Slicehost

We want to make you aware that beginning in September, due to a change in our underlying subscription arrangements with Red Hat, we can no longer offer a daily pro-rated billing option for RHEL instances. Slicehost customers will be billed for RHEL instances on a monthly rather than pro-rated daily basis.

However, the total cost of service for most RHEL customers will likely go down under the monthly billing model.

Both Rackspace Cloud and Slicehost will begin charging RHEL customers a monthly $20 licensing fee. This license fee won’t be prorated, so every Slice you spin up with RHEL will be subject to a full month’s license fee.

What this means for Slice customers:

• Instead of being billed for your RHEL license on a pro-rated daily basis, customers using Red Hat will be billed on a monthly basis (normal monthly billing cycle).

• The Slice itself will continue to be billed on a pro-rated basis - this only affects the RHEL license.

• The new fee for RHEL has been reduced to $20 per month per Slice.

• Every Slice you spin up with RHEL will be subject to a full month’s license fee, no matter how long you use it. If a Slice with RHEL is running for any portion of a month, then you will be billed for that month’s license fee.

Thank you for your understanding as we shift to monthly billing for RHEL users. If you would like help understanding how this might affect your personal usage please feel free to submit a ticket via the SliceManager, email us (support@slicehost.com) or pop into chat 24/7.

Imagine a world where code used by the biggest clouds is freely available to any developer, anywhere. A world where that code was a standard used to build private clouds as well as a variety of new service offers. In this world, workloads could be moved around these clouds easily - you could fire your cloud provider for bad service or lack of features, but not have to rewrite the software to do it. Imagine an open source cloud operating system that lifts IT to the next level of innovation, just as Linux drove the web to new heights.  

Today, we at Rackspace launched an ambitious project called OpenStack that aims to make this new world a reality.

I want to lay out the thinking that got us here and why we think this moment will change computing forever.  

"The cloud" at its most fundamental level is all about a massive supply increase in computing power. The PC era was all about putting a computer on every desk. The cloud era goes a step further, putting the power of supercomputing at the literal fingertips of every individual at anytime.  Whether it's enabling a youth soccer coach to schedule practice across the online calendars of 18 families, or helping a scientist fold proteins to design new cancer drugs, or encouraging a frontline employee to instantly and cheaply test a new marketing campaign, the exponential growth in computing power and applications is changing every corner of our economy and society. And, this era is truly just beginning. We have seen only a tiny fraction of the potential gains that arise from cheap, ubiquitous computing power.  

As this landscape has evolved, some have dismissed cloud computing as just a return to the mainframe era. This view is fundamentally wrong.  Mainframes were available to only the smartest employees at the richest companies. The cloud is accessible to all, and usable by anyone, at low cost. Its ubiquity is the source of its power.

However, there is one area where mainframe concepts are intruding into the cloud - the vertically integrated technology stack. As hardware and software merge into services, the danger of locked down proprietary software stacks are emerging in the cloud space. The cloud world changes everything, and that is not good to many entrenched interests of the old guard. Core technologies from operating systems to hypervisors to databases are being used to tie cloud customers into an integrated view of the world.  

If the web has taught us anything, it is that open systems, portability, and choice drive innovation. The open Linux system brought us a mountain of software and tools to help accomplish almost any task. And, each component, whether a database or a widget could be moved in and out freely based on the job getting done.  

We at Rackspace have long talked about an "open" cloud. And as a service provider built on our Fanatical Support difference, we have never had an interest in creating technical walls around our service. But, given that no standards tools have emerged to build massively scalable clouds, we too have had to build custom software that creates some level of wall around our cloud offerings. For months we have debated how to drive greater standards and increase the velocity of cloud technologies in general. We finally converged on the obvious answer:  open source our cloud technology.

Today, we announced a new open source project that includes those core technologies: OpenStack.  And, we are not alone.  As we looked at all the projects that already existed to drive standards we saw that other efforts were underway that complemented what we have done. We saw a ton of promise in the Nebula computing project built by NASA and are making it a core part of the project.  Taking the contributions of Rackspace and NASA as a starting point, OpenStack forms a powerful foundation of technologies including, a scalable compute provisioning engine - OpenStack Compute - and a fully distributed storage engine - OpenStack Object Storage.  

The community, which we plan to actively support and drive, is live today at openstack.org with code available for download.  

Last week we assembled a strong group of cloud community leaders and developers to meet and review the architecture, engage on technology direction and contribute code. The effort attracted more than 100 participants from 25 companies including hosting companies, telecom providers, hardware manufacturers, cloud ecosystem companies and beyond. This enthusiasm and collaboration around OpenStack has laid the foundation for a vibrant and innovative approach to building the core software to power the future cloud world. 

