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Rackspace Private Cloud

Whether you would like Rackspace’s experts to design a bespoke cloud for you, or if you want to download our free and simple private cloud installer, we can build the perfect cloud for your business and back it with Fanatical Support. Rackspace Private Cloud uses OpenStack® – the same technology as we use to run our Public Cloud, giving you the agility and efficiency of cloud but on dedicated infrastructure for your company. Our experts are available to design and build your cloud, train you on how to manage them and provide ongoing support to your cloud. Contact us via email or call us on 0800 988 0100 for more information.

Deploy your own Rackspace Clouds, and get the training to maximise them

Rackspace Private Cloud makes deploying and managing medium-to-large scale private clouds easy, using the very same software that Rackspace uses to run its own clouds. With technologies and best practices that have been proven at scale, Rackspace is putting the power of OpenStack into both public and private editions of the Rackspace Cloud, ensuring compatibility and interoperability across environments.

Comprehensive training
Organisations across the world are realising the benefits of cloud computing, and the huge potential it offers. We can help you find out how to properly design, deploy, and operate an OpenStack private cloud at scale. Through our training and certification programme, you can walk away understanding the fundamentals of setting up, administering, and troubleshooting Rackspace Private Cloud, all with real-world situations in a training lab environment

Free download of Rackspace Private Cloud software
Harness the power of open source. Our free download means you can deploy clouds in mere minutes, and start enjoying the benefits of vendor freedom. You’ll avoid costly software licensing fees and enjoy a continual stream of features being developed by over 100 contributing companies. Find out more about OpenStack.
Flexible hosting options
We’ll put your cloud in the best place for you. Have private clouds in your data centre managed and run by Rackspace. host an environment in one of our global partner data centres, or let us manage a private cloud for you using dedicated hardware in our data centres.

Fanatical Support
Get as much or as little support as you need. If you decide to purchase additional support, your solution will benefit from a 24x7x365 dedicated Rackspace Escalation support team, access to our experts and assistance with both cloud software and hardware, we’ll do all we can to keep your solution running smoothly. Find out more about Fanatical Support.

Private Cloud training from Rackspace

Find out more about Private Cloud training

We are confident you will find the Rackspace Private Cloud software to be a powerful platform with huge potential, and will want to know more about best practices in how to design, deploy, and operate a private cloud at scale.

Rackspace, one of the founders of OpenStack, invite you to attend hands-on training courses from our experts, full-time OpenStack developers and administrators and will cover off:

Fundamentals of setting up, administering, and troubleshooting OpenStack clouds
How they operate in the real-world (through setups in a training lab environment
Help evaluate use cases to understand better how to improve performance of an existing installation

OpenStack Fundamentals Training

The current training course offered by our team is a four-day OpenStack Cloud Fundamentals class. Two days of the course will be focused on OpenStack Object Storage, and three days on OpenStack Compute and Image Service. Because the classes provide hands-on training with real situations in a training lab environment, they are limited to 12 students per session.

By the end of the OpenStack Compute Course, learners will be able to:

Describe the architecture of an OpenStack Compute Cloud deployment
Define the key features of OpenStack Compute
Identify suitable use-cases for OpenStack Compute
Deploy an OpenStack Compute multi-server environment
Implement and use OpenStack Image Service, OpenStack Identity, and OpenStack Dashboard services
Create and manage images and instances
Create and manage roles, users, and quotas
Understand critical components of fault tolerance and scale
Troubleshoot common issues in an OpenStack Compute environment
Find additional OpenStack help and support resources

By the end of the OpenStack Object Storage Course, learners will be able to:

Describe the architecture of an OpenStack Object Storage deployment
Define the key features of OpenStack Object Storage
Identify suitable use-cases for OpenStack Object Storage
Deploy an OpenStack Object Storage multi-server environment
Use the CLI and API to perform file creation and manipulation
Create and manage roles, permissions, and ACLs
Use best practices in performance and ring management
Understand critical components of fault tolerance and scale
Troubleshoot common issues in an OpenStack Object Storage environment
Find additional OpenStack help and support resources

Our trainers can also deliver a custom, on-site program for your organisation. For more information, contact cloudbuilders@rackspace.com.

Who should take the OpenStack Training?
System administrators and solution architects who will be deploying OpenStack clouds with IT professionals or developers in mind who have at least six months of Linux system administrator experience and are proficient at command line interface use and bash scripting.

Who teaches the courses?
Students have exclusive access to Rackspace OpenStack experts. The team of Rackspace trainers are the authority on the open source technology. All team members have deep experience deploying and operating cloud infrastructure at massive scale. Not only does Rackspace have the OpenStack expertise, but we also bring the spirit and culture of Rackspace Fanatical Support® to every student.

What kind of hands-on experience will the courses provide?
Due to the scalable and distributed nature of the cloud infrastructure, Rackspace will provide an environment with access to clusters of servers to truly understand how to effectively manage and grow a private cloud. Our courses are conducted using our unique multi-system training lab. Students are better able to understand distributed systems through exercises and activities that provide real-world experience. Learn to scale cloud storage across multiple servers and how to expand the computer system as usage increases.

Why you should host your private cloud in a Rackspace data centre

Looking to keep capital expenditure down? Don't concern yourself with purchasing and hosting new hardware. You can scale incredibly quickly and simply when hosting your private cloud with us, thanks to our easy and efficient provisioning infrastructure.

Need more time to focus on your business? Spend time on what really matters: running your business, not your infrastructure. We will provision, manage, maintain and support your entire private cloud environment. That includes escalation support for the OpenStack software layer.

