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Subject: Re: [VOTE] CloudStack for Apache Incubator
From: Raymond Feng <enjoyjava@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: 
 <61AE1E2837A06D4A8E98B796183842D401044232EA22@SJCPMAILBOX01.citrite.net>
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2012 20:44:24 -0700
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Message-Id: <38757346-258C-4358-B858-C7BB7BFBC75C@gmail.com>
References: 
 <61AE1E2837A06D4A8E98B796183842D401044232EA22@SJCPMAILBOX01.citrite.net>
To: general@incubator.apache.org

+1 (binding).

Thanks,
Raymond

On Apr 9, 2012, at 6:32 PM, Kevin Kluge wrote:

> Hi All.  I'd like to call for a VOTE for CloudStack to enter the =
Incubator.  The proposal is available at [1] and I have also included it =
below.   Please vote with:
> +1: accept CloudStack into Incubator
> +0: don't care
> -1: do not accept CloudStack into Incubator (please explain the =
objection)
>=20
> The vote is open for at least 72 hours from now (until at least 19:00 =
US-PST on April 12, 2012).
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> Thanks for the consideration.
>=20
> -kevin
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> [1] http://wiki.apache.org/incubator/CloudStackProposal
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>=20
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> Abstract
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> CloudStack is an IaaS ("Infrastracture as a Service") cloud =
orchestration platform.
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> Proposal
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> CloudStack provides control plane software that can be used to create =
an IaaS cloud. It includes an HTTP-based API for user and administrator =
functions and a web UI for user and administrator access. Administrators =
can provision physical infrastructure (e.g., servers, network elements, =
storage) into an instance of CloudStack, while end users can use the =
CloudStack self-service API and UI for the provisioning and management =
of virtual machines, virtual disks, and virtual networks.
>=20
> Citrix Systems, Inc. submits this proposal to donate the CloudStack =
source code, documentation, websites, and trademarks to the Apache =
Software Foundation ("ASF").
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> Background
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> Amazon and other cloud pioneers invented IaaS clouds. Typically these =
clouds provide virtual machines to end users. CloudStack additionally =
provides baremetal OS installation to end users via a self-service =
interface. The management of physical resources to provide the larger =
goal of cloud service delivery is known as "orchestration". IaaS clouds =
are usually described as "elastic" -- an elastic service is one that =
allows its user to rapidly scale up or down their need for resources.
>=20
> A number of open source projects and companies have been created to =
implement IaaS clouds. Cloud.com started CloudStack in 2008 and released =
the source under GNU General Public License version 3 ("GPL v3") in =
2010. Citrix acquired Cloud.com, including CloudStack, in 2011. Citrix =
re-licensed the CloudStack source under Apache License v2 in April, =
2012.
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> Rationale
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> IaaS clouds provide the ability to implement datacenter operations in =
a programmable fashion. This functionality is tremendously powerful and =
benefits the community by providing:
>=20
> - More efficient use of datacenter personnel
> - More efficient use of datacenter hardware
> - Better responsiveness to user requests
> - Better uptime/availability through automation
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> While there are several open source IaaS efforts today, none are =
governed by an independent foundation such as ASF. Vendor influence =
and/or proprietary implementations may limit the community's ability to =
choose the hardware and software for use in the datacenter. The =
community at large will benefit from the ability to enhance the =
orchestration layer as needed for particular hardware or software =
support, and to implement algorithms and features that may reduce cost =
or increase user satisfaction for specific use cases. In this respect =
the independent nature of the ASF is key to the long term health and =
success of the project.
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> Initial Goals
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> The CloudStack project has two initial goals after the proposal is =
accepted and the incubation has begun.
>=20
> The Cloudstack Project's first goal is to ensure that the CloudStack =
source includes only third party code that is licensed under the Apache =
License or open source licenses that are approved by the ASF for use in =
ASF projects. The CloudStack Project has begun the process of removing =
third party code that is not licensed under an ASF approved license. =
This is an ongoing process that will continue into the incubation =
period. Third party code contributed to CloudStack under the CloudStack =
contribution agreement was assigned to Cloud.com in exchange for =
distributing CloudStack under GPLv3. The CloudStack project has begun =
the process of amending the previous CloudStack contribution agreements =
to obtain consent from existing contributors to change the CloudStack =
project's license. In the event that an existing contributor does not =
consent to this change, the project is prepared to remove that =
contributor's code. Additionally, there are binary dependencies on =
redistributed libraries that are not provided with an ASF-approved =
license. Finally, the CloudStack has source files incorporated from =
third parties that were not provided with an ASF-approved license. We =
have begun the process of re-writing this software. This is an ongoing =
process that will extend into the incubation period. These issues are =
discussed in more detail later in the proposal.
