OpenStack Dalmation Advances Open Source Cloud with New Dashboard, Better AI Support

The OpenStack Dalmatian release became generally available today, marking the 30th release of the widely used open source cloud infrastructure platform.

The Dalmation release is the second update for OpenStack in 2024, following the OpenStack Caracal release that debuted in April. The new release comes as the market for OpenStack technology is in the midst of a resurgence. The OpenStack market is estimated at $22.81 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $91.44 billion by 2029, or a 32% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). The growing adoption is being driven by demand for VMware alternatives and the need to support AI/ML workloads.

OpenStack is an open source effort where multiple vendors and operators contribute time and code. For the Dalmation release, 487 contributors submitted 7,640 changes over six months.

Key features of OpenStack Dalmatian include:

"What we are seeing since the start of the year is really a resurgence in interest," Thierry Carrez, general manager of the Open Infrastructure Foundation, told ITPro Today.

Related:Rackspace Reignites Commitment to OpenStack with New Enterprise Offering

OpenStack Dalmatian Improves Support for AI Workloads and GPU Utilization

With the growing importance of AI in enterprise computing, OpenStack has introduced features to better support these workloads.

"We're seeing new features around support for AI workloads, mostly to adapt to new features that land in the hardware," Carrez said.

Specific improvements include enhanced GPU reservation capabilities in the Blazar resource scheduling project.

In OpenStack Dalmation, Blazar is now able to support GPU type workloads, according to Carrez. "As such, users can now apply Blazar to provide a reservation of instances that have direct access to a GPU, which previously wasn't the case," he said.

In addition, the Nova compute project gains a new capability that will impact virtual GPUs (vGPUs). In the OpenStack Dalmatian update, a vGPU instance can now survive a reboot. This is particularly beneficial for AI training workloads where maintaining the same GPU attachment is important.

Enhanced Security Features Land on Bare Metal

Security remains a top priority for OpenStack users, and the Dalmatian release introduces several enhancements in this area.

Related:Migrating From VMware: Guide to a Successful Transition

One such enhancement comes to the Ironic service, which enables OpenStack operators to use bare-metal hardware. In the OpenStack Dalmation release, Ironic users can now execute firmware updates on active nodes. Traditionally, operators would only be able to pass firmware updates after a reboot, Carrez said.

Additionally, Nova now provides access to virtual Trusted Platform Modules (TPM), enhancing security capabilities for virtualized environments.

User Experience Improvements for VMware Transitions

With increased interest from organizations looking to move away from VMware, OpenStack has introduced features to ease this transition. 

"We've seen a lot of new interest for private clouds based on OpenStack or to replace some VMware deployments," Carrez said.

These improvements focus on creating a more familiar experience for users accustomed to VMware environments, including enhanced virtual machine (VM) migration capabilities.

Skyline: A Modern Dashboard for OpenStack

One of the most significant updates in the Dalmatian release is the production-ready status of Skyline, a new dashboard designed to replace the aging Horizon interface. 

Skyline covers a broader range of OpenStack components, making it a viable alternative to Horizon for production environments.

"Skyline is basically taking advantage of more modern web frameworks," Carrez said. "Horizon was really a classic web app, where you would execute on the server, construct the page, and return it to the user, and since then more advanced web frameworks have been developed."