Cloud APIs provide programmatic access to cloud resources and services. They allow developers to interact with applications, development environments, and raw compute/storage resources through standardized interfaces. While each cloud provider currently has their own proprietary APIs, there is a push for open standards to accelerate development of higher-level services and commoditization of basic resources. Key areas for a common cloud API include resource representations, security requirements, and orchestration of ensembles of resources across providers.

1. Cloud APIs Overview
What they are
How they work
Discussion
Lew Tucker
VP, CTO Cloud Computing
Sun Microsystems, Inc
1/20/2010

2. Computing Economics - P.O.V
● Fall in cost of computing bounded only by the
cost of power
● Commoditization is inevitable and good
● The sustainable value that a provider can
charge for a service will all be above this base
● So, accelerate commoditization of base-level
APIs through agreed upon standards to
accelerate development of higher-level, higher-
value services

3. What Cloud APIs Do
● Application level: SaaS
● Programatic way interact with App
● Very app specific
● Development environment: PaaS
● Application development
● Language/programming model/service specific
● Access to raw compute and storage: IaaS
● Create and manage computational resources
– Typically: virtual, shared, dynamically provisioned
● Lowest level – best chance of standardization
● Large amount of commonality
our focus is here – cloud resources

4. Today each cloud provider makes their own
...and the number is growing
● Today:
● Amazon's AWS set: EC2, S3, SQS, …
● Microsoft's Azure
● Google App Engine
● RackSpace
● VMware Vcloud
● Sun's Cloud API
● GoGrid,
● IBM Developer Cloud API
● Several standards groups, software libraries .........

5. EC2 Query API example
GET:
https://ec2.amazonaws.com/
?Action=RunInstances &ImageId=ami-60a54009 &MaxCount=3
&MinCount=1
&Placement.AvailabilityZone=us-east-1b &...auth parameters...
RESPONSE:
<RunInstancesResponse
xmlns="http://ec2.amazonaws.com/doc/2008-08-08">
<reservationId>r-47a5402e</reservationId>
<ownerId>495219933132</ownerId>
:
<instancesSet>
<item>
<instanceId>i-2ba64342</instanceId>
<imageId>ami-60a54009</imageId>
<instanceState>
<code>0</code>
<name>pending</name>
</instanceState>
<keyName>example-key-name</keyName>
<amiLaunchIndex>0</amiLaunchIndex>
<InstanceType>m1.small</InstanceType>
<launchTime>2007-08-07T11:51:50.000Z</launchTime>
</instancesSet>
</RunInstancesResponse>

6. Feature Set Catalog
http://forge.ogf.org/sf/wiki/do/viewPage/projects.occi-wg/wiki/FeatureMatrix
see Rich Miller's Catalog

7. API Differences
● Language bindings vs http protocols
● Use of HTTP: RESTful vs query vs SOAP
● Authentication
● Resource properties and representations
● Error codes and response handling
● Machine images
● Level of detail and variability of resources

8. Interfaces and Providers
http://architects.dzone.com/news/opennebula-14-challenges

9. Let's start with basic HTTP resource
representations

10. Open Cloud Computing Interface
(Open Grid Forum)
http://forge.ogf.org/sf/projects/occi-wg

11. Cloud Data Management Interface
(SNIA)
CDMI

12. OCCI Example: Get VM
> GET /us-east/webapp/vm01 HTTP/1.1
> User-Agent: occi-client/1.0 (linux) libcurl/7.19.4 OCCI/1.0
> Host: cloud.example.com
> Accept: */*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
< HTTP/1.1 200 OK
< Content-Type: application/ovf
< Link: </us-east/webapp/vm01;start>;
< rel="http://purl.org/occi/action#start";
< title="Start"
< Link: </us-east/webapp/build.pdf>;
< rel="related";
< title="Documentation";
< type="application/pdf"
< Category: compute;
< label="Compute Resource";
< scheme="http://purl.org/occi/kind#"
< Server: occi-server/1.0 (linux) OCCI/1.0
< Connection: close
<
< <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
...

13. Security Requirements
● Identity, Roles, Access Control, Policies
● Cryptography, Key and Certificate Mgmt
● Network Security
● Data/Storage Security
● Even Auditing and Reporting
● Federation Patterns
● ID, Trust, Access Mgmt, SSO, Audit, Config Mgmt
Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum
http://groups.google.com/group/cloud-computing-use-cases/files

14. The Network is the Computer

15. Clo u d
The Network is the Computer
Are we getting there yet?

16. What's this “cloud” computer like?
● MPP-like distributed system of CPU's, memory,
disks, network, and more
● Programmed through multiple service interfaces
● Physically remote and managed by one or more
rd
3 party providers
● Dynamic allocation of resources as needed
● Accessed according to account priviledges

17. How is it programmed
● Individual nodes programmed using variety of
programming languages, tools, methods.
● OS and applications loaded via virtual machine
images or higher-level constructs (jar, maven,
etc.)
● Administrative interfaces for resource allocation
and management
● Means for expressing application architecture
covering multiple resources and their network
connectivity

18. Discussion:
What is the API for this new Computer?
● Open, common, CC API – of course
● Common vocabulary – ontology (OWL?)
● Directory of services
● Universal machine image format (OVF?)
● Identity (OpenID, multiple?), account and
certificate managment
● Orchestration
● Mgmt of ensembles of resources, reservations
● Service-provider vs customer APIs