Cloud computing innovation needs another way

Free and open source software (FOSS) in Richard Stallman wrote the GNU General Public License (referred to as the GPL) 25 years has been popularized in computing: there is now spread over many companies around the world, such as Linux, Apache HTTP Server and MySQL . And now open source cloud computing is also more and more applications.

Responsible for cloud service products, management software and Red Hat Enterprise MRG (real-time information grid platform), director of product management for Red Hat Byran Che said: "There is no doubt that open source is the foundation in building cloud computing, the traditional data center, server space About 70% of the market is running on the Windows platform and about 30% running on the Linux platform.While you look at the operating system that people choose to build their applications in a cloud environment, you find this number completely reversed a. "

The reason is simple, Che said: For such a new beginning of cloud computing, companies need to build a new architecture from scratch, and open source will undoubtedly provide the best value for the enterprise.

Cost is not the only reason open-source models have a place in the cloud, Che also notes that open source can drive rapid innovation by building a community around a project.

" This is where true open source is, " he said. " Amazon, Google, Facebook , and all those who set up all of these cloud applications, infrastructure and services are done using open source." In fact, using open source software Is the only way to achieve the level of innovation they need, and they can not wait for their suppliers to go through the entire development cycle. "

　　 Is SaaS a violation of the Free Software Principles ?

But what exactly does OpenSource play in the cloud ? Stallman claims that cloud computing (and SaaS in particular ) can not be defined as free software.

"SaaS and proprietary software can cause similar detrimental consequences, but their causal mechanisms are different, " Stallman wrote in The Boston Review. " For proprietary software, the reason you own and use it is hard to change Or a copy that can not be changed, and for SaaS , you're using a copy you did not have. "

" Many free software backers think the SaaS issue will be solved by developing free software for the server, " he added. " From a server operator's point of view, the best practices on the server are free because if the software Belonging to proprietary software, their owners will have the right to control their servers.This is unfair to the operator, but if the programs on the server are free , this also does not protect the server user from the SaaS impact Because free usage is given to the operator, not to the user. "

Stallman 's thesis is rooted in the philosophical differences between free software and open source software. Stallman said open source is a development approach focused on making source code available. On the other hand, free software puts a moral stance on how users should interact with their software.

For Stallman , free software must provide users with four basic freedoms:

1. Run the program according to the wishes of the user free

2. Learn and change the source code as needed

3. Redistribute the exact copy of the freedom

4. Re-distribution of the user a copy of the freedom

Although the definition of open source software is almost the same as the definition of free software, when it comes to cloud computing, they seem to be different at the seams.

" Releasing server software source code really benefits the community: Skilled users can set up similar servers and maybe change the software, " Stallman wrote. " But none of these servers will allow you to gain control over the computation unless it Is your server, and the rest will be SaaS . SaaS always gives you the rights to your server operator. The only remedy is not to use SaaS! Do not use someone else's server to do the calculations for the data you provide. "

At the same time, the open source world has launched a variety of services: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) , Platform as a Service (PaaS) , Software as a Service, and Data Storage as a Service (DaaS) .

Open cloud properties

Che said Red Hat believes in open cloud and said open cloud has seven defining attributes:

1. It is open source, Che said, "It is the basis for the establishment of the program depends on you."

2. It is based on the collaborative development of "around this project, the need for a viable independent community," he said, "you must have this dynamic community, otherwise it becomes release the source code of proprietary software."

3. It is based on proprietary technology is not bound to open standards and open formats.

4. It gives you the freedom to use your intellectual property rights.

5. It provides users with an infrastructure choice, they can choose the infrastructure providers and cloud providers they want.

6. It has the API open, "having pluggable and scalable," Che said, "it can not be restricted."

7. It can go all the way to other clouds and can not lock users into a particular vendor.

" One of the areas where we need to open up the cloud is giving users the ability to interoperate and portability across different clouds, " Che said. " That is to say, we'll be able to cross all these different technologies Manage a hybrid cloud. "

Open the cloud to avoid vendor lock-in

Towards interoperability and portability is a big step in the direction of Apache Deltacloud, which is a project initiated by Red Hat in 2009, and subsequently transferred to the Apache Software Foundation, the project became the foundation in 2010 Top Project (TLP) . With Deltacloud , the Apache Software Foundation is trying to provide answers to an unchallenged question that may become more prominent in the coming years: " Cloud Locking . "

"The biggest challenge is that cloud computing is always rolling out services, and users are busy figuring out how to make the best use of the cloud, and cloud locking is not the focus of their attention so far, " said Red Hat Lead Software Engineer and Apache Deltacloud project chairman David Lutterkort said: " At present, we are not aware of this issue. "

Deltacloud is an API that extracts the differences between various clouds using a single API for managing the resources in different infrastructure as a service cloud. It basically acts as a wrapper around a lot of clouds, freeing users from the tedium of handling various cloud APIs .

Standard agencies also work together to create open and interoperable standards. In 2009 , leading standards development organizations (SDOs) set up a Cloud Standards Coordination Working Group to coordinate the efforts of different standards development organizations to develop cloud standards. Members include the Cloud Security Consortium, the Cloud Standards User Group, the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) , the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) , the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) , the Open Grid Forum (OGF) , the Object Management Organization OMG , OCC , OASIS , SNIA , Open Standards Organization (ARoS) , the Retail Industry Technology Standards Organization (ARTS) and the TM Forum.

Lutterkort is also a board member of the Distributed Management Task Force, which is creating a standard called the Cloud Infrastructure Management Interface (CIMI) that will create a standard API that any cloud can use .

The Aeolus project, launched by Red Hat , is another forward-looking open source project that is essentially designed to create an open source cloud broker. As a stand-alone project, Aeolus offers a single, consistent tool to set up and manage virtual machines across a wide range of clouds and includes the following tools:

● Aeolus Conductor , which provides a way to provide users with cloud resources, manage user access to these cloud resources and their usage, and control how users operate in the cloud.

● Aeolus Composer , a way to set up cloud images from a common template so that users are free to choose a cloud using compatible images.

● Aeolus Orchestrator , a way to organize instances in an organized manner, enables users to automatically bring different instances of a single cloud across multiple clouds, configure them, and resolve them.

● Aeolus HA Manage provides a way to create cloud instances or instance groups in a highly available cloud.

Red Hat is not the only contributor to Open Cloud . Rackspace Cloud and NASA also participated in the Openstack IaaS cloud computing project and also passed the Apache Software Foundation. Openstack project's goal is to give all businesses the ability to create and deliver cloud computing services (running on standard hardware).