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CloudStack VDC : Overview and Product Introduction

CloudStack VDC : Overview and Product Introduction

What is CloudStack VDC?

CloudStack VDC (CloudStack Virtual Data Centre) is Zettagrid’s Infrastructure-as-a-Service offering built on Apache CloudStack. It provides a self-service cloud where you can deploy virtual machine instances, virtual private clouds (VPCs), public IP addresses, storage and networking on the KVM hypervisor across Zettagrid’s Australian data centres.

CloudStack VDC is purchased and managed from MyAccount (account.zettagrid.com). Instances within the subscription are deployed and managed from the Apache CloudStack portal (https://portal.acs.zettagrid.com).

CloudStack VDC vs. VMware VDC

Zettagrid offers two distinct Infrastructure-as-a-Service products. They run on different hypervisor stacks and use different management portals:

  • CloudStack VDC - runs on the KVM hypervisor and is managed through a single Apache CloudStack portal that spans all zones.

  • VMware VDC - runs on VMware and is managed through a separate VMware Cloud Director portal that is provisioned per location.

Note

If you want to migrate workloads between VMware VDC and CloudStack VDC, contact Zettagrid Support at support@zettagrid.com.

Key concepts

Before you start, it helps to be familiar with the following terms:

  • Subscription - a CloudStack VDC purchased through MyAccount. A subscription is a resource pool (CPU, RAM, storage, public IPs, etc.) that you draw from when deploying instances. Only one CloudStack VDC subscription is permitted per Zettagrid account.

  • Zone - a Zettagrid data-centre location. A zone corresponds to a single physical site (for example, Perth).

  • VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) - a private, isolated network for your instances, with its own routing and firewall. You must create at least one VPC before you can deploy instances.

  • Network tier - a subnet within a VPC. Each VPC contains one or more network tiers; each instance connects to a tier.

  • Virtual Router - the router/firewall that provides connectivity between your VPC, the internet and other tiers.

  • Public IP - a routable IPv4 address allocated to your subscription. Public IPs are used for SNAT (outbound) and optional DNAT (inbound port forwarding).

  • Template / ISO - the operating-system image used to launch an instance. Zettagrid provides a catalogue of public templates; you can also upload your own to secondary storage.

Available zones

At launch, CloudStack VDC is available in the following Zettagrid zones:

  • Perth (PER01) - generally available.

The following zones are under development and will be released progressively:

  • Sydney

  • Melbourne

  • Adelaide

  • Darwin

  • Brisbane

Note

Unlike VMware VDC, a single Apache CloudStack portal manages instances across all zones - you do not need to log into a different portal for each location.

What’s included

A new CloudStack VDC subscription includes the following by default:

  • 2 Public IPv4 addresses

  • Standard Unlimited internet traffic at up to 1,000 Mbit/s

  • Virtual Router-Firewall

  • Ability to deploy across any available zone

You then add CPU, RAM, primary storage, secondary storage, additional public IPs, backup storage and Windows licences as required.

Where to next

Continue with the following pages in this documentation set: