CloudStack Feature Deep Dive: vSphere Advanced Capabilities in CloudStack
Introduction
CloudStack vSphere integration has not kept up with the evolution of vSphere itself, and several functions can be performed natively by vSphere much more efficiently than…
CloudStack vSphere integration has not kept up with the evolution of vSphere itself, and several functions can be performed natively by vSphere much more efficiently than…
CloudStack Deep Dive: Support Virtual Appliance OVA Templates in VMware
Vendors of virtual appliances (vApp) for VMware often produce ‘templates’ of their appliances in an OVA format. An OVA file will contain disc images, configuration data of the virtual…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Role Based Users in Projects
Projects have proven to be a boon in organizing and grouping accounts and resources together, giving users in the same domain the ability to collaborate and share resources such as…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Dynamic Roles Utility
CloudStack has more than 600 APIs which can be allowed / disallowed in different combinations to create dynamic roles for the users. The aim of this feature is more effective use and…
Back in the community
Hello all, I’m Harikrishna, and I’m based in Hyderabad, India. I joined ShapeBlue few months ago and I’m very happy to be part of this amazing team.
I started my career with…
I started my career with…
Choose Open-Source!
Hi, my name is Vladimir Petrov and I am a Software Test Engineer at ShapeBlue. I started 10 months ago and have now been here long enough to share my ‘first impressions’ with you.
Let…
Let…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Share ISO from UI
CloudStack supports sharing templates and ISOs between accounts and projects through the API ‘updateTemplatePermissions’ and sharing templates through the UI. However, prior to…
CloudStack feature first look: CentOS 8 support
As of 2021, CentOS 7 will be receiving maintenance updates only, and is end of life in 2024. Considering this, it is important that CloudStack supports CentOS 8 as a KVM hypervisor…
CloudStack feature first look: Support for XCP-ng 8.x
XCP-ng (an open-source hypervisor based on XenServer) has been supported in CloudStack for some time, and support for XCP-ng 8.x will be available from CloudStack 4.15.
From an operational…
From an operational…
CloudStack Feature Deep Dive: Secondary Storage Management
In CloudStack, secondary storage pools (image stores) house resources such as volumes, snapshots and templates. Over time these storage pools may have to be decommissioned or data moved…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Boot into Hardware Setup
Users and administrators sometimes need to change the boot order of a virtual machine (VM) so that they can (for example) force a VM to boot from an ISO. However, sometimes the proxied…
CloudStack Feature first look: Human readable byte sizes
CloudStack puts together many technologies to make managing large datacentres and its resources easy and efficient, but with many complex systems, it is not always evident what goes…
CloudStack Feature First Look: noVNC Console Integration
There are a plethora of ways to connect to a remote system, from command-line based protocols like SSH, to graphical user interfaces such as RDP. One of the simplest ways to connect…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Send hypervisor host name via metadata
This feature allows admins to expose the hypervisor host name to a User VM instance either through Config Drive or Virtual Router, based on the user data provider chosen for the network…
CloudStack Kubernetes Service
For a while, the CloudStack community has been working on adding support for containers. ShapeBlue successfully implemented the CloudStack Container Service and donated it to the project…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Enable unmanaging of guest instances
This feature allows CloudStack administrators to unmanage guest virtual machines (VMs) from their CloudStack infrastructure. Once unmanaged, CloudStack can no longer monitor, control,…
Hands-on
Why Alex Mattioli, former Director of Architecture for a global telecoms giant, chose to join ShapeBlue
Hello, I’m Alexandre Mattioli - a Cloud Architect at ShapeBlue. After a…
Hello, I’m Alexandre Mattioli - a Cloud Architect at ShapeBlue. After a…
CloudStack Feature First Look: KVM Rolling Maintenance
In a typical scenario prior to this feature, the administrator had to automate the process of setting hosts in maintenance before upgrading, usually using external automation tools.…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Enable PVLAN support on L2 networks
Private VLANs have always been partially supported in CloudStack (for shared networks only), in versions prior to 4.14. Administrators could set up Isolated or Promiscuous PVLANs by…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Direct Download agnostic of the storage provider
Introduction
In a previous post, ShapeBlue’s Boris Stoyanov introduced a feature for KVM which allows administrators to register templates and ISOs without needing secondary storage…
In a previous post, ShapeBlue’s Boris Stoyanov introduced a feature for KVM which allows administrators to register templates and ISOs without needing secondary storage…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Enable sending of arbitrary configuration data to VMs
This feature allows the sending of arbitrary additional VM configurations to user VMs on CloudStack and is supported by KVM, XenServer and VMware hypervisors.
