5 Things You Need To Know About CloudStack

What is CloudStack?

CloudStack is an open source cloud software platform which is designed to deploy networks of scalable virtual machines in an Infrastructure-as-a-Service environment. It is often likened to OpenStack, and provides on-premises cloud computing as part of a hybrid cloud solution.

The ‘stack’ refers to the entire range of features companies look for in an IaaS solution such as orchestration, Network-as-a-Service, user management, and an open API.

CloudStack supports VMware, KV, Hyper-V, and Xen hypervisor.

Who created Cloudstack?

CloudStack was initially created in 2008 by a startup called VMOps. The firm then changed its name to Cloud.com and released most of the source code to CloudStack in 2010.

In 2011, Cloud.com was bought out by Citrix. In 2012, CloudStack was re-licensed by Citrix under the Apache Software License 2.0 and was submitted to the Apache Incubator.

In 2013, Apache CloudStack was successfully released from the incubator and a new public release went out in March of that year.

Who uses it?

Some of CloudStack’s biggest names include BT, CloudOps, Melbourne University, SafeSwiss Cloud and Redbridge.

What are the benefits of using CloudStack?

As an open source product, the platform can be moulded to suit the customer’s needs.

Fernando Carolo, Cloud Manager at Globo.com which started using CloudStack in 2014, said: “First of all, we found that CloudStack is able to deliver all the functionality we require to manage our cloud infrastructure in a simple, yet comprehensive way.

“After moving to CloudStack, we redirected our internal development efforts away from the maintenance of our in-house IaaS project and towards the integration of other parts of our infrastructure with CloudStack itself.”

Where is CloudStack at right now?

In 2014, Citrix reshuffled its approach to cloud. A new cloud group was formed when it combined the Cloud Platforms Group and Cloud Networking team into one division called the Networking, Cloud & Service Provider Group (NCSP).

Citrix says this new group will optimise its cloud delivery infrastructures to provide a better service for customers.

Is this Citrix backing out of CloudStack? Is there a bigger plan for 2015? We have yet to find out, perhaps. CloudStack is an obvious alternative to OpenStack, but compared to the big name support given to OpenStack such as IBM, HP, and Cisco, it seems CloudSTack has been left behind.

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