Rackspace Elastic Engineering Platform

I mainly use Rackspace OpenStack  for my virtual environment, for the KVM  environment, such as hosting VMs. That is what we use it mainly for. You can say it is just like VMware; we are using Rackspace OpenStack ; however, VMware is on a little higher ground. Rackspace OpenStack is kind of medium to high, you can say, but not high. It is not as good as vCenter.

The most useful opinion about Rackspace OpenStack is that it is very flexible, first of all. It is very flexible and the most important feature is that it is feature-rich. All over the KVM  environment, I have played with many, but Rackspace OpenStack is built on many third-party applications, like Nova, Cinder, and many things. So it supports a lot of vendors, first of all. The far most important point is that it can be certified for the SAP HANA  database.

Most of the things are already available in Rackspace OpenStack. It was easy to integrate a few things, but I did not find much of the backup solution; it is not there. The backup solutions are not proper for it, and that was the main layoff for me. You can say, there were also integration issues, but it depends on what you are trying to integrate. If you are trying to integrate some major products, you will be able to. But for cheaper products, you will not be able to integrate. We tried very hard to integrate a certain backup solution. We used Acronis, and the other one we tried, we worked with them for approximately six months, but we were not able to integrate that properly.

There are two front-ends for Rackspace OpenStack. One is what Core-edge provided us; that is a customized one, which is never finished customizing. The second one is the official one, that is Horizon. Horizon comes in the older version of Rackspace OpenStack, and what we used is currently end-of-life. In that, Horizon was there. In the new version, there is a Skyline dashboard. I do not have any complaints with Horizon, as well as Skyline. Skyline is also good; it is very much improved and very good. People are selling that product as a service, directly on the dashboard without much editing, only some white labeling. So I think the dashboard is very good, the latest one, Skyline.

The advantages are that it is stable; it is very integratable because most of the people will integrate most of the things with it. But new products might have issues. It depends; it is 50-50 on integration, you can say. But it has lots of moving parts, that is a disadvantage. There are lots of resource requirements, such as human resources. Other things like that, you have to constantly train people about it, how to utilize it at L1, L2 levels. Then the end user will not appreciate it as a SaaS platform or as a PaaS platform or as an IaaS  platform. So Infrastructure as a Service , it is a little bit good with Skyline, the new version, but it is still not appealing because they know what they are going through. But Rackspace OpenStack in Virtuozzo is very good. Virtuozzo has created a layer and made it simple.

For Rackspace OpenStack security features, we currently opted for ShapeBlue one, which will be installing CloudStack . ShapeBlue is helping us in training. So, we are moving away from Rackspace OpenStack to CloudStack  because CloudStack has most of the features that we require, and it is also lightweight.

Rackspace OpenStack does not provide that thing. The product has all the things included, you can say like that. But the thing is, if you are a company, if you are a hosting company, you will require at least three to four people with higher expertise to install and get going with Rackspace OpenStack. It is very hard; you have to understand bits and many things about it, how it works. It is not something you just tinker around with. The second thing is we are moving to CloudStack because it comes as just a single package that I can install in a VM and I am done with it. I just need to configure it the first time, and everything, the experience out-of-the-box is very good with CloudStack. But Rackspace OpenStack is very assembled parts, you can say. Would you prefer an assembled PC or would you prefer an HP-provided PC, a branded PC? It depends on you.

The main thing about Rackspace OpenStack is that it is totally built on many modules. It is approximately 30 to 40 modules, you can say. You have to learn and understand that, which there is a very steep learning curve. If I am not wrong, there is a very steep learning curve. There is not one way to install Rackspace OpenStack; there are several ways, approximately three to four ways. But it depends on who deployed it. Suppose a person deployed it in a different style; after one or two years, he got changed, and another person comes. He does not know about that style, then it will be very hard to navigate. Currently, Kolla-ansible, which we have, is very hard to navigate for me. Although it is very easy to install, it is very hard to operate because it works on Docker . So, there are too many moving parts. If you say to me, there are too many moving parts, and the visibility is low on that.

It is very hard to have any issue with it. It is a very stable product.

I am currently using Rackspace OpenStack, and it has been approximately 2.5 years that I have used Rackspace OpenStack.

For stability, I would rate Rackspace OpenStack eight.

For scalability, I would again rate Rackspace OpenStack eight.

I do not think they provide the technical support. I have not taken any vendor management system. I was having Core-edge-related support. Core-edge was building the upper layer and they are also supporting us. In that case also, it is so complex that you will get lost in the contract because it is so vast. What is included in the support, what is not included, I think that will eat you up. So I will give it a five.

I just want to confirm, currently, I am not working with Morpheus  because Morpheus  was taken over by HP.

I am currently working with Rackspace OpenStack. Additionally, I am now also moving from Rackspace OpenStack to ShapeBlue, which is CloudStack.

I am working with CloudStack. Now, we are implementing CloudStack. For the last two years, we worked with Rackspace OpenStack.

We are moving from Rackspace OpenStack to CloudStack due to the requirement of human resources and technicality. There are lots of moving parts in Rackspace OpenStack.

Rackspace OpenStack has three to four setup procedures. Some are very easy, while some are very hard.

I am not currently using HP solutions because we have to drop Morpheus due to our requirement for some customizations, and Morpheus was not entertaining that.

I help my clients with Rackspace OpenStack as a consultant. I work with my clients as a consultant with Rackspace OpenStack. I am not involved in the purchase process of the platform. The pricing for Rackspace OpenStack is free. Rackspace OpenStack is good, but I think it is complicated in its own sense. To be adopted by a company, it is harder to operate, but easier to implement. The final assessment is that it is not that everything is good or bad. There are certain things which are very good, but there are certain things which are very bad, such as the dependency of the person. I would give this review an overall rating of eight.

