The tenth release of OpenStack, an open source software for building public and private clouds, is now available. Labeled as “Juno,” the latest release adds enterprise features including storage policies as well as a new data processing service that provisions Hadoop and Spark. It also lays the foundation for OpenStack to be the platform for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), which drives improved agility and efficiency in telco and service provider data centers.
The tenth release of OpenStack, an open source software for building public and private clouds, is now available. Labeled as “Juno ” the latest release adds enterprise features including storage policies as well as a new data processing service that provisions Hadoop and Spark. It also lays the foundation for OpenStack to be the platform for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), which drives improved agility and efficiency in telco and service provider data centers.
Data Processing Service
The Juno release adds a new data processing service to the existing suite of cloud capabilities, including Compute, Object and Block Storage, Networking, Orchestration, Identity and Database Services. All of these services are available through open APIs and a web-based Dashboard. With this new data processing capability, OpenStack can automate the provisioning and management of big data clusters using Hadoop and Spark.
Storage Policies
Also added in the Juno release are storage policies for Object Storage, which give users more control over cost and performance within their storage environment. Storage policies give enterprise deployers and application developers the ability to choose how they store, replicate and access data across different backends and geographical regions. They also allow public cloud providers to offer storage service tiers.
NFV
An NFV development team was created back in May at the OpenStack Summit, which has since then identified nine use cases to run NFV workloads on top of OpenStack environments. Initial features are being added to the Juno release, while additional NFV-related work will continue over coming releases.
Enhanced Deployment, Operation, Scaling Features
The Juno release consists of various updates and enhancements that make it easier to build, operate, scale and upgrade OpenStack clouds across the platform. Compute components enable easier upgrades with less impact to the applications users are running. They also include an additional driver for managing bare metal hardware directly. In addition, significant updates to metering and monitoring capabilities have been added to provide faster and more efficient performance.
Additional Juno Features include:
- OpenStack Compute (Nova): Operational updates to Compute include improvements for rescue mode that enable booting from alternate images with the attachment of all local disks. In addition, per-network settings are now allowed by improved nova-network code; scheduling updates to support scheduling services and extensibility; and internationalization updates.
- OpenStack Networking (Neutron): Neutron features support for IPv6 and better third-party driver testing to ensure consistency and reliability across network implementations. Release enables plug-ins for the back-end implementation of the OpenStack Networking API and blazes an initial path for migration from nova-network to Neutron. Supporting Layer 3 High Availability, the networking layer now allows a distributed operational mode.
- OpenStack Identity Service (Keystone): Federated authentication improvements allow users to access private and public OpenStack clouds with the same credentials. Keystone can be configured to use multiple identity backends. Integration with LDAP is also much easier.
- OpenStack Orchestration (Heat): With the Juno release, it is easier to roll back a failed deployment and ensure thorough cleanup. Additionally, administrators can now delegate resource creation privileges to non-administrative users.
- OpenStack Dashboard (Horizon): Apache Hadoop clusters can now be easily deployed using a few mouse clicks, allowing users to rapidly scale data processing based on custom parameters. The RBAC system is also now extended to support Compute, Networking and Orchestration.
- OpenStack Database Service (Trove): A new capability that is included in Juno gives users the ability to manage relational database services in an OpenStack environment.
The next release of OpenStack (labeled as “Kilo”), is slated for an April 30, 2015, release. New capabilities in the Kilo release will include a fully integrated Bare Metal provisioning service (code-named Ironic), which is currently available for users using a Compute driver. Other projects in development are expected to be released in late 2015 and beyond, such as:
- Manila (shared file system)
- Zaqar (queue service)
- Designate (DNS service)
- Barbican (key management)
