Private Cloud available for Free Download

Rackspace OpenStack Private Cloud available for FREE Download

Do you want a private cloud? Well, it's easy now. And for FREE !

What is OpenStack Private Cloud? Features | Requirements | Download Link

Rackspace has announced the release of Rackspace Private Cloud Software, powered by OpenStack and code-named Alamo.

OpenStack is a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a datacenter, all managed through a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface.

Through OpenStack Private Cloud, private cloud computing has been easy than ever before.

Rackspace officials said the software is based on the company's experience in deploying and operating OpenStack-based public and private clouds in a variety of environments, including in Rackspace’s own data centers as well as in external data centers. The Rackspace Private Cloud is backed by an optional support offering.

“We believe that the majority of our customers and cloud users will be running hybrid cloud environments for a long time,” Jim Curry, general manager of the private cloud business at Rackspace, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement allows businesses to utilize their existing investment in their own data center resources to run an open cloud solution for additional control and customization and also take advantage of Rackspace’s data center options.”

Features of OpenStack Private Cloud.

• Ubuntu 12.04 Host Operating System
• KVM Virtualization
• Chef Server
• OpenStack Essex Release - Cloud Software.

Suggested System Requirements

Controller Node

16GB RAM

144GB Disk Space

Dual Socket CPU with dual core or single socket quad core

Compute Node

32GB RAM

144GB Disk Space

Dual Socket CPU with dual core or single socket quad core

Final Words from Rackspace 

Meanwhile, also in a statement, Jesse Robbins, chief community officer at Opscode, said, “The release of Rackspace Private Cloud Software with Opscode Chef included is a result of the great collaboration between Opscode and Rackspace and a testament to the benefits Chef provides for deploying and managing OpenStack-powered clouds."

The new software is the latest addition to the Rackspace Private Cloud suite along with OpenStack Training and Support services.

Download Link -   Click here to get a free Private Cloud

PS - The Complete Review of the OpenStack Private Cloud + Demo Video --- Soon on Cloud Hack Blog

Practical Steps to build a private Cloud - Worth a try.

Practical Steps to build a private Cloud

Try and see what it takes to build a private Cloud using Open Source Tools

It's time to build your own cloud!

I have tried many ways of building a private Cloud and deploying certain application in it.

There are many Open Source Technologies available to do it. (Remember, i am talking about Open Source SDK's available in the internet using which we can develop a private cloud, not some cloud based application available for free. We shall talk about some freely available cloud apps in future posts.)

Some of them are here. For each of them, i have included a User Experience Level/ Difficulty level/ Complexity Constraint involved -

• Eucalyptus - Eucalyptus enables the creation of on-premise Infrastructure as a Service clouds, with no requirements for retooling the organization's existing IT infrastructure or for introducing any specialized hardware. The Eucalyptus Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform maintains high fidelity with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) API, allowing support for both on-premise and hybrid IaaS clouds.
  User Experience Level - 5/10
  
• OpenStack - OpenStack is a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a datacenter, all managed through a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface.
  User Experience Level - 9/10
  
  
• Cloud Stack - CloudStack is an open source cloud operating system which delivers public cloud computing similar to Amazon EC2 but using your own hardware. CloudStack provides orchestration of your virtualized resources into one homogeneous environment where you can delegate the creation to users of the virtual machines using the self-service CloudStack portal. This package is available for use in Ubuntu 10.04 and RedHat Linux (Cent OS) platforms.
  User Experience Level - 8/10
  
  
• Xen Cloud Platform Project -The Xen Cloud Platform (XCP) is an open source enterprise-ready server virtualization and cloud computing platform, delivering the Xen Hypervisor with support for a range of guest operating systems including Windows® and Linux® network and storage support, management tools in a single, tested installable image, which is also called XCP appliance.
  User Experience Level - 10/10
  
• OpenNebula.org - OpenNebula.org is an open-source project developing the industry standard solution for building and managing virtualized enterprise data centers and cloud infrastructures.
  User Experience Level - 5/10
  

Out of all the above 5 technologies, Eucalyptus is the one you can go with if you are building a private cloud for the first time. Well, if you are done with it, then try using Open Stack. Since all the above software's are open source, their websites have very good documentation regarding the steps to create and deploy your own cloud. However, i have included 2 technical papers for starters - you can readily deploy your own private cloud - follow the steps.

1.  Deploying an Open Source Private Cloud using Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud(Eucalyptus Fork).
   Requirements -
   1 Machine(2gb RAM, 160 GM HDD), Virtualization Compatible Hardware, VM Hyper-visor like VMware, XEN, Sun Virtual Box.
   3 Virtual Machines to run(minimum) - 1 Cloud Controller, 1 Cluster Controller and 1 Node Controller.
   
2.  Deploying a Private Cloud using Eucalyptus and Xen Hyper-visor.
   Same Configuration.
   

Feel free to post your comments and queries. I am always open to interaction.

Keep Clouding,

Jade Nagaraja