My main use case for Rackspace OpenStack  involves large data management, as it provides a reliable database service.

A quick specific example of a task where Rackspace OpenStack  helps me is in handling the database and assisting with backups in my organization. It also hosts my applications, managing cloud infrastructure services while I create multiple servers. In my product area, I operate three to four servers, including a development server, testing server, UAT site server, and solution expert server, managing these servers effectively.

The infrastructure level concept is strong, making it easy to handle everything and adaptable for customization based on my organization's specific terms, conditions, and needs.

Rackspace OpenStack positively impacts my organization by making processes easier since I do not need to manage all servers manually because it efficiently manages server operations and maintains proper data, which saves time.

As a beginner, I find some difficulties in understanding Rackspace OpenStack, as it can be complex without a foundational grasp of cloud and networking concepts. To improve, I suggest providing proper documentation aimed at new users or beginners, which would help them understand how public and private clouds operate.

I have been using Rackspace OpenStack since my college study where I had one subject on cloud computing, and in my organization, I have been using it for the last three months.

I advise others looking into using Rackspace OpenStack to have a solid understanding of cloud concepts, as managing these aspects in Rackspace OpenStack requires a good knowledge foundation. I have rated this product a seven overall.

We deploy layer three managed services, and our customers manage layer two services. We combine the two-layer services and deliver them to our customers.

The open-source nature of OpenStack  provides significant value. It allows for three-word cloud management, maintaining a stable customer environment, and offers additional services like migration and optimization. OpenStack  excels in guiding customers with transitioning from traditional setups to modern cloud environments.

The pricing of Rackspace is quite high in the Vietnam market. It would be beneficial to see developments in features like threat prevention and analytics tools for network security within OpenStack.

I have been using the solution for over ten years.

Rackspace OpenStack is stable and reliable, often compared favorably against other solutions. It is very stable, and its services are highly valued.

OpenStack on the platform is scalable. It is very easy to scale everything as needed.

Customer support at Rackspace is excellent, available 24/7, providing very good assistance.

When compared to other commercial products, Rackspace OpenStack is much cheaper, especially when compared to solutions like Red Hat OpenStack or VMware. The licensing costs are beneficial.

Rackspace OpenStack offers a much cheaper licensing model compared to alternatives like VMware or other commercial solutions.

Other commercial solutions such as Red Hat OpenStack and VMware Cloud version have been considered, however, in comparison, Rackspace OpenStack is cheaper.

I would rate Rackspace OpenStack an eight out of ten. This solution effectively maintains a stable environment and provides excellent customer support.

My clients use it for the virtual platform and to utilize existing hardware or infrastructure. They want to migrate current workloads, specifically test and development, to OpenStack, not production.

We have certain projects where we adapt to the bank, MDM, and other companies.

It's pretty good. One thing is that you can use any infrastructure for OpenStack. That's not a challenge.

It helps give customers the same functionality as costly solutions like VMware or IBM.

And thirdly, it's easy to manage for day-to-day functionality. Administrators are very comfortable with the functionality and services OpenStack offers.

OpenStack is a wonderful product, and it should have a single dashboard for cloud management and on-premises systems, similar to VMware. Multiple windows are currently used. If one orchestration table was available, that would be a great improvement.

The platform could be enhanced to be easier to use, especially in report generation for complex Rackspace, strategic management, and other small things that could be added to the system.

I have been using it for four years.

Stability is good. I would rate the stability a nine out of ten.

I would rate the scalability an eight out of ten. I approach all kinds of companies. Currently, I have some enterprise customers. We try to be a great contributor to the Open Source, OpenStack, and OpenShift deployment communities. We even run internal training for our service teams.

It is easy to scale, but we either need some expertise or support from the product team.

Rackspace OpenStack needs to provide better support, services, or enterprise licensing to gain more customer interest. When I approach customers, they are hesitant about this solution.

As a service provider, I need to give them confidence and assure them that we will help resolve any problems. There is a lack of OEM or partner licensing or enterprise support, and people are not aware of the available support.

Until now, we have done our own R&D and relied on community support. We have not contacted the Rackspace team.

VMware was the major player, but this market was captured since the merger and acquisition with Broadcom.

Now, OpenStack has very good features. In the future, if we develop OpenStack in the right direction, we will be able to capture a good market share in the future.

The initial setup is not overly complex. It requires expertise.

We work on-premises. All the opportunities I've had so far have been on-premises.

With expertise, it can be done.

It's a low price compared to other solution providers and any other licensing options in the market.

As an approved service product, I am in favor of OpenStack. I would rate it a nine out of ten.

We use OpenStack for my company for maybe 14 virtual machines.

The principal use of Rackspace OpenStack was for virtual machines. It has a different architecture, which can be based on a single machine or a group of machines. The scope of the application varied, from GitHub to asset management and other uses. We worked on infrastructure as code, which was fascinating because it allowed us to use architecture-like software.

It was a very flexible and scalable solution. It was very useful because we were not dependent on a single vendor's solution. Increasing the number of machines or changing the hardware configuration was very easy.

The deployment process could be easy.

I have been using Rackspace OpenStack for five years.

The solution is stable.

The initial setup is complicated. There are many components, so you have to ensure that every part is running correctly.

Our cluster has about eight nodes, and it took about a week. Two skilled engineers are required for the solution's deployment.

You were using the free version of OpenStack. You didn't have the license for it.

Overall, I rate the solution between eight and nine out of ten.