What is Apache CloudStack?

Apache CloudStack is a top-level project of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF). The project develops open source software for deploying public and private Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) clouds.

CloudStack provides an open and flexible cloud orchestration platform to deliver reliable and scalable private and public clouds. What's that mean, exactly?

Features and Functionality

Apache CloudStack is a Java-based project that provides a management server and agents (if needed) for hypervisor hosts so that you can run an IaaS cloud. Some, but not all, of the features and functionality provided by CloudStack:

• Works with hosts running XenServer/XCP, KVM, Hyper-V, and/or VMware ESXi with vSphere
• Provides a friendly Web-based UI for managing the cloud
• Provides a native API
• May provide an Amazon S3/EC2 compatible API (optional)
• Manages storage for instances running on the hypervisors (primary storage) as well as templates, snapshots, and ISO images (secondary storage)
• Orchestrates network services from the data link layer (L2) to some application layer (L7) services, such as DHCP, NAT, firewall, VPN, and so on
• Accounting of network, compute, and storage resources
• Multi-tenancy/account separation
• User management

In short, organizations can use Apache CloudStack to deploy a full-featured public or private IaaS cloud.

People of Apache CloudStack

Apache projects are managed by a Project Management Committee (PMC), and much of the work is done by the project's committers. Note that committer status is not limited to developers, but is conferred to individuals who have made sustained contributions of high quality, and have shown a committment to mentoring other contributors and following The Apache Way.

The current Vice President of Apache CloudStack and chair of the PMC is Hugo Trippaers, a full list of PMC members and contributors is available on the page Who We Are.