The administrator enables…
The administrator enables…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Hosts stuck in PrepareForMaintenance state
The process of setting a host into maintenance in CloudStack requires an administrator to ask for ‘prepare for maintenance’, either via API or through the UI on a host. When CloudStack…
CloudStack Feature First Look: VR Health Checks
This feature introduces an easy and integrated way to check the health of virtual routers (VRs) within CloudStack. With the help of these checks, administrators can monitor VRs and…
Straight into the code
Hi - David Jumani here, maybe just a typical software engineer so far…
I studied Computer Science and Engineering, and after graduation I worked at some of the biggest virtualization…
I studied Computer Science and Engineering, and after graduation I worked at some of the biggest virtualization…
CloudStack Feature First Look: Improvements for Template Direct Download
For some time now, CloudStack has supported the direct download of user templates for the KVM hypervisor. This basically allows user to register a template (whilst bypassing secondary…
CloudStack Feature First Look: VM Ingestion
Apache CloudStack has proved itself to be a great cloud orchestrator and is probably one of the best open-source platforms available for deployment of new IaaS environments. However,…
A place for an individual
Hey there, my name is Pearl d’Silva, and I have recently joined ShapeBlue as a Software Engineer. I’d like to share my ‘two-cents’ and tell you about my experience at ShapeBlue…
Apache CloudStack on RaspberryPi4 with KVM
Apache CloudStack on RaspberryPi4 with KVM
IOT and edge-computing present an unprecedented demand for cloud operators to provide orchestrated environments to devices not usually…
IOT and edge-computing present an unprecedented demand for cloud operators to provide orchestrated environments to devices not usually…
CloudStack European User Group (CSEUG) roundup – Berlin, February 27, 2020
Our late winter (almost spring) meetup saw us back in Berlin, hosted by iTelligence and Heinlein Support. The last CloudStack user group held here was June 2016, and we were looking…
Project Primate – a new UI for Apache CloudStack
There is currently significant effort going on in the Apache CloudStack community to develop a new, modern, UI (user interface) for CloudStack: Project Primate. In this article, I discuss…
SolidFire with CloudStack
Aside from traditional storage solutions, CloudStack has supported managed storage for some time. In this article, we will touch on SolidFire support in CloudStack 4.13 and lay out…
CloudStack & Ceph day, Thursday, October 24 2019 – roundup
On Thursday, October 24 2019 the CloudStack community joined up with the Ceph community for a combined event in London, and it was another super day! The meetup took place at Student…
Machine Learning and Apache CloudStack
Introduction
In this blog we discuss applications of machine learning (ML) in datacenters and how that might integrate with Apache CloudStack (ACS). We also try to identify various…
In this blog we discuss applications of machine learning (ML) in datacenters and how that might integrate with Apache CloudStack (ACS). We also try to identify various…
CloudStack Collaboration Conference, back in Las Vegas, September 9-11, 2019
It’s taken me a couple of weeks to write this blog, and not because it took me that long to recover from a week in Las Vegas! The CloudStack Collaboration Conference is part of ApacheCon,…
Openvswitch with DPDK support on CloudStack – Part 2
Introduction
In my previous post, I described the new ‘Open vSwitch with DPDK support’ on CloudStack for KVM hosts. There, I focused on describing the feature, as it was new to…
In my previous post, I described the new ‘Open vSwitch with DPDK support’ on CloudStack for KVM hosts. There, I focused on describing the feature, as it was new to…
Ceph and CloudStack – Part 3
Introduction
In the previous two parts of this article series, we have covered the complete Ceph installation process and implemented Ceph as an additional Primary Storage in CloudStack.…
In the previous two parts of this article series, we have covered the complete Ceph installation process and implemented Ceph as an additional Primary Storage in CloudStack.…
Troubleshooting CloudStack Virtual Routers
Cloudstack’s multi-tenant virtualised networking model is one of its strongest features. Abstracting complex networking concepts and allowing simple UI/API configuration of networks…
European Cloud Infrastructure and CloudStack User Day Roundup
Blog by Ivet Petrova, StorPool.