>=20
> Although CloudStack is open source, many design documents and =
discussions that should have been publicly available and accessible were =
not publicized. The Project's second goal will be to fix this lack of =
transparency by encouraging the initial committers to publicize =
technical documentation and discuss technical issues in a public forum.
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> Current Status
>=20
> Meritocracy
>=20
> CloudStack was originally developed by Sheng Liang, Alex Huang, =
Chiradeep Vittal, and Will Chan. Since the initial CloudStack version, =
approximately 30 others have made contributions to the project. Today, =
Sheng and Will are less involved in code development, but others have =
stepped in to continue the development of their seminal contributions.
>=20
> Most of the current code contributors are paid contributors, employed =
by Citrix. Over the past six months CloudStack has received several =
contributions from non-Citrix employees for features and bug fixes that =
are important to the contributors. We have developed a process for =
accepting these contributions that includes validating the execution of =
a CLA and incorporating the contribution in the CloudStack in a manner =
that reflects the contributor's identity. This process has not followed =
the Apache model.
>=20
> The CloudStack Project has had an open bug database for two years. =
While this database includes ideas for enhancements to CloudStack, the =
committers have historically not asked the greater community for pointed =
assistance. Going forward the Project will encourage all community =
members to become committers and will make clear suggestions for =
features and bug fixes that would most benefit the community and =
Project.
>=20
> Community
>=20
> CloudStack has an existing community comprising approximately 8,000 =
forum members on cloudstack.org and 28,000 registrations for e-mail =
lists and newsletters relating to CloudStack. All forums, developer and =
administrator mailing lists, and IRC channels are active. A number of =
commercial entities (e.g., RightScale, AppFog, EnStratus) and open =
source projects (e.g., jClouds, Chef) have integrated with CloudStack.
>=20
> To date, the community comprises users - people that download a =
CloudStack binary and install it to implement an IaaS cloud. The project =
expects that with independent governance and the openness of the Apache =
development model we will significantly increase the amount of developer =
participation within the community.
>=20
> Core Developers
>=20
> CloudStack spans a wide array of technologies: user interface, =
virtualization, storage, networking, fault tolerance, database access =
and data modeling, and Java, Python, and bash programming. There is =
significant diversity of knowledge and experience in this regard.
>=20
> Several of the initial committers have experience with other open =
source projects. Alex Huang contributed to SCM-bug. Anthony Xu, Edison =
Su, Frank Zhang, and Sheng Yang have prior experience with a combination =
of Xen and KVM. Chiradeep Vittal has contributed to OpenStack. David =
Nalley has been contributing to Fedora for several years. David has also =
contributed to Zenoss, Cobbler, GLPI, OCS-NG, OpenGroupware, Ceph, and =
Sheepdog.
>=20
> CloudStack development to date has largely been done in the U.S. and =
India.
>=20
> CloudStack has largely been developed by paid contributors.
>=20
> Alignment
>=20
> CloudStack has significant integration with existing Apache projects, =
and there are several exciting opportunities for future cross-project =
collaboration.
>=20
> The CloudStack Management Server (i.e., the control plane) is deployed =
as a web application inside one or more Tomcat instances.
>=20
> The Management Server uses Apache Web Services, Apache Commons, Apache =
XML RPC, Apache log4j, and Apache HttpComponents httpcore. It is built =
with Apache Ant.
>=20
> There are strong opportunities for collaboration with other Apache =
Projects. Collaboration with Hadoop has at least two exciting aspects:
> - CloudStack could provide an object store technology (similar to =
Amazon's S3 service) in conjunction with the compute service (similar to =
Amazon's EC2 service) that it already offers. HDFS from the Hadoop =
project is a promising technology for the implementation of the object =
store.
> - It would also be possible to have CloudStack provision Hadoop =
compute nodes, either through virtualization or directly to baremetal. =
With this CloudStack could become an optional or required part of the =
infrastructure control plane for Hadoop.
>=20
> ZooKeeper might be helpful to implement a distributed cloud control =
plane in the future.
>=20
> Derby could be used as alternative database; CloudStack currently uses =
MySQL.
>=20
> ActiveMQ is a good option for some of the communication that occurs in =
the orchestration of the cloud.
>=20
> It would be natural for Apache libcloud and Apache DeltaCloud to =
support the CloudStack API and public clouds that expose it.
