Red Hat SummitChapter 1. Understanding Red Hat OpenStack Platform
Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) is a distribution of OpenStack from Red Hat that you can deploy on top of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. You use RHOSP to deploy a local IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) cloud that you manage in your own environment, and on your own hardware.
RHOSP is composed of a collection of OpenStack services that Red Hat supports, each with a secure API that you can access through a unified CLI or web interface. These services correspond to traditional data center services, such as the provisioning of servers, networks, and storage, whose access you can limit through quota management.
You use Red Hat OpenStack Platform director to configure, deploy, and manage RHOSP. The architecture is flexible, and defined in YAML, so that you can save and redeploy your chosen architecture identically across multiple sites. Because of the inherent flexibility of the OpenStack model, RHOSP cannot be described as a single unified architecture.
1.1. Using Red Hat OpenStack Platform
You can use Red Hat OpenStack Platform (RHOSP) to implement IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), with support for virtual instances, networks, and storage. When you deploy RHOSP, either by default or through additional available features, you deploy:
- Virtual instances and storage for images
- Software-defined networking with routing and load-balancing
- Object, block, or file storage
- Authentication services and a browser-based interface for users and administrators
- Security features such as secret key management and secure role based authentication
- Extensive APIs to control and manage each service of the platform
With RHOSP, you can:
- Create public, private, or hybrid clouds that you can scale up or down.
- Provide a self-service multi-tenant environment for your organization.
- Address customer demands more quickly than in a traditional data center environment.
- Deploy services at the edge with distributed compute node architecture.
Additional information
1.2. Relationship between RDO and OpenStack Foundation
OpenStack Foundation promotes the global development, distribution, and adoption of the OpenStack cloud operating system. The goal of the OpenStack Foundation is to serve developers, users, and the entire ecosystem globally by providing a set of shared resources to grow the footprint of public and private OpenStack clouds, enable technology vendors targeting the platform and assist developers to produce the best cloud software in the industry.
RPM Distribution of OpenStack (RDO) is a free, community-supported distribution of the Red Hat version of OpenStack that runs on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and its derivatives, such as CentOS. RDO also makes the latest OpenStack development release available for Fedora. In addition to providing a set of software packages, RDO is a community of users of cloud computing platforms on Red Hat-based operating systems to get help and compare notes on running OpenStack. For enterprise-level support or information on partner certification, Red Hat offers Red Hat OpenStack Platform. For more information, see Red Hat OpenStack Platform.
