Rackspace Openstack Cloud On a Budget

The more we have gained experience on the OpenStack platform, the more we began wondering how large of a Rackspace cloud we could build on re-sold enterprise level hardware. This would be perfect for POC (proof of concept) labs, R&D computing development, or even a small office computing cloud. The goal was to get a cloud up and running with little cost, without sacrificing enterprise server features, but also not expecting a full NOC center. We would assume that UPS’s or networking equipment are already provided and/or not necessary.

The only place we have found to purchase reliable second-hand equipment, is eBay. So we logged on to find out how big of a Rackspace OpenStack Private Cloud we could build on a $10,000 budget using just “Buy it now” pricing and flat shipping.

We’ll follow the base recommendations here: http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/private/openstack_software/ The OpenCenter and Chef server’s have the same bare minimum recommendations. We found on ebay PowerEdge 2950 servers, 2 x Xeon 2.66 Dual cores, 16gb ram and 2x73GB drives (15k sas). Two of these where $508 shipped. The OpenStack Controller Node required a bit more storage space, so we found a PowerEdge R900 2x Xeon E7300 Quad Cores, 16 GB memory, and 5x73GB 15k SAS drives (292 GB Raid 5). Total shipped would be: $400. COMPUTER NODES: So our base setup leaves comes in at $908, with $4092 to spend on some compute nodes. The compute nodes require double the amount of memory of a controller node, so we had to dig a bit deeper on ebay. We found a pretty well loaded Dell PowerEdge 6950 server: 4 x AMD 8218 Dual Core 2.6Ghz, 32GB ram, 292GB Raid-5 15k SAS drives. Each one shipped would be $390 shipped. The seller only had 5 of those, so total would be $1950. We found another seller that had Dell PowerEdge 6850: 4 x Intel Xeon 3.4 Dual cores, 32GB Ram, and 5-146GB 10k drives. We would probably take three of the drives out and keep as spares for each, since we only needed two drives for 146GB raid1. Each one shipped:$460 Seller had four, so we’d load up for a total of $1840. We would have $302 left in the budget for random spare parts or coffee. So to summarize: Bare Cloud Componenets: OpenCenter and Chef Server: $508 OpenStack Controller: $400 9 Compute Nodes: $3790 Total: $4698 Left: $302 So for less than $5000 it is very feasible you could build a decent sized test Private Cloud.

Base Infrastructure

The OpenCenter and