Tired of managing separate user accounts for OpenStack? Integrate Active Directory and unlock a world of simplified user management, enhanced security, and reduced administrative overhead. This comprehensive guide provides step-by-step instructions to seamlessly connect your existing Active Directory infrastructure with OpenStack, allowing you to centralize authentication, streamline authorization, and improve the user experience.

We’re proud members of the OpenInfra Foundation, contributing technology and helping to drive innovation within the open source community. As such, our engineers recently re-provisioned the OpenInfra Foundation’s continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) cloud to our latest OpenStack Bobcat release (2023.2) with Ceph Reef storage. This robust platform powers one of the most demanding CI/CD pipelines in the open source world, automated by Zuul.

Ensure uninterrupted service for your critical applications with our comprehensive guide to high-availability infrastructure solutions. Discover the importance of redundancy, failover, and fault tolerance, and explore popular technologies like OpenStack, bare metal servers, and Ceph storage clusters. Learn how to build resilient systems that can withstand failures and minimize downtime.

OpenStack Dalmatian 2024.2, the 30th release for the OpenStack cloud platform features major improvements for AI and high-performance computing workloads, enhanced security and use experience updates. Some of the key updates include expanded GPU support in Blazar for reserving compute instances, persistent virtual GPU handling in Nova and security updates in Ironic, Neutron and Nova.  

High performance computing refers to the use of powerful computers and parallel processing techniques to solve complex computational problems. HPC is typically used for tasks that can include: running larging-scale simulations, financial models, big data analytics and AI which  require considerable processing power, memory and storage. Private OpenStack clouds offer several key features such as scalability, flexibility, integration and cost-efficiency that make them suitable to for running HPC workloads. 

Without question, VMware has a good reputation for cloud security and virtualization within a single management framework. But, given its high price point compounded with new acquisition uncertainties, now may be a good time to reevaluate your options. Let’s explore OpenStack as an alternative VMware Workstation with a complete guide on how to set up a virtualized workstation with OpenStack.

Ready to get started with OpenStack? Read this guide to gain valuable insights on the best hardware for your OpenStack deployment. On-Demand OpenStack clouds is OpenMetal’s flagship product, so as you may guess we know a few things about building OpenStack clouds, including how to automate OpenStack clouds for deployment in under 1 minute. In this blog we share some hardware recommendations with you, to ensure that your OpenStack journey is successful.

OpenStack Alternatives

Explore alternatives to OpenStack – Apache CloudStack, VMware vCloud, Proxmox, Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services. OpenStack is an open source platform composed of several independent components. These components interoperate with each other through Application Programming Interface (API).

Who Is Using OpenStack?

Many organizations from various industries are using OpenStack as part of their cloud computing infrastructure. It may be surprising to see large scale use cases such as Walmart or China Mobile, or use cases in organizations like NASA who have stringent security regulations, but the ability of organizations to fine tune and customize OpenStack in the code makes it the ideal infrastructure software for organizations with the skills on hand to optimize their cloud as needed.

 In the beginning there were only a few cloud deployment model options.  One of these, the public cloud deployment model, was dominant both marketing wise and in the quality of the cloud experience.  Unless you were ok to wait for 4 to 12 months for a quality private cloud your only options was “to move to the cloud” at AWS.

High unpredictable cloud bills are leading more organizations to search for more cost effective infrastructure solutions. To stay ahead of the competition without hemorrhaging capital organizations need efficient, scalable and cost-effective cloud solutions. In this blog, we’ll explore what Proxmox and OpenStack are, with a high-level comparison to help you decide which solution is best for your organization’s needs. 

CloudStack and OpenStack are two prominent open source solutions for cloud infrastructure management; understanding the key differences between them is crucial when choosing the right infrastructure for managing your workloads. In this blog, we will explore the differences between OpenStack and CloudStack, highlighting their strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases.

Many organizations are using Kubernetes to containerize their workloads because of the numerous benefits. These benefits include portability, scalability, reliability, automation and ecosystem. Running Kubernetes workloads on the wrong type of infrastructure can lead to a range of undesirable consequences such as: performance degradation, reliability issues, security vulnerabilities, and increased cost.
In this blog post, we’ll explore the key considerations you should keep in mind when choosing the right infrastructure to host your Kubernetes workloads.

OpenStack is one of the most popular open-source software solutions for cloud infrastructure. If you are tired of unpredictable public cloud bills or want more control over your infrastructure, you may be considering migrating workloads to an OpenStack cloud. Private OpenStack clouds are increasing in popularity as organizations seek to reduce cloud costs and have root level access to optimize their infrastructure for their workloads. This blog will cover everything you need to know about OpenStack and provide you with a step by step guide on how to get started on OpenStack. 

