Private Cloud Director: DNSaaS & LBaaS
Hey everyone, just wanted to share a couple of highlights from the February 2025 release of Private Cloud Director (PCD). Before we jump into that, I thought it would be helpful to provide some context. Private Cloud Director is a leading VMware alternative that offers the enterprise virtualization features you trust alongside native Kubernetes workloads on a single platform. Platform9 simplifies the transition from VMware with SaaS-managed control planes, freeing your infrastructure to deliver your private cloud workloads without compromise. Our free & open-source migration tool, vJailbreak, helps slash the cost of migrating virtual machines from VMware.
Back on topic: Our February release provided a number of great updates, but I wanted to focus on two features that I think will be particularly useful: DNS as a Service (DNSaaS) and Load Balancer as a Service (LBaaS).
DNS as a Service (DNSaaS): Streamlining DNS Management
Managing DNS can often be a complex task, so we’re introducing DNSaaS in PCD. It’s built on the open-source Designate project, providing a more streamlined way to manage your DNS within your private cloud. Key benefits include:
- Integration and Security: It integrates with PCD’s Identity service, ensuring secure management of DNS zones and records.
- Tenant Isolation: Supports multiple tenants with isolated DNS management to avoid conflicts.
- Simplified Network Addressing: Allows association of DNS domains to virtual networks, simplifying VM network addressing.
- Automation Capabilities: Automates DNS record creation and deletion based on Compute or Networking service actions.
- Backend Flexibility: Supports various DNS backends like PowerDNS, Bind9, and Infobox.
- API Access: REST API for automation.
Essentially, DNSaaS simplifies private cloud DNS management while maintaining multi-tenancy, and reduces the administrative overhead.
Load Balancer as a Service (LBaaS): Efficient Load Balancing
The new Load Balancer as a Service (LBaaS) is powered by Octavia with the OVN provider driver. This implementation offers some key advantages:
- No Dedicated VMs: It eliminates the need for dedicated load balancer VMs (required with Octavia’s default provider driver), handling load balancing within the distributed router using OpenFlow rules.
- Faster Deployment: Offers faster load balancer deployment times.
- Simplified Management: Provides a more simplified management experience.
- High Availability: Supports health monitoring to ensure high availability for applications.
LBaaS is designed to provide a more efficient and scalable approach to load balancing, without the overhead of managing or provisioning dedicated VMs.
For more detailed information, please refer to the complete February 2025 release notes. And if you’re interested in exploring how Private Cloud Director could benefit your infrastructure, feel free to reach out.
- Private Cloud Director: DNSaaS & LBaaS - March 10, 2025