By F. Lafage - Cloud and Virtualization Consultant. Specialist in OpenStack and SDN infrastructure deployment.
The cloud is here, as you will no doubt have noticed. But what does this buzzword actually mean? What is the current market situation? The cloud is fine, but how do you get started? These are questions that both fascinate and worry IT decision-makers... and they are not alone.
First, let's understand that the cloud is simply the logical continuation of the movement initiated by the desire to reduce IT-related expenses in companies. The first step was the virtualization of systems (VMware, Xen, etc.). Next came the development of high-speed internet. This gave us access to more and more inexpensive, on-demand, dematerialized services. The public cloud was born.
Yes, but while it meets certain specific needs, the public cloud remains costly in the long term. It is also inflexible and raises serious questions about security and data protection. So why not use the same concepts in a private cloud this time?
The private cloud meets all the needs that any company may have in terms of using its information system—flexibility, cost reduction, resource sharing, and on-demand cost management. The private cloud is the future of IT infrastructure (systems and networks)...even if French companies are still a little cautious.
Okay, but how do you get started? It's very simple: with a forward-looking, sustainable solution supported by major market leaders and open source: OpenStack!
OpenStack is a suite of open source software that enables the deployment of cloud computing infrastructures (infrastructure as a service).
The technology has a modular architecture composed of several related projects (Nova, Swift, Glance, etc.). All of this makes it possible to control the various resources of virtual machines, such as computing power, storage, and even the network inherent to the data center being used.
The project is supported by the OpenStack Foundation. This non-profit organization aims to promote the OpenStack project and to protect and assist developers and the entire OpenStack community.
OpenStack is not a product developed by a company with closed source code, but rather the result of collaborative open source work involving experts, enthusiasts, and players in the IT industry. It is nevertheless supported by major companies such as RedHat, Canonical, and Mirantis.
To get started, we recommend PackStack:https://www.rdoproject.org/install/quickstart/. This solution will allow you to discover and install your own private OpenStack cloud on a single machine! Very useful for a POC.
