5 ms·

Synnefo + Ganeti = cloud software that works

34 points by vkoukis 14y ago

Loic 14y ago
I cannot comment on Synnefo itself, but Ganeti is a wonderful software. I have been using it for more than a year in production (June 2011) without a single issue. I even built my own PaaS on top of it[1]. If you want to understand the quality of Ganeti, go and take a look at an example of design document[2]. The quality of the documentation, the time spent in defining the requirements for the next release incorporating the feedback from the users together with the quality of the code and the human quality of the people at Google driving the project make it a pleasure to use this software. If you are not interested, I anyway always recommend people reading the documentation of this project just to know that one can produce such good documentation. [1]: http://notes.ceondo.com/mongrel2-zmq-paas/ http://notes.ceondo.com/mongrel2-zmq-paas/ [2]: http://docs.ganeti.org/ganeti/current/html/design-cpu-pinning.html http://docs.ganeti.org/ganeti/current/html/design-cpu-pinnin...
- kawsper 14y ago
  Bareku looks very interesting, but what are the benefits over something like a simple Capistrano deploy script? I have never heard about Ganeti but it also sounds promising.
  - Loic 14y ago
    Our designer can simply push the updates into the application git repository and a new version of the application is deployed. It removes friction.
- YesThatTom2 14y ago
  Here's a talk from the last LISA conference about Ganeti: https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa12/ganeti-your-private-virtualization-cloud-way-google-does-it https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa12/ganeti-your-private...
StavrosK 14y ago
This service is delightfully Greek. I haven't tried the actual offering, though. I think the front page copy could be a bit clearer, as I'm hazy on what exactly it does.
- raphinou 14y ago
  For those not speaking Greek, synnefo means cloud.
- JshWright 14y ago
  >I think the front page copy could be a bit clearer, as I'm hazy on what exactly it does. Yeah... it's all greek to me...
turshija 14y ago
Front page should be clearer and it needs a bit more explanation, I first thought its cloud software for managing cloud and clients, but when I tried the trial option I didn't see any client options so that means its a software for managing own cloud vm's ? (but it has API, so it should be easy to build client interface) Also the "trial" option makes me think there is paid option somewhere, which is quite confusing since there isn't one, it should be replaced with "Demo" maybe ?
- vkoukis 14y ago
  It's cloud software for running a full IaaS service of your own, on your own machines, with Ganeti at the backend. There is a client, called kamaki, see http://www.synnefo.org/docs/kamaki/latest/index.html http://www.synnefo.org/docs/kamaki/latest/index.html, but it's true we should have a separate page for it. About the "trial" option, we have it as "Try it out" on the first page of http://www.synnefo.org http://www.synnefo.org. If you saw it on okeanos.io, we'll change it there accordingly. Anyway, have you had a chance to try out? :)
  - turshija 14y ago
    Yep, I've tried it, and it looks promising, and simple to use :) I've read the "quick" installation, which is not quick at all ^^ I've subscribed to git rss feed, and I will follow the development process a bit before trying out the installation on own dedicated, and maybe even try developing the simple "client" interface for our needs using the API provided if the backend proves to be stable and good.
druiid 14y ago
So, how far exactly is the API compatible with Openstack? That's the one thing that would be really necessary to match. Basically, can I take tools and utilities that work with Openstack/keystone and have them working without any/much work? If you're able to do this it would be a nice, simple alternative to Openstack. For anyone installing Openstack for the first time, the install is anything but simple.
- cven 14y ago
  We try to be aligned with the OpenStack APIs as much as possible. The thing is that even these APIs tend to change frequently. If you have a working application of your own, you'll find that the changes needed are minimal. Our goal is to be 100% and out-of-the-box compatible. Two notes: 1. Synnefo supports advanced operations e.g. dropbox-like syncing, so we use custom extensions for that, 2. We have a full-fledged python client library and associated command line client for everybody to use, see http://www.synnefo.org/docs/kamaki/latest/index.html http://www.synnefo.org/docs/kamaki/latest/index.html
  - druiid 14y ago
    Okay, thanks. I didn't quite understand from what I read on the site though... is the API accessible to TCP connections? Basically, can I spin up instances via Cloudify or similar through a Openstack v2 compatible interface, etc?
YesThatTom2 14y ago
At the last LISA conference there was a talk by yours truly about Ganeti. It explains Ganeti assuming you don't have much virtualization experience: https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa12/ganeti-your-private-virtualization-cloud-way-google-does-it https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa12/ganeti-your-private...
ogdoad 14y ago
Being a user of Synnefo/"Cloud" (and the ~Okeanos/"Ocean") systems for a little while now, I have to comment with a simple "wow!". The amount and quality of engineering that has gone into the project, as well as the quality of the offered service is staggering. Most people involved in some manner in the academic software engineering community (be it Greek or not) are accustomed to receiving products that might on the one hand "work", within finely specified limits, but are otherwise classified as more or less involved hacks. Well, Synnefo both works like a charm and gives off an air of harmony (in the integration of the components and the eventual end-user experience). Kudos everybody on a job well done. Can't wait for the service to go public. NB: The whole project is build on commodity hardware with opensource solutions binding everything together. A whitepaper on its design and implementation, and case studies for use etc, would be certainly lovely to read.

