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Openstack: Open source cloud computing software

openstack.org

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Re: Openstack: Open source cloud computing software

#51

Post by notmyname »

mdasen wrote: post #46
notmyname wrote: post #18

I'm a developer on swift (OpenStack storage == Rackspace Cloud Files). We've been pretty excited about opening this, and I'd love to answer any questions you have. Swift documentation is at http://swift.openstack.org . Check out the "SAIO - Swift All In One" page to see how to set up a VM to run it. With some very small tweaks, you can also run it on a single slice (mount a loopback device rather than another virtual…

I'd be curious to hear how Swift compares to MogileFS. MogileFS never took off like memcached did, but it's another piece of infrastructure that came out of LiveJournal and similarly allows one to create a storage architecture where files are redundantly stored on commodity nodes. I'm guessing that both Amazon and Rackspace took a look at MogileFS and its architecture so it would be informative to hear what you liked…

Interestingly, our first implementation of Cloud Files was based on MogileFS. It's a decent design, but it doesn't scale to the levels we need. The central DB that stores the metadata was the bottleneck.

Re: Openstack: Open source cloud computing software

#52

Post by cturner »

tamarindo wrote: post #37
cturner wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I think of commodity I think of oil, or grains, or pork bellies. A good that is generic and interchangeable, 'fungible'. You're not locked in to a source, you can get it from several sources in a competitive marketplace. Also, and again I apologize for not understanding your language here, but what do you mean by a "vertically integrated solution"? Could you give an example to illustrate what it would mean for a…

imagine Amazon came up with a really good payment services platform, and then said that in order to use it, you had to live in their cloud. The market would have to interact with their cloud to get access to the payment services. Rackspace would lose access to the segment of the target market that needed this functionality. Good example, but I thought the idea with OpenStack is to allow anyone to take this and run wi…

    Seems like it could just as easily turn against them if
    someone else turns their open source solution to better
    advantage (assuming the open source license permits this).
Sure, but that's their comfort space. They're confident of their skills and economies of scale here, and enthusiastic for this to be the battleground.

My point with the amazon example was partly that if Rackspace found itself needing to build something similar, it has a stronger starting point if it already has a software group. And because the platform is open, they might have a shared interest with another company who has taken on their software to collaborate on new features. Or another party may build an open payment system on top of this open system when they're not even looking, and they benefit from the network effects.

Re: Openstack: Open source cloud computing software

#54

Post by patrickaljord »

alttab wrote: post #44

Rackspace had a design summit last week in Austin, TX for Openstack. I was an attendee and learned quite a bit from the folks at Rackspace. They've built and re-built their infrastructure enough times they know what they need to look out for. The drop-and-swap component model is great too. It was fantastic to see what they've put together and the business model is great. Commoditizing architecture and software really…

Please do write a blog post, and what do you mean by "drop-and-swap component"?

Re: Openstack: Open source cloud computing software

#55

Post by patrickaljord »

dotBen wrote: post #10

I'm sad RackSpace chose to market this effort under the term "Open Stack". A number of us in the open web community have used that term to a great extent to talk about OpenID + OAuth + Portable Contacts + Open Social ( http://therealmccrea.com/2008/09/19/joseph-smarr-at-web-20-o... ) Admittedly the initiative has lost momentum (for many reasons and factors) but things are still out there. This just creates confusion…

It's called the Social Federated Web now or OStatus for the set of protocols.

http://federatedsocialweb.net/wiki/Main_Page

http://ostatus.org/

Re: Openstack: Open source cloud computing software

#56

Post by lsc »

tamarindo wrote: post #37
cturner wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I think of commodity I think of oil, or grains, or pork bellies. A good that is generic and interchangeable, 'fungible'. You're not locked in to a source, you can get it from several sources in a competitive marketplace. Also, and again I apologize for not understanding your language here, but what do you mean by a "vertically integrated solution"? Could you give an example to illustrate what it would mean for a…

imagine Amazon came up with a really good payment services platform, and then said that in order to use it, you had to live in their cloud. The market would have to interact with their cloud to get access to the payment services. Rackspace would lose access to the segment of the target market that needed this functionality. Good example, but I thought the idea with OpenStack is to allow anyone to take this and run wi…

it won't hurt them. the provisioning system isn't the expensive part of becoming a 'cloud' provider.
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