Built for compatibility with the Rackspace Open Cloud. The Rackspace Cloud range includes a plethora of additional products, from Cloud Servers to Hybrid Hosting, in addition to our dedicated server solutions. Choose exactly which of our products you need, and they'll work together to create a perfectly tailored environment.

Why you should run a private cloud in your data centre, or a colocation facility

You'll still benefit from our expertise. Should you add escalation support to your solution, we'll deliver support for your private cloud whether you host in your own data centre or a colocation facility. You’ll always retain complete control, we'll simply be providing our extensive OpenStack knowhow.

Don't want to get rid of that old hardware? Before you throw that existing or outdated hardware away, install a Rackspace Private Cloud on there for a proof of concept test or even a production workload and give it a brand new life. Resurrect your old hardware and make it work for you.

It costs nothing. Add support when you need it. The software package to install and run a Rackspace Private Cloud is absolutely free to access, and was borne out of extensive work with customers and OpenStack users. And whenever you feel like you need more help, we're available 24/7 to discuss your support options.

Helping you support your private cloud

Whether you host in our data centre, your data centre of one of our global colocation data centre partners, we’ll support your private cloud. You can run your cloud wherever you like and you’ll always get direct access to OpenStack experts: we launched OpenStack with NASA, so we know it extremely well.

You can also add Rackspace Escalation Support to your solution, ensuring you'll get the following:

Dedicated support team, available 24x7x365
Unmatched technical expertise of our engineers
No limit on number of escalations and resolutions

If you choose to host your private cloud at a Rackspace data centre, your support will also include:

100% network uptime
Failed hardware replacement guarantee
Hosting in secure and redundant data centres
Infrastructure planning by cloud experts

Additional Resources

Not only will we provide all of the above support, but we've got plenty of additional tools to help you enjoy a smooth, seamless private cloud experience.

You can use our free private cloud forums, open to all Rackspace Private Cloud users. The forums are moderated by OpenStack specialists and the Rackspace support team. We also have a series of helpful guides, from our Getting Started guide to our API guide, and a Rackspace Private Cloud FAQ.

	Software Escalation Support*		Core Software Support **
	Customer DC	Rackspace DC	Customer DC	Rackspace DC
Dedicated Support Team
Unlimited incident support
Entire Life Cycle Coverage – Proof of concept to production
Monthly subscription
Dedicated Account Manager
Timely access to upgrades and patches
Implementation Management
ACCESS AND RESPONSE TIME
Access via phone and ticket
24x7x365 support
Emergency priority	2 Hours	2 Hours	15 minutes	15 minutes
Urgent priority	4 Hours	4 Hours	1 Hour	1 Hour
Standard: Non Critical priority	1 Business Day	1 Business Day	4 Hours	4 Hours
REMOTE SUPPORT FOR RACKSPACE PRIVATE CLOUD SOFTWARE***
Install
Patch
Configure
Troubleshoot
Upgrade Assistance
Resize Environment
Add/Remove OpenStack Services
Monitoring and Alerting
INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT
100% Network Uptime Guarantee
Infrastructure planning
Hardware life cycle management (1hr hardware replacement guarantee)
Highly secure data centres and network

_{* Software Escalation Support does not include support for Object Storage (Swift)

**Software Support for Swift Object Storage must be purchased separately

*** Rackspace Engineers remotely log on to your Private Cloud environment to provide assistance}

Service Level Agreements Definitions of Severity:

Emergency: Customer is unable to fulll their business objectives
Urgent: Customer business objectives are impaired, but not completely obstructed.
Standard: Non-Critical: Some anomalous OpenStack related behaviour in Customer's Private Cloud.

Features

Introducing OpenCenter^™

OpenCenter™ for Rackspace Private Cloud Software simplifies the operational activities associated with deploying, managing, and maintaining private clouds powered by OpenStack.

OpenCenter can remotely install OpenStack services within your existing infrastructure – removing the need for CDs. Additionally, it provides a central cloud management toolset that can be deployed locally within your own cloud and data centre infrastructure.

Open-sourced under the Apache 2.0 license, OpenCenter is one more way that we're helping to simplify the Rackspace Private Cloud Software's core operational functions, so your private cloud is deployed and maintained with ease.

High availability

High Availability for Rackspace Private Cloud is designed to provide resiliency in the OpenStack controller nodes and in other services such as RabbitMQ. Additional protection for the database is gained by introducing a multi-master configuration option. With High Availability, your Rackspace Private Cloud infrastructure is built to remain online in the event of a failure.

Enhanced Compatibility

Rackspace Private Cloud Software is compatible with Ubuntu, RedHat Enterprise Linux and CentOS.

Enhanced storage capabilities

New capabilities in the software allow you to connect an enterprise storage NetApp array to the Private Cloud infrastructure.

Base features

Compatible with Ubuntu 12.04, RHEL and CentOS
KVM Virtualisation
Chef Server
OpenStack Folsom Release

Other OpenStack projects, extensions and configurations not listed are not compatibility tested, and may not be suitable for Rackspace Private Cloud use.

Recommended system requirements

To install the Rackspace Private Cloud Software you need compute resources for the 3 key roles within the infrastructure. In addition to these resources you will need a minimum of one additional server for Rackspace Private Cloud Compute, and three additional servers for Rackspace Private Cloud Object Storage.

OpenCenter Server (minimum specification)

16GB RAM
60GB disk space
4 CPU cores

Chef Server (minimum specification)

16GB RAM
60GB disk space
4 CPU cores

Controller node

16GB RAM
144GB disk space (more if Glance resides on the same server)
4 CPU cores