[Fiware-cloud] standardization: WP4 Cloud Hosting

[Alex Glikson]

All,

I've tried to summarize the main relevant standardization efforts related 
to Cloud Hosting, based on our discussions till now and few other inputs.
As you probably know, we are a bit behind with this deliverable, so would 
appreciate your comments by the end of Monday. Sorry for the short notice.
Also, please, notice that each company is supposed to send a summary of 
the corresponding standardization efforts pursued by the individual 
companies (you may want to contact your company representative in WP11).

Thanks,
Alex

P.S. Lindsay -- would appreciate your feedback if you have any general 
comments

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Standardization needs: WP4 Cloud Hosting
The main goal of Cloud Hosting is to provision and manage virtualized 
resources (compute, storage, network) which are used to run services 
hosted in the cloud. As of today, there are no mature standard in Cloud 
Computing. In the context of FI-WARE, there are three main areas in which 
standards or open specifications are being considered:
Provisioning and life cycle management of individual virtualized 
resources: compute, storage, network. Standards being considered as 
relevant for this area are:
Open Virtualization Format (OVF): a DMTF standard, addressing packaging 
and deployment of virtual appliances. IBM, Telefonica and other FI-WARE 
partners are actively contributing to OVF.
Cloud Infrastructure Management Interface (CIMI): an emerging DMTF 
standard, addressing provisioning and life cycle management of virtualized 
resources in the cloud. IBM, Telefonica and other FI-WARE partners are 
actively contributing to CIMI.
Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI): an emerging OGF standard, 
addressing provisioning and life cycle management of virtualized resources 
in the cloud. Intel and other FI-WARE partners are actively contributing 
to OCCI.
OpenStack API: the open specification of OpenStack -- the most noticeable 
emerging open source community developing a cloud infrastructure stack, 
supported by leading IT vendors such as Rackspace, Cisco, Dell, HP, AT&T, 
Citrix, NEC, NetApp and others.
Provisioning and life cycle management of multi-VM virtual appliances 
(services):
Same as above for virtualized resources (extended to virtual appliances 
which comprise collections of such resources)
TOSCA: an emerging OASIS standard, addressing definition and life cycle 
management of composite services.
RIF: a W3 standard for definition of rules (in the cloud context -- rules 
for run-time scaling of elastic virtual appliances)
Provisioning and life cycle management of objects and object containers:
CDMI: a SNIA standard for management of cloud storage

Gap Analysis: WP4 Cloud Hosting
The main concern in terms of standardization in the Cloud area is the lack 
of mature standards which can be expected to be widely adopted by the 
industry. Besides that, when considering specific gaps of the standards 
outlined above, the following areas are of importance:
Advanced resource management capabilities, such as QoS and placement 
considerations. While some of these capabilities are going to be included 
in the next version of OVF (placement and scaling considerations), they 
are immature and are still missing in the more recent and relevant 
specifications such as CIMI, OCCI and OpenStack API.
Support for life cycle management of multi-VM virtual appliances, 
including performance-driven auto-scaling. This support can be achieved 
either by extending an existing specification that deals with individual 
resources (such as CIMI, OCCI or OpenStack), or by adopting an additional 
standard designed to address this particular need (such as TOSCA).

Strategy: WP4 Cloud Hosting
As mentioned above, it is still not clear which standards will be adopted 
by the Cloud industry over time as it matures. We will monitor the 
advancements in the relevant standardization activities mentioned above -- 
all of which are already actively promoted by our companies. In the first 
release of FI-WARE, we will focus on contribution to OpenStack API, OCCI 
and CDMI. However, based on developments in this emerging area, we may 
adapt our strategy accordingly towards the second and the third releases.
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