On June 13th, StorPool had the honour and privilege to host and organize the European Cloud Infrastructure and CloudStack User Group together with…
On June 13th, StorPool had the honour and privilege to host and organize the European Cloud Infrastructure and CloudStack User Group together with…
Ceph and CloudStack – Part 2
In the previous article we covered some basics around Ceph and deployed a working Ceph cluster. In this article, we are going to finish the Ceph configuration needed for CloudStack…
New year, new journey…
Hello all, this is Abhishek Kumar, currently the newest member of the ShapeBlue family. It's been over a month since I started working as a Software Engineer on Apache CloudStack at…
Ceph and CloudStack – Part 1
As well as NFS and various block storage solutions for Primary Storage, CloudStack has supported Ceph with KVM for a number of years now. Thanks to some great Ceph users in the…
CloudStack European User Group (CSEUG) roundup – London, March 2019
Our first meetup of 2019 saw us at a new venue – Ticketmaster’s London HQ, and if you’re a music lover it certainly takes the prize for coolest meeting venue yet! Walls covered…
Transition from product to infra: first month at ShapeBlue
Anurag Awasthi shares his experiences after one month in the ShapeBlue Engineering team
Let me start by briefly introducing myself. I hold a bachelors and master’s in computer…
Let me start by briefly introducing myself. I hold a bachelors and master’s in computer…
Securing CloudStack 4.11 with HTTPS/TLS
Apache CloudStack is generally considered secure out of the box, however it does have the capability of protecting both system VM traffic as well as management traffic with TLS certificates.…
What’s coming in the new CloudMonkey 6.0?
Background
The original CloudMonkey was contributed to the Apache CloudStack project on 31 Oct 2012 under the Apache License 2.0. It is written in Python and shipped using the Python…
The original CloudMonkey was contributed to the Apache CloudStack project on 31 Oct 2012 under the Apache License 2.0. It is written in Python and shipped using the Python…
One month at ShapeBlue
Andrija Panic shares some thoughts on joining the ShapeBlue team
Hi there, this is Andrija from… well, ShapeBlue! I’ve been working here for a month now and I thought that I’d…
Hi there, this is Andrija from… well, ShapeBlue! I’ve been working here for a month now and I thought that I’d…
CloudStack European User Group roundup – London, December 2018
There was a definite feel of Christmas in the air in London as we made our way to last Thursday’s (December 13) winter meetup of the Cloudstack European User Group (CSEUG), and that…
Openvswitch with DPDK support on CloudStack
Introduction
This blog describes a new feature to be introduced in the CloudStack 4.12 release (already in the current master branch of the CloudStack repository). This feature will…
This blog describes a new feature to be introduced in the CloudStack 4.12 release (already in the current master branch of the CloudStack repository). This feature will…
Integration Testing within CloudStack – Marvin
Integration testing - What it is and why SDLC needs it.
What is Integration testing? This is a type of testing where multiple components are combined and tested working together. There…
What is Integration testing? This is a type of testing where multiple components are combined and tested working together. There…
CloudStack European User Group roundup – London, September 2018
Thursday, September 13 saw us back at the Early Excellence Centre, Canada Water, for the (late) Summer meetup of the CloudStack European User Group. As usual, a great turnout and representation…
CloudStack Collaboration Conference, Montreal, September 24 – 26
We’re here in Montreal for the CloudStack Collaboration Conference, and it’s been a fantastic event with more to come! We’ve had two full days of back to back talks over two…
Networking KVM for CloudStack – a 2018 revisit for CentOS7 and Ubuntu 18.04
Introduction
We published the original blog post on KVM networking in 2016 - but in the meantime we have moved on a generation in CentOS and Ubuntu operating systems, and some of…
We published the original blog post on KVM networking in 2016 - but in the meantime we have moved on a generation in CentOS and Ubuntu operating systems, and some of…
ShapeBlue SA extends distribution agreement with NetApp
ShapeBlue SA are pleased to announce the extension of their distribution partner agreement for NetApp in South Africa, building out a successful relationship that started in 2014.