>=20
> As mentioned earlier the proposers are seeking an independent =
foundation to provide governance for the project. ASF has clearly been =
successful in providing this, and we believe ASF is the best match for =
the future goals of the project.
>=20
> Known Risks
>=20
> Orphaned products
>=20
> Citrix will work with the community to create the most widely deployed =
cloud orchestration software. Citrix's internal "plan of record" commits =
significant budget to developing the Project through 2014. Investment =
past 2014 is unspecified, but likely to continue given known and =
predicted revenues from derivative commercial products.
>=20
> Citrix is developing a thriving business in conjunction with the prior =
and continued success of the community and use of CloudStack. The =
project may be orphaned in the condition where the Project has failed to =
obtain either non-paid committers or paid committers from other vendors, =
and the committers paid by Citrix are re-assigned to another project.
>=20
> Inexperience with Open Source
>=20
> CloudStack has been open source since May, 2010, with the CloudStack =
2.0 release by Cloud.com.
>=20
> =46rom May, 2010 to August, 2011 CloudStack was "open core", wherein =
approximately 95% of the code was available with a GPLv3 license and 5% =
of the code was proprietary. During this time the bug database was open =
and the source code was available. Project direction and technical =
discussions occurred in a closed fashion. Few technical documents were =
publicly available.
>=20
> In August, 2011 CloudStack transitioned to 100% open source. The 5% =
proprietary code was released publicly with a GPLv3 license. The bug =
database remained open. Project direction and technical discussions =
occurred in a closed fashion. Some technical documents were shared =
publicly.
>=20
> During 2012 the proposers have posted a significant fraction of =
technical documents pertaining to the recent CloudStack 3.0 release =
publicly. Some technical discussion has occurred in the open.
>=20
> In April, 2012 CloudStack was re-licensed under the Apache License v2.
>=20
> Several contributors have prior open source experience. This is =
discussed in the "Core Developers" section.
>=20
> The CloudStack development process must change significantly to =
conform to the Apache model. These changes include: carry on all =
technical conversations in a public forum, develop all technical =
documentation publicly, follow the vote process on contribution =
approvals, and promote individuals beyond the initial committers to =
committer status, based on merit.
>=20
> Homogenous Developers
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> The Project has committers in two locations in India, one location in =
the UK, and one location in the U.S. The technical knowledge of the =
committers is diverse, as evidenced by the wide range of technologies =
that converge in CloudStack. The range of professional experience of the =
committers is diverse as well, from a few months to 20+ years.
>=20
> The initial committers are all associated with the sponsoring entity. =
The Project will have to work with the community to diversify in this =
area.
>=20
> Reliance on Salaried Developers
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> The initial committers are all salaried committers.
>=20
> The initial committers have worked with great devotion to the project =
and have enjoyed its success. We hope this will create an emotional bond =
to the project that will last beyond their employment with Citrix =
Systems.
>=20
> We expect salaried committers from a variety of companies. CloudStack =
is an opportunity for many vendors to enable their software and hardware =
to participate in the changes brought by the development of an API that =
can manage datacenter infrastructure. It is also an opportunity for =
datacenter operators to implement features they find helpful and share =
them with the community.
>=20
> We hope to attract unpaid committers. CloudStack is interesting =
technology that solves many challenging problems, and cloud computing is =
popular in the industry media now. But, few people will run a CloudStack =
deployment for personal use, and this may limit our ability to attract =
unpaid committers. We hope that the technical domain is interesting to =
new committers that will join us in improving CloudStack.
>=20
> Relationships with Other Apache Products
>=20
> Please see the Alignment section above.
>=20
> Apache Brand Awareness
>=20
> We expect that licensing CloudStack under the AL and associating it =
with the Apache brand will attract additional contributors and =
CloudStack users. However, we have selected the ASF as the best =
governance option for the project for the reasons discussed in the =
Rationale. Further, we expect to continue development of the CloudStack =
under the AL with or without the support of ASF.
>=20
> Citrix currently sells a proprietary version of CloudStack released as =
"Citrix CloudStack". For the foreseeable future, Citrix expects to =
continue to sell orchestration software based on CloudStack. Citrix will =
work with the ASF Incubator PMC and within the Podling Branding =
guidelines to ensure that a new branding scheme is selected for Citrix's =
proprietary version of CloudStack that is consistent with ASF's branding =
policies.
>=20
> Documentation
>=20
> The CloudStack project has publicly available administrator =
documentation, source code, forums, and technical specifications. This =
documentation is available at the following sites:
> - http://cloudstack.org: forums, latest news, downloads, blogs; a good =
starting point.
