[Openstack] Openstack capabilities

Erik McCormick emccormick at cirrusseven.com
Mon Dec 22 22:14:17 UTC 2014


I have a slightly different take on some of this:

On Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 11:52 AM, Jay Pipes <jaypipes at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 12/22/2014 11:20 AM, Eriane Leobrera wrote:
>
>> Hi OpenStack,
>>
>> I would really appreciate if anyone can assist me on my dilemma. Below
>> are the capabilities I am looking for. We are on the process of deciding
>> between OpenStack vs CloudStack. Capabilities are much more important
>> for us, integrated and having everything automated.
>>
>> Here are the list below:
>>
>
> I've tried to give you honest answers from the OpenStack roadmap and
> currently-supported perspective below.
>
>  1.Integration with CRM 2013 (service tickets, lead/opportunity,
>> contact/account and billing system).
>>
>
> Not supported now. Not likely to ever be supported by OpenStack, too much
> of a custom feature.
>

Agreed, but you can do tie in via the billing system potentially so as to
map tickets to tenants. This isn't an Openstack feature, but it is possible
with the correct tooling.

>
>  2.Integration with payment gateway (Moneris)
>>
>
> Not supported now. Not likely to ever be supported by OpenStack, too much
> of a custom feature.
>

Again, this is possible via 3rd party tooling integrating with your billing
system, but not an Openstack feature.

>
>  3.PCI Compliant solution
>>
>
> This is a giant rabbithole.
>

It is a giant rabbithole, but there's nothing in Openstack that is
inherently *not* compliant. Having been through a number of these, you can
achieve all of the audit requirements by properly configuring your cloud
the way you would any other system.


>
>  4.Audit trail enabled on all interactions (i.e server shutdown etc.)
>>
>
> OpenStack currently supports notification queues that can be used to
> provide audit capabilities.
>
>  5.Support buying a new VM, signing up, auto charging them by credit card
>> verification and auto provisioning VMs.
>>
>
> Not supported now. Not likely to ever be supported by OpenStack, too much
> of a custom feature for the user interface, which is something that
> OpenStack's upstream UI (Horizon) is unlikely to develop.
>
> Again, this is a 3rd party problem. Openstack provides all the hooks that
you need to tie in something like Velvica to manage users, signup, billing
integration, etc. Usage data is provided by Ceilometer. Most of these
systems relay out to horizon, but there are a few that replace the
dashboard entirely. This is becoming a much richer space with more players
all the time.

 6.Upgrade existing VMs with ability to reboot VM to have resources added
>>
>
> Currently supported. This is the resize/migrate operation in nova.
>
>  7.Cancel VM which stops billing and scheduling for VM to be removed for
>> x days later
>>
>
> Not currently supported. Possibly supported some time in the future if we
> decide it's worthwhile to put time-based constraints and reservations into
> the scheduler.
>
> See #5


>  8.Support for pay by the minute billing
>>
>
> OpenStack does not ship a billing solution. This is something that is the
> responsibility of the operator, since it's a *very* custom feature and
> almost always involves proprietary code linking.
>
>  9.Support for multiple data centre locations
>>
>
> This is currently supported.
>
>  Specifically look at documentation around Regions.


> 10.Supports a DNS Manager
>>
>
> This is currently supported with the Designate component.
>
>  11.Ability to do a hard shutdown on VM
>>
>
> This is currently supported.
>
>  12.Ability to have console level access
>>
>
> This is currently supported.
>
>  13.Spin up new instance which wipes old instance and ability to reinstall
>>
>
> This doesn't really make any sense. This isn't cloud. This is bare-metal
> hosting you are describing.
>
> OpenStack's VMs are hosted in the cloud -- i.e. virtualized. When you
> terminate a VM, you lose the data on the VM's ephemeral storage, which is
> why for data that you need to keep around, you use volumes (block storage).
>
>  14.Supports backup manager
>>
>
> The snapshot operation and daily/weekly/hourly backup operations are
> currently supported via OpenStack Nova's API. However, if you're looking
> for some Windows GUI that does backups, that isn't something that OpenStack
> is about to provide.
>
>  15.Ability to change password for panel login via email or security
>> questions etc.
>>
>
> Changing passwords is currently supported. Security questions are a
> UI-specific thing and not something that is built-into OpenStack's APIs.
>
>  16.VM management windows the shows RAM, CPU usage, IP, server name etc.
>> (dashboard)
>>
>
> This is currently supported.
>
>  17.Scheduled maintenance window that shows upcoming or passed (dashboard)
>>
>
> This is not supported.
>
>  18.Dashboard showing all VMs and current utilizations
>>
>
> This is currently supported.
>
>  19.One click install software packages for define package
>>
>
> Are you looking for an infrastructure service or a platform service?
> OpenStack's infrastructure services manage virtualized resources. Platform
> services, like the Murano project in Stackforge, can be used to interface
> with things like CloudFoundry to let you define software packages that
> would get installed on your virtual resources.
>
>  20.Monitoring management to turn on/off or silence alerts
>>
>
> This is not supported by OpenStack. This is something you can install
> yourself and use as you want.
>
>  21.Mobile support for rebooting VMs
>>
>
> This is not supported.
>

There are several apps on Android devices I know of but haven't played
with. I assume there are iOS ones also. The Openstack APIs support it.
There simply isn't an "official" client maintained by the foundation.

>
>  22.Security Threat Center
>>
>
> ? We have a security advisory mailing list. But OpenStack is not Macafee
> Windows software.
>

Agreed that there is nothing inherent in the Openstack product to flash
warnings up on your screen if there's a new CVE. However there is an active
security group (OSSG) and security advisories are sent and addressed with
patches.

>
>  23.Token tracking for resellers of our services
>>
>
> This is not supported.


#5 again. Most of the CRM systems have reseller capabilities.

>
>
>  I would really appreciate if anyone can take a time to put a yes/no/NA
>> next to each of the item on the list, it will definitely help me big
>> time. I tried reading and watching few videos but I would really like to
>> make sure as some of the items on the list are must haves.
>>
>
> It really sounds to me like you are looking for some all-in-one hosting
> solution, not really running your own cloud infrastructure. I'd recommend
> looking at just being a customer or reseller of one of the cloud providers
> like Rackspace Cloud, HP Cloud, Amazon Web Services, or Softlayer.
>
> Best,
> -jay
>
>  Thank you in advance.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> *Eriane Leobrera*
>>
>> MANAGER, IT SERVICES
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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