Operational Concept: bwCloud Region Freiburg

Operational Concept[concept_freiburg_1]

The bwCloud Freiburg region sees itself as an idea cloud. The focus here is on providing an environment for re-deployable services each size. We want to provide an environment, in which each researcher can implement and tests their idea.

This means that services do not depend on the state of a VM, but can be "pushed" to the cloud on-demand and started there. Relevant data should be stored on secure storage areas and not on the cloud's own storage (in the form of volumes or images). We do not offer data backup.

One option for outsourcing to/using external storage is to mount corresponding NFS or object storage resources. It is also recommended that data is regularly backed up to appropriate secure storage systems.

Region Freiburg, Operational Concept

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Productive- and Experimental-bwCloud[concept_freiburg_2]

To be able to test various cloud functions as part of projects, there are two independent computer clusters: Productive- and Experimental-bwCloud Freiburg.

On the one hand, the current Productive-bwCloud, for all standard requirements, with a focus on stability. This corresponds to the familiar and covers the needs of most users. On the other hand, there is an Experimental-bwCloud for testing new features, e. g. for the integration of GPUs or long-term scheduling or for ongoing work by students. This is also the computer cluster on which the next Productive-bwCloud will be built.

Region Freiburg, Operational Concept

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Migrating the Exprimental- to a new Productive-bwCloud[concept_freiburg_3]

1. In the migration period, Openstack objects (instances, storage media, shadow copies, ...) can be moved from the Productive-bwCloud to the Experimental-bwCloud. This is also possible between instances.
2. During maintenance, all instances and services in the Productive-bwCloud and Experimental-bwCloud are stopped. The bwCloud provides an image for each instance in the Productive-bwCloud.
3. After maintenance, (1) the Productive-bwCloud is the Inactive-bwCloud and users can no longer start instances here. (2) The Exprimental-bwCloud is the new Productive-bwCloud and users can restart before migrated instances or create new ones here.
4. During a communicated transition period, users can move images from the Inactive-bwCloud to the Experimental-bwCloud themselves.
5. After the transition period, all Openstack objects are deleted from the Inactive-bwCloud.
6. A new Experimental-bwCloud will be provided at a later date.

Region Freiburg, Maintenance

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