> - http://docs.cloudstack.org: installation guide, administration =
guide, API documentation, technical specifications
> - http://confluence.cloudstack.org: past and future release plans, =
additional technical documentation
> - http://git.cloud.com: current source. See the 3.0.x and master =
branches.
>=20
> Initial Source
>=20
> The genesis of CloudStack's source is discussed in the "Inexperience =
with Open Source" section.
>=20
> Citrix Systems currently owns the CloudStack code base. Committers use =
the repository at git.cloud.com to access and submit code. This =
repository is located in the U.S.
>=20
> We propose to donate the basis for the 3.0.x series of CloudStack =
releases. This is the current release stream. Prior CloudStack versions =
have been kept as GPLv3 and currently receive limited maintenance and no =
feature development. The software associated with these prior versions =
will not be donated to ASF. Further, many branches exist and we see no =
benefit in recreating this historical complexity within ASF =
infrastructure.
>=20
> Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan
>=20
> Multiple intellectual property assets are associated with the =
CloudStack project. First and foremost, the CloudStack source is =
protected by copyright. Upon acceptance into the ASF incubation program, =
Citrix Systems anticipates licensing the CloudStack source to the ASF. =
The licensed code will include all source code from the "master" branch =
at git.cloud.com.
>=20
> In addition to the source code, Citrix systems owns a number of =
trademark and domain name assets that are used by the CloudStack =
project. Citrix anticipates donating substantially all of these =
trademark and domain name assets upon acceptance into the ASF incubation =
program. In particular, Citrix anticipates donating at least the =
CloudStack trademark and related domain names.
>=20
> CloudStack is protected by a number of pending patent applications =
owned by Citrix Systems. Citrix Systems anticipates continuing to =
prosecute and maintain these patent applications upon entry into the ASF =
incubation program. Citrix Systems is dedicated to protecting the larger =
CloudStack community and will continue to obtain patents on CloudStack =
technology as a way to protect contributors and members of the =
CloudStack community from outside threats.
>=20
> Internal Dependencies
>=20
> The CloudStack Management Server has some externally developed code =
embedded in it. This code has come from a variety of sources and has a =
variety of licenses, some of which are not approved by ASF for use in =
Apache projects. We have already begun the process of removing and/or =
re-implementing code that does not have an approved license.
>=20
> [ Please see web page for this content ]
>=20
> Contributions made to the CloudStack prior to the switch to AL were =
done based on a CLA that did not authorize re-licensing the contribution =
to AL. Citrix legal has prepared a new document that requests =
contributors to authorize the re-license to AL. We are asking each such =
contributor to sign this agreement. We will remove and/or re-implement =
the contributions of prior committers that do not sign this agreement. =
We do not expect this issue to materially impact the project.
>=20
> Citrix legal has also prepared a new CLA for the project that =
authorizes AL licensing of contributions. This CLA will be used for =
contributions between the switch to AL and an eventual donation of the =
source to ASF.
>=20
> External Dependencies
>=20
> The CloudStack Management Server uses a significant number of =
libraries. These libraries are redistributed with CloudStack in binary =
form. Some of them have licenses that are not approved by ASF for use in =
Apache projects. We will replace them with other libraries with approved =
licenses or re-write the functions provided by the libraries.
>=20
> We expect that it will take 3 months to remove and/or re-implement the =
problematic embedded source and problematic redistributed libraries.
>=20
> Binary Dependencies
>=20
> [ Please see web page for this content ]
>=20
> System Virtual Machines
>=20
> The CloudStack uses multiple Debian-based virtual machines to =
implement features of the software. The source code that comprises the =
Debian-based virtual machines is GPL licensed.
>=20
> The CloudStack source code includes (AL) scripts that will download =
and build this software. This software is downloaded from repositories =
external to git.cloud.com, and will presumably also be external to any =
Apache-owned infrastructure.
>=20
> The CloudStack will download and deploy virtual machines that are =
built with this GPL software. Once deployed, the CloudStack will install =
AL-licensed software on to these virtual machines.
>=20
> Since this GPL software is not present in the CloudStack repository we =
believe these mechanisms will be approved by ASF for use in the Project, =
but we have included this explanation for completeness.
>=20
> Cryptography
>=20
> The CloudStack makes use of encryption functions available via Java =
and the underlying OS. We expect that the CloudStack will have to follow =
the export control procedures described at =
http://www.apache.org/dev/crypto.html. When the CloudStack was =
previously registered with BIS the open source version qualified for the =
TSU exception.
>=20
> The CloudStack uses https to communicate to XenServer and vCenter. ssh =
and scp are used between the Management Server and hypervisor hosts as =
well.
>=20
> The CloudStack stores an MD5 hash of user password data. The =
CloudStack uses MySQL encryption to store some data in an encrypted =
fashion.
>=20
> The CloudStack stores a pair of API public/secret keypairs for users. =
This is done using javax.crypto.KeyGenerator with HMAC-SHA-1.
>=20
> The CloudStack does not specify key lengths explicitly. It uses SSH, =
SCP and lets them negotiate encryption.
>=20
> The CloudStack provides a public HTTP-based API to provision and =
deprovision VPN users. The CloudStack has internal Java-based =
abstractions for managing VPN users. This Java software makes private =
API calls to another system, which will then provision the VPN user in =
the VPN software on that other system. The actual set up of the VPN =
session is done using L2TP/IPSec.
>=20
> As mentioned earlier the CloudStack includes software to build and =
later deploy Debian-based virtual machines. These VMs are stripped down =
versions of Debian that include encryption sufficient for ssh/scp, =
https, and IPSec VPN to work. The CloudStack does not include the source =
for these VMs. The maximum encrypted throughput of the VPN has not been =
determined.
>=20
> Required Resources
>=20
> Mailing Lists
>=20
> We request mailing lists to match the mailing lists currently in use, =
plus the recommended private list. These are:
>=20
>    cloudstack-private: for confidential PPMC discussion
>    cloudstack-dev: for development discussions
>    cloudstack-user: for administrator and discussions
>=20
> Subversion Directory
>=20
> The CloudStack has used git for approximately two years. We understand =
that there is a "prototype" git server available. We request an =
allocation on this git server. We believe this will be less disruptive =
to the committers than a change to SVN.
>=20
> We request "/repos/asf/incubator/cloudstack".
>=20
> Issue Tracking
>=20
> We would like an allocation for Jira. CloudStack uses bugzilla today, =
but we have been planning a move to Jira for some time. We request that =
the project name be "CloudStack".
>=20
> Other Resources
>=20
> The CloudStack Project includes several websites. Donation of these =
websites was discussed in the IP submission plan. We would like to =
engage in discussion on the logistics of this.
>=20
> Initial Committers
>=20
> In the past few months several new developers have joined the Citrix =
CloudStack team. We are recommending that only the developers with =
several months of experience with CloudStack join as initial committers. =
The Project will then follow the meritocratic process to enable the =
newer team members to become committers. We believe this will be a good =
exercise for us as we transition to an Apache development model in the =
Project.
>=20
> The list of initial committers follows. At this time none of the =
initial committers has a CLA on file with ASF.
>=20
>    Abhinandan Prateek, abhinandan.prateek.at.citrix.com
>    Alena Prokharchyk, alena.prokharchyk.at.citrix.com
>    Alex Huang,alex.huang.at.citrix.com
>    Anthony Xu, xuefei.xu.at.citrix.com
>    Brian Federle, brian.federle.at.citrix.com
>    Chiradeep Vittal, chiradeep.vittal.at.citrix.com
>    David Nalley, david.nalley.at.citrix.com
>    Edison Su, edison.su.at.citrix.com
>    Frank Zhang, frank.zhang.at.citrix.com
>    Janardhana Reddy, janardhana.reddy.at.citrix.com
>    Jessica Tomechak, jessica.tomechak.at.citrix.com
>    Jessica Wang, jessica.wang.at.citrix.com
>    Kelven Yang, kelven.yang.at.citrix.com
>    Kevin Kluge, kevin.kluge.at.citrix.com
>    Kishan Kavala, kisha.kavala.at.citrix.com
>    Murali Reddy, murali.reddy.at.citrix.com
>    Nitin Mehta, nitin.mehta.at.citrix.com
>    Prachi Damle, prachi.damle.at.citrix.com
>    Sam Robertson, sam.robertson.at.citrix.com
>    Sheng Yang, sheng.yang.at.citrix.com
>    Sonny Chhen, sonny.chhen.at.citrix.com
>    Will Chan, will.chan.at.citrix.com
>=20
> Affiliations
>=20
> The initial committers are all affiliated with Citrix Systems.
>=20
> Sponsors
>=20
> Champion
>=20
> Jim Jagielski
>=20
> Nominated Mentors
>=20
> Jim Jagielski, Daniel Kulp, Alex Karasulu, Olivier Lamy, Brett Porter, =
Mohammad Nour, Matt Hogstrom
>=20
> Sponsoring Entity
>=20
> We request that the Incubator sponsor this effort.
>=20
>=20
>=20
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>=20


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