Right off the bat, I like what's being proposed here. Being able to 1-shot provision application infrastructures is a great feature. And to store these pocket infrastructures as blue-prints in the template system I think makes the most sense.
As for guest automation, I too would like to see CloudStack provide at least simple tools (login, service start/stop, upload/download file, walk directory tree). Great proposal, let's hope it generates a strong discussion. -kd >-----Original Message----- >From: Chris Sears [mailto:chris.x.se...@sungard.com] >Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 12:32 PM >To: cloudstack-dev@incubator.apache.org >Subject: Re: [DISCUSS] PaaS Enablement: Composite Application Blueprints >(#576) > >This sounds like there a two major features wrapped up here that deserve to >be broken out and discussed individually. > >1. A new unit of deployment similar to a VMware vApp or AWS >CloudFormation template. This unit would have an abstract representation >(blueprint/template) and a deployed instance representation (something like >a project) that contains the related VMs, networks and other runtime >resources. The DMTF CIMI API has some related concepts called System >Templates and Systems that might be worth reviewing for compatibility >considerations. Also, the OVF standard has some relevant material that might >allow us to import/export these units as OVF/OVA files. > >2. Extended in-guest automation. Running commands in the guest. Copying >files into and out of the guest file system. Something generic enough that >folks could bootstrap a higher-level config management tool like those you >mention or do basic guest-level automation (if they didn't need a more >complex tool). This might be implemented on top of SSH, WinRM or VMware >VIX APIs. > >I certainly see how they are critical to PaaS enablement, it might be less >confusing to address them independently of the PaaS issue. > >Looking forward to helping on these. > > - Chris > > > > > > > >On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 5:04 PM, Alex Heneveld < >alex.henev...@cloudsoftcorp.com> wrote: > >> >> Hi All, >> >> At the CCC, and in jira [1] late last year, we started discussing this >> feature request, but going foward we'd like to get broader feedback. >> A couple folks have suggested we bring it back to the mailing list to >> get this. >> >> In brief, we're responding to a desire for high-level composite >> blueprints on top of Cloudstack. For instance: >> >> (a) An app team wants to have a single entity in Cloudstack which >> represents their application, >> consisting of a load-balancer, a scalable appserver tier, and >> a SQL database >> >> (b) A middleware team wants to have a mechanism for describing a >> PaaS which they can >> deploy, manage (e.g. scale out, back), track costs, and >> destroy as a unit in Cloudstack >> >> These get mapped on to Cloudstack components (IaaS and services), but >> what distinguishes them from Projects is that they are reusable >> portable definitions. This is similar to what VMware have in vApp and >> AWS in CloudFormation; but there is (so far) a preference to base >> these around CloudStack concepts and have them accessible in the GUI. >> >> Cloudsoft (me and others here) want to work on this, together with >> like-minded folks. >> >> Here are some feature ideas for starters: >> >> * IaaS mapping >> - ability to refer to specific templates and offerings (eg id="1234") >> - ability to refer to portable descriptions of templates and offerings >> (eg os("ubuntu"), userdata("myappsrv"), minram("2gb")) >> - ability to define subnets, DNS, public IP and firewall rules >> >> * Wiring >> - ability to write files to VM's with permissions, mode, etc >> - ability to embed references to other blueprint entities (ie other VM >> IP's/hostnames) in such files >> - ability to execute commands on VM's, with order constraints >> - ability to use puppet/chef/bash/juju/**cartridges/brooklyn (e.g. via >> the above capabilities) >> >> * Management >> - ability to access blueprints and deployments via REST and via GUI >> - ability to define clusters and groups of entities (which could be >> scaled) >> - ability to deploy policies (eg elasticity, HA/DR logic) to various >> management systems >> >> What would you like to see? Would you be able to help? >> >> Many thanks, >> Alex >> >> [1] >> https://issues.apache.org/**jira/browse/CLOUDSTACK-576<https://issues. >> apache.org/jira/browse/CLOUDSTACK-576> >> >> >>
