Is OpenStack for You?

As product manager and OpenStack evangelist you may think that the standard response to the question "Is OpenStack for You" is unequivocally "Yes!".

Well, that's not necessarily the case here.

To help bring clarity to the question, we've developed a webinar that tackles the "when (and when not) to" use OpenStack. In the webinar, we point out the characteristics of applications likely to flourish when used with OpenStack. We also explore various approaches for getting started with OpenStack.

Watch the webinar if you’re asking whether you should use OpenStack. Though the question is straightforward, the answer is complex. It’s important to acknowledge that every application that works well with traditional enterprise virtualization may not thrive in OpenStack. One of the greatest advantages of OpenStack—that it can scale vertically with virtually no limits—may not be ideal for all your applications.

Yes, OpenStack is the leading cloud operating system. Yes, OpenStack delivers a true elastic cloud infrastructure plus the advantages of open source software. Yes, it can help you deal with massive amounts of data and massive numbers of users. And because it works well with public cloud infrastructures, OpenStack lets you repatriate workloads while keeping a foot in the public cloud.

But before getting started with OpenStack, you should understand the strengths and limitations of OpenStack as an environment for different applications and workloads. Examine your applications and workloads. You'll want to migrate those best suited to an elastic infrastructure to OpenStack. What about other applications? You can build an effective cloud that supports all your applications and that incorporates OpenStack along with enterprise virtualization.

Watch the webinar “Why OpenStack? Find Out if OpenStack Is Right for You” to delve more deeply into the question of when to use OpenStack. You’ll get an overview of differences between traditional enterprise virtualization and an elastic cloud based around OpenStack. Once you get a handle on that, you’ll be ready to identify the applications and workloads you want to move to OpenStack.