apache / apache/cloudstack

Deploy CloudStack using a container runtime like Docker or Podman

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#11,163 6 comments 2 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
archive docker
Dominant language
Java
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Description

### The required feature described as a wish

As an Operator I would like to have CloudStack containerized, so I can run CloudStack in a container runtime like Docker and Podman.

I work for a public cloud provider where most of our stack, OpenStack and Ceph, are deployed using a container runtime where each service is a stateless container. We transitioned from the more traditional deployment, installing packages on hosts, to our current setup solving most of our maintenance issues and efforts to keep the stack up to date.

In an effort to adopt other technologies we attempted to containerize the three CloudStack services, management server, usage server and the agent but faced significant obstacles that hindered our progress.

Notable obstacles running CloudStack services in a container:

- The management server calling bash and/or service/systemctl commands from Java
- The agent server calling bash and/or meminfo commands from Java

Other obstacles worth mentioning:

- Package building process dependencies, external application/packages dependencies and (actual) OS dependencies need better documentation. Dependencies that are assumed present in supported distributions in particular
- Missing a Software Bill of Materials
- Direct environment OS dependencies and commands should be replaced or removed where possible
- Dependencies on other applications/services should be handled through connection methods that fit containerization, no direct /bin/bash cals should be used on required binaries
- In instances where removal is not possible, communication with OS or services present on the OS should be through some sort of socket or connection that is configurable or through temporary containers like bootstrap containers, for instance:
- libvirt, which is communicated to through either the socket on the host or the socket in a container - https://opendev.org/openstack/kolla-ansible/src/branch/master/ansible/roles/nova-cell/tasks/
- meminfo and other host system statistics

As open-source cloud stacks, OpenStack and CloudStack (in combination with KVM at least) share common technical challenges, therefore community projects like [kolla-ansible](https://github.com/openstack/kolla-ansible/) (deploy OpenStack using Ansible and containers) and [OpenStack-Helm](https://github.com/openstack/openstack-helm) (deploy OpenStack on Kubernetes) can be inspirational when containerizing CloudStack. One hurdle these projects have tackled, among others, is the bootstrapping of libvirt TLS communication.

I'm willing to share our experience containerizing CloudStack in order to get momentum.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by inventorying the management server, usage server, and agent, then review the listed obstacles involving bash, systemctl, meminfo, OS dependencies, and package building. Done would mean a documented containerized deployment for the CloudStack services using Docker or Podman, with the required host and service integrations, dependency documentation, and a software bill of materials addressed.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker, java
Domain
cloud, devops, infrastructure
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
20/100

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