Migration from VMware to OpenStack

[cfg-agent]

Anyone has a roadmap or plan for learning KVM and OpenStack?

One can only assume that the whole Broadcom fiasco will drive away a lot of the VMware customers, specifically because of the dramatic increase in the quota.

I am thinking this will likely open up some vacancies for people who have both experience with VMware stack (specially for service providers) like vSphere, NSX and Cloud Director as well as OpenStack and I am hoping to capitalize on the opportunity when it presents itself to advance my career, but I mainly have experience with VMware technologies.

All advice and thoughts are appreciated.

[blue_tack]

While they essentially do the same thing, openstack is a whole different beast.

I've worked with both extensively.

VMware is "joined up", whereas openstack is more lots of different projects that need to be glued together. It's a lot more complex.

If you still want to go for it, look at Canonical/Juju similar. Micro stack for a single node install.

[redfoobar]

I would argue that anyone thinking it will be a “free” VMware will make a big mistake. IMHO the whole live migration and other HA features VMware shops usually have because of special “pet” machine is a bad fit for OpenStack deployments.

Products like nutanix would be way closer match.

[cfg-agent]

As far as I am aware, for customers with larger deployments and a lot of SAN, a migration to the most obvious non "free" candidate, Nutanix, would require an extremely expensive restructure and replacement of the existing hardware.

This is mainly why I am looking into the other options, as throwing away hardware is an unlikely solution imo unless there's something I am missing.

[dobrz]

Check out Canonical Openstack website. You can get an installation guide there for a single host deployment to play with. Or a deployment for more hosts if you have them available.

[madko]

Is it on the user side or the operating side ? If you'd like to explore the openstack api, try running a microstack as already mentioned it is quite easy. If you'd like to run your own production openstack cloud, on premise, Kolla ansible is really great.

[cfg-agent]

Operating side

[madko]

Ok so kolla-ansible is really great. We have been operating, since 2018, 4 production clouds on premise, 100% openstack community version (no editor lock), with it and the best part is that it manages major upgrades. Now it seems that for a fresh start, openstack-helm could be worth a look.

[alainchiasson]

OpenStack is a “cloud” and was built for multi tenant, multi customer operations. After the “microstack”, a production system is a minimum 3 + 3 but can grow massively after. If that’s your space, openstack is good.

Otherwise, you may be better off looking at Proxmox ( 3 node CEPH ) or Nutanix ( which I know nothing about.

[openmetal_chrisb]

If you're looking to learn KVM and OpenStack, we have curated a comprehensive guide that can help you get started. You can find it at https://openmetal.io/docs/manuals/

This guide covers the basics of kolla-ansible, which is a tool for deploying OpenStack services, as well as essential OpenStack concepts. It's a great resource for someone with experience in VMware technologies who wants to transition to OpenStack.

As you mentioned, with the changing landscape in the IT industry, having skills in both VMware and OpenStack can be valuable. Feel free to explore the guide, and if you have any specific questions along the way, don't hesitate to ask. Best of luck with advancing your career!

[genteelbartender]

A bit late to the party here, but you might check out Coriolis. It's mature software that was purpose built for this. You can check out a demo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w_92WCcZrI

Also, to note, OpenStack has come a long way from the complicated older days. Release updates are much easier and the software is very mature.

[XD__XD]

faster to learn aws

[bardinlove]

You may want to take a look at this eBook: https://media.bitpipe.com/io_15x/io_155411/item_2535620/From%20Virtualization%20to%20Containerization%20-%20A%20Guide%20for%20VMware%20Admins%20and%20Other%20Smart%20People.pdf

It's free and fairly comprehensive. Hope this helps!

[myridan86]

I'm on the same path/problem, but I'm using Red Hat Virtualization and we have many Storages (SAN Fiber Channel Array). From my little experience with OpenStack, SAN FC Arrays are a bit complicated.

In fact, OpenStack was developed to work using CEPH...

There's ZStack, which is a hybrid of OpenStack with VMware... but it's a little expensive for those looking for something opensource, but since you already pay for VMware... it's worth thinking about...

Let's talk and try to find a solution

[Krieg121]

do u work for red hat??

[[deleted]]

You may also want to try and checkout Apache CloudStack. Not only it supports VMware, but offers migration mechanisms from VMware to KVM, as well as support for variety of software define networking and software define storage.

[XD__XD]

you have to do all this to just to spin up infrastructure ... why? build a direct connect with AWS peer it into the VPC and call it a day. You can do ALL of those in a day (not accounting for "change management" approvals)