OpenStack

OpenStack is a software solution used to create cloud services or cloud storages in both public and private clouds. The product includes free software distributed under the Apache license.

Working principle

The OpenStack solution includes components (e.g., Nova, Swift, Keystone, etc.) that administrators choose for their current task. The modules are easily integrated with each other, providing stable operation of the device.

After creating their own solution, administrators can easily add other components to it later on.

The list of modules is extensive and is constantly kept up to date. If necessary, the end user can consult developers for technical support.

Composition

The OpenStack project includes the following modules:

1. Nova computing power controller. It is responsible for starting, restarting, and stopping virtual machines deployed with specialized software (VMware, Citrix, KVM, etc.). It also manages hardware solutions of the Bare Metal and HPC class.
2. Glance. The module is responsible for discovering and extracting virtual host images. It manages virtual images but does not keep them stored.
3. Swift. It is a distributed virtual host storage, which is highly fault-tolerant and reliable. It is a virtual storage system with its own operating system, which works only with objects. It is integrated directly into programs.
4. Cinder. It is a virtual storage system similar to Swift, but it only handles data blocks, not objects. When needed, the end user is requesting the information from the block regardless of its physical location. This module does not use the Fibre Channel protocol as network protocols.
5. Neutron is responsible for network connections within OpenStack between different component interfaces. The module is extended with plug-ins that ensure compatibility with other commercially available network protocols.
6. Keystone is a user identification and authentication service. It includes support for token-based authorization. An authentication request can be sent by any OpenStack component based on the unique digital signature of each token. This approach simplifies the authorization process by not overloading the Keystone module.
7. Watcher serves as a load balancer within OpenStack. It optimizes computing resources not to overload a single component.
8. Horizon is responsible for monitoring the operations occurring within the built OpenStack solution. Administrators get a single dashboard that collects all the information.

OpenStack was introduced on the market of cloud solutions 10 years ago, and it proved to be a reliable product. It operates according to the constructor principle. The user chooses the modules they need to meet their current needs and gets a single solution.