Apache CloudStack Becomes a Top-level Project

ke4qqq writes with an excerpt from an ASF press release: "The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of nearly 150 Open Source projects and initiatives, today announced that Apache CloudStack has graduated from the Apache Incubator to become a Top-Level Project (TLP), signifying that the Project's community and products have been well-governed under the ASF's meritocratic process and principles."

Nonsense

[neonmonk]

"CloudStack provides an open and flexible cloud orchestration platform to deliver reliable and scalable private and public clouds."

When I go to an "About" page, I expect to be told exactly what x thing is all about.

As it stands, I have no idea what CloudStack is or does, apart from nonsensical "cloud" mumbo jumbo.

Re:Nonsense

[girlinatrainingbra]

the real details and answer about what "Apache Cloudstack" really is available at http://cloudstack.apache.org/cloudstack-faq.html [apache.org]
.
Maybe apache is trying to make sure that the managers and bosses can be sure to play buzzword bingo and win when they choose Apache Cloudstack. I completely agree with you that an "about" page really ought to tell you what the software is really about. It's frustrating to have to go to the FAQ page and still see a lot of buzzword baloney (bologna / baloney, it's still compressed meat either way).

Re:Nonsense

[Spy Handler]

Cloud is all the rage. So is Mobile. Yep, definitely mobile. And Apps.

Call it Apache Mobile App Cloudstack and pointy haired bosses will have an orgygasm.

Re:

[Sigg3.net]

When all those come together they call it a synergasm.

Historic

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a day that will go down in infamy. The first posts are more informative than TFA.

Re:

[girlinatrainingbra]

From all of the replies I've gotten to the comments I've made about the state of /. , I don't believe that this is any sort of change in /. , editor's asleep at the wheel, thinking that the cruise control will steer us right... TFA and the TFPost almost never really say the useful things you need to know. Just wait a while and see which comments percolate to the top: they will contain the essence and seeds of knowledge which you seek.

Re:

[David Gould]

Just wait a while and see which comments percolate to the top: they will contain the essence and seeds of knowledge which you seek.

Essence and seeds perhaps. But look Ye not unto Slashdot for answers, for Ye shall be told both Yea and Nay.

Re:

[Tribaal_ch]

Short answer: It's "like Amazon EC2", but you deploy it on your own hardware. That's IaaS (Infrastrucutre as a Service in cloud talk). PaaS (Platform as a Service) is "like heroku, but on your own hardware".

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

It's more like OpenStack, but slower, with less documentation and no real production users. Then, when you get asked what OpenStack is, you say, "it's like EC2 from 6-9 months ago that you run on your own hardware."

Re:

[bluefoxlucid]

Yeah, all 'cloud' stuff is like that. This appears to just be "you can ask it to stand up VMware machines for you instead of using vSphere or oVirt"

Re:

[Lennie]

Well, that is not completely true.

oVirt or vSphere (I've never used them myself, so I could be wrong) are usually centrally managed systems.

CloudStack or OpenStack are meant for building multi-tenant environments like Amazon, which means people get a tenant-account and an API. The API can be used to do auto-scaling, to automatically deploy more or shutdown VMs as needed. Elastic they call it. VMs are deployed in seperate per tenant/project networks. They also keep statistics on a per tenant basis.

Re:

[wer32r]

Here's an explanation. [apache.org] Click "next" for more details.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service

[girlinatrainingbra]

So how is "Infrastructure-as-a-Service" clouds different from "Software-as-a-service" clouds? Is one cumulonimbus and the other cirrus? ;>)
.
No, seriously, my question is whether supplying "infrastructure as a service" just means "hosting"? Because hosting has always been available. So it's hosting+software availability? From the Apache web site at http://cloudstack.apache.org/about.html [apache.org] :

CloudStack provides an open and flexible cloud orchestration platform to deliver reliable and scalable private a

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

It does actually all make sense. Maybe you should do some research before pouring scorn on things. There's plenty of meaningless buzzwords in the "cloud" (if you have to call it that) space, but you've picked on the things that actually have pretty clear definitions...

Get off of my Cloud!

