Austin (OpenStack)

Austin (OpenStack)
Name	Austin
Developer	OpenStack Foundation
Released	2010s
Operating system	Linux
Programming language	Python
Genre	Cloud computing
License	Apache License 2.0

Austin (OpenStack)

Austin is a codename for a milestone release in the OpenStack series, developed by the OpenStack Foundation and implemented by contributors from organizations such as Rackspace, NASA, HP, IBM, Red Hat, Canonical, and SUSE. The release influenced projects and deployments across companies like Cisco, VMware, Intel, and Dell and interfaced with technologies including KVM, Xen, QEMU, Ceph, and Swift. Austin shaped subsequent initiatives involving projects such as Nova, Glance, Keystone, Neutron, Cinder, and Horizon.

Overview

Austin served as an early named iteration within the OpenStack chronology alongside other codenames like Bexar, Cactus, Diablo, Essex, Folsom, Grizzly, Havana, and Icehouse. The Austin release consolidated work from communities coordinated through the OpenStack Foundation, the OpenStack Technical Committee, and multiple user groups including the OpenInfra Foundation and various Linux Foundation projects. Austin functioned within ecosystems shared with projects such as CloudStack, Eucalyptus, Kubernetes, Mesos, Docker, and OpenStack subprojects like Heat, Sahara, Trove, Barbican, and Zaqar. The release was relevant to enterprises and research institutions such as NASA Ames, Rackspace Cloud, CERN, CERN IT, MIT, Stanford, and major vendors including Hewlett Packard Enterprise, IBM Research, and Red Hat Engineering.

Development and Release

Austin emerged from collaborative development practices exemplified by Git, Gerrit, Launchpad, GitHub, and continuous integration systems used by the OpenStack developer community. Contributors coordinated via events including the OpenStack Summit, OSCON, LinuxCon, KubeCon, and regional meetups hosted by organizations like the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Apache Software Foundation, and Eclipse Foundation. Development workflows incorporated tooling from Puppet Labs, Chef Software, Ansible, and SaltStack while integrating unit testing and infrastructure from Jenkins, Zuul, and Travis CI. Corporate contributors included engineers from Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, Fujitsu, NEC, and Telefonica, many of whom collaborated on interoperability testing and driver development.

Architecture and Features

Austin's architecture focused on modularity across compute, image, identity, networking, and block storage services implemented in Python running on Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, CentOS, Debian, Fedora, and SUSE Linux Enterprise. Core components referenced in the release included Nova for compute orchestration, Glance for image services, Keystone for identity, Neutron (then Quantum) for networking, and Cinder for block storage, interfacing with backend systems like LVM, ZFS, Ceph, NFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and Open vSwitch. The release emphasized APIs used by clients and SDKs including the OpenStackClient, python-novaclient, python-glanceclient, python-keystoneclient, python-neutronclient, and third-party integrations from VMware vSphere API, Microsoft Hyper-V, and XenServer management stacks. Austin also touched on orchestration via Heat templates, metering via Ceilometer, and dashboard integration through Horizon with themes contributed by Canonical Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and community designers.

Deployment and Compatibility

Deployments of Austin were validated on platforms and infrastructures represented by public clouds, private clouds, and hybrid cloud models provided by Rackspace Cloud, IBM SoftLayer, HP Helion, Canonical MAAS, and Docker hosts. Compatibility matrices included virtualization technologies like KVM, Xen, Hyper-V, and bare-metal provisioning via Ironic foundations and tools such as Cobbler and MAAS. Integration testing involved storage systems from NetApp, EMC, Hitachi, and Ceph distributions from Inktank, as well as networking stacks including Cisco ACI, Juniper Contrail, Arista Networks, and Open vSwitch contributed by Nicira alumni. Installer projects and deployment automation related to Austin included DevStack, Packstack, TripleO, Fuel, and Juju charms maintained by community teams and vendors.

Community and Governance

The Austin release was overseen by contributors coordinated through the OpenStack Foundation, with governance input from the Technical Committee, the Foundation Board, and project teams such as the Nova PTL, Glance PTL, and Neutron PTL. Community processes leveraged Contributor License Agreements, code review in Gerrit, bug tracking in Launchpad and Storyboard, and specifications debated on mailing lists, IRC channels, and review meetings. Stakeholders included corporate members like Red Hat, Canonical, IBM, VMware, HP, Cisco, Intel, and individual contributors from academic labs and research institutes. Austin's lifecycle intersected with policy discussions influenced by the Open Source Initiative, Apache Software Foundation principles, and license stewardship common to projects like LibreOffice, PostgreSQL, and MariaDB.

Reception and Impact

Reactions to Austin came from press and analysts at publications and organizations such as The Register, ZDNet, TechCrunch, Gartner, Forrester Research, IDC, and 451 Research, noting its role in accelerating cloud adoption among enterprises including banks, telecom operators like AT&T and Verizon, and web-scale companies such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter who referenced cloud patterns. Austin's features influenced downstream distributions from Ubuntu Server, Red Hat OpenStack Platform, SUSE OpenStack Cloud, Mirantis, and Canonical, and informed interoperability efforts with cloud standards bodies like the OpenStack Interoperability Guidelines and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. The release contributed to adoption trends tracked by vendors, system integrators, cloud providers, and academic research groups studying distributed systems, virtualization, and large-scale infrastructure.

Category:OpenStack