What do we expect OpenStack to mean for the cloud community? Some pretty major things. One, anyone will be able to run this cloud and do it anywhere. Enterprises and governments will be able to build private clouds. Service providers will have the same technology used by Rackspace and NASA to build new offers. Choice and portability are inevitable in this world. Two, the whole tech ecosystem can build around this foundation. With wide adoption, there will be a market for new services all around this core engine. From storage systems to monitoring tools to management systems, there is no end to what can be attached to the core project. Three, the cloud will advance faster than ever. Between just NASA and Rackspace, an army of developers are committed to the continued advancement of OpenStack.  With our emerging supporters in the project, we expect to dramatically expand that army. Finally, a core set of standards will be freely available and totally open. New technologies can be attached. Better solutions will be driven into the product. And, the use of this powerful technology will not tie you to the use of any other technologies.

For our customers, we think there are many benefits that flow from these community gains. Not only will this help our offers develop faster and more transparently, but our customers can run private editions of our core systems in house or in our managed hosting operation.  

We could not be more excited about the launch of this project and the enthusiasm around it. As a company that has invested a great deal in the development of cloud technologies, we did not take the decision to open source lightly. We think this decision will serve our interests and those of our customers. While we at Rackspace hire top developers and engineers to make sure our technology is second to none, seeking a technology advantage has never been our approach.   We have our own vision about how to deploy this technology and serve customers - by giving them seamless access to scalable computing with the trusting partnership that comes through Fanatical Support. But, there will be many approaches and winning formulas. We think by welcoming those approaches and driving standards and more rapid innovation we will all win.  

We hope you join us in this cause. We know there are many parties who might want to join us in the effort, please reach out to us.  

We look forward to updating you as we make progress.

Author: Lew Moorman - President, Cloud and Chief Strategy Officer

Arch Linux 2010.05 64-bit is now an available option in the SliceManager when building a new slice as well as rebuilding an existing one.

As always, please note that any existing data on the slice will be erased if you choose to rebuild a slice using this image.

On Tuesday, June 15th, we will be removing the previous Arch Linux image, 2009.02, as an available option. If you wish to continue utilizing this image, you can take a backup of an existing slice in the SliceManager.

If you have any questions or concerns, please come visit with us in SliceChat or via email at support@slicehost.com. We are available 24 hours a day.

We are pleased to announce that 32-bit and 64-bit support for Fedora 13 (Goddard) images are now available in the SliceManager.

In order to take advantage of these images, you can add a new slice to your account or rebuild an existing slice in the SliceManager. Please keep in mind that the rebuild process will erase any existing data on the slice.

We also have a few Fedora 13 specific setup articles to help you in configuring and securing your slice as soon as possible.

Fedora 13 Setup Part 1

Fedora 13 Setup Part 2

Furthermore, please be aware that Fedora will no longer support Fedora 11 (Leonidas) after June 25th, 2010. At this time, we will also remove this image as an available option in the SliceManager. If you wish to retain a Fedora 11 image after June 25th, you can take a backup of an existing slice to do so.

If you have any questions or run into any issues our support staff is available in SliceChat 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We can also be reached via email at support@slicehost.com

CentOS 5.5 was released earlier this afternoon and we are happy to bring you a 32-bit as well as a 64-bit image that are now both available in the SliceManager.

These images are ready to be put to use for any rebuilds or new slice builds. If you do choose to rebuild your slice, please note that any existing data will be erased.

A big thank you to Major from our operations team for his hard work in making these images available.

If you come across any issues or have any questions, please feel free to come see us in SliceChat at any time. We are available 24 hours a day in chat and can be reached via email at support@slicehost.com as well.

Update: We have setup articles for CentOS 5.5 available as well:

CentOS 5.5 Setup - part 1

CentOS 5.5 Setup - part 2

On Monday, May 31st, we will be removing CentOS 5.3 as an available option from the image repository. As always, if you wish to continue utilizing this image, you can take a backup of an existing slice in the SliceManager. The CentOS 5.4 and 5.5 images will still be available.

Canonical released Ubuntu Lucid Lynx earlier today and we are pleased to announce that the 32-bit and 64-bit version are now available for your slice as well.

Something to take notice of is that this release is an LTS (Long Term Support) version. This means that Canonical will continue to provide security updates and bug fixes for the applications available from their repositories for a period of five years, as opposed to 18 months with a normal release.

If you wish to take advantage of this new Ubuntu Lucid image, please login to the SliceManager to create a new slice or you can perform a rebuild of an existing slice. Keep in mind that a rebuild will erase any existing data on the slice.

