Platform9 OpenStack: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is Platform9?
Platform9 is the simplest way for organizations to implement an OpenStack-based, agile, self-service private cloud, with intelligent self-service provisioning of workloads onto their private infrastructure. With Platform9, organizations can go from just a bunch of virtualized or non-virtualized servers to a fully operational, OpenStack-based cloud in a matter of minutes. Platform9 significantly reduces operational complexity of managing your OpenStack environment by automating all parts of private cloud management.
Platform9 is built by VMware veterans with years of experience building core virtualization and infrastructure management software. Platform9 was created with the vision to significantly reduce operational complexity in managing virtualized datacenters and transforming them into nimble, next-generation software-defined datacenters. Platform9 strives to bring enterprise-grade private cloud experience to enterprises.
Who is Platform9 suitable for?
Platform9 is designed for:
- IT leaders looking to transform their infrastructure into next-generation, OpenStack-based, software-defined datacenters, building better visibility into infrastructure across datacenter geographies and better policy-based automation and control.
- IT and engineering leaders looking to empower their end users with self-service private cloud while building full visibility and retaining control on their infrastructure.
- Organizations looking to reduce their spend on public clouds and looking for a private cloud alternative that offers the same simplicity of user experience while significantly reducing cost both from capex and opex perspectives.
How is Platform9 different from other OpenStack offerings?
Following are the key differentiators that separate Platform9 from other similar offerings in the market.
Key Differentiators
- 100% Cloud Managed: Platform9’s cloud-based model means that there is no complex management software to setup, monitor and upgrade, thus simplifying the operational experience.
- Single Pane of Glass: Platform9 offers unified management across diverse environments – KVM, VMware vSphere and Docker- across datacenters and geographies.
- Non-disruptive integration with existing environments: On creating a Platform9 private cloud for their environment, administrators can import their existing servers and workloads into Platform9 non-disruptively within minutes. Existing storage and networking are seamlessly discovered and reported into Platform9 interface on pairing your server infrastructure with Platform9.
How does Platform9 work?
When a Platform9 account is deployed for your organization, under the hood we deploy what we call a “controller” node on behalf of your account somewhere in the cloud. We then give you agents stamped with your own identity that you can deploy within your infrastructure. Once deployed, the agents make outbound connection to the cloud-based controller, creating a channel through which Platform9 is able to both discover information about your environment and configure your environment into an OpenStack-based private cloud.