Getting started with Cloud, OpenStack (and Cybera)

By Everett Toews, Senior Developer, Edmonton

Here at Cybera, we are often asked to explain who we are and what we do. Those questions are usually followed by detailed queries about networking, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and OpenStack. I have created a list of resources to help our readers get a better sense of where Cybera is coming from, and what Cybera is working with.

Cybera
   1.   General:
   (a) How we operate
   (b) What services we offer
   2.   Membership:
           (a) Benefits and how to join
   3.   A description of our network:
           (a) CyberaNet
           (b) Peering services

OpenStack
   1.   The general docs link
   2.    Intro to OpenStack Compute:
           (a) Introductory architecture from Ken Pepple
           (b) Compute administration manual
    3.   OpenStack Compute networking can be a bit tricky, so here's a link to
           get you started:
           (a)  Discover Diablo Networking Modes (video from the OpenStack Essex Conference,
                 October 2011)
    4.   Take OpenStack for a spin in a virtual or physical machine
    5.   Reference architecture (this is essential if you want to deploy OpenStack)

Network as a Service (NaaS) in OpenStack
People seem to be particularly interested in what networking can be done inside of OpenStack. The next generation of networking in OpenStack will let you create diverse topologies.
   1.   Quantum: An OpenStack project providing NaaS
   2.   A good slide deck introducing Quantum from the latest OpenStack Design Summit
   3.   A collection of links to plans for making Open vSwitch work with OpenStack/Quantum
   4.   The start of a discussion on the OpenStack mailing list for OpenFlow integration

Questions about OpenStack
If you have questions about OpenStack, there are a lot of good resources out there:
   1.   The developer mailing list archive
   2.   Some great Q&A sites for the OpenStack projects:
           (a) Compute
           (b) Image Repository
   3.   Web Application Dashboard

Hopefully these resources will answer some of your questions and get you started in the right direction!