[girlinatrainingbra]

Lighten up! Or as the 1960's song [wikipedia.org] would tell you about my private cloud:

Hey,...
You,...
Get off of my cloud

Now you kids get off my damn lawn, and stay the hell off of my cloud! ;>)

Re:Infrastructure-as-a-Service

[Anonymous Coward]

SaaS (Software as a Service): bring your own data.
PaaS: (Platform as a Service): bring your own applications and data.
IaaS: (Infrastructure as a Service): bring your own OS, applications and data.

Re:

[girlinatrainingbra]

Hey, thanks! That's actually an informative summary and very helpful. I had not thought of the "platform as a service". But wasn't my guess of IaaS as almost like hosting or provisioning of (or access to) a server correct, since you are required to bring your own OS, your own applications, and your own data?

nice

[Katarina Mauro]

i am really happy.

Decoder Ring for You Out-of-date Nerds

[Traiano]

Since the three highest modded posts at this moment don't understand cloud, I wanted to post one perspective in hopes the rest would care.

For a couple years now the world has settled on a definition for cloud. It's three service models. (1) Delivering an application through a web interface (SaaS), delivering an OS in a virtual machine for arbitrary applications (Iaas), delivering a development platform to simplify the creation of a new generation of applications (PaaS).

Controlling the lifecycle of these resources is non-trivial. It requires hooks at virtual machine creation, security for access, limits for resource consumption, and time tables for reclamation. In the industry we call this orchestration.

Finally, these models in highly-controlled on-premis environments is called "private cloud". Running them in fully shared datacenters is called "public cloud". Giving customers the ability to federate services across these two environments is called "hybrid cloud".

Here endeth the lesson. Just because you don't understand a word doesn't make it a buzzword.

Re:

[mapnjd]

+1 parent

Re:

[Gothmolly]

It _IS_ a buzzword, and what you describe is merely a well-run IT org. Because you choose to set off on some NIH path and claim what you're doing is "new" doesn't make it so.

Re:

[DragonWriter]

It's a buzzword because all of what you said has existed for years already under different names.

No, that's not what makes it a buzzword. "Cloud" -- a word used to sell things because its currently popular that has, increasingly as used, no consistent definition (though it originally had one and is still sometimes used in that sense) is a buzzword.

Re:

[neurovish]

For the haters:
SaaS = Web 2.0
IaaS = VM
PaaS = Don't have a single dismissive equivalency for this one, but I'm thinking one of those point and click things where you move blocks around to make a "program".

For the parent, thanks for the concise descriptions that I can point to...and I do consider all the *aaS buzzwords since they generally describe things that have existed for years. The *aaS trick is mostly automation. I'm thinking "click button and get a VM" vs "poke admin and get a VM".

Re:

[girlinatrainingbra]

Thanks for explaining in good detail exactly what was bugging me about this cloudiness that has invaded the world. I've got to bookmark your comment to refer to it later. :>)

Re:

[chiefmojorising]

NIST's cloud definition is pretty spot on. They define cloud as having the following characteristics:

On-demand self-service
Broad network access
Resource pooling
Rapid elasticity
Measured service ...all working together to provide the following service models:

Software as a Service
Platform as a Service
Infrastructure as a Service ...hosted in one of the following deployment models:

Private cloud
Community cloud
Public cloud
Hybrid cloud

Anyway, that's the stripped down list without details. The short paper (with detai

Re:

[NeutronCowboy]

Personally, the only term I have a problem with is Private Cloud. A private cloud is the classic in-house data center, hosting third-party software accessed via a browser that comes with more or less support from the vendor. There is nothing special about it. I hear it constantly, but it still bugs me as the term that really is trying to put some lipstick on the old pig that is the in-house data center.

Re:

[WiPEOUT]

An in-house data centre need not have an automated resource provisioning and usage metering capability, utility fashion (i.e. for SaaS, automated provisioning and deployment of data sets into your application instance(s) and reporting on their usage by relevant metrics such as users or data throughput; for PaaS, automated provisioning and deployment of application components and instances thereof and their usage by relevant metrics such as messages processed or concurrent transactions; for IaaS, automated p