Security and access control are paramount to ensure the safety of data and resources when using clouds. If you’re running workloads on OpenStack clouds, then you will find Keystone to be a crucial project that will play a significant role in managing authentication and authorization for your cloud. In this blog, we will dive deep into Keystone’s Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) process, its importance, and how it empowers a stateless and scalable cloud infrastructure.

The blog delves into the technical intricacies of OpenStack Swift, a versatile data storage solution, explaining its features, use cases, and functionalities. Picture a virtual universe where your crucial files are kept safe, accessible, and effortlessly organized. That’s the remarkable world of OpenStack Swift – a potent tool that not only secures your data but also streamlines its management. At its core, OpenStack Swift is like a friendly bridge that connects people like you and me with object storage

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) have been prominent topics within the technology landscape for an extended period. However, the emergence of AI such as OpenAI’s GPT-3 and Google Bard has elevated the excitement surrounding these advancements. GPT-3 stands as a language model capable of generating remarkably human-like text, garnering significant attention as a transformative force in the AI realm. Yet, how do these AI and ML technologies integrate with the realm of cloud computing? Moreover, what role do open-source cloud platforms like OpenStack play in propelling the progress of such sophisticated technologies?

vGPUs with OpenStack Nova

Virtualization has revolutionized the way we use computer resources. One particular element is virtual GPU (vGPU) that has ability to deliver high-performance graphics and accelerate complex tasks. vGPU has become indispensable in industries like desktop virtualization (VDI) and remote workstations, ML/AI workloads, and scientific research.  Within OpenStack clouds, the project Nova acts as a bridge between physical GPUs and the VMs that need GPU resources. Nova  efficiently manages and allocates virtual GPUs. In this blog, we will explore Nova and vGPUs, their practical applications, and the process of setting up vGPUs with OpenStack Nova.

In this video and accompanying article, OpenMetal Infrastructure and Platform Automations Engineer, Yuriy Shyyan, delves into the challenges and opportunities faced by growing businesses when it comes to cloud infrastructure costs and vendor dependency. We present OpenStack and Ceph as powerful tools for creating personalized cloud environments. With OpenStack and Ceph, organizations can regain control over their infrastructure, extracting more value.

Based on OpenMetal’s experience working with higher learning organizations and direct independent market research, our team has found many universities and education institutions are using open-source technologies like OpenStack to achieve its IT objectives. In this blog post, we will explore the utilization of OpenStack by universities, delving into its advantages for these educational institutions. Additionally, we will provide guidance on how to initiate your journey with OpenStack.

Ironic, a vital part of OpenStack, focuses on provisioning and managing bare metal servers. It seamlessly integrates with Keystone, Nova, Neutron, Glance, and Swift to provide a unified interface for managing hardware resources within a cloud environment. With Ironic, operators can treat physical servers like virtual machines, streamlining the management of resources in an OpenStack cloud. It simplifies bare metal management through a unified interface, seamless integration with OpenStack services, and automated provisioning.

Octavia is an open-source load balancing solution designed for use with OpenStack. Octavia distinguishes itself by dynamically scaling up a fleet of virtual machines, containers, or bare metal servers, known as amphorae, to deliver load balancing services as needed. This on-demand horizontal scaling capability makes Octavia well-suited for cloud environments.

While Harvester, Nomad, and Kubernetes share many similar app native features, their deployment and management approaches, as well as additional capabilities like distributed computing, can influence the best fit for your specific use case within the context of OpenStack.

If you’re searching for a solution to take full control of your infrastructure, you might have come across the term “open source cloud.” But what exactly is it? In this comprehensive blog, we’ll dive deep into the concept of open source clouds and explore why they are the ultimate key to empowering organizations.

With profitability top of mind, many organizations are looking for efficient and cost-effective platforms to host their cloud applications. Open source solutions like OpenStack and OpenShift are becoming more popular because platforms offer flexible and scalable cloud computing solutions. However, each is better suited for specific use cases.

OpenStack is a powerful cloud computing platform that is backed by a vast community of developers who continuously update and improve the software. In this blog, we will discuss OpenStack projects and open source software that can be used to create a cloud environment that’s ideal for building, testing, and managing AI.

Kubernetes on OpenStack is a powerful combination. It helps organizations manage their applications and services. This power duo provides the flexibility to scale up or down as needed, while also allowing for easy deployment and management of applications. This is essential for an organizations success in today’s fast paced digital age where organizations must be able to deploy their applications quickly and efficiently, at scale, and across multiple environments.

