Towards a Robust FreeBSD-based Cloud: Porting OpenStack Components

This proposal presents a pioneering initiative to integrate OpenStack, an open-source cloud computing platform, with FreeBSD, a robust Unix-like operating system. Traditionally, OpenStack has been closely associated with Linux-based environments, leveraging specific Linux features and technologies. This integration aims to expand OpenStack’s applicability by harnessing FreeBSD’s advanced networking, security, and efficient resource management capabilities.

The project scope involves adapting OpenStack’s key components to function seamlessly within FreeBSD’s system architecture, focusing on virtualization with bhyve and FreeBSD’s unique networking stack. A Proof of Concept (PoC) has been successfully developed, demonstrating the viability of this integration and laying a foundation for further development.

We address several critical challenges in this integration process, including adapting libvirt for bhyve, managing VLANs, modifying Open vSwitch for FreeBSD, ensuring efficient DHCP services, and aligning FreeBSD’s network namespace and firewall functionalities with OpenStack’s requirements. The project also tackles the adaptation of OpenStack’s oslo.privsep library to FreeBSD’s privilege model and addresses the complexities of nested virtualization and VM console access within FreeBSD.

Future work involves expanding the integration to more OpenStack components, enhancing system performance, and fostering collaboration within the FreeBSD and OpenStack communities. This integration represents a significant advancement in cloud computing, offering a versatile platform that combines the strengths of both OpenStack and FreeBSD. The project invites collaboration and contribution from the community to overcome the challenges and fully realize the potential of this innovative integration.

講者

Zespre Chang

Hi, I'm Chih-Hsin Chang. Most of the time, people call me Zespre. I'm working at SUSE and developing an open-sourced HCI project called Harvester. Due to my previous experience in OpenStack and FreeBSD, I also worked on a side project that focused on porting essential OpenStack components from the Linux world to FreeBSD.