‘ShapeBlue…
‘ShapeBlue…
Secure Live KVM VM Migration with CloudStack 4.11.1
Introduction
CloudStack 4.11.1 introduces a new security enhancement on top of the new CA framework to secure live KVM VM migrations. This feature allows live migration of guest…
CloudStack 4.11.1 introduces a new security enhancement on top of the new CA framework to secure live KVM VM migrations. This feature allows live migration of guest…
ShapeBlue Security Advisory – Spectre and Meltdown patches in CloudStack 4.9 and 4.11
Overview
At the beginning of 2018 a number of vulnerabilities were discovered which allow malicious user space processes to read kernel memory and malicious code in VM guests to read…
At the beginning of 2018 a number of vulnerabilities were discovered which allow malicious user space processes to read kernel memory and malicious code in VM guests to read…
Software based agent LB for CloudStack
Introduction
Last year we implemented a new CA Framework on CloudStack 4.11 to make communications between CloudStack management servers it's hypervisor agents more secure. As part…
Last year we implemented a new CA Framework on CloudStack 4.11 to make communications between CloudStack management servers it's hypervisor agents more secure. As part…
Working towards CloudStack zero downtime upgrades
As most people know, Apache CloudStack has gained a reputation as a solid, low maintenance dependable cloud orchestration platform. That’s why in last year's Gartner Magic Quadrant…
How to deploy templates without using secondary storage on KVM
Introduction
ShapeBlue have been working on a new feature for Apache Cloudstack 4.11.1 that will allow users to bypass secondary storage with KVM. The feature introduces a new way…
ShapeBlue have been working on a new feature for Apache Cloudstack 4.11.1 that will allow users to bypass secondary storage with KVM. The feature introduces a new way…
CloudStack & Ceph day, Thursday, April 19 – roundup
On Thursday, April 19 the CloudStack community joined up with the Ceph community for a combined event in London, and what an event it was! The meetup took place at the Early Excellence…
CloudStack and the new XenServer licensing model
Citrix have announced that as of XenServer 7.3, the free version (including the 'opensource' version packaged by Citrix) will no longer have feature parity with the paid-for Standard version. Of the features which are restricted in the free version, a maximum pool size of 3 hosts and the removal of Xen Storage Motion are going to make the use of free XenServer to run production clouds pretty much untenable.
OIS and ShapeBlue Announce Apache® CloudStack® v4.11 To Power CloudSchool Platform
Enables rapid development of cost-effective, scalable Cloud-based educational solutions
Education IT specialist Oakford Internet Services (OIS) announced today that the latest version…
Education IT specialist Oakford Internet Services (OIS) announced today that the latest version…
What’s new in CloudStack 4.11?
Version 4.11 of Apache CloudStack has been released with some exciting new features and a long list of improvements and fixes. It includes more than 400 commits, 220 pull requests,…
CloudStack usage service deep dive
Introduction
CloudStack usage is a complimentary service which tracks end user consumption of CloudStack resources and summarises this in a separate database for reporting or billing.…
CloudStack usage is a complimentary service which tracks end user consumption of CloudStack resources and summarises this in a separate database for reporting or billing.…
Layer 2 Networks in CloudStack
Layer 2 (also known as the Data Link Layer) is the second in the seven-layer OSI reference model for network protocol design, and is equivalent to the link layer (the lowest layer)…
CloudStack EU user group roundup – Leipzig November 2017
The November EU user group was held in the lovely city of Leipzig in Saxony, Germany. First of all a great thanks to Sven Vogel and his team at Kupper Computer who hosted this event,…
CloudStack CA Framework
Introduction
The CloudStack management server listens by default on port 8250 for agents, and this is secured by one-way SSL authentication using the management server's self-generated…
The CloudStack management server listens by default on port 8250 for agents, and this is secured by one-way SSL authentication using the management server's self-generated…
A Beginners Guide To CloudStack Networking
Many people find it challenging to get started with CloudStack’s networking. There are some basic concepts, which although not overly complicated, are not especially obvious either. This blog will try to explain these underlying concepts, in order to make getting started with CloudStack networking models much easier.
