User Stories

This presentation aims to talk about the UK’s largest academic private cloud in production: University of Edinburgh’s OpenStack system.

The biggest challenge we faced was to be able to provide the University’s researchers with a more flexible self-served computing services. The OpenStack-based private cloud solution proposed by Sardina Systems was operational within 8 weeks from commencement of design process.

"Create a VNF package for the next release, " sounds the command. "WTH?" you say and you delve into the depths and heights of mapping two worlds: HOT and IFA011. "Heat seems to be the evident choice for resource management, but what will be the limitations? Will I need more OpenStack APIs?" "How to organize the resources?" "How to cover regular lifecycle management? How to invent VNF-specific use-cases, like in-service upgrade?"

And the questions just keep coming.

CERN has been running an OpenStack cloud in production since July 2013, across two data centres in Meyrin, Switzerland and Wigner, Hungary. Adopting open source technologies for the computer centre infrastructure has require significant changes, both technically and culturally. The presentation will cover lessons learnt during the deployment and the outlook for the future with the major growth in capacity needed for the future High Luminosity LHC and other CERN experiments.