Ok, I think I'm understanding a little better now. You still need Rackspace or Amazon to host your cloud. On top of that you will install and run OpenStack. Then all your interactions with your cloud services will be through the OpenStack API? If that is correct, does that also mean I will not interact directly with my database or server filesystem, but will ask OpenStack about them?
kc On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 9:28 AM, Ed Leafe <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mar 28, 2011, at 9:03 AM, casey mcg wrote: > > > The company I'm working for is using Amazon Web Services for their cloud > > infrastructure. We serve up a lot of data, but also run multiple > instances > > of other servers that are needed to process a lot of data too. We are > > starting up a new project and are wanting to use python on the backend. > > > > After my reading up on OpenStack, am I correct in thinking that it is > > designed to be able to replace things such as Amazon Web Services? > > Sort of. ;-) > > AWS is a commercial product that offers "cloud computing" to > customers for a fee, allowing businesses to create their own applications > and web presence without committing to fixed hardware. Rackspace has a > similar offering: Rackspace Cloud Servers. Both operate using proprietary > code that was developed internally at each company, and as a result, if you > invest in either of these services and build something that is valuable to > your company, you're stuck with them. If for whatever reason (pricing, > reliability, service) you wish to no longer use Amazon or Rackspace, you're > free to leave, but you lose all your work: there is no easy way to move from > one cloud provider to another. > > This lock-in is a huge hinderance to cloud adoption, and so last > year Rackspace teamed up with NASA to create OpenStack: an open, > standards-based cloud computing infrastructure. Among other things, a > primary goal is to avoid this sort of lock-in. Any company that wants to be > a cloud provider can create their offering based on OpenStack, and you can > much more easily move your instances from one provider to another. > > OpenStack Compute, which we call 'nova', is currently in production > internally at NASA, and we're working on adding the Rackspace-specific stuff > (billing, support, etc.) to the code base so that Rackspace can switch its > Cloud Servers line to be OpenStack-based by the end of 2011. OpenStack > Object Storage ('swift') is currently using in production for Rackspace > Cloud Files, and already a few companies have deployed it for their > solutions. > > IMO, the creation of OpenStack has the potential to jump-start the > growth of cloud computing the way that the LAMP stack jump-started the web: > they provide standard, open tools that anyone could use to make their ideas > come to life. > > So to answer your question, no, OpenStack won't replace AWS. What it > will do is enable other companies (and not necessarily Rackspace) to much > more easily create alternatives to AWS. > > > > -- Ed Leafe > > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