Our community liaison, Jered, was nice enough to put together a few setup articles to help you get started right away with configuring and securing your Ubuntu Lucid slice.

Ubuntu Lucid Setup Part 1

Ubuntu Lucid Setup Part 2

There is also an Ubuntu Lucid category where you can find other articles that have been tested for this distribution.

On another note, Canonical will end support for Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex tomorrow April 30th, 2010. Therefore, we will be removing this image as an option in two weeks time to avoid any complications. If you wish to preserve a base image of Ubuntu Intrepid, you can do so by creating a backup in the SliceManager.

If you have any questions or would like to speak directly with a member of our support team, we are available 24 hours a day in our official SliceChat room. Additionally, please feel free to email us at support@slicehost.com at any time.

Today, Slicehost is excited to announce that we now support the following full 32-bit images:

• Fedora 12 32-bit
• Gentoo 10.1 32-bit
• CentOS 5.4 32-bit
• Debian 5.0 Lenny 32-bit
• Ubuntu 8.04.2 (Hardy) LTS 32-bit
• Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) 32-bit
• Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic) 32-bit

The new images are readily available in our STL-B, DFW and ORD data centers.

In order to take advantage of these offerings, you can either rebuild your current slice or opt to use the 'Add A Slice' feature under the 'My Slices' tab in the SliceManager.

We understand there may be some questions regarding these images, so please allow me to answer a few of them:

Q. What's the difference between these new 32-bit images and the the ones we previously provided?

A. Prior to the release of these full 32-bit images, each BETA 32-bit instance ran a 64-bit kernel. This caused the odd amount of confusion with some package managers and other software.

These new instances will allow you to run a full 32-bit Linux image - that is to say, a 32-bit kernel and a 32-bit userland.

Q. What happens if I am already running a slice that uses the previously provided 32-bit instances?

A. Your instances will not be affected by this change. You can continue running your mixed instance for as long as you need to. However, it's recommended you update to the 32-bit kernel that is available via the SliceManager. This will provide you will the full 32-bit experience.

Q. What if I currently have a slices located in STL-A, but would like to take advantage of this offer as well?

A. If you would like to build a 32-bit instance but currently have slices located in STL-A, we would be happy to build a slice for you in one of our other DCs. Simply contact our support team by submitting a request through the SliceManager and we'll get you a new Slice in just a few minutes.

If you experience any issues or have any further questions regarding these images, please visit us in SliceChat, open a ticket or drop us a line at support@slicehost.com.

Adding to last week's announcement, we are happy to introduce a 32-bit image for CentOS 5.4 that is now available in the SliceManager.

This image was created in the same manner as the previous 32-bit images and for this reason, will carry the beta label as well.

I want to thank Major from the RackspaceCloud Operations team in addition to Seth Vidal from the Fedora Project, for working together to make this image available.

If you have any questions or concerns, please visit with us in SliceChat at any time.

Following requests for 32-bit images I am pleased to be able to offer 32-bit images for Ubuntu Hardy, Jaunty and Karmic as well as Debian 5.0 (Lenny).

We had a discussion on our forums surrounding the images and we have labelled them as 'beta'.

The reason for the beta label is we have created a 64-bit Slice and kernel with a 32-bit userland. This means that if you installed apache with an 'aptitude install apache2', the 32-bit version will be pulled from the relevant repository and installed on your Slice. In addition, it also means you are able to natively run 64-bit executables.

Unfortunately, 64-bit versions of RPM-based distributions such as CentOS and Fedora do not have 32-bit ELF support in /sbin/init, so we are unable to offer similar images of these distributions at this time.

To add a 32-bit Slice, head to the Slicemanager and click 'Add a Slice' and select your preferred distro from the image dropdown.

As always, we are available 24/7 in our chatroom should you have any questions.

Cheers, Paul

Edit: I clarified the sentence regarding 32-bit ELF support as it was possibly causing some confusion

Wow. We've had a mad 24 hours but we are very pleased to announce we have a shiny new Ubuntu Karmic Koala Slice image up and running.

If you want to try it, then log into the (Slicemanager) and fire up a new Slice or you could rebuild your current Slice with a fresh Koala image (remember a rebuild will wipe the Slice though!).

The kernel issues we talked about yesterday have been solved by the wonderful Systems Team. If you happen to be in our IRC lounge (Freenode, #slicehost) then do send a wave of thanks to RackerHacker and Ant. They have worked their little socks off on this one and have done a great job.

I think you know we don't recommend upgrading a distro from the command line but, hey, if you want to, then the latest kernel will allow you to do just that.

For those that do decide to go the command line route, then you will want to upgrade the kernel, via the Slicemanager, before you upgrade the distro. Good luck!

