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 […]
Scaling Apache CloudStack to 100,000 Hosts and Millions of Instances
Abstract Apache CloudStack, a proven open‑source IaaS platform, has demonstrated strong scalability in production deployments with thousands of hypervisors. However, reaching hyperscale targets—100,000 hosts and millions of instances—revealed architectural and resource bottlenecks. This whitepaper analyses those challenges and describes enhancements such as database optimisations, improved agent communications, caching, and concurrency handling. These improvements, validated through […]
What’s New in CAPC v0.6.0 & v0.6.1: Enhancing Networking Capabilities
The CloudStack provider for Cluster API (CAPC) recently released versions v0.6.0 and v0.6.1. These updates significantly enhance networking capabilities by introducing Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) support, enabling routed Networks, making Network and VPC offerings configurable, and allowing the attachment of multiple Network Interface Cards (NICs) to Nodes. Version v0.6.1 also includes a crucial update to […]
What’s New in Apache CloudStack 4.20.2.0
Apache CloudStack 4.20.2.0 is a 4.20 LTS release with 150+ fixes and improvements. It includes performance gains for the VNC console, enhanced VMware to KVM migration, networking improvements, updates to CKS and UI components, and a new SystemVM template based on Debian 12.12.0. What’s New in Apache CloudStack 4.20.2.0 The new Apache CloudStack 4.20.2.0 […]
Fine-Grained Storage Connectivity with Storage Access Groups in Apache CloudStack | CloudStack Feature First Look
Storage Access Groups (SAGs), introduced in Apache CloudStack 4.21, allow operators to restrict which Hosts connect to a specific Primary Storage. This feature replaces the default behaviour of connecting the Primary Storage to all Hosts within its scope, optimising resource utilisation, reducing load, and enforcing isolation policies in large-scale environments. The Challenge of Broad […]
