CHAPTER 1 ■ GETTING TO KNOW OPENSTACK
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you should see two kernel modules loaded in the memory. The kvm is the module independent of the
vendor, and the kvm_intel or kvm_amd executes VT-x or AMD-V functionality, respectively. Pay attention to
the fact that virtualization hardware support could be disabled in the basic input/output system (BIOS) by
default.
The next service, OpenStack Networking (Neutron), is responsible for network connectivity. Users
themselves can create virtual networks and routers as well as set up Internet provider (IP) addresses. One
of the mechanisms provided by Neutron is called “floating IP.” Thanks to this mechanism, virtual machines
can get externally fixed IP addresses. Such functionality has a network capability balancer as a service, a
firewall as a service, and virtual private network (VPN) as a service can be obtained through the mechanism
of connecting modules.
OpenStack Keystone identification service is a centralized catalog of users and services that they have
access to. Keystone performs as a united authentication system of the cloud operating system. Keystone
checks the validity of users’ accounts and the accordance of users to the OpenStack projects and roles.
And if it’s compliant, it gives the token for access to other services. Keystone runs a services’ catalog/
directory as well.
OpenStack Image Service (Glance) runs the catalog of virtual machines’ images, which users can
use as templates to run instances of virtual machines in the cloud. This service also delivers the backup
functionality and snapshots creation. Glance supports many different formats, including vhd , vmdk , vdi , iso ,
qcow2 , and ami .
OpenStack Block Storage (Cinder) service manages block storage, which can be used by running
instances of virtual machines. This is permanent data storage for virtual machines. Snapshots can be used
for data saving and restoring or cloning. In most cases data storage based on GNU/Linux servers is used
together with Cinder. However, there are connecting modules for hardware storage.
OpenStack Object Storage (Swift) service is one of the two original projects that appeared in OpenStack
besides Nova. Originally it was called Rackspace Cloud Files. This service is an object storage, which
allows users to store files. Swift has distributed architecture, allowing horizontal scaling, redundancy, and
replication for failover purposes. Swift is oriented mostly to static data, such as virtual machines’ copies,
backup copies, and archives.
OpenStack Telemetry (Celiometer) service is a centralized information source based on cloud metrics
for monitoring data. This component delivers the billing ability for OpenStack.
OpenStack Orchestration (Heat) service has the main task of application life cycle provision in cloud
infrastructure. Using the template in AWS CloudFormation format, this service manages all other OpenStack
services, allowing the creation of most types of resources (virtual machines, volumes, floating IPs, users,
security groups, etc.). Heat can also make application scaling automatic by using data from the Ceilometer
service. Templates describe the relation between the resourses, which allows Heat service to make API
OpenStack calls in the right order, for example, first to create the server and then to connect volume to it.
Finally, OpenStack Dashboard (Horizon) service allows management of cloud resources through the
web console.
History of OpenStack Project
The cloud operational system OpenStack was established in June 2010 as a project that connected NASA’s
Nova virtual servers development system and US hosting-provider Rackspace’s Swift data storage system.
The first version, under the code name Austin, was released in October 2010.
The third service for Glance image storage had already appeared in the Bexar version in addition to
Nova and Swift. In the Essex version, Horizon management web-console and Keystone identification service
were added. There was the Folsom version of network service, which was originally named Quantum but
then renamed as that name was already a registered trademark, and then the Cinder cloud block storage
service. The Heat orchestration service and Celiometer service were added in the Havana version.