Three use cases for Leaseweb Private Cloud, powered by Apache CloudStack

Like we announced in this press release, last week we launched the Leaseweb Private Cloud, powered by Apache CloudStack. With this new solution, we are addressing the need for a flexible, resource-pool based, private cloud product. The offering is based on Apache CloudStack, and gives customers full control over their private cloud, while we take care of the redundant infrastructure.

Before the product was launched, we worked with a number of customers, fine-tuning the offering and platform. In this post, I’ll go through some use cases for our new resource pool to show some of the amazing things customers can do with the new product.

1. Flexible resource assignment
   Some customers have shifting workloads. They need to be able to quickly assign capacity to parts of their infrastructure, scaling up using various instance types and sizes. With the new private cloud, this is a simple task: out of the box, the product supports multiple options to create templates and clone instances. In a matter of minutes, additional web servers, database servers or other instance types can be created. If your infrastructure is not horizontally scalable, existing instances can be scaled up by adding CPU and memory when needed. As the resource pool contains flexible capacity, the customer controls how and where to assign that capacity.
2. Failsafe maintenance and backups
   Storage capacity is an essential part of a resource pool. We provide storage in a flexible manner similar to other resources, with functionality to use the storage pool as you wish: for storing instance data, ISO images, snapshots, or templates. One scenario where this flexibility is especially useful is in maintenance situations. When upgrading or performing other maintenance of infrastructure, the ability to roll back to the starting situation is essential. Using the storage facility in the resource pool, an engineer can take a snapshot of any instance. Should maintenance fail for whatever reason, the state of the instance at the time of the snapshot can simply be restored – reducing complicated rollback scenario’s to a predictable mechanism that allows you to have your infrastructure back online within minutes when needed.
3. Advanced networking setups
   Any instance in the new private cloud can be connected to a choice of networks. Customers have the option to create their own private networks without having to consult a Leaseweb engineer, and can use these immediately. Along with these networks, virtual routers, firewalls and load balancers can be deployed – opening up the option of creating multi-tier setups. All of these virtual networking elements can be fully controlled and configured via the CloudStack dashboard or API. For developer-oriented architectures, we support the creation of VPN instances, shielding development (or otherwise private) networks from the Internet, making them available exclusively over a VPN tunnel.

Feedback is essential

The Leaseweb Private Cloud, powered by Apache CloudStack is just the start. We are actively working with customers, getting their feedback, adjusting product and platform, and are contributing our work back to the Apache CloudStack community. For this reason, we are always interested in ways we can make our products even better. Let us know in the comments if you have any suggestions, feedback or questions. Should you be interested in learning how our private cloud can help you introduce more flexibility in your infrastructure, contact our sales team, and they’ll be happy to help!