34 points by vkoukis 14y ago

Loic 14y ago

I cannot comment on Synnefo itself, but Ganeti is a wonderful software. I have been using it for more than a year in production (June 2011) without a single issue. I even built my own PaaS on top of it[1]. If you want to understand the quality of Ganeti, go and take a look at an example of design document[2]. The quality of the documentation, the time spent in defining the requirements for the next release incorporating the feedback from the users together with the quality of the code and the human quality of the people at Google driving the project make it a pleasure to use this software. If you are not interested, I anyway always recommend people reading the documentation of this project just to know that one can produce such good documentation. [1]: http://notes.ceondo.com/mongrel2-zmq-paas/ http://notes.ceondo.com/mongrel2-zmq-paas/ [2]: http://docs.ganeti.org/ganeti/current/html/design-cpu-pinning.html http://docs.ganeti.org/ganeti/current/html/design-cpu-pinnin...

kawsper 14y ago
Bareku looks very interesting, but what are the benefits over something like a simple Capistrano deploy script? I have never heard about Ganeti but it also sounds promising.
- Loic 14y ago
  Our designer can simply push the updates into the application git repository and a new version of the application is deployed. It removes friction.
YesThatTom2 14y ago
Here's a talk from the last LISA conference about Ganeti: https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa12/ganeti-your-private-virtualization-cloud-way-google-does-it https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa12/ganeti-your-private...

StavrosK 14y ago

This service is delightfully Greek. I haven't tried the actual offering, though. I think the front page copy could be a bit clearer, as I'm hazy on what exactly it does.

raphinou 14y ago
For those not speaking Greek, synnefo means cloud.
JshWright 14y ago
>I think the front page copy could be a bit clearer, as I'm hazy on what exactly it does. Yeah... it's all greek to me...

turshija 14y ago

Front page should be clearer and it needs a bit more explanation, I first thought its cloud software for managing cloud and clients, but when I tried the trial option I didn't see any client options so that means its a software for managing own cloud vm's ? (but it has API, so it should be easy to build client interface) Also the "trial" option makes me think there is paid option somewhere, which is quite confusing since there isn't one, it should be replaced with "Demo" maybe ?

vkoukis 14y ago
It's cloud software for running a full IaaS service of your own, on your own machines, with Ganeti at the backend. There is a client, called kamaki, see http://www.synnefo.org/docs/kamaki/latest/index.html http://www.synnefo.org/docs/kamaki/latest/index.html, but it's true we should have a separate page for it. About the "trial" option, we have it as "Try it out" on the first page of http://www.synnefo.org http://www.synnefo.org. If you saw it on okeanos.io, we'll change it there accordingly. Anyway, have you had a chance to try out? :)
- turshija 14y ago
  Yep, I've tried it, and it looks promising, and simple to use :) I've read the "quick" installation, which is not quick at all ^^ I've subscribed to git rss feed, and I will follow the development process a bit before trying out the installation on own dedicated, and maybe even try developing the simple "client" interface for our needs using the API provided if the backend proves to be stable and good.

druiid 14y ago

So, how far exactly is the API compatible with Openstack? That's the one thing that would be really necessary to match. Basically, can I take tools and utilities that work with Openstack/keystone and have them working without any/much work? If you're able to do this it would be a nice, simple alternative to Openstack. For anyone installing Openstack for the first time, the install is anything but simple.

cven 14y ago
We try to be aligned with the OpenStack APIs as much as possible. The thing is that even these APIs tend to change frequently. If you have a working application of your own, you'll find that the changes needed are minimal. Our goal is to be 100% and out-of-the-box compatible. Two notes: 1. Synnefo supports advanced operations e.g. dropbox-like syncing, so we use custom extensions for that, 2. We have a full-fledged python client library and associated command line client for everybody to use, see http://www.synnefo.org/docs/kamaki/latest/index.html http://www.synnefo.org/docs/kamaki/latest/index.html
- druiid 14y ago
  Okay, thanks. I didn't quite understand from what I read on the site though... is the API accessible to TCP connections? Basically, can I spin up instances via Cloudify or similar through a Openstack v2 compatible interface, etc?

YesThatTom2 14y ago

At the last LISA conference there was a talk by yours truly about Ganeti. It explains Ganeti assuming you don't have much virtualization experience: https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa12/ganeti-your-private-virtualization-cloud-way-google-does-it https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa12/ganeti-your-private...

ogdoad 14y ago

Being a user of Synnefo/"Cloud" (and the ~Okeanos/"Ocean") systems for a little while now, I have to comment with a simple "wow!". The amount and quality of engineering that has gone into the project, as well as the quality of the offered service is staggering. Most people involved in some manner in the academic software engineering community (be it Greek or not) are accustomed to receiving products that might on the one hand "work", within finely specified limits, but are otherwise classified as more or less involved hacks. Well, Synnefo both works like a charm and gives off an air of harmony (in the integration of the components and the eventual end-user experience). Kudos everybody on a job well done. Can't wait for the service to go public. NB: The whole project is build on commodity hardware with opensource solutions binding everything together. A whitepaper on its design and implementation, and case studies for use etc, would be certainly lovely to read.