Category Archives: Alan Clark

OpenStack PSA: Individual members we need more help – Please Vote!

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1/17 Update: We did it!  We reached quorum and approved all the changes!  Also, I am honored to have been re-elected to the Board.  Thank you for the support.

I saw the latest report and we’ve still got a LONG WAY TO GO to get to the quorum that we need.  Don’t let your co-worker or co-contributor be the one missing vote!

Note: If you thing you should have gotten a ballot email but did not.  Contact the OpenStack Election Secretary for assistance.  OpenStack voting is via YOUR PERSONALIZED EMAIL only – you cannot use someone else’s ballot.

Here’s the official request that we’ve been forwarding in the community

OpenStack Individual Members we need your help – Please Vote!

Untitled drawingIncluded on the upcoming individual elections ballot is set of proposed bylaw changes [note: I am also seeking re-election]. To be enacted, these changes require approval by the individual members. At least 25% of the Individual Members must participate in this election in order for the vote to take effect which is why we are reaching out to you. The election will start Monday January 12, 2015 and run thru Friday January 16, 2015.

The unprecedented growth, community size and active nature of the OpenStack community have precipitated the need for OpenStack Bylaw updates. The updates will enable our community to adapt to our continued rapid growth, change and diversity, while reflecting our success and market leadership. Although the proposed changes only effect a small set of verbiage in the bylaws, the changes eliminate some of the hard coded values and naive initial assumptions that found their way into the bylaws when they were initially created in 2013. Those initial assumptions did not anticipate that by 2015 we would have such a large, active community of over 17,000 individual members, over 430 corporate members, and a large diverse set of OpenStack based products and services.

Through many months of community iterative discussion and debate, the DefCore team and board have unanimously accepted a set of changes that are now placed before you for your approval. The changes replace the original hard coded “core” definition with a process for determining the software elements required for use of the OpenStack commercial trademark. Processes which will also account for future revisions and determinations for Core and Trademark Policy.

Note: Another change sets the quorum level at a more reasonable 10%, so these PSAs should not be required in the future.

Complete details on the proposed changes are located at:
https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Governance/Foundation/2014ProposedBylawsAmendment

Complete details on the 2015 Board Election are located at:
http://www.openstack.org/election/2015-individual-director-election/

OpenStack DefCore Enters Execution Phase. Help!

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OpenStack DefCore Committee has established the principles and first artifacts required for vendors using the OpenStack trademark.  Over the next release cycle, we will be applying these to the Ice House and Juno releases.

Like a rockLearn more?  Hear about it LIVE!  Rob will be doing two sessions about DefCore next week (will be recorded):

  1. Tues Dec 16 at 9:45 am PST- OpenStack Podcast #14 with Jeff Dickey
  2. Thurs Dec 18 at 9:00 am PST – Online Meetup about DefCore with Rafael Knuth (optional RSVP)

At the December 2014 OpenStack Board meeting, we completed laying the foundations for the DefCore process that we started April 2013 in Portland. These are a set of principles explaining how OpenStack will select capabilities and code required for vendors using the name OpenStack. We also published the application of these governance principles for the Havana release.

  1. The OpenStack Board approved DefCore principles to explain
    the landscape of core including test driven capabilities and designated code (approved Nov 2013)
  2. the twelve criteria used to select capabilities (approved April 2014)
  3. the creation of component and framework layers for core (approved Oct 2014)
  4. the ten principles used to select designated sections (approved Dec 2014)

To test these principles, we’ve applied them to Havana and expressed the results in JSON format: Havana Capabilities and Havana Designated Sections. We’ve attempted to keep the process transparent and community focused by keeping these files as text and using the standard OpenStack review process.

DefCore’s work is not done and we need your help!  What’s next?

  1. Vote about bylaws changes to fully enable DefCore (change from projects defining core to capabilities)
  2. Work out going forward process for updating capabilities and sections for each release (once authorized by the bylaws, must be approved by Board and TC)
  3. Bring Havana work forward to Ice House and Juno.
  4. Help drive Refstack process to collect data from the field

Tweaking DefCore to subdivide OpenStack platform

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The following material will be a major part of the discussion for The OpenStack Board meeting on Monday 10/20.  Comments and suggest welcome!

