From giving users the power to upload OpenStack compatible images, to managing server images for your cloud, Glance is worth the double-take.
OpenStack Glance is an image service that provides an agile and convenient way to copy and launch instances. With Glance, users are able to upload, discover, register and retrieve virtual machine images with speed and ease. That is to say that you'll be able to spend less time working with images and metadata definitions and more time working on your application.
Today we are going to take a look at Glance, OpenStack's powerful yet agile image service. From giving users the power to upload OpenStack compatible images, to managing server images for your cloud, Glance is worth the double-take. Keep reading to see for yourself.
OpenStack Glance: An Image Speaks A Thousand Words
When it comes to OpenStack Glance, there are many features worth highlighting. For instance, starting with the central image repository, users are able to update through OpenStack's centralized image storage service. Users are able to replicate or use snapshots of images and store them accordingly within their OpenStack powered cloud. Furthermore, this solves the issue of configuration drift, as the centralized image repository that surrounds all infrastructure features consistent updates.
Furthermore, when you need your servers to boot up quickly and efficiently, copy-on-write is there to work with agility. Not only that but copy-on-write has the potential to save your business or enterprise costs by reducing total disk usage. Moreover, it increases efficiency by using stored images as useful templates to get new servers up and running consistently. It's more efficient to provision multiple servers than manually install a server operating system and then configure each additional service manually. This means that Glance's copy-on-write saves users both time and money, two very valuable resources for any business or enterprise.
Uploads, Downloads and Compatibility
Glance enables secure uploads and secure downloads through signed image validation. Meaning that data is able to be validated through Glance prior to being stored within your cloud. Therefore, if validation is unsuccessful then the upload will fail and the image will be deleted. The same goes for all image downloads. If the data cannot perform the appropriate data verification upon image download then it will not be stored within your cloud. Secure sharing of multiple image types across tenants are also possible with Glance. It's possible to share images with specific or all users securely.
In terms of compatibility, Glance isn't restricted to specific servers as it can boot up virtual machines alongside Cinder and Ironic. Thanks to Glance's RESTful API, the querying of virtual machine image metadata as well as the retrieval of the actual image is possible. Finally, one of the benefits of OpenStack's advanced technologies is Glance's simple integration with Cinder block storage under your regular infrastructure. This allows for expert storage and easy to use virtualization of block storage management.
Getting Started With Glance
In conlusion, we've gone over how Glance provides simple OpenStack based image storage in your cloud solution. Certainly, Glance is an easy way to copy and launch instances while allowing you to quickly and securely download and upload images and even features a block storage integration. Thinking of upgrading your cloud solution? Every OpenStack powered cloud features these image storage features.
We at VEXXHOST have been working with OpenStack since 2011 and are OpenStack Certified. Moreover, this means that no one knows an OpenStack powered cloud as we do. Our cloud services contain OpenStack software that validates through testing to provide API compatibility for OpenStack core services.
Curious to learn more about Glance and other OpenStack core services? Contact our team of experts today to learn how Glance can help elevate your cloud strategy.
