Virtualization Made Clear for Recruiters. Part 2: Cloud Providers and OpenStack

Hey there, tech recruitment enthusiasts!

It's time for the next installment of HIVE Explains, where we make complex concepts clear and engaging.

Last time, we dove into Virtualization, unraveling its core concept and breaking down its evolution for non-technical professionals. Missed our previous article? We suggest catching up on that first. We introduced Hardware Virtualization and its enabler, a Hypervisor – a program or hardware design letting multiple operating systems run on the same host computer at once. While the technologies we discussed optimize computing resources, they demand expensive, highly-skilled engineers to create and maintain them.

??That's where Cloud Providers enter the picture.

Cloud providers are experts in constructing colossal commercial data centers. They lease infrastructure to businesses, catering to their unique needs with offerings like individual virtual machines. This accessibility extends modern virtualization technologies to industries beyond IT.

Today, cloud providers generally offer three main solutions, excluding Bare-metal Servers (where you rent raw hardware??):

1. IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): You purchase a hypervisor service and interact through a graphical interface or CLI. You're responsible for creating virtual machines and configuring networks and storage devices, but everything else happens behind the scenes.
2. PaaS (Platform as a Service): This middle ground lets you use databases, development tools, and testing environments as services, while cloud providers handle infrastructure concerns. Rent Kubernetes or MySQL, for instance, and focus on developing applications or data within a straightforward admin panel.
3. SaaS (Software as a Service): These fully-functioning applications don't need desktop installation. Think Gmail, Figma, or Slack – classic examples that users access effortlessly while cloud providers manage the backend.

Now, let's dive into the key advantages of cloud solutions:

• ??Speed: Forget purchasing servers, installing operating systems, or setting up networks. With well-configured automation, you can launch an entire infrastructure in a snap.
• ??Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Say goodbye to manual tasks. Infrastructure configuration is done exclusively through code.

?? IaC is a cutting-edge approach to managing and provisioning IT infrastructure, such as servers, networks, and storage, using code and automation rather than manual labor. Think of it as a recipe for your computer systems – you write down the steps and ingredients, and a program follows the instructions to set everything up. Traditionally, infrastructure management meant hands-on work, like configuring servers, establishing networks, and installing software. This labor-intensive process was slow, error-prone, and inconsistent. IaC changes the game. You write code or scripts (the recipe) that define your desired infrastructure, including server configurations and connections. This code is stored in a version control system, allowing for easy tracking and collaboration. Need to modify your infrastructure? Run the IaC scripts, and an automation tool provisions the resources per your specifications. This ensures consistency, repeatability, and scalability. In simpler terms, IaC is a digital blueprint for building and managing computer systems, making the process faster, more reliable, and less prone to human error. It also minimizes costs from a business perspective.

On that note, let's quickly mention some related technologies often seen on candidates' CVs: Chef, Puppet, and Ansible are configuration management tools designed to install and manage software on existing servers, while CloudFormation and Terraform are provisioning tools that handle server and infrastructure setup (e.g., load balancers, databases, networking), delegating server configuration to other tools.

• ??Cloud providers enable cost-effective testing of new ideas and service launches, shifting expenses from upfront payments to monthly fees. In other words, you transition from Capital Expenditure to Operational Expenditure. Instead of investing heavily in infrastructure setup and maintenance, you can gradually connect the necessary infrastructure and pay only for actual usage, reducing risk if your project doesn't immediately generate profit.

The most renowned cloud solution providers include Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Alibaba, IBM Cloud, Salesforce, Tencent Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Akamai, and Heroku for free deployment in scientific or academic contexts.

You might wonder if these big names monopolize the market or if other options exist. Indeed, many companies offer private cloud setup and maintenance services. Some large regional BigTech companies prefer to own their data centers while taking advantage of cloud infrastructure.

That's where ??OpenStack comes in:

OpenStack is an open-source (Apache License 2.0) platform enabling the setup of AWS-like cloud infrastructure on any number of physical servers. It offers virtual machine scaling, live migrations, load balancing, and resilience to node failures. Key developers include NASA, Rackspace, Red Hat, Canonical, IBM, AT&T, and others. OpenStack is a practical tool for developing systems and services, allowing flexible infrastructure management and architectural experimentation.

In simple terms, OpenStack is like a big box of building blocks that help you make your own computer cloud, kind of like a playground?? in the sky?. You can either offer cloud services to clients or utilize it according to your needs.

OpenStack's main components include:

• Nova: Manages resources for virtual machine operations (e.g., creation, launch, reboot, and stop) and supports various hypervisors and containerization systems.
• Glance: Handles virtual machine images.
• Swift: Provides cloud-based file storage.
• Cinder: Manages block data storage.
• Keystone: Controls access management.
• Neutron: Oversees virtual network infrastructure.
• Horizon: Offers a graphical interface for system administration.
• Heat: Deploys infrastructure from templates based on IaC principles.
• Ceilometer: Collects infrastructure metrics.
• Trove: A database offered as a service within OpenStack.
• Sahara: Manages data processing environments.
• Ironic: Provides bare-metal computers instead of virtual machines using the Nova bare-metal driver.
• Zaqar: A messaging service for web and mobile app developers.
• Manila: Offers storage for shared or distributed file systems as a spin-off from Cinder.
• Designate: Provides DNS as a service within OpenStack.
• Barbican: Acts as a secret storage service.
• Watcher: Optimizes computing workloads for cloud resources.

Interestingly, cloud providers have been around for a while, but their widespread popularity emerged only in the last 6-9 years, mainly due to the transition of most applications to a ??Microservices Architecture. We'll delve into this topic in our next article, so stay tuned!