NetApp Simplifies and Accelerates Deployment of OpenStack Cloud Services

“As an active contributor to the OpenStack Community, NetApp leads in its commitment to open source solutions and customer choice in the cloud,” said Jeff O’Neal, senior director, cloud solutions group, NetApp, Inc. “Our latest integrations and contributions help speed and simplify the deployment of differentiated cloud services providing cloud customers the resources they need. We will continue to provide tools to expand the capabilities of public, private, and hybrid clouds built with OpenStack.”

News Summary
Reaffirming its commitment to help accelerate the deployment of cloud services, NetApp announced new contributions to OpenStack, and deeper integration with its storage and data management systems. NetApp’s latest contributions include new solutions for OpenStack Havana, incubation of a new core service for OpenStack Icehouse, and an expansion of support for partners and customers, including options that provide lower cost, faster innovation, no vendor lock-in and flexibility.

NetApp continues to work closely with partners to test and document solutions including four solutions certified with Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform and newly certified solutions with Rackspace Private Cloud Software.

In addition, NetApp and Cisco Systems, Inc. have completed initial testing with FlexPod Datacenter and Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform to provide FlexPod customers with implementation and deployment guidance in the form of a reference architecture.

OpenStack solutions are powerful and reach their potential when implemented on robust, intelligent storage solutions. Cloud services with differentiated storage SLAs are necessary to address the full gamut of modern application deployment requirements. NetApp provides an intelligent storage infrastructure that speeds service deployment, scales and reacts with agility to business changes. NetApp’s direct contributions to OpenStack provide integrated access to storage efficiency, data protection, availability, scalability, and QoSs features designed to accelerate and simplify delivery of differentiated cloud services.

Technology News
New OpenStack solutions help enterprise customers deploy robust, reliable and rapidly scalable cloud environments.

OpenStack Havana enhancements
NetApp’s OpenStack Block Storage (aka Cinder) integrations in Havana enable feature-rich block storage services that support both cloud-native and traditional enterprise applications. Havana integrations with OpenStack Image and Compute enable accelerated instance creation and storage capacity efficiencies when creating multiple like instances. Cinder drivers provide OpenStack access to storage features such as QoS, efficiency, and data protection capabilities, enabling the creation of SLAs for mission critical workloads. In Havana, deployment has been simplified by delivering several different configuration options in a single converged NetApp driver. NetApp has also assisted, within the community, evolving the Cinder migration tool, aiming to reduce vendor lock-in by simplifying the migration of data in heterogeneous storage environments.

Certifications / Partnering
NetApp is committed to the OpenStack community and is testing and certifying solutions with partners and the OpenStack Foundation to accelerate robust production deployments of OpenStack. Initial proof-of-concept testing of a FlexPod Datacenter with Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform is now complete and available as a reference architecture preview. NetApp has also certified four solutions with Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform including direct driver solutions for clustered Data ONTAP. NetApp and Rackspace have certified NetApp solutions for Rackspace Private cloud Software.

Solutions for OpenStack Object Storage Deployment
The deployment of OpenStack Object Storage (aka Swift) can be substantially enhanced when deployed on NetApp’s E-series unique Dynamic Disk Pools (DDP) technology. NetApp has provided a reference architecture in the latest version of its OpenStack Deployment and Operations Guide that improves efficiency and expands upon achievable scale by reducing the number of copies of data needed.

File Share Service Proposed for OpenStack Icehouse
NetApp continues to demonstrate leadership within the OpenStack community through the introduction of a new project code-named Manila. This newly incubated project delivers a file share service intended for inclusion in OpenStack core at the time of Icehouse release. The proposed core service adds file storage services to the existing block and object services, addressing an exception to OpenStack’s storage services coverage and enabling a new category of on-demand file storage based IaaS.

Ongoing Commitment to OpenStack
As organizations continue to gravitate toward the benefit of a cloud delivery model, NetApp remains committed to providing choice among an ecosystem of cloud-based technologies, platforms, and service providers. Commitment to open source cloud initiatives such as OpenStack arms organizations and service providers with the power of Data ONTAP, enabling enterprise storage and data management while offering platforms upon which to build efficient and flexible cloud environments.

Mike Werner, senior director, Global Ecosystems, Red Hat, Inc., said: “For OpenStack’s true value to shine in the enterprise, it requires a strong ecosystem of global technology leaders to come together and collaborate. Red Hat is pleased to be collaborating with NetApp as part of the Red Hat OpenStack cloud Infrastructure Partner Network as we work to build the industry’s broadest OpenStack ecosystem, working together to bring choice and the full power of OpenStack to enterprise customers.”

Nicolas Pla, technology manager, Despegar, said: “Our business relies on a flexible infrastructure that helps us provide the best services for our customers. By working with NetApp to build our infrastructure with OpenStack we now have the opportunity to leverage the power of the cloud and deploy any application withins, which allows us to stay ahead of the competition.“