Linbit CloudStack HCI Appliance

LINBIT (LINBIT HA-Solutions GmbH and LINBIT USA, LLC), a provider of enterprise SDS solutions, launched its new CloudStack Appliance solution which simplifies the otherwise meticulous setup of CloudStack and LINBIT SDS.

The CloudStack HCI appliance enables anyone to set up CloudStack via an install wizard in under 20mn – an improvement on the manual process, which can take days.

It is based on AlmaLinux OS 9.4 and contains LINBIT SDS and Apache CloudStack. Its HTML5-based installation wizard enables anyone to turn three or more x86 servers into a hyper-converged IaaS cloud computing platform in under 20mn.

It is a freely downloadable ISO image. Enterprise-grade support subscriptions, including software updates, will be announced later.

Target use cases:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) became the de facto Linux distribution for large organizations. With AlmaLinux, a freely available RHEL clone, we target organizations accustomed to that Linux ecosystem. It is an easy-to-deploy alternative for organizations looking for a path to migrate their virtualization needs from VMWare.
• Setting up and operating an IaaS cloud comes with a plethora of choices and decisions. With this software appliance, the users get the well-proven reference architecture deployment in a fraction of the typical deployment time.
• The hyper-converged architecture, in which all nodes simultaneously serve as compute and storage nodes, brings the best I/O performance while reducing the load on the storage network.

Highlights of appliance include:

• Convenient quick setup wizard
• Comprehensive LINBIT SDS GUI
• Countless CloudStack features: Multi-zone, Complex networking, Multi-Tenant (Domains)
• Native LINBIT SDS as primary storage in CloudStack
• Snapshots and snapshot shipping for disaster recovery
• Optional encryption at rest
• Optional encryption in transfer
• Optional RDMA instead of TCP/IP, Thin provisioning
• Highly available NFS export as CloudStack secondary storage

On roadmap:

• Backups manageable through CloudStack GUI
• Encryption at rest manageable through CloudStack GUI
• Enabling a powerful software-defined networking option in the setup wizard

Find the ISO and more information here.

“Deploying the advanced cloud management system Apache CloudStack in just 20mn, in combination with LINBIT SDS, that targets I/O demanding transactional workloads, such as databases and enterprise message queueing system applications, is a very attractive option,” says Philipp Reisner, CEO and founder.