Apache Advances Multiple Open Source Cloud Efforts

The Apache Software Foundation has been busy in recent weeks with a number of releases across its open source cloud projects.

Apache is home to more than 300 projects spanning multiple categories, including big data, web servers, application development and cloud. Among open source cloud-related projects, Apache Libcloud, Traffic Control and CloudStack received new milestones that expand their functionality.

Apache Libcloud

Version 3.1.0 of Apache Libcloud was released on June 12, providing multiple enhancements, including improved support for Google Cloud Platform and DigitalOcean.

Libcloud provides a single interface by which developers can interact with popular cloud service providers by way of a unified API. The project provides a Python library for connecting with DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure as well as OpenStack- and CloudStack-based cloud deployments, among others.

Apache Traffic Control

On June 17, the Apache Traffic Control project, which enables providers to build a content delivery network (CDN), was updated to version 4.1.0.

Dave Newman, vice president of Apache Traffic Control, told ITPro Today that the 4.0 version of Traffic Control, which was released on March 26, was a culmination of over a year's worth of development. A big push in the 4.0 update was a review of the core API from Perl to the Go programming language. In addition, there were many user interface improvements in 4.0, he said.

Built off the 4.0 release, the Traffic Control 4.1 update adds a couple key new features, including the ability to manage Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificates with Let's Encrypt, Newman said. TLS certificates are the mechanism that help enable the encryption of data in motion across the internet, and Let's Encrypt is a popular open source effort that provides free TLS certificates.

Apache CloudStack

Among the earliest open source infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) projects is Apache CloudStack. CloudStack has its roots in technology vendor Cloud.com, which in 2010 was acquired by Citrix, who in turn contributed the technology to Apache in 2012.

The latest release of CloudStack, version 4.14, was announced on May 28 and includes a number of updates for improved Kubernetes support. An increasingly common approach to running applications of any type in the cloud is to make use of the Kubernetes container orchestration system.

"We see CloudStack as the simplest way to manage both traditional and cloud workloads from one place," Paul Angus, member of the Apache CloudStack Project Management Committee, told ITPro Today. "The CloudStack Kubernetes Service orchestrates the creation of Kubernetes clusters on top of virtual machines [VMs], and it automates scaling and upgrading of clusters."

Angus added that CloudStack can provide compute, storage and networking to VMs, while at the same time facilitating the creation and management of Kubernetes clusters alongside them, even in the same networks.

Looking forward, Angus said CloudStack is looking to help both new and existing users.

"For new users, we see that the migration to the cloud has a very long tail, and the not-so-early adopters will be looking for an IaaS solution that has everything they need and just works, and we believe that CloudStack is that platform," Angus said. "For existing users, we will continue to add features to make managing their cloud easier and make their operations more efficient."