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Your own AWS-compatible cloud with Eucalyptus

Cloud in a Box

Article from ADMIN 17/2013

By Tim Schürmann

If you don't trust the cloud services of Amazon or cannot store customer data there for privacy reasons, you can create your own Eucalyptus cloud that is compatible with the Amazon tools and can be installed in a flash.

Eucalyptus originated as a research project at the University of California [1]. In 2009, the spinoff Eucalyptus Systems Inc. took over further development and commercialization. The software has been available ever since in two flavors: a free open source version, which is completely under the GPLv3 license, and the commercial Eucalyptus Enterprise Edition, which supports the integration of SANs and VMware infrastructure.

Homegrown Amazon

Eucalyptus builds a cloud from several computers in which you can start virtual machines and access storage – much like what Amazon offers with its AWS services. However, with Eucalyptus, you are the operator of the cloud. Administrators not only have complete control, the servers, and thus the data, remain within your own company walls. A Eucalyptus cloud can even be set up quickly on one computer (see the "All on One" box).

All on One

You can install all of the Eucalyptus components on a single physical computer. In fact, the Eucalyptus developers officially support this mode. This "cloud-in-a-box" approach is ideal for small workgroups and administrators who want to experiment with the settings.

The FastStart Medium lets you quickly install the Cloud-in-a-Box. In the boot menu, just select Install CentOS 6 with Eucalyptus cloud-in-a-box . The wizard then asks some questions, as with any normal installation.

To start a cloud with Eucalyptus, you need physical computers that have processor support for the Intel VT or AMD-V virtualization feature. A test installation on VirtualBox or VMware is therefore not possible, but a workaround exists for KVM [2]. The computers should have at

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