Cloud Blueprint (OpenStack)
Purpose: For platform engineers, explains the Cloud blueprint — how Genestack deploys a production-grade private cloud using Helm, Kustomize, and Kubernetes operators.
Overview
Kubernetes and OpenStack under one operating model. Genestack deploys OpenStack services on Kubernetes via Helm and Kustomize — from bare metal to running VMs and containers side by side, same ops, same tooling.
External documentation: docs.rackspacecloud.com
Pillars
Compute (Nova)
- VM lifecycle on Kubernetes-managed infrastructure
- KVM/QEMU through libvirt for virtualization
- Bare-metal nodes via Ironic (PXE, IPMI, automated re-provisioning)
- Placement tracks resource allocation and horizontal scaling groups
Networking (Neutron + Kube-OVN)
- Software-defined networking with OVS/OVN
- Virtual networks, routers, security groups, floating IPs
- Load balancers via Octavia
- Kube-OVN as CNI plugin bridging Kubernetes and OpenStack networking
- Gateway API for ingress/egress
- Leaf-spine network architecture with two-hop east-west traffic
Storage (Cinder + Longhorn + Ceph)
- Block storage: Cinder for VM volumes, Longhorn for Kubernetes PVCs with replication
- Object storage: Ceph and Swift
- CSI plugins with multiple backends: iSCSI, RBD, NFS, LVM
- Commodity hardware — no proprietary storage required
Observability
- Prometheus + Alertmanager (metrics and alerting)
- Fluentbit + Loki (log aggregation)
- Grafana (dashboards)
- Datadog integration available as alternative
OpenStack Services
| Service | Role |
|---|---|
| Keystone | Identity and authentication |
| Nova | Compute — VM lifecycle |
| Neutron | Networking — SDN, security groups |
| Cinder | Block storage |
| Glance | Image management |
| Placement | Resource tracking and allocation |
| Heat | Orchestration (stacks, templates) |
| Horizon / Skyline | Dashboard UI |
| Octavia | Load balancing |
| Ironic | Bare-metal provisioning |
| Barbican | Key management and secrets |
| Magnum | Container orchestration (Kubernetes on OpenStack) |
| Masakari | Instance high availability |
| Ceilometer | Telemetry and metering |
| Gnocchi | Time-series database for telemetry |
Total: 15 OpenStack services managed on Kubernetes.
Architecture
| Layer | Components |
|---|---|
| Compute | Nova, Ironic, Placement, KVM/QEMU, libvirt |
| Network | Neutron, Kube-OVN, OVS/OVN, Octavia, Gateway API |
| Storage | Cinder, Longhorn, Ceph, Swift |
| Identity | Keystone, Barbican |
| Orchestration | Heat, Magnum |
| Observability | Prometheus, Loki, Grafana, Ceilometer, Gnocchi |
| Backing services | MariaDB, RabbitMQ, Memcached (operator-managed with auto-failover) |
Key Characteristics
- OpenStack services deployed and managed on Kubernetes via Helm and Kustomize
- Kubernetes operators manage backing services (MariaDB, RabbitMQ, Memcached) with automatic failover
- Production and test deployment modes from the same codebase
- Leaf-spine network architecture with Kube-OVN bridging K8s and OpenStack planes
- Bare-metal provisioning with Ironic — PXE boot, IPMI, automated re-provisioning
- All platform foundation services (observability, security, GitOps) apply unchanged
Further Reading
- Platform Foundation — services inherited by this blueprint
- Blueprint Catalog — all blueprints