Rackspace's Cloud Servers benefits from the diverse vendor support for OpenStack, such as that from cloud management vendors RightScale and enStratus, storage vendors Ctera and NetApp, and networking vendors Cisco and HP. The open source nature of OpenStack provides a rich foundation for any vendor to develop for the platform and compete in a level playing field. Rackspace also benefits from free development on the OpenStack project. Open source projects are the next best thing to standards since there is one canonical distribution. As long as the project isn't forked into disparate ventures, vendors can integrate with the open source platforms and focus on adding features rather than integrating with a number of diverse platforms.
Rackspace can't diverge far from the OpenStack distribution because it risks losing intrinsic third-party support for Cloud Servers and alienating developers. However, Engates did say there were some minor differences between the OpenStack API and Rackspace's but added that the differences shouldn't pose any problems. Since Rackspace has been a contributor to OpenStack since the beginning, it's likely that Open Cloud will remain true to the project.
Our recent report, "Research: Private Cloud Vision vs. Reality," found that 61% of 414 respondents starting a private cloud project planned to use a hybrid cloud. Rackspace recognizes this trend, and is promoting its Open Cloud as hybrid cloud-friendly. However, its version of hybrid cloud refers to connecting Cloud Servers to other servers within the Rackspace hosting environment, or using its RackConnect service, which creates a VPN between your data center and Open Cloud.
Cloud Severs can't manage or be managed by other OpenStack installations, so there is currently no way to extend your private cloud from your data center to Cloud Servers and have a single management instance. Managing multiple cloud installations from a single console requires a service like enStratus or RightScale, which supports a number of cloud software systems like OpenStack and services like Cloud Servers.
What's Missing
Missing from Open Cloud is support for OpenStack's Quantum project, which provides advanced features such as multi-tenant networking, a plug-in framework to support software-defined networking (SDN), and support for customer-defined networking tiers. Also missing is support for block storage, which is used when high-speed I/O is needed or when applications want to read and write to a SATA or SSD physical drive. Rackspace's Cloud Networks is based on Quantum.
There may be trouble ahead for Quantum, however. Nicira, which was recently acquired by VMware, was leading the Quantum effort. VMware's CTO, Steve Herrod, has committed to continuing support for Open vSwitch and the OpenStack project, but companies like Rackspace should be worried that VMware will provide limited resources for projects like Quantum because they benefit competitors. Engates said he believes VMware is becoming more open source-friendly, and continued support of such technologies provides greater opportunities for collaboration between VMware and projects like OpenStack.
Rackspace's Cloud Databases offers MySQL 5.1 as a hosted service. Rather than running MySQL in an OpenStack VM, the MySQL application will run on Linux Containers, which provide process separation between MySQL instances and can limit CPU, RAM and I/O. Rackspace chose Linux Containers because it provides better control over resources than a general purpose hypervisor. The vendor doesn't have a NoSQL service like Amazon's DynamoDB or Microsoft's Big Data, which takes it out of the running for big data applications.
Next: Pricing for Rackspace's OpenStack Cloud Offerings
