How a Managed Service Provider Can Monetise on top of Apache CloudStack
Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are facing increasing competition as they strive to retain customers and maximise profitability. Many MSPs are seeking ways to diversify and enhance their service portfolios to gain a larger market share. While they are accustomed to reselling vendor solutions such as VMware, Kaseya, Microsoft, and Acronis, they often struggle to develop […]
Running Firecracker MicroVMs with Apache CloudStack
This how-to article explains how to integrate Firecracker microVMs with Apache CloudStack using the XaaS Extensions Framework. Firecracker provides fast-booting, secure, and lightweight microVMs ideal for edge and ephemeral workloads. This guide covers the following steps: • Prepare the Host: Set up a VLAN-aware bridge, install Firecracker and the Firecracker Agent, and enable TLS/auth. • […]
Apache CloudStack Kubernetes Provider v1.2.0 Release
The Apache CloudStack project announced the release of CloudStack Kubernetes Provider v1.2.0, which facilitates Kubernetes deployments on CloudStack. It enables Kubernetes to dynamically provision IP addresses and corresponding CloudStack networking rules, ensuring smooth TCP, UDP, and TCP-Proxy LoadBalancer deployments. This functionality previously lived in the Kubernetes core codebase, but was later removed and contributed to […]
Registering Templates during Zone Deployment | CloudStack Feature Deep Dive
Apache CloudStack 4.21 simplifies Template registration by allowing Administrators to select and register official distribution Templates directly during Zone creation. Instead of registering Templates individually after a Zone is deployed, the Zone Deployment Wizard can now prepopulate selected images automatically, making them available as soon as the Zone is ready. In earlier Apache CloudStack releases, […]
Improvements to the Storage Plugin for Dell EMC PowerFlex | CloudStack Feature Deep Dive
Since CloudStack 4.20.0.0, the Dell EMC PowerFlex storage plugin has gained several improvements, including managing SDC connections through MDM IP addresses instead of service restarts, new configuration parameters for safer and more consistent SDC and MDM connection handling, a new agent wait-time property for SDC service operations, and support for collecting PowerFlex/ScaleIO volume metrics on […]
Announcement Banner in CloudStack UI | CloudStack Feature Deep Dive
CloudStack 4.21 introduced an Announcement Banner that lets Administrators display concise, time-bound messages at the top of the UI. It’s configured through config.json, supports severity levels, optional dismissal, and requires updates on all Management Servers followed by a restart. It provides a straightforward way to ensure users see important notices when they log in. Announcement […]
Deploying Windows 11 Best Practice | CloudStack Feature First Look
Deploying a Windows 11 virtual machine Instance on Apache CloudStack requires compliance with Microsoft’s system requirements. These include a compatible CPU (notably, the default KVM CPU model qemu64 is unsupported in Windows 11 24H2), UEFI firmware with Secure Boot, and a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0, typically implemented as a vTPM. In CloudStack 4.20.0.0 […]
Automatic Seeding for ARM SystemVM Templates
One of the key additions in 4.20.1 is improved logic for SystemVM template seeding. When a zone contains aarch64 (ARM) hosts, CloudStack now automatically downloads and registers the appropriate aarch64 SystemVM template—reducing the need for manual intervention. Unlike x86_64 templates, the aarch64 version is not bundled with installation packages (RPM/DEB) and is downloaded on demand. […]
Creating a Load Balancer with SSL Offloading | CloudStack Feature Deep Dive
This article explains how to use SSL offloading with Apache CloudStack starting from version 4.22.0, enabling HTTPS termination directly on the Virtual Router. This reduces CPU load on backend Instances, simplifies SSL certificate management, and centralises TLS security settings. It covers: What SSL offloading is and its key benefits. How to upload and manage SSL […]
Apache CloudStack 4.22 – Release Overview
Apache CloudStack 4.22 is a Long-Term Support (LTS) release focused on stability and production readiness. It consolidates the platform work introduced in 4.21 and delivers targeted improvements in Backup and DR, VMware migration, Extensions, and operational observability. Highlights include enhanced Backup & DR (cross-zone restore, Ceph/Shared MountPoint support, backup selection at deploy), SSL offloading on […]