Thanks for your patience and support while we sorted out the kernel issues. It goes without saying (although I'll just go ahead and say it anyway) that if you have any issues then let us know. The best ways of getting in touch are to open a ticket via the Slicemanager or to join us in our chatroom 24/7.

Cheers, Paul

IMPORTANT NOTICE - PLEASE READ:

Ubuntu is our most popular distro and we expect a keen uptake once Karmic Koala is released tomorrow (29th Oct 2009).

However, I wanted to take this chance to give you a warning that you should wait to upgrade your Ubuntu Slice, via the command line, until we have a kernel that works with the new release. We are working hard behind the scenes to make sure there will be a working, reliable kernel but it may take us a few days to get this ready.

If you do upgrade via the command line, then your Slice WILL NOT boot!

To recover your data you will need to enter rescue mode and transfer your data.

PLEASE BE WARNED!

We are working hard to get a viable release out as soon as possible and you should wait until we have an official Ubuntu Karmic Koala distro before attempting to upgrade your Slice by hand. As an aside, we never recommend upgrading a Slice via the command line anyway.

If you have any questions or concerns then please do send us an email (support@slicehost.com) or open a ticket via the Slicemanager (under the Help tab) or come and chat to us, 24/7, in our chatroom.

Thanks for your patience and we will get a working Ubuntu Karmic Koala out as soon as we possible can.

Paul.

UPDATE:

Thursday, 29th Oct 2009:

So we have a working kernel and we are going to be abusing it pretty hard over the next 24 hours to make sure it comes up to Slicehost standards!

We hope to get it out tomorrow (Fri, 30th Oct) afternoon, US Central time.

Any changes and I'll let you know.

Cheers, Paul

Until now, if you needed a different kernel for your Slice, you had to enter a ticket. Although the process was quick and relatively painless, we wanted to make things even easier.

We are happy to say that you can now select which kernel you would like for your Slice right from within the Slicemanager. This means there will be no delay in changing the kernel and you can swap them around as you see fit!

We tweaked the Slicemanager display to make things a little easier. Let's see what the Slice information page looks like:

Kernel Selection:

To change the kernel, click the 'kernel' link and then select your preferred version. As noted in the Slicemanager, this will immediately reboot your Slice into the new kernel:

That's it, done.

As always, do come into our chatroom if you have any questions. See you there!

PickledOnion

The blog has been a little quiet as of late, but we've been busy working on several updates.

CentOS Updated

CentOS was recently updated to version 5.2, now available for new Slices and rebuilds. (If you want to upgrade an existing CentOS installation you'll have to do so using the standard CentOS upgrade path.)

Newer Kernels

We have added support for newer 2.6.24 derived kernels. Currently all new slices are built with these kernels, if you'd like to update any existing slice, let us know via a support request.

SliceManager Security Updates

We've been hard at work on the SliceManager, fixing bugs and adding features. Community feedback has been an invaluable resource, notably in a recent discussion in the SliceForum regarding SliceManager security. We have several options on the table, most of which are still under discussion, but we decided to push out a couple of simple ones right away:

• Notify me on SliceManager login failures
• Send Slice root password via email

These can be found under Accounts > Security Preferences. Additionally, we now only allow up to 3 login failures in 30 minutes, significantly reducing the possibility of a brute force break-in to your SliceManager account.

Several updates and features are on the horizon, so stay tuned. If you have any feedback, feel free to leave a comment, forum post, email, or drop by our chat.

Since we first unveiled the API, we have had excellent feedback and suggestions from many of our users. The first release only had support for DNS zones and records, which, as our clamoring customers let us know, was not enough!

So today, I am pleased to announce version 1.3 of the API which includes support for creating, rebooting, and rebuilding Slices. This will allow for quick and easy deployment, taking us another step in the direction of user-specified automation.

This is the first step to adding Slices to the API, which brings along several caveats:

• Slices cannot be deleted using the API
• OS Images available are currently only public images; you cannot yet build or rebuild from backups

Also note that the charges for new Slices are prorated the same as in the SliceManager.

The future of the API will is dependent on the feedback we receive; What is most important to you? Please let us know how we can improve our service, and we will do our best to make it possible.

Most of you are familiar with Pickled Onion’s famous articles and tutorials site. Wanting to hit some topics in greater detail, he’s been working on ebooks designed for those new to the Slicehost community. The first batch covers SliceManager:

• Slicehost Account Creation and Login
• Slicehost Account Management
• Slice Administration
• SliceManager DNS Administration

We hope those of you using our services for the first time find these books helpful. Please let us know what you think and send ideas for more topics. And a big cheer for Pickled Onion who put these together!