customers based on its use. Third, all the major tools are free and open; they are also compatible with the APIs of other systems, e.g. Xen, VMware, etc.