Open Stack

Hi all,

I mentioned in some earlier mail that we have started to implement a TOSCA
YAML to HOT translator on stackforge as project "heat-translator". We have
been lucky to get a session allocated in the context of the "Open source @
OpenStack" program for the Atlanta summit, so I wanted to share this with
the Heat community to hopefully attract some interested people. Here is the
session link:

http://openstacksummitmay2014atlanta.sched.org/event/c94698b4ea2287eccff8fb743a358d8c#.U2e-zl6cuVg

While there is some focus on TOSCA, the goal of discussions would also be
to find a reasonable design for sitting such a translation layer on-top of
Heat, but also identify the relations and benefits for other projects, e.g.
how Murano use cases that include workflows for templates (which is part of
TOSCA) could be addressed long term. So we hope to see a lot of interested
folks there!

Regards,
Thomas

PS: Here is a more detailed description of the session that we submitted:

1) Project Name:
heat-translator

2) Describe your project, including links to relevent sites, repositories,
bug trackers and documentation:
We have recently started a stackforge project [1] with the goal to enable
the deployment of templates defined in standard format such as OASIS TOSCA
on top of OpenStack Heat. The Heat community has been implementing a native
template format 'HOT' (Heat Orchestration Templates) during the Havana and
Icehouse cycles, but it is recognized that support for other standard
formats that are sufficiently aligned with HOT are also desirable to be
supported.
Therefore, the goal of the heat-translator project is to enable such
support by translating such formats into Heat's native format and thereby
enable a deployment on Heat. Current focus is on OASIS TOSCA. In fact, the
OASIS TOSCA TC is currently working on a TOSCA Simple Profile in YAML [2]
which has been greatly inspired by discussions with the Heat team, to help
getting TOSCA adoption in the community. The TOSCA TC and the Heat team
have also be in close discussion to keep HOT and TOSCA YAML aligned. Thus,
the first goal of heat-translator will be to enable deployment of TOSCA
YAML templates thru Heat.
Development had been started in a separate public github repository [3]
earlier this year, but we are currently in the process of moving all code
to the stackforge projects

[1] https://github.com/stackforge/heat-translator
[2]
https://www.oasis-open.org/committees/document.php?document_id=52571&wg_abbrev=tosca
[3] https://github.com/spzala/heat-translator

3) Please describe how your project relates to OpenStack:
Heat has been working on a native template format HOT to replace the
original CloudFormation format as the primary template of the core Heat
engine. CloudFormation shall continue to be supported as one possible
format (to protect existing content), but it is desired to move such
support out of the core engine into a translation layer. This is one
architectural move that can be supported by the heat-translator project.
Furthermore, there is desire to enable standardized formats such OASIS
TOSCA to run on Heat, which will also be possible thru heat-translator.

In addition, recent discussions [4] in the large OpenStack orchestration
community have shown that several groups (e.g. Murano) are looking at
extending orchestration capabilities beyond Heat functionality, and in the
course of doing this also extend current template formats. It has been
suggested in mailing list posts that TOSCA could be one potential format to
center such discussions around instead of several groups developing their
own orchestration DSLs. The next version of TOSCA with its simple profile
in YAML is very open for input from the community, so there is a great
opportunity to shape the standard in a way to address use cases brought up
by the community. Willingness to join discussions with the TOSCA TC have
already been indicated by several companies contributing to OpenStack.
Therefore we think the heat-translator project can help to focus such
discussions.

[4]
http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/openstack-dev/2014-March/028957.html

4) How do you plan to use the time and space?
Give attendees an overview of current developments of the TOSCA Simple
Profile in YAML and how we are aligning this with HOT.
Give a quick summary of current code.
Discuss next steps and long term direction of the heat-translator project:
alignment with Heat, parts that could move into Heat, parts that would stay
outside of Heat etc.
Collect use cases from other interested groups (e.g. Murano), and discuss
that as potential input for the project and also ongoing TOSCA standards
work.
Discuss if and how this project could help to address requirements of
different groups.
Discuss and agree on a design to (1) meet important requirements based on
those discussions, and (2) to best enable collaborative development with
the community.