Cinder (software)

Cinder (software)
Name	Cinder
Title	Cinder (software)
Developer	OpenStack Foundation
Initial release	2012
Programming language	Python
Operating system	Linux
License	Apache License 2.0

Cinder (software) Cinder is an open-source block storage service designed to provide persistent volumes for cloud computing platforms. It is developed within the OpenStack Foundation ecosystem and integrates with compute, networking, and orchestration projects to offer scalable, multi-backend storage for virtual machines and containers. Cinder's design emphasizes modular drivers, snapshotting, replication, and multi-protocol support for enterprise and research deployments.

Overview

Cinder originated as a component of OpenStack during the early 2010s alongside projects such as Nova (OpenStack), Glance (OpenStack), Neutron (OpenStack), Keystone (OpenStack), and Horizon (OpenStack), and was formalized to address block storage needs in deployments by organizations like Rackspace, NASA, Red Hat, Canonical (company), and IBM. The project coordinates with governance bodies including the OpenStack Technical Committee and interacts with standards influenced by Distributed Storage, Linux Foundation initiatives, and vendors such as Dell EMC, NetApp, Pure Storage, Huawei, Cisco Systems, and HPE. Cinder provides volume lifecycle operations, snapshot and backup orchestration, and driver abstraction for storage arrays, hyperconverged systems, and software-defined storage projects.

Architecture

Cinder's architecture separates control and data planes, employing a centralized control service similar in role to Amazon EBS control concepts and integrating with compute services like KVM, QEMU, Xen Project, and container runtimes such as Docker and Kubernetes. Core components include the Cinder API service, scheduler, volume manager, backup service, and volume drivers that interface with backends like LVM, Ceph, ZFS, GlusterFS, ScaleIO, and proprietary arrays from NetApp, EMC Corporation, Hitachi Vantara, and Oracle Corporation. The message-queue and database layers commonly use RabbitMQ, Apache Kafka, MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL in high-availability architectures influenced by patterns from Paxos, Raft (computer science), and Corosync. Integration points include authentication via Keystone (OpenStack), image management via Glance (OpenStack), orchestration via Heat (OpenStack), and telemetry via Ceilometer and Gnocchi.

Features

Cinder implements features expected by cloud operators and enterprises: volume creation, attachment/detachment, cloning, live snapshots, consistency groups, thin provisioning, QoS, encryption, offloading, and replication. It supports snapshot-based backups to object stores such as Swift (OpenStack), Amazon S3, OpenStack Swift, and S3-compatible systems from MinIO and Ceph Object Gateway. Advanced capabilities include integration with VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, and OVS ecosystems, orchestration hooks for Ansible, SaltStack, Puppet (software), Terraform, and programmability through RESTful APIs reminiscent of Representational State Transfer patterns used by Kubernetes API. Cinder's driver model accommodates storage arrays exposing iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NFS, and RBD interfaces.

Deployment and Integration

Operators deploy Cinder in private, public, and hybrid clouds managed by distributions from Red Hat OpenStack Platform, Canonical's Charmed OpenStack, SUSE OpenStack Cloud, and vendor solutions from Mirantis and Platform9. Integration scenarios include bare-metal provisioning with Ironic (OpenStack), CI/CD pipelines involving Jenkins, cloud-native workloads orchestrated by Kubernetes, and hybrid architectures leveraging AWS Direct Connect or Azure ExpressRoute interconnects. High-availability deployments use clustering, shared storage backends, distributed databases, and message brokers, following operational guidance from OpenStack Operations Guide contributors and vendors like Cisco Systems and Dell Technologies.

Development and Community

Cinder development occurs in public repositories managed by the OpenStack Foundation with contribution workflows using Git, Gerrit, and continuous integration via Zuul and Jenkins. The contributor base includes engineers from Red Hat, Canonical (company), IBM, Huawei, Mirantis, SUSE, Intel Corporation, Cisco Systems, and independent developers. Roadmaps and blueprints are discussed in OpenStack Summit sessions and at community events such as KubeCon, FOSDEM, and regional OpenInfra Days, with governance influenced by contributors and user groups from European Union research projects and large cloud operators.

Security and Performance

Security features encompass encrypted volumes using LUKS, integration with Barbican (OpenStack) for key management, role-based access control via Keystone (OpenStack), and audit logging interoperable with ELK Stack components such as Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana. Performance considerations involve backend tuning for latency-sensitive workloads, IOPS management, host-side caching strategies influenced by Intel Optane innovations, and benchmarking against systems like SPECvirt and industry tests from SPEC (organizations). Cinder supports multi-pathing for redundancy with DM-Multipath and integrates with monitoring tools including Prometheus, Grafana, and Nagios.

Licensing and Adoption

Cinder is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 and is adopted broadly across academic, enterprise, and telco deployments, including operators and vendors such as NASA, CERN, Telefonica, Verizon, AT&T, Facebook, Bloomberg, and financial institutions that require persistent block storage and compliance frameworks like PCI DSS and HIPAA. Commercial support and managed services are available from ecosystem providers including Red Hat, Canonical (company), SUSE, Mirantis, and cloud integrators partnering with storage vendors such as NetApp and Dell EMC.

Category:OpenStack