Very quick note it turns out our mailing lists archives where private I have no marked them as public. If the links didn't work for you in the last 24 hrs try again.
On Sat, Feb 15, 2014 at 2:40 AM, Aryeh Friedman <[email protected]>wrote: > We apologize for the unclearness of our wording both here and on > our site (http://www.petitecloud.org). Over the next few weeks we will > work on improving our descriptions of various aspects of what PetiteCloud > is and what it is not. We will also add a set of tutorials showing what a > cloud foundation layer (CFL) is and how it can make OpenStack more stable > and robust in non-data-center environments. In the meantime, hopefully my > answers below will help with some immediate clarification. > > For general answers as to what a CFL is, see our 25 words or less > answer on our site (http://petitecloud.org/cloudFoundation.jsp) or see > the draft notes for a forthcoming white paper on the topic ( > http://lists.petitecloud.nyclocal.net/private.cgi/petitecloud-general-petitecloud.nyclocal.net/attachments/20140213/3fee4df0/attachment-0001.pdf). > OpenStack does not currently have a cloud foundation layer of its own > (creating one might be a good sub-project for OpenStack). > > Your specfic questions are answered inline: > > > > On Fri, Feb 14, 2014 at 11:28 PM, Robert Collins < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but I've been seeing your emails come >> in, and I've read your website, and I still have 0% clue about what >> PetiteCloud is. >> >> On 12 February 2014 21:56, Aryeh Friedman <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> > PetiteCloud is a 100% Free Open Source and Open Knowledge bare metal >> capable >> > Cloud Foundation Layer for Unix-like operating systems. It has the >> following >> > features: >> >> What is a Cloud Foundation Layer? Whats the relevance of OK here (I >> presume you mean http://okfn.org/ ?). >> > > > We have no connection with the above site. Personally we agree with its > goals, but our use of the term "Open Knowledge" is different and pertains > only to technical knowledge. See our web site for details on what we mean > by that term. http://petitecloud.org/fosok.jsp > > >> >> > * Support for bhyve (FreeBSD only) and QEMU >> > * Any x86 OS as a guest (FreeBSD and Linux via bhyve or QEMU; all >> others >> > via QEMU only) and all supported software (including running OpenStack >> on >> > VM's) >> > * Install, import, start, stop and reboot instances safely (guest OS >> > needs to be controlled independently) >> > * Clone, backup/export, delete stopped instances 100% safely >> >> So far it sounds like a hypervisor management layer - which is what Nova >> is. >> > > Nova is for running end user instances. PetiteCloud is designed (see > below) to run instances that OpenStack can run on and then partition into > end-user instances. > > >> >> > * Keep track of all your instances on one screen >> >> I think you'll need a very big screen eventually :) >> > Not a huge one. A CFL needs to run only a relatively small number of > instances itself. Remember that a cloud foundation layer's instances can be > used as hosts (a.k.a. nodes) for a full-fledged IAAS platform such as > OpenStack. Thus, for example, a set of just four PetiteCloud instances > might serve as the complete compute, networking, storage, etc. nodes for an > OpenStack installation which in turn is running, say 10 instances. > Addtional compute, storage and/or hybrid nodes (real and virtual) can be > added to the deploy via any combination of bare metal openstack nodes and > CFL'ed ones. Since PetiteCloud does not, yet, have any API hooks you would > need to limit this to a small number of PetiteCloud hosts. > > >> >> > * All transactions that change instance state are password >> protected at >> > all critical stages >> > * Advanced options: >> > * Ability to use/make bootable bare metal disks for backing >> stores >> > * Multiple NIC's and disks >> > * User settable (vs. auto assigned) backing store locations >> >> if backing store == virtual disk, this sounds fairly straight forward, >> though 'bootable bare metal disks' is certainly an attention grabbing >> statement for a hypervisor. >> > > As explained in the white paper, since we are a full layer 0 cloud > platform instead of just a hypervisor manager we can do stuff that would > normally not be possible for a unmanaged hypervisor (or even wise if not > managed by a full layer 0 platform). One of them is you can make the > storage target of your layer 0 instances be a physical disk. Additionally > since petitecloud does not require any "guest modifications" when you > install the OS (which is managed by the hypervisor) you can make your root > disk be a physical drive. You can take this to some really interesting > extremes like one of our core team members (not me) posted a few nights ago > to our mailing list how to make a "cloud on a stick". > http://lists.petitecloud.nyclocal.net/private.cgi/petitecloud-general-petitecloud.nyclocal.net/2014-February/000106.htmlNamely > how have a bootable USB drive that contains your entire cloud. > > >> >> > * A growing number of general purpose and specialized >> > instances/applications are available for PetiteCloud >> > >> > We would like to know if people a) find this useful and b) does it live >> up >> > to it's claims for a wide variety of open stack installs >> >> I'm not clear what its claims are w.r.t. OpenStack. Is it a testing >> /development tool like >> https://git.openstack.org/cgit/openstack-dev/devstack ? Is it a >> deployment tool like >> https://git.openstack.irg/cgit/openstack/tripleo-incubator? Is it a >> profiling tool like https://git.openstack.org/cgit/stackforge/rally? >> > > None of the above. The purpose of a CFL is to make OpenStack easier to use > outside of a data center, e.g. to make it easier to create cookie-cutter > IAAS clouds. A CFL (ours or someone else's) is desirable when using > OpenStack in small private clouds because OpenStack was designed to be run > in data centers. OpenStack is starting to show a tiny bit of success in > running outside of data centers, although OpenStack's design makes this > difficult. We do not see how it is possible to have large scale adoption of > OpenStack in typical small to medium sized organizations that do not have > data centers until there is a solid CFL (ours or someone else's) under it. > > During the process of clarifying our website, etc., we will be asking, via > the PetiteCloud mailing list ( > http://lists.petitecloud.nyclocal.net/listinfo.cgi/petitecloud-general-petitecloud.nyclocal.net), > for help in making everything as clear as possible. If you're interested in > helping in the process please join the discussion on our list. > -- > Aryeh M. Friedman, Lead Developer, http://www.PetiteCloud.org > -- Aryeh M. Friedman, Lead Developer, http://www.PetiteCloud.org
_______________________________________________ OpenStack-dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev
