Open Stack

On May 8, 2012, at 1:09 PM, Doug Davis wrote:

>
> Mark McLoughlin wrote on 05/08/2012 10:58:45 AM:
>
> ...
> > What I'd like to see us get to is:
> >
> >   Deep overlap between the OpenStack developer community and the
> >   community of folks drafting whatever IaaS standard(s) wind up  
> being
> >   dominant.
> >
> >   e.g. prominent, active Nova developers developers contributing  
> to the
> >   CIMI or OCCI standards and bringing the needs of OpenStack to the
> >   standard and bringing ideas from the standards process to  
> OpenStack.
> >
> > This isn't a question of asking existing OpenStack developers to  
> join
> > these standards bodies. It's about enabling members of those  
> standards
> > bodies to become as much a part of OpenStack as any other developer.
> >
> > How to do that? Encourage members the various standards  
> communities to
> > actively contribute an implementation of their standard to OpenStack
> > and, more importantly, stick around to become an ongoing active  
> member
> > of the OpenStack developer community.
>
> ...
> One of the first things we noticed in our CIMI work was that pretty  
> much
> every IaaS input contribution was basically the same - not  
> syntactically
> but semantically.  This made our lives so much easier.  It's also  
> evidenced
> by the fact that adapter projects (like DeltaCloud) can exist. If  
> there wasn't
> semantic similarities between all of those IaaS providers then I doubt
> DC would be able to work.
>
> So, why am I bringing this up?  Because while I agree with Mark that  
> getting
> standards folks into OS is a good idea, I think having it be a good  
> two-way
> communication is even better.  Meaning, I think it would be good for  
> Nova
> folks to find a way to influence the standards too.  Just as I'm sure
> some Nova guys are already running from their keyboards at the  
> prospect of
> talking to standards weenies :-)  I know there are plenty of  
> standards folks
> who will never join Openstack (for a variety of technical and  
> business reasons).
> Yet for the sake of the broader community I think we need to find a  
> way to make
> them work together.
>
> Additionally, and now the hard part, I think it would be good for  
> people to
> realize that there is a spot in the middle where both sides can  
> meet.  Having
> looked at a variety of IaaS APIs, and more recently looking at how  
> CIMI can map
> to Nova, I'm (again) struck at how similar they are. And if I were  
> to play
> God for a moment, I'd slap both sides upside their heads and tell  
> them to
> each bend a little and find a spot in the middle.  CIMI can change,  
> and Nova
> can change - after all, it's just an API.
>
> ...
> -Doug Davis
> dug at us.ibm.com

I will make the same offer on behalf of the OCCI folks, many of whom  
are active contributors of code to various interoperability projects  
including OpenStack (see for example the link below).  In SDOs we can  
do our work most effectively and efficiently in two-way communication  
with people who want to implement them, and only work of this nature  
can force the various SDOs doing work to apply Occam's Razor and go  
for the simplest -- and preferably most featureful and elegant --  
solution.

   http://occi-wg.org/2012/04/17/occi-openstack-demo/

The OpenStack community says right on the front its website that it  
aims to be a project to drive standards.  Most SDOs are quite open to  
being driven and responsive to needs, so please keep driving!  (But  
don't stop at the level of what works for a particular project or  
demonstration code -- if you want it to be truly interoperable, it's  
got to work across multiple projects!  So please think beyond the "Not  
Invented Here" mentality, and as Doug says, work with us so that we  
can bring these standards together and make them work for you, as well  
as for other code and infrastructures that are out there.

SPeaking for the OGF community, we are completely dedicated to working  
in an open setting with OpenStack and any other infrastructure project  
that aims to build effective, interoperable code for distributed  
computing.  That is the entire focus and mission of OGF, as an Open  
Forum.  We are also committed to building partnerships and working  
relationships with other SDOs, such as DMTF, TM Forum, ITU-T, ISO,  
SNIA, and have many such organizational partnerships in place already.

For real work, the Cloud Plugfests are a good opportunity to do code- 
oriented developemnt that results in real exchange of information with  
other partners.  For registration and information, please see the sign- 
up form that is currently hosted on the SNIA site:

   http://snia.org/cloud/cloudplugfest

A dedicated Cloud Plugfest site is close to completion and will be  
announced shortly.  (Multiple SDOs and organizations welcome!)

Beyond this, except for the possible physical intervention suggested  
by Doug's post (grin), I am in complete agreement with the thoughts  
behind it!

Links:
http://occi-wg.org
http://ogf.org/
http://ogf.org/OGF35/
http://ogf.org/OGF35/
http://cloud-standards.org

Alan Sill, Ph.D
Vice President of Standards, Open Grid Forum

Senior Scientist, High Performance Computing Center
Adjunct Professor of Physics, TTU

====================================================================
:  Alan Sill, Texas Tech University  Office: Drane 162, MS 4-1167  :
:  e-mail: Alan.Sill at ttu.edu   ph. 806-834-5940  fax 806-834-4358  :
====================================================================