OpenStack in PartsAuthor’s 2/26/2015 Note:  This proposal was approved by the Board in October 2014.

For nearly two years, the OpenStack Board has been moving towards creating a common platform definition that can help drive interoperability.  At the last meeting, the Board paused to further review one of the core tenants of the DefCore process (Item #3: Core definition can be applied equally to all usage models).

Outside of my role as DefCore chair, I see the OpenStack community asking itself an existential question: “are we one platform or a suite of projects?”  I’m having trouble believing “we are both” is an acceptable answer.

During the post-meeting review, Mark Collier drafted a Foundation supported recommendation that basically creates an additional core tier without changing the fundamental capabilities & designated code concepts.  This proposal has been reviewed by the DefCore committee (but not formally approved in a meeting).

The original DefCore proposed capabilities set becomes the “platform” level while capability subsets are called “components.”  We are considering two initial components, Compute & Object, and both are included in the platform (see illustration below).  The approach leaves the door open for new core component to exist both under and outside of the platform umbrella.

In the proposal, OpenStack vendors who meet either component or platform requirements can qualify for the “OpenStack Powered” logo; however, vendors using the only a component (instead of the full platform) will have more restrictive marks and limitations about how they can use the term OpenStack.

This approach addresses the “is Swift required?” question.  For platform, Swift capabilities will be required; however, vendors will be able to implement the Compute component without Swift and implement the Object component without Nova/Glance/Cinder.

It’s important to note that there is only one yard stick for components or the platform: the capabilities groups and designed code defined by the DefCore process.  From that perspective, OpenStack is one consistent thing.  This change allows vendors to choose sub-components if that serves their business objectives.

It’s up to the community to prove the platform value of all those sub-components working together.

DefCore Advances at the Core > My take on the OSCON’14 OpenStack Board Meeting

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Last week’s day-long Board Meeting (Jonathan’s summary) focused on three major topics: DefCore, Contribute Licenses (CLA/DCO) and the “Win the Enterprise” initiative. In some ways, these three topics are three views into OpenStack’s top issue: commercial vs. individual interests.

But first, let’s talk about DefCore!

DefCore took a major step with the passing of the advisory Havana Capabilities (the green items are required). That means that vendors in the community now have a Board approved minimum requirements.  These are not enforced for Havana so that the community has time to review and evaluate.

Designated Sections (1)For all that progress, we only have half of the Havana core definition complete. Designated Sections, the other component of Core, will be defined by the DefCore committee for Board approval in September. Originally, we expected the TC to own this part of the process; however, they felt it was related to commercial interested (not technical) and asked for the Board to manage it.

The coming meetings will resolve the “is Swift code required” question and that topic will require a dedicated post.  In many ways, this question has been the challenge for core definition from the start.  If you want to join the discussion, please subscribe to the DefCore list.

The majority of the board meeting was spent discussion other weighty topics that are work a brief review.

Contribution Licenses revolve around developer vs broader community challenge. This issue is surprisingly high stakes for many in the community. I see two primary issues

  1. Tension between corporate (CLA) vs. individual (DCO) control and approval
  2. Concern over barriers to contribution (sadly, there are many but this one is in the board’s controls)

Win the Enterprise was born from product management frustration and a fragmented user base. My read on this topic is that we’re pushing on the donkey. I’m hearing serious rumbling about OpenStack operability, upgrade and scale.  This group is doing a surprisingly good job of documenting these requirements so that we will have an official “we need this” statement. It’s not clear how we are going to turn that statement into either carrots or sticks for the donkey.

Overall, there was a very strong existential theme for OpenStack at this meeting: are we a companies collaborating or individuals contributing?  Clearly, OpenStack is both but the proportions remain unclear.

Answering this question is ultimately at the heart of all three primary topics. I expect DefCore will be on the front line of this discussion over the next few weeks (meeting 1, 2, and 3). Now is the time to get involved if you want to play along.