ShapeBlue Security Advisory – DNSMasq Vulnerabilities
A number of security flaws were recently found in the DNSMasq tool. This tool is used by many systems to provide DNS and DHCP services, including by the CloudStack System VMs.
This advisory explains their affect on CloudStack and how to patch CloudStack against these flaws.
This advisory explains their affect on CloudStack and how to patch CloudStack against these flaws.
CloudStack European User Group roundup
Last Thursday saw us back at BT, London, for the Summer meetup of the CloudStack European User Group (CSEUG). A full schedule meant a prompt start, and Giles Sirett (CSEUG chairman)…
Host-HA for KVM Hosts in CloudStack
Intro
What is HA?
"High availability is a characteristic of a system, which aims to ensure an agreed level of operational performance, usually uptime, for a higher than normal period.…
What is HA?
"High availability is a characteristic of a system, which aims to ensure an agreed level of operational performance, usually uptime, for a higher than normal period.…
VPC to VPC VPN configuration in CloudStack
Introduction
Configuring connectivity between CloudStack hosted VPCs can be done by either using private gateways - which has to be configured by CloudStack root administrators to…
Configuring connectivity between CloudStack hosted VPCs can be done by either using private gateways - which has to be configured by CloudStack root administrators to…
CloudStack Collaboration Conference, Miami, May 16-18
The third and final day of the CloudStack Collaboration Conference 2017 (North America) is underway, and as usual it has been a fantastic few days. Attendees have been truly spoilt…
Dynamic Roles in CloudStack
Introduction
Managing user roles has been a pain for a while, as the model of having a commands.properties file that defines roles and their permissions can be hard to comprehend…
Managing user roles has been a pain for a while, as the model of having a commands.properties file that defines roles and their permissions can be hard to comprehend…
CloudStack EU User group roundup – April 2017
The city of Prague was the venue for the spring meeting of the Cloudstack European user group. There was a great turnout for the meeting and a first count showing 14 different nationalities…
Telia Latvia use Apache CloudStack to accelerate move to Next Generation Telco
Telia Latvia was founded in 1992 as a telecommunications company with a focus on data communications and internet services. In 2009 they established one of the most modern data centres…
Migration away from download.cloud.com to download.cloudstack.org may cause problems in exisiting cloudstack installations and versions
Background
Cloudstack relies on a fixed download site when it fetches the built-in guest VM templates.
That download site has historically been download.cloud.com and is being replaced…
Cloudstack relies on a fixed download site when it fetches the built-in guest VM templates.
That download site has historically been download.cloud.com and is being replaced…
Inter-VPC connectivity in CloudStack
Introduction
In this article Abhinandan Prateek discusses a method for allowing inter-VPC routing in CloudStack utilising Quagga on the VPC Virtual Router. Please note - this feature…
In this article Abhinandan Prateek discusses a method for allowing inter-VPC routing in CloudStack utilising Quagga on the VPC Virtual Router. Please note - this feature…
At Africacom with Netapp Solidfire
ShapeBlue recently attended the AfricaCom show in Cape Town, South Africa. We had an excellent opportunity to catch up with a number of our clients and partners and listened to…
Apache CloudStack 4.9.2 LTS (Long Term Support)
ShapeBlue are delighted to confirm that the latest version of CloudStack is now on our support matrix as a fully supported and recommended version for our customers. We have worked…
CloudStack upgrades – best practices
Introduction
Upgrading CloudStack can sometimes be a little daunting - but as the 5P's proverb goes - Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. With planning, testing and the right…
Upgrading CloudStack can sometimes be a little daunting - but as the 5P's proverb goes - Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. With planning, testing and the right…
CloudStack European User Group roundup – November 2016
Our Winter meetup last Thursday, November 24 found us back in London at the BT Centre Showcase, and as usual Europe was well represented with CloudStack users joining us from all over.
After…
After…
ShapeBlue contributes native support for Kubernetes and Docker to Apache CloudStack
Offers seamless Container-as-a-Service without disruption to user experience or business process
Sevilla, Spain -- 17 November 2016 -- ShapeBlue, the largest independent integrator…
Sevilla, Spain -- 17 November 2016 -- ShapeBlue, the largest independent integrator…
ShapeBlue enables the University of Sao Paulo to deliver federated cloud services
The University of São Paulo (USP) is Latin America’s largest university and Brazil’s most prestigious academic institution. It produces more doctorate degrees annually than any…
Shapeblue Security Advisory For CVE-2016-6813: Apache CloudStack registerUserKeys authorization vulnerability
Overview
Apache CloudStack provides a registerUserKeys API that allows a user to create or recreate a secret key and an API key to use for authentication when using the CloudStack…
Apache CloudStack provides a registerUserKeys API that allows a user to create or recreate a secret key and an API key to use for authentication when using the CloudStack…
Networking KVM for CloudStack
Introduction
KVM hypervisor networking for CloudStack can sometimes be a challenge, considering KVM doesn't quite have the matured guest networking model found in the likes of VMware…
KVM hypervisor networking for CloudStack can sometimes be a challenge, considering KVM doesn't quite have the matured guest networking model found in the likes of VMware…
Globo chooses CloudStack for its application development and system management platform
Globo.com is the Internet arm of GRUPO Globo, the largest media conglomerate in Latin America, with offices in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
It operates the largest vertical web…
It operates the largest vertical web…
Installing and Configuring an OCFS2 Clustered File System
Last year we had a project which required us to build out a KVM environment which used shared storage. Most often that would be NFS all the way and very occasionally Ceph. This…
CloudStack Test Automation with Trillian and Jenkins
In the previous post, we introduced and described Trillian that can build various environments in which we could deploy a CloudStack zone and run Marvin based integration tests. In…
CloudStack Container Service –Available for download
Today we are delighted to announce General Availability of CloudStack Container Service (CCS): software that gives Cloud Service Providers a Container as a Service (CaaS) offering within…
Trillian: Flexible, On-Demand Cloud Environment Creation
Marvin: “I think you ought to know I’m feeling very depressed.”
Trillian: “Well, we have something that may take your mind off it.”
Marvin: “It won’t work, I have…
Trillian: “Well, we have something that may take your mind off it.”
Marvin: “It won’t work, I have…
CloudStack European User Group roundup – June 2016
The Summer meetup on June 16 found us in Berlin, hosted by our friends from BIT.group. One of the reasons for meeting here was to build the CloudStack community in Germany and the surrounding…
Shapeblue Security Advisory For CVE-2016-3085: Apache CloudStack Authentication Bypass Vulnerability
Overview
Apache CloudStack contains an authentication module providing “single sign-on” functionality via the SAML data format. Under certain conditions, a user could manage…
Apache CloudStack contains an authentication module providing “single sign-on” functionality via the SAML data format. Under certain conditions, a user could manage…
Granular Access Controls in CloudStack
An oft-cited limitation in Apache CloudStack is the lack of granular access controls. Historically, when creating an account, there have been four built-in roles to choose from:…
Webinars: Delivering Containers as a Service with CloudStack Container Service
The CloudStack Container Service allows service providers and enterprises to create a Container as a Service offering quickly and easily in their existing IaaS environments. ShapeBlue…
Shapeblue harness the power of Kubernetes and CloudStack to give Cloud Service providers a seamless Container as a Service offering
Shapeblue, The CloudStack Company, and Skippbox today announced the first release of the CloudStack Container Service: software that gives Cloud Service Providers a Container as a Service…
Recovering From a vCenter Failure
While, in my opinion VMware’s vSphere is the best performing and most stable hypervisor available, vCenter obstinately remains a single point of failure when using vSphere and it's…
CloudStack European User Group roundup – March 2016
The spring meetup on March 3 saw us back at the BT Centre Showcase here in London, and it was an impressive turnout, maybe helped by a beautiful, sunny day. This was a truly European…
Taxi for Citrix, now time for CloudStack to shine
Today, Citrix announced that it was selling off two product lines: Citrix CloudPlatform and Citrix CloudPortal. For once, many Cloud commentators are right: this absolutely IS Citrix…
CloudStack 4.7 Metrics View
CloudStack 4.7 (which is due in the coming weeks) will introduce a new metrics view feature throughout the familiar CloudStack interface. We built this functionality to help system…
Recovery of VMs to new CloudStack instance
We recently came across a very unusual issue where a client had a major security breach on their network. As well as lots of other damage their CloudStack infrastructure was maliciously…
