OpenStack tool helps new users find relevant cloud projects

The tool provides data to new users to help them differentiate between the six core services most commonly deployed across every OpenStack cloud, such as Nova, Neutron, Cinder and Swift, and optional services that they may want to use depending on their specific requirements. The information for the website comes from OpenStack technical and user committees.

The tool, which was launched Monday at the OpenStack summit in Tokyo, provides descriptions of projects, access to the project wiki page and documentation.

It also rates services on the number of years the project has been in development, percentage of production deployments running the project, and its maturity, measured on a variety of indicators such as whether or not the project has an install guide and whether seven or more software development kits support it. 

Navigator also provides sample configurations based on real-world user case studies and white papers in the areas of big data, Web hosting, e-commerce, high-throughput computing, public cloud and video processing and content delivery, the foundation said.

First developed by NASA and Rackspace in 2010, OpenStack is an integrated collection of management tools for use in running a cloud service. It has since been adopted by many businesses including Comcast, PayPal, American Express, and Disney.

The foundation has a large number of vendors backing it, and its current board includes representatives of Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Intel.