Red Hat debuts newest version of OpenStack
Red Hat unveiled OpenStack Platform 12, the latest version of its cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), at the OpenStack Summit Sydney 2017. As part of the update, Red Hat, in addition to fixing glitches, is beginning to move all of its OpenStack platform to containers.
OpenStack Platform 12 is based upon the previous platform, OpenStack Pike, which was released about two months ago. It is backed by a rolodex of partners, including Cisco, Dell, Intel Ericsson, Nokia, Cisco and Huawei, to name just a few. The newest version of OpenStack builds upon Enterprise Linux, created for both private and public cloud infrastructure. It includes support for Red Hat CloudForms and Ceph Storage.
A significant change to the platform is the introduction of the containerization of OpenStack services. The latest platform allows users to run OpenStack services on Linux containers. The company already has significant experience with containers using Kubernetes orchestration engine. It is, therefore, unsurprising the company is leveraging Kubernetes for its latest OpenStack platform. The platform is now able to containerize the majority of OpenStack services, in addition to providing containerized Technology Preview of various networking and storage services. This allows its partners to certify drivers and plugins for the latest deployment model.
The company is also incorporating automation into its latest platform to provide greater efficiency and security, according to the company. With respect to efficiency, the company is automating its infrastructure enrollment service and life cycle management for security certificates. With respect to security, the company updated both its OpenStack Block Storage (Cinder) and Bare Metal Provisioning (Ironic) with volume encryption support and disk partitioning enhancements. Red Hat also said it would highlight security features, implementation and guidance to meet basic security controls outlined in the latest Red Hat security guide.
The newest version of OpenStack also introduces composable capabilities, which were originally introduced in OpenStack Platform 10. OpenStack Platform 11 built upon the composable roles by making it easier to deploy and update the platform. The new composable networks in OpenStack Platform 12 make it easier to define the network topology with fewer restrictions, according to the company. The platform is expected to be made available within the foreseeable through the Red Hat Customer portal, and as a feature of the Red Hat Cloud Infrastructure and Red Hat Cloud Suite solutions.
