Openstack Cloud Application Development

Book Preface

OpenStack is a set of software packages that manage virtualized resources, including computing, networking, and storage. It enables you to create and destroy virtual machines, connect them together with private networks, provide network-based storage, and make them available to the rest of your network and the world. OpenStack provides consistent, uniform API services for all of this, hiding hypervisor and vendor specific details from the applications that are using the APIs. It also provides a user interface, built on top of the same APIs, that allows users to see and manage their virtual resources.

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR

This book is for application developers that are interested in learning more about OpenStack and how it will transform the application design and development process. It is for someone who is new to the cloud environment, who wants a broad understanding of that environment, as well as a deep enough knowledge to make practical use of OpenStack.

WHAT THIS BOOK COVERS

This book will provide a broad understanding of cloud concepts and how they fit into the life of an application developer. It will drill in deeply to the OpenStack services that are most important to an application developer, and show you how these services will change not only how you deploy applications, but also how you design them. It will provide detailed information on each service, and provide examples of how each service may be used by an application developer.

HOW THIS BOOK IS STRUCTURED

This book was written in two parts. Part 1 provides an overview of OpenStack. The purpose of this part is to lay the groundwork, covering all of the OpenStack technologies and what is most important.

Part 2 takes the reader through developing and deploying applications with OpenStack. In this part you will build an example on top of OpenStack that drills down much deeper on the technologies, provides tips, and helps you learn about OpenStack through the lens of these same technologies.

Here is a list of the chapters:

• Part I: OpenStack Overview
  • Chapter 1: Introduction to OpenStack
  • Chapter 2: Understanding the OpenStack Ecosystem: Core Projects
  • Chapter 3: Understanding the OpenStack Ecosystem: Additional Projects
• Part II: Developing and Deploying Applications with OpenStack
  • Chapter 4: Application Development
  • Chapter 5: Improving on the Application
  • Chapter 6: Deploying the Application