Open Cloud OS turns OpenStack software into a production-grade powerhouse.

Developed by the leader in production deployments of OpenStack software, Open Cloud OS is the tested, supported operating system for open cloud infrastructure.

Introducing Open Cloud OS

Open Cloud OS is an OpenStack-powered cloud operating system for cloud infrastructure deployments where reliability matters. Open Cloud OS provides core cloud services such as elastic compute, object storage, and an expandable foundation for additional services, such as block storage, load balancing, and virtual networking. As a core component of the Cloudscaling Open Cloud System (OCS), Open Cloud OS creates a vendor-supported, scale-engineered OpenStack distribution focused on production-grade, modular cloud infrastructure.

Key Benefits

Open Cloud OS combines the open innovation of the OpenStack community with production-grade features found in advanced cloud infrastructures such as those at Amazon Web Services and Google. Open Cloud OS provides a hardened, robust, and scalable OpenStack distribution, as part of a vendor-supported, mission-critical foundation for open cloud infrastructure. Open Cloud OS extends OpenStack technology with a range of production-grade features.

Roll over the layers of the Open Cloud OS for more information.

Open Cloud OS Overview

Open Cloud OS provides the core software stack required to operate open cloud infrastructure. Clouds deployed using Open Cloud OS deliver a range of cloud services, including compute (virtual machines), object storage, and load balancing. Open Cloud OS is based on the CloudBlocks™ architecture – Cloudscaling’s system architecture for achieving simplified, cost effective scaling and managed cloud service levels. CloudBlocks™ defines an inventory of simple modules that can be stacked in different combinations tied to specific business needs. Open Cloud OS provides key software systems at four different levels: cloud service APIs, resource pools, cloud topology, and hardware management.

Cloud Service APIs

Cloud service APIs provide access to the cloud resources available from a given Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud. These on-demand resources include virtual machines, stored objects (files), virtual load balancing (virtual IPs), and virtual disk drives. When a valid cloud service API request is received, resources are allocated from a global resource pool for that cloud service.

Resource Pools

Open Cloud OS organizes the resources available per cloud service into resource pools. This abstraction enables cloud operators to manage cloud service capacity to a specific service level. Resource pools provide detail on the amounts of capacity allocated and available for use for each type or subtype of cloud resource. For example, a compute cloud may provide virtual machine instances in a range of sizes, with a separate resource pool managing instances of each particular size.

Cloud Topology

Open Cloud OS leverages the CloudBlocks(tm) architecture to provide a unified view of a production cloud deployment. CloudBlocks contains the Open Cloud Data Model which expresses a system-wide topology, including a hierarchy of regions, availability zones, blocks, and server nodes. Each region is a complete cloud with its own set of services. Within a given geographic region, resources are segmented into one or more availability zones, each representing a distinct failure domain. Software, hardware, and facility failures in one zone are isolated and should not impact other zones within a given region. Each zone can support up to 25,000 physical server nodes. Open Cloud OS creates and manages zones through Zone Manager, which organizes blocks of capacity using the Open Cloud Data Model. Zone Manager also provides secure partitioning for private cloud resources, dedicating physical sections of a cloud to a single customer.

Open Cloud OS facilitates a scale-out networking architecture by extending OpenStack to support a robust, flat, layer-3 networking model. This network architecture is a modified spine-and-leaf topology, designed together with one of the world’s leading cloud network vendors. Open Cloud OS adds network driver plug-ins and a modified compute resource scheduler to enable a completely flat, routed network architecture for OpenStack services. As a result, cloud operators can add capacity to cloud availability zones rapidly and efficiently.

Hardware Management

OpenCloud OS includes built-in hardware management software — Block Manager. The Block Manager provides hardware lifecycle management for Cloudscaling’s block-based architecture, including hardware burn-in, verification, and just-in-time provisioning. Hardware burn-in testing exercises server resources such as CPUs and disk drives to verify error-free functioning before entering production. The verification process determines if the hardware being provisioned is in compliance with the specifications for that particular hardware blueprint. Block Manager simplifies provisioning to reduce the time to add new compliant hardware to an existing cloud system.

CloudBlocks™

Cloud scalability. Simplified. Cloudscaling’s unified architecture integrates Open Cloud OS with hardware reference blueprints to define modular cloud building blocks. Learn more about CloudBlocks™

Hardware Blueprints

Proven deployment configurations for compute, storage, and networking equipment. Hardware blueprints detail turn-key, scale-engineered hardware configurations to meet specific price/performance and availability targets. Learn more about Hardware Blueprints.