What is Canonical OpenStack and How to Protect it?

Among the many cloud platforms available, Canonical OpenStack is notable for its open-source foundation, cost efficiency, and scalability. Unlike many proprietary solutions, it gives companies complete control over their cloud infrastructure and flexibility in network, compute, storage, and network administration. This article explores why Canonical OpenStack is a leading choice, covering its components, key advantages, use cases, and more.

What is Canonical OpenStack?

Canonical OpenStack is a leading open-source cloud computing platform. It is meant to help with distributed compute, network, and storage resource administration. Canonical OpenStack combines these resources into pools, allowing companies to offer virtual resources on demand via a self-service portal.

Because of its capacity, it is a reasonably priced substitute for proprietary virtualization solutions. As a result, companies can maximize their cloud expenditures and compete with hyperscale service providers.

How Does OpenStack Work?

OpenStack aggregates physical resources into a big pool from which it distributes virtual resources when customers request them through a self-service portal or application programming interfaces (APIs). It does not handle virtualization directly, but instead, it capitalizes on existing virtualization technologies. As a result, it can facilitate the rapid deployment and management of cloud-native services.

Key Components of OpenStack

OpenStack was designed based on a modular architecture. It has several main features, which include:

• Nova: The main compute running instance scheduling, creation, and termination. It supports Hyper-V, Xen, QEMU/KVM, and VMware ESXi among other hypervisors.
• Glance: An image service that controls, uploads, and retrieves cloud images for instances running on the platform.
• Neutron: Provides networking capabilities between instances, allowing multi-VM deployments to take place.
• Cinder: Manages block storage by provisioning, managing, and terminating persistent block devices.
• Swift: Offers scalable object storage services that retrieve and store unstructured data objects using a RESTful API for OpenStack services and instances running on the Cloud.
• Keystone: Handles authentication and authorization functions for users in multi-tenant environments.

Advantages Over Competition

Canonical OpenStack offers several advantages compared to other cloud platforms:

• Focus on Performance and Simplicity

The implementation of a small-scale private cloud can be complex and costly, especially for organizations without the necessary expertise. Sunbeam, an OpenStack project, offers a solution by simplifying the adoption process and providing a more accessible platform. MicroStack, a Sunbeam-based distribution, is specifically designed for small-scale environments and can be self-deployed without requiring professional services. This provides organizations with a cost-effective option for building their own private cloud infrastructure. Additionally, MicroStack is supported by Canonical, a leading provider of cloud infrastructure solutions. With the support of Canonical, MicroStack offers a robust and reliable option for organizations looking to deploy a small-scale private cloud.

• Cost Efficiency

Although the initial capital expenditures (CapEx) for implementing OpenStack can be somewhat high, the operational expenses (OpEx) are far lower than the cost of using hyperscalers. This results in a reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) over time, making it an attractive option for long-term cloud operations.

• Full Cloud Functionality

Unlike traditional virtualization platforms like VMware vSphere, OpenStack provides a complete cloud environment that resembles public clouds. Users can request resources programmatically through APIs, enabling rapid infrastructure automation and cloud-native operations.

• Community Support

There are thousands of contributors and organizations involved in its development, including Red Hat, IBM, Huawei, and Cisco. As a result, Canonical OpenStack benefits from continuous enhancements and community-driven support.

The Canonical OpenStack Distribution

The Canonical Distribution of OpenStack is designed to be the most straightforward and efficient way to deploy and manage OpenStack private clouds. It acts as an “autopilot” for creating reference OpenStack clouds in minutes and provides full management, monitoring, and scaling capabilities.

This distribution automates the entire process of building a fully managed private cloud from bare metal. It offers high performance, allowing users to focus on their applications rather than the underlying infrastructure. The Canonical OpenStack is currently in public beta. It is free for small-scale deployments of up to 10 physical and ten virtual machines.

This approach significantly reduces the time and costs associated with deploying private clouds. As a result, enterprises can optimize their resources effectively while maintaining a focus on innovation and application development.

