Apache CloudStack
| Company type | Open-source software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Cloud computing, virtualization |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Founder | Sheng Liang, Shannon Williams, Alex Huang, Will Chan, Chiradeep Vittal |
| Headquarters | Cupertino , United States |
| Products | Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform |
| Website | cloudstack |
CloudStack is an open-source Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform designed to facilitate the creation, management, and deployment of cloud infrastructure services. It operates by utilizing various hypervisor technologies for virtualization, such as KVM, VMware vSphere (including ESXi and vCenter), XenServer/XCP, and XCP-ng. CloudStack offers compatibility with its proprietary API alongside support for the Amazon Web Services (AWS) API and the Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI) from the Open Grid Forum, ensuring interoperability with leading cloud environments.
History
CloudStack's origins trace back to Cloud.com, previously known as VMOps, which was established in 2008 by Sheng Liang, Shannon Williams, Alex Huang, Will Chan, and Chiradeep Vittal. The company secured $17.6 million in venture capital from Redpoint Ventures, Nexus Ventures, and Index Ventures. In May 2010, after emerging from stealth mode with a product launch, it adopted the Cloud.com name. Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Cloud.com released the majority of CloudStack under the GPLv3 license in May 2010 while maintaining approximately 5% of the code as proprietary. Both the company and Citrix endorsed OpenStack during its initial launch in July 2010.
By October 2010, Cloud.com had formed a partnership with Microsoft to integrate Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V support within OpenStack. Citrix Systems acquired Cloud.com on July 12, 2011, for around $200 million. The following month, Citrix published the remaining CloudStack source code under the Apache Software License and placed development under the governance of the Apache Foundation. In February 2012, Citrix released CloudStack version 3.0, which incorporated support for OpenStack Swift object storage.
In April 2012, Citrix contributed CloudStack to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), where it entered the Apache Incubator and transitioned its license to Apache License 2.0. Concurrently, Citrix ceased its involvement with OpenStack. November 2012 saw the announcement of CloudStack 4.0.0-incubating as the first stable ASF release. On March 20, 2013, CloudStack graduated from incubation to become an official Top-Level Project within ASF. The initial maintenance update following graduation was version 4.0.2.
Key features
- Comprehensive user interface
- VM console based on noVNC
- Integrated high availability for both hosts and virtual machines
- Support for multiple hypervisors
- Diverse storage capabilities including block and shared storage
- Snapshot functionality
- Resource usage tracking
- Network configuration management (VLANs, security groups)
- Virtual routers, firewalls, and load balancers
- Multi-role access control
- Authentication via LDAP, SAML, and two-factor authentication
- Complete encryption covering console access, storage volumes, and databases
- Compatibility with AWS APIs
Supported Hypervisors
| Hypervisor | Version | End Of Life |
|---|---|---|
| VMware vSphere | 6.5 | 15/10/2022 |
| VMware vSphere | 6.7 | 15/10/2022 |
| VMware vSphere | 7.0 | 02/04/2025 |
| VMware vSphere | 8.0 | 11/10/2029 |
| Citrix Hypervisor | 7.1 | 12/12/2023 |
| Citrix Hypervisor | 7.2 | 12/12/2023 |
| Citrix Hypervisor | 7.4 | 12/12/2023 |
| Citrix Hypervisor | 7.5 | 12/12/2023 |
| Citrix Hypervisor | 8.0 | 25/07/2025 |
| XCP-ng | 7.4 | 31/12/2018 |
| XCP-ng | 7.6 | 30/03/2020 |
| XCP-ng | 8.0 | 13/11/2020 |
| XCP-ng | 8.1 | 31/03/2021 |
| XCP-ng | 8.2 | 25/06/2025 |
| CentOS / Red Hat KVM | 7 | 30/08/2021 |
| CentOS / Red Hat KVM | 8 | 31/05/2029 |
| Rocky / Alma Linux / Red Hat KVM | 9 | 31/05/2034 |
| Ubuntu / KVM | 18 | 2028 |
| Ubuntu / KVM | 20 | 2030 |
| Ubuntu / KVM | 22 | 2027 |
| openSUSE Leap / KVM | 15 | 04/01/2022 |
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Server | 15 | 31/07/2028 |
| Rocky Linux | 8 | 2029 |
| Red Hat / LXC | 7 | 30/08/2021 |
| Microsoft Hyper-V | 2012 R2 | 10/10/2023 |
BareMetal hosts
- CentOS or RHEL, version 7.x
- Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
Deployment architecture
A basic production environment typically consists of one server running the CloudStack Management Server alongside another machine dedicated to the cloud infrastructure, usually a single hypervisor host. Alternatively, both functions can be consolidated on a single system utilizing the KVM hypervisor.
To enhance scalability and fault tolerance, it is possible to implement multiple management servers configured with redundancy and load balancing, all linked to a centralized MySQL database.
Users
In July 2012, Datapipe introduced the largest global public cloud powered by CloudStack, operating across six data centers located in the US, UK, and Asia.
External links