Managed Private Cloud Using Assisted Management on Hosted

In this article, we will go over the combination of the OpenMetal Hosted Private Cloud with Assisted Management. We will also offer suggestions on what can be added for Custom Service Levels that may fit your goal of having a managed private cloud.

Managed Private Cloud – Definition

First, there are many different definitions of “managed” in the cloud world.  For the purposes of this guide, we will use the term Provider and Customers.  The following are key attributes:

• Hardware, including servers, switches/routers, power systems, cooling systems, and racks are handled by the Provider
• Cloud software and updates, including adding features requested by the Customer, is handled by the Provider
• Networking provided by physical switches is handled by the Provider
• Physical connectivity to the internet is handled by the Provider
• Applications, stacks, and other systems inside of VMs or Containers are handled by the Customer
• Private Networks, typically created by virtual switches and routers, including firewalls, are handled by the Customer
• Access to systems, including control systems leveraging Users, Groups, and other Governance models are created and handled by the Customer
• Provider will set a Service Level Agreement and provide contact paths for Customer

A good managed private cloud provider will also have options to assist their customer with in VM concerns.  This will often include specific Cloud-Init settings or other VM Operating System settings that are needed to perform optimally on the underlying Cloud.

OpenMetal, as a blend of private and public cloud, is often used as a managed provider of hosted private cloud.  This is achieved through combining the following two services.

Hosted Private Cloud – Definition

Hosted private cloud is defined as follows for OpenMetal.  Please visit our specific pages for Hosted Private Cloud for more details and any specific legal items.  The following are key attributes in general though:

• All hardware, including servers, switches/routers, power systems, cooling systems, and racks are handled by OpenMetal.  This includes drive failures, power supply failures, chassis failures, etc.
• Procurement, sales taxes, fit for use as a Cloud Cluster member, etc. are all handled by OpenMetal.
• Provisioning of the initial, known good, Cloud Software made up of Ceph and OpenStack

For OpenMetal, our base offering does not include direct management of Clouds after initial provisioning.  This is done because initial creation of an OpenStack and Ceph based hyper-converged hosted private cloud is the most difficult part of building a private cloud.  After initial creation, many technical teams can comfortably run the software following our Cloud Operators Manual.  This allow for those teams to have the best possible cost structure as they are pulling in running this Cloud to their existing operations team.  For companies that wish to have a more managed private cloud experience, we have introduced both Assisted Management and Custom Support Services.

Assisted Management – Definition

Assisted Management is defined as follows for OpenMetal.  Please visit our specific Service Level Agreement pages for details and legal items.  The following is a general guide to help you determine if Assisted Management is right for you.

• Cloud Cores handle workloads, the Cloud Control Plane, and the networked Storage (Ceph).  Assisted Management has a base fee for all Cloud Cores that covers troubleshooting, upgrading, and general maintenance of the Cloud Software.
• All Assisted Management Services are joint responsibility of OpenMetal and the Customer as Cloud features and functionality changes may require changes below the cloud level, within VM for example.
• Scaling a cloud, both increasing and decreasing of the physical footprint, is a joint responsibility of OpenMetal and the Customer.  For example, increasing the available storage can be executed without adverse resource contention if done in a timely fashion, but if required within a timeframe that requires bulk high capacity transfers, resource contention will occur.
• Custom cloud configurations are supported via Ansible.  Creation and maintenance of a healthy cloud requires adhering to large deployment best practices and OpenMetal has select Ansible to provide the stateful Infrastructure-as-Code system for the Cloud.  Usage of Ansible is required when part of Assisted Management.  This does not prevent Customer from using Terraform for automation of virtual systems within OpenStack and Ceph.  In fact, Terraform is supported and recommend for this usage.

Assisted Management is also a great option for the first year or two with OpenMetal until your team is ready for running the cloud.  See our Private Cloud Cost Tipping Point guide for more details.

Summary

Joining together the OpenMetal Hosted Private Cloud with Assisted Management plus optional customized agreements empower customers who need a managed private cloud experience.  Please visit our Cloud Features or Cloud Core pricing to learn more.