OpenStack Delivers Epoxy Release, Which It Hopes Will Unglue More VMware Customers

The Open InfraFoundation has delivered a new version of OpenStack named “Epoxy” and thinks it’s an even better option for those seeking a VMware alternative.

OpenStack VP of marketing Allison Price talked up the integration of OpenStack’s Watcher component – a resource optimization tool for clouds – with the Prometheus system monitoring and alerting tool. Price thinks pumping info from Prometheus into Watcher will allow those overseeing VMware migrations to gather data to inform their plans and then spot any bottlenecks that emerge during implementation.

Another migration-friendly feature is the inclusion of NetApp, Pure Storage, and Hitachi hardware drivers in OpenStack’s Cinder block storage module. Many VMware rigs use storage arrays from the aforementioned vendors, so making it easy for OpenStack to access them will be useful.

But maybe not so useful that it alleviates the predicted long, expensive and risky process that analyst firm Gartner believes those moving on from VMware will face. It’s also uncertain if VMware users have a huge appetite to migrate, given Broadcom has increased VMware’s revenue and says customers are embracing its strategy and realizing more value from the vStack.

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Also in this release OpenStack’s Nova compute service has added vfio-PCI variant drivers that allow direct pass-through from a VM to Nvidia GRID under Ubuntu 24.04. VMs running on Nova can therefore enjoy direct use of GPUs and other specialized hardware. Modern hypervisors don’t impose a large performance hit on VMs, but AI workloads and even modest latency don’t mix so this small change matters. So does updates to the interface in Ironic, OpenStack’s bare-metal provisioning service, that allow deployment of bootable container images directly to a host without intermediate steps. Hands up who wants complex deployment to-do lists? Yup, just as we suspected: Nobody.

The Octavia load balancing service has gained support for custom neutron security groups for load balancer Virtual IP (VIP) ports. “By associating specific security groups with VIP ports, administrators can ensure that only approved traffic types are allowed to access the load balancer, further reducing the risk of unauthorized access,” Price wrote.

She’s also keen on changes to the Manila share filesystem that give administrators greater control over who can modify and access shared data.

Epoxy is the 31st version of the open source cloud stack, and is a “SLURP” (“Skip Level Upgrade Release Process) release that allows migration from April 2024’s Caracal rather than requiring an install of the previous Dalmation release from October 2024.

Contributors to his version include BBC R&D, Nvidia, and Blizzard Entertainment – among over 450 developers who worked on 7,600-plus changes present in this release.

The next OpenStack release, Flamingo, is due on October 1st. The project operates with metronomic precision so The Reg would be mightily surprised if it misses that deadline. ®