Key features of the Canonical Distribution of OpenStack

• Automated Cloud Creation

Users can simply point the distribution at their physical hardware and specify their preferences for storage, software-defined networking, and hypervisors. The system will then automatically create, manage, and monitor the cloud environment.

• Integration with MAAS and Landscape

The distribution utilizes MAAS (Metal as a Service) for physical hardware detection and provisioning, combined with Canonical’s Landscape for systems management. This integration allows for easy addition of machines to the cloud and ensures high availability through physical isolation zones.

• Web-Based User Interface

It offers a simple web-based UI in Landscape that enables users to select compatible components for their cloud, streamlining the setup process.

• OpenStack-Aware Monitoring

Once the cloud has been built, Landscape provides monitoring tools that track the health of cloud resources. Landscape doesn’t only monitor the running cloud environment. It also provides real-time predictions based on current utilization trends. This helps in capacity planning to determine when additional compute nodes or storage will be needed.

• Vendor Flexibility

The Canonical Distribution supports a wide range of vendor components for network, storage, and compute resources, ensuring that organizations can choose solutions that best fit their needs.

Canonical continuously tests thousands of configurations of Canonical OpenStack built with third-party hardware and software in its OpenStack Interoperability Lab (OIL) to find more compatible cloud components, giving customers a wider range of options and allowing them to make flexible choices.

Markets and Sectors

Canonical OpenStack is utilized across diverse industries due to its versatility:

• Telecommunications: Service providers leverage OpenStack for network function virtualization (NFV), allowing them to implement efficient virtualized networks.
• Public sector: Canonical OpenStack is a popular choice for public sector organizations due to its open-source nature, scalability, and security features. Governments worldwide are increasingly adopting OpenStack to modernize their IT infrastructure, reduce costs, and improve efficiency.
• Financial Services: Banks and financial institutions adopt Canonical OpenStack to manage data securely while complying with industry regulations.
• Education: Universities use OpenStack for research projects requiring substantial computational resources without incurring prohibitive costs.
• Healthcare: The healthcare sector benefits from the stability and security of Canonical OpenStack for managing sensitive patient data.

Use Cases for Canonical OpenStack

Organizations can leverage Canonical OpenStack in various ways:

• Private Cloud Deployment: Businesses can establish their own private cloud infrastructures, optimizing costs while maintaining control over their data.
• Public Cloud Services: Using Canonical OpenStack, local service providers can create public clouds offering options in countries where main hyperscalers might not be present.
• Network Function Virtualization (NFV): OpenStack provides a basis for telecommunications companies to implement NFVI solutions. This allows these companies to have flexible and reasonably priced software-based telecom infrastructure.
• Container Management: By extending OpenStack environments with container orchestration solutions like Kubernetes, organizations can improve workload granularity for cloud-native applications.

Data Protection for Canonical OpenStack

The integration of Storware Backup and Recovery with Canonical OpenStack and Canonical KVM ensures seamless operations within this cloud infrastructure, catering to the growing demand for robust cloud solutions. Storware offers a comprehensive backup and recovery solution specifically tailored for OpenStack environments, providing granular control, automation, and efficient data management. Its integration with Canonical’s offerings simplifies the backup and recovery process, allowing organizations to protect their critical data and ensure business continuity in the face of potential challenges.

Additionally, Storware Backup and Recovery integrates with the OpenStack Horizon plugin, providing a user-friendly interface for managing backups and recoveries directly within the OpenStack dashboard. Storware is also actively working on integrating with the OpenStack Skyline plugin, which will enable advanced monitoring and analytics of backup and recovery operations.

Learn more about Instant Restore option for OpenStack environments.

Conclusion

Canonical OpenStack is a robust solution for organizations seeking to build flexible, cost-effective cloud environments. Its automated deployment capabilities, modular architecture, and strong community support position it as a leading choice in the open-source cloud landscape. From telecoms to healthcare, Canonical OpenStack keeps becoming more and more popular as companies try to use open-source technology in their cloud plans based on its track record across several sectors.