1Eight Important Facts About the OpenStack Cloud Platform
by Sean Michael Kerner
2Private Cloud Deployment Leads the Way
There are multiple types of cloud deployment models. For OpenStack users, the most popular deployment type is as an on-premises private cloud.
3Pulling the OpenStack Deployment Strings With Puppet
When it comes to deploying an OpenStack cloud, 45 percent of those surveyed used Puppet for deployment of their production OpenStack clouds.
4KVM Is the Leading OpenStack Hypervisor
The OpenStack Nova compute project can leverage any number of different virtualization technologies. The most widely deployed is KVM, at 87 percent of production deployments. In contrast, VMware’s ESX hypervisor represents 6 percent of production OpenStack deployments.
5Open vSwitch Is the Most Popular Network Driver
The Open vSwitch network driver accounts for 43 percent of OpenStack product deployments.
6Ubuntu Dominates Among OpenStack Operating Systems
OpenStack runs on top of an operating system, and more often than not, that operating system is Ubuntu Linux. In the new user survey Ubuntu accounted for 64 percent of OpenStack production deployments.
7An Assortment of Storage Choices
The open-source Ceph block storage driver is the most widely deployed storage choice among OpenStack clouds, though there are lots of choices, including Gluster, NetApp, EMC and HP 3PAR.
8OpenStack Users Don’t Use All OpenStack Projects
The OpenStack platform is comprised of multiple projects, but not all projects are actually used by all cloud operators. Core services—including Compute (Nova), Identity (Keystone), Image (Glance) and Dashboard (Horizon)—are used by 80 percent or more of OpenStack production deployments.
9OpenStack Cloud Operators Also Use Other Clouds
Many OpenStack operators do not use OpenStack exclusively. The study showed that 31 percent will also use Amazon.