OpenStack is undeniably a powerful and versatile cloud platform that many industries continue to adopt at an increasing rate. Obviously, we’re big fans! But, like any intricate technology, having a firm understanding of its inner workings is crucial for deriving maximum efficiency, especially if your business provides cloud or primarily online services. So today, we’ll be diving into the world of subscription ratios in OpenStack, which play a vital role in resource allocation across your infrastructure.

Private, hybrid, and open source cloud solutions offer managed IT service providers unparalleled control, customization, and security. While public cloud providers may have had their place in the growth of the cloud industry, it’s apparent that the future lies in more secure and flexible environments.

OpenShift is a powerful and flexible platform that can help you simplify the deployment and management of container-based applications, accelerate application delivery, and work with different types of infrastructure. If you’re looking for a comprehensive and easy-to-use platform for building and managing cloud-based applications, this offering is an excellent choice.

What Is OpenStack?

OpenStack is an open source platform composed of several independent components. These components interoperate with each other through Application Programming Interface (API). These components are complementary, but do not depend on all other components to function properly. This grants you the ability to build your cloud with only the components you need.

For any application that you’re deploying, chances are you’ll have some sort of sensitive information that you need to pass into the app. Because of that, you’ll need a way to store that sensitive data for your containerized workloads – this is where Kubernetes secrets come in.

In this blog post, you’ll learn about what secrets are, how to create standard Kubernetes secrets, and how to get started with the OpenStack Key Manager.

Kubernetes Volumes on OpenStack

At the beginning of the Kubernetes era, many engineers had a concern – what about apps that have to store data? Kubernetes got a “reputation” of only being for stateless applications and applications that didn’t need to store data. However, that’s vastly changed over the years when implementing Kubernetes. In this blog post, you’re going to learn how to manage Kubernetes volumes and what CSIs are, along with how to install a CSI plugin on a Kubernetes cluster running in OpenStack.

Creating repeatable and automated processes, especially for creating infrastructure layers, is drastically important. It’s the make or break between creating resources at scale and clicking a bunch of buttons for 90% of your day. In the past few years, the mantra for almost every engineering team has been move faster, and the way to do that is with proper automation. 

In this blog post, you’re going to learn about an important repeatable process, creating Kubernetes clusters using Magnum.

Security is at the forefront of every engineer’s mind when it comes to Kubernetes. When it comes to security and Kubernetes from an OpenStack perspective, one of the most significant pieces is Operations security. In this blog post, you’ll learn about Kubernetes security on OpenStack and how to manage it from an Ops perspective.

Many engineers believe that OpenStack is a “thing of the past”, but it’s not. In fact, it’s becoming increasingly popular all throughout not only Telco, but auto manufacturers and any other organization that needs the ability to scale and manage workloads a certain way. With OpenStack, you get to manage and maintain Kubernetes clusters the way that you want.

In this blog post, you’ll learn about why Kubernetes on OpenStack is valuable for organizations and how you can get started with it today.

Kubernetes on OpenStack for Telco

Wherever you search for OpenStack and Kubernetes, chances are you’ll run across something around Telecommunications (telco). Although OpenStack is used across many organizations, including Mercedes Benz, telco is typically the heaviest industry when it comes to OpenStack.

In this blog post, you’ll learn about Kubernetes on OpenStack for telco, which will most likely open your eyes to why you’d want to use Kubernetes on OpenStack for any industry.

OpenStack vs VMware: Cost Considerations

Without question, VMware has a good reputation for cloud security and virtualization within a single management framework. But, given its high price point compounded with new acquisition uncertainties, now may be a good time to reevaluate your options. More so, it may be a good time to consider adopting OpenStack vs VMware.

OpenStack is an open source cloud computing infrastructure software that can be used to manage and control large scale deployments of virtual machines or to manage storage and networking resources in a cloud. Many organizations are turning to OpenStack because it is scalable, reliable, and grants you a great degree of control over the underlying infrastructure.

This article uses current cloud adoption and usage statistics to build on the discussion (in the video) between Todd Robinson, President of InMotion Hosting, and Marc Collier, COO of OpenInfra Foundation about the current challenges around the widespread adoption of OpenStack powered infrastructure, especially in the context of private clouds for SMBs.

OpenStack historically has major barriers for SMBs (and really all organizations, enterprises included). These factors have put OpenStack private clouds out of reach for the vast majority of SMBs or organizations with similar constraints like smaller universities or mid-sized nonprofits. Our on-demand OpenStack platform was built to make OpenStack simple and accessible for everyone.

Many articles online compare “new innovative” services offered by big tech giants against each other, implying that there are no alternatives. But that’s not true, at least not anymore.

OpenStack has thousands of developers working on various cloud-oriented projects to provide the same services these public cloud providers offer. We’re only going to cover a couple of them here, but it should give you an idea of what to look for when looking at alternatives.