OpenStack Core Online Forum, Oct 16 13:30 UTC / Oct 22 0100 UTC

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Go Online!OpenStack Community, you are invited on an online discussion about OpenStack Core on October 16th at UTC 13:30 (8:30 am US Central) and October 22nd at UTC 0100 (8:00 pm US Central)

At the next OpenStack Foundation Board meeting, we will be setting a timeline for implementing an OpenStack Core Definition process that promotes a clear and implementation driven metric for deciding which projects should be considered “required.”  This is your chance to review and influence the process!

We’ll review the OpenStack Core Definition process (20 minutes) and then open up the channel for discussion using the IRC (#openstack-meeting) & Google Hangout on Air (link posted in IRC).

The forum will be coordinated through the IRC channel for links and questions.

Can’t make it?  The session was recorded > here!

Thinking about how to Implement OpenStack Core Definition

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THIS POST IS #10 IN A SERIES ABOUT “WHAT IS CORE.”

Tied UpWe’ve had a number of community discussions (OSCON, SFO & SA-TX) around the process for OpenStack Core definition.  These have been animated and engaged discussions (video from SA-TX): my notes for them are below.

While the current thinking of a testing-based definition of Core adds pressure on expanding our test suite, it seems to pass the community’s fairness checks.

Overall, the discussions lead me to believe that we’re on the right track because the discussions jump from process to impacts.  It’s not too late!  We’re continuing to get community feedback.  So what’s next?

First…. Get involved: Upcoming Community Core Discussions

These discussions are expected to have online access via Google Hangout.  Watch Twitter when the event starts for a link.

Want to to discuss this in your meetup? Reach out to me or someone on the Board and we’ll be happy to find a way to connect with your local community!

What’s Next?  Implementation!

So far, the Core discussion has been about defining the process that we’ll use to determine what is core.  Assuming we move forward, the next step is to implement that process by selecting which tests are “must pass.”  That means we have to both figure out how to pick the tests and do the actual work of picking them.  I suspect we’ll also find testing gaps that will have developers scrambling in Ice House.

Here’s the possible (aggressive) timeline for implementation:

  • November: Approval of approach & timeline at next Board Meeting
  • January: Publish Timeline for Roll out (ideally, have usable definition for Havana)
  • March: Identify Havana must pass Tests (process to be determined)
  • April: Integration w/ OpenStack Foundation infrastructure

Obviously, there are a lot of details to work out!  I expect that we’ll have an interim process to select must-pass tests before we can have a full community driven methodology.

Notes from Previous Discussions (earlier notes):

  • There is still confusion around the idea that OpenStack Core requires using some of the project code.  This requirement helps ensure that people claiming to be OpenStack core have a reason to contribute, not just replicate the APIs.
  • It’s easy to overlook that we’re trying to define a process for defining core, not core itself.  We have spent a lot of time testing how individual projects may be effected based on possible outcomes.  In the end, we’ll need actual data.
  • There are some clear anti-goals in the process that we are not ready to discuss but will clearly going to become issues quickly.  They are:
    • Using the OpenStack name for projects that pass the API tests but don’t implement any OpenStack code.  (e.g.: an OpenStack Compatible mark)
    • Having speciality testing sets for flavors of OpenStack that are different than core.  (e.g.: OpenStack for Hosters, OpenStack Private Cloud, etc)
  • We need to be prepared that the list of “must pass” tests identifies a smaller core than is currently defined.  It’s possible that some projects will no longer be “core”
  • The idea that we’re going to use real data to recommend tests as must-pass is positive; however, the time it takes to collect the data may be frustrating.
  • People love to lobby for their favorite projects.  Gaps in testing may create problems.
  • We are about to put a lot of pressure on the testing efforts and that will require more investment and leadership from the Foundation.
  • Some people are not comfortable with self-reporting test compliance.   Overall, market pressure was considered enough to punish cheaters.
  • There is a perceived risk of confusion as we migrate between versions.  OpenStack Core for Havana seems to specific but there is concern that vendors may pass in one release and then skip re-certification.  Once again, market pressure seems to be an adequate answer.
  • It’s not clear if a project with only 1 must-pass test is a core project.  Likely, it would be considered core.  Ultimately, people seem to expect that the tests will define core instead of the project boundary.

What do you think?  I’d like to hear your opinions on this!

Taking OpenStack Core discussions to community

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core flowTHIS POST IS #9 IN A SERIES ABOUT “WHAT IS CORE.”

We’ve been building up to a broad discussion about the OpenStack Core and I’d like to invite everyone in the OpenStack community to participate (review latest).

Alan Clark (Board Chairman) officially kicked off this open discussion with his post on the OpenStack blog last week.  And we’re trying to have face-to-face events for dialog like the Core meetup tonight in San Francisco.  Look for more to come!

Of course, this will also be a topic at the summit (Alan and I submitted two sessions about this).  The Board needs to move this forward in the November meeting, so NOW is the time to review and give us input.

refined: 10 OpenStack Core Positions

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core flowTHIS POST IS #8 IN A SERIES ABOUT “WHAT IS CORE.”

Last week, I posted a streamlined visual of the core discussion that distilled the 12 positions into 10.  Here are reordered and cleaned up matching positions.  This should make it much easier to understand the context.

Note 11/3: The Core Definition is now maintained on the OpenStack Wiki.  This list may not reflect the latest changes.

  1. Implementations that are Core can use OpenStack trademark (OpenStack™)

    1. This is the legal definition of “core” and the  why it matters to  the community.

    2. We want to make sure that the OpenStack™ mark means something.

    3. The OpenStack™ mark is not the same as the OpenStack brand; however, the Board uses it’s control of the mark as a proxy to help manage the brand.

  2. Core is a subset of the whole project

    1. The OpenStack project is supposed to be a broad and diverse community with new projects entering incubation and new implementations being constantly added.  This innovation is vital to OpenStack but separate from the definition of Core.

    2. There may be other marks that are managed separately by the foundation, and available for the platform ecosystem as per the Board’s discretion

    3. “OpenStack API Compatible ” mark not part of this discussion and should be not be assumed.

  3. Core definition can be applied equally to all usage models

    1. There should not be multiple definitions of OpenStack depending on the operator (public, private, community, etc)

    2. While expected that each deployment is identical, the differences must be quantifiable

  4. Claiming OpenStack requiring use of designated upstream code

    1. Implementation’s claiming the OpenStack™ mark must use the OpenStack upstream code (or be using code submitted to upstream)

    2. You are not OpenStack, if you pass all the tests but do not use the API framework

    3. This prevents people from using the API without joining the community

    4. This also surfaces bit-rot in alternate implementations to the larger community

    5. This behavior improves interoperability because there is more shared code between implementation

  5. Projects must have an open reference implementation

    1. OpenStack will require an open source reference base plug-in implementation for projects (if not part of OpenStack, license model for reference plug-in must be compatible).

    2. Definition of a plug-in: alternate backend implementations with a common API framework that uses common _code_ to implement the API

    3. This expects that projects (where technically feasible) are expected to implement a plug-in or extension architecture.

    4. This is already in place for several projects and addresses around ecosystem support, enabling innovation

    5. Reference plug-ins are, by definition, the complete capability set.  It is not acceptable to have “core” features that are not functional in the reference plug-in

    6. This will enable alternate implementations to offer innovative or differentiated features without forcing changes to the reference plug-in implementation

    7. This will enable the reference to expand without forcing other  alternate implementations to match all features and recertify

  6. Vendors may substitute alternate implementations

    1. If a vendor plug-in passes all relevant tests then it can be considered a full substitute for the reference plug-in

    2. If a vendor plug-in does NOT pass all relevant test then the vendor is required to include the open source reference in the implementation.

    3. Alternate implementations may pass any tests that make sense

    4. Alternate implementations should add tests to validate new functionality.

    5. They must have all the must-pass tests (see #10) to claim the OpenStack mark.

  7. OpenStack Implementations are verified by open community tests

    1. Vendor OpenStack implementations must achieve 100% of must-have coverage?

    2. Implemented tests can be flagged as may-have requires list  [Joshua McKenty]

    3. Certifiers will be required to disclose their testing gaps.

    4. This will put a lot of pressure on the Tempest project

    5. Maintenance of the testing suite to become a core Foundation responsibility.  This may require additional resources

    6. Implementations and products are allowed to have variation based on publication of compatibility

    7. Consumers must have a way to determine how the system is different from reference (posted, discovered, etc)

    8. Testing must respond in an appropriate way on BOTH pass and fail (the wrong return rejects the entire suite)

  8. Tests can be remotely or self-administered

    1. Plug-in certification is driven by Tempest self-certification model

    2. Self-certifiers are required to publish their results

    3. Self-certified are required to publish enough information that a 3rd party could build the reference implementation to pass the tests.

    4. Self-certified must include the operating systems that have been certified

    5. It is preferred for self-certified implementation to reference an OpenStack reference architecture “flavor” instead of defining their own reference.  (a way to publish and agree on flavors is needed)

    6. The Foundation needs to define a mechanism of dispute resolution. (A trust but verify model)

    7. As an ecosystem partner, you have a need to make a “works against OpenStack” statement that is supportable

    8. API consumer can claim working against the OpenStack API if it works against any implementation passing all the “must have” tests(YES)

    9. API consumers can state they are working against the OpenStack API with some “may have” items as requirements

    10. API consumers are expected to write tests that validate their required behaviors (submitted as “may have” tests)

  9. A subset of tests are chosen by the Foundation as “must-pass”

    1. An OpenStack body will recommend which tests are elevated from may-have to must-have

    2. The selection of “must-pass” tests should be based on quantifiable information when possible.

    3. Must-pass tests should be selected from the existing body of “may-pass” tests.  This encourages people to write tests for cases they want supported.

    4. We will have a process by which tests are elevated from may to must lists

    5. Potentially: the User Committee will nominate tests that elevated to the board

  10. OpenStack Core means passing all “must-pass” tests

    1. The OpenStack board owns the responsibility to define ‘core’ – to approve ‘musts’

    2. We are NOT defining which items are on the list in this effort, just making the position that it is how we will define core

    3. May-have tests include items in the integrated release, but which are not core.

    4. Must haves – must comply with the Core criteria defined from the IncUp committee results

    5. Projects in Incubation or pre-Incubation are not to be included in the ‘may’ list

Visualizing the OpenStack Core discussion points

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THIS POST IS #6 IN A SERIES ABOUT “WHAT IS CORE.”

As we take the OpenStack Core discussion to a larger audience, I was asked to create the summary version the discussion points.  We needed a quick visual way to understand how these consensus statements interconnect and help provide context.  To address this need, I based it on a refined 10 core positions to create the following OpenStack Core flowchart.

core flow

The flow diagram below is grouped into three main areas: core definition (green), technical requirements (blue), and testing impacts (orange).

  1. Core Definition (green) walks through the fundamental scope and premise of the “what is core” discussion.  We are looking for the essential OpenStack: the parts that everyone needs and nothing more.  While OpenStack can be something much larger, core lives at the heart of the use-case venn diagram.  It’s the magical ice cream flavor that everyone loves like Triple Unicorn Rainbow Crunch.
  2. Technical Requirements (blue) covers some of the most contentious parts of the dialog.  This section states the expectation that OpenStack™ implementations must use parts the OpenStack code (you can’t just provide a compatible API).  It goes further to expect that we will maintain an open reference implementation and also identify places where parts of the code can be substituted with alternate implementations.  Examples of alternate implementations are plug-ins, API extensions, different hypervisors, and alternate libraries.
  3. Testing Impacts (orange) reviews some of the important new thinking around Core.  These points focus on the use of OpenStack community tests (e.g.: Tempest) to validate the total code base.  We expect users to be able to self-administer these tests or rely on an external validation.  Either way, we do not expect all tests to pass for all configurations; instead, the Foundation will identify a subset of the tests as required or must-pass.  The current thinking is that these must-pass tests will become the effective definition of OpenStack™ Core.

I hope this helps connect the dots on the core discussions so far.

I’d like to clean-up the positions to match the flow chart and cross reference.  Stay tuned!  This flowchart is a work in process – updates and suggestions are welcome!

READ POST IS #7: WHERE IS THIS GOING?

Community dialogue around “What is Core” positions

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THIS POST IS #5 IN A SERIES ABOUT “WHAT IS CORE.”

by Rob Hirschfeld (cc) w/ attribution

The OpenStack Foundation Board has been having a broadening conservation about this topic.  Feeling left out?  Please don’t be!  Now is the time to start getting involved: we had to start very narrowly focused to avoid having the discussion continue to go in circles.  As we’ve expanding the dialog, we have incorporated significant feedback to drive consensus.

No matter where I go, people are passionate about the subject of OpenStack Core.

Overall, there is confusion of scope covered by “what is core” because people bring in their perspective from public, private solution, ecosystem or internal deployment objectives.  In discussion, everyone sees that we have to deal with issues around the OpenStack mark and projects first, but they are impatient to get into the deep issues.  Personally, we can get consensus on core and will always have a degree of healthy tension between user types.

The following are my notes, not my opinions.  I strive to faithfully represent a wide range of positions here.  Clarifications, comments and feedback are welcome!

Consensus Topics:

  • Reference/Alternate Implementation (not plug-in): Not using “plug-ins” to describe the idea that OpenStack projects should have a shared API with required code and clearly specified areas where code is replaceable.  It is the Technical Committee (TC) that makes these decisions.  The most meaningful language around this point is to say that OpenStack will have an open reference implementation with allowable alternate implementations.
  • Alternate implementations are useful:  We want to ensure upstream contribution and collaboration on the code base.  Reference implementations ensure that there’s a reason to keep open source OpenStack strong.  Alternate Implementations are important to innovation.
  • Small vs. Large Core: This is an ongoing debate about if OpenStack should have a lot of projects as part of core.  We don’t have an answer but people feel like we’re heading in a direction that resolves this question.
  • Everyone likes tests: We’re heading towards a definition of core that relies heavily on tests.  Everyone expresses concerns that this will place a lot of stress on Tempest (or another framework) and that needs to be addressed as we move forward.

Open Topics:

  • Monolithic vs. Granular Trademark:  We did not discuss if vendors will be able to claim OpenStack trademarks on subcomponents of the whole.  This is related to core but wide considered secondary.
  • API vs. implementation tension:  We accept that OpenStack will lead with implementation.   There’s no official policy that “we are not a standards body” but we may also have to state that tests are not a specification.  There’s a danger that tests will be considered more than they are.  What are they?  “They are an implementation and a source of information.  They are not the definition.”   We expect to have a working model that drives the API not vice versa.
  • Brouhaha about EC2 APIs:  It’s not clear if defining core helps address the OpenStack API discussion.  I hope it will but have not tested it.
  • Usability as core: I had many people insist that usability and ease of use should be as requirements for core because it supports adoption.  Our current positions do not have any statements to support this view.
  • Toxic neighbors: We have not discussed if use of the mark and criteria could be limited by what else you put in your product.  Are there implementation options that we’d consider toxic and automatically violate the mark?  Right now, the positions are worded that if you pass then you play even if you otherwise stink.
  • Which tests are required?  It appears that we’re moving towards using must-pass tests to define the core.  Moving towards tests determining core, we want actual field data to drive which tests are required. That will allow actual user experience to shape which tests are important rather than having it be a theoretical decision.  There’s some interest in asking the User Committee (UC) to recommend which tests are required.  This would be an added responsibility for the UC and needs more discussion.
  • Need visualization:  With 12 positions so far, it’s getting hard to keep it all together.  I’ve taken on an action item to create a diagram that shows which statements apply to which projects against the roles of ownership.

I’ve had some great discussions about core and am looking forward to many more.  I hope these notes help bring you up to speed.   As always, comments and discussion are welcome!

READ POST #6: VISUALIZING CORE