John Griffith, Block Storage Project PTL, outlines the changes made in the Icehouse release as well as upcoming updates for Juno. Learn more about Block Storage (Cinder) here: https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Cinder

2. John Griffith: Project Technical lead
IRC: jgriffith
LaunchPad: john-griffith
State of OpenStack Block Storage
A look at what’s planned for Juno (Jun 24, 2014)

3. Theme for Juno:

4. Some of the feedback we’ve received from
“Enterprise” users:
● Continue to improve backups
● Focus on compatibility
● Don’t break upgrades
● Keep giving me something that works
● I need to be able to use my existing gear
● Quality is key
● Need an HA story for the reference driver

5. Improve Backups:
● We currently have a backup to SWIFT (and some others)
● Problem is it’s a full copy of the Volume only
● Difficult to Restore
● More difficult to import (ie DR)
➔Working on adding incrementals for Juno
➔Improving restore including “mange/unmanage”

6. Compatibility:
This means different things to different people
● Compatibility of Cinder versions between upgrades
● Compatibility of features between different backend devices
● MOST importantly, continued compatibility of the reference LVM
driver
➔Goal is for all 3’rd party drivers to implement CI (dsvm-full)
➔Ensures core API functions are tested/supported on all drivers
➔Public visibility of testing and compatibility
➔DONT BREAK THINGS BETWEEN VERSIONS

7. Compatibility Plans for Juno:
● Goal is for all 3’rd party drivers to implement CI (dsvm-full)
● Ensures core API functions are tested/supported on all drivers
● Public visibility of testing and compatibility
● Don’t make it hard for me to upgrade
● DONT BREAK THINGS BETWEEN VERSIONS

8. Something that works:
● See previous slide
● Functions and capabilities should be expected regardless of
backend
● Reference LVM implementation is still the primary focus

9. Using my existing gear:
Common theme seems to be “repurposing gear for OpenStack”
● Vendor participation is good if it’s compatible and it works
● I like having choices
● I like mixing and matching
● I might change my mind in the future
● DONT LOCK ME IN

10. HA for reference implementation:
Multiple paths we hope to work on in Juno
● DRBD based solution
● Volume mirroring across multiple cinder-volume nodes using
software raid

11. What we’re NOT hearing:
● None of the features I want are here
● There are too many options
● I don’t need Block Storage
● You’re missing ‘xyz’

12. Some other things we’re working on:
● Significant code cleanup and fixes in “object sprawl”
● Ability to help admins set up replication
● Concept of consistency groups between volumes
● Intelligently understand devices that use the concept of storage
pools
● Scheduling local storage on Compute Nodes*

13. What are we missing:
If you’re deploying a Private Cloud with OpenStack (or considering
it)
● What do you need from Cinder that’s missing?
● What problems do you have with Cinder currently?
● How can we help make it easier, and more beneficial for you to
use?
DON’T HESITATE TO REACH OUT TO ME!!!

14. Get Involved:
Contributing to OpenStack isn’t just for developers
Open Source is more than just writing code
● Documentation
● Bug reports
● Feature requests
● Feedback, Feedback, Feedback
● Supporting others

15. Questions?
email: john.griffith@solidfire.com
twitter: @jdg_8
IRC: jgriffith