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This reference architecture guide was developed by Rackspace® Cloud Builders based on the company's experiences deploying and supporting OpenStack™ clouds in production. In the spirit of open source, it is meant to share best practices and provide detailed technical information about the logical and physical architecture of a reproducible OpenStack deployment. OpenStack is a collection of open source technologies that provides a massively scalable open source cloud computing platform. Currently OpenStack focuses on two key components: OpenStack Compute, which offers computing power through virtual machine and network management, and OpenStack Object Storage, which is software for redundant, scalable object storage capacity. This guide includes network topology and the deployment and installation processes that are tested to work in data centers around the globe. With this document in hand you can determine next steps for building an OpenStack cloud.
This document is intended for Rackspace Certified Deployment and Technology partners, cloud service providers, hosting companies and enterprise IT departments wanting to deploy an OpenStack-powered cloud that can be supported by Rackspace in any datacenter. This document provides the information required to acquire hardware that is the basis for an OpenStack cloud and work with solution partners to provision and configure an OpenStack solution. In order to make use of it, you should have some prior knowledge of cloud computing, private cloud management, hardware configuration, network topology, and data center management.
A reference architecture contains an identified set of hardware and network configuration that provides a tested reference for implementing a cloud computing solution. It gives a tested template solution for architecting a particular cloud solution, in this case the open source OpenStack cloud computing software. It also provides a common set of definitions for terms and vocabulary so the discussion about a template can be focused on implementation details, in order to provide a common working point from which to start. This Rackspace Reference Architecture for OpenStack is a deployment guide with verified, tested and designed software, hardware and network architecture to help build OpenStack deployments that can be supported and run by Rackspace ongoing as the Rackspace® Cloud: Private Edition.
OpenStack, originally sponsored by Rackspace and NASA, is free open source project that allows organizations to build massively scalable public and private clouds. OpenStack is a global collaboration of developers and cloud computing technologists producing the ubiquitous open source cloud computing platform for public and private clouds. The project aims to deliver solutions for all types of clouds by being simple to implement, massively scalable, and feature rich. The technology consists of a series of interrelated projects delivering various components for a cloud infrastructure solution.
Rackspace is the leader in the hosting and cloud computing industry, managing more than 65,000 servers worldwide with the value proposition of exceptional customer service, branded Fanatical Support®. The group that provides specialized knowledge in deploying and managing OpenStack clouds in any data center is Rackspace Cloud Builders. The people working on the Rackspace Cloud Builders team include the founders of the Rackspace Cloud, as well as the team from Anso Labs, the people involved in building NASA's Nebula Cloud. The Rackspace Cloud Builders are actively writing OpenStack software, ready to deploy and support your cloud.
After you become familiar with the details in the reference architecture, you can find out how to deploy a Rackspace Cloud: Private Edition based on the reference architecture through Rackspace Cloud Builders' deployment team or Certified Deployment Partners by contacting [email protected]. If you are interested in becoming a Certified Deployment or Technology partner for reference implementations, contact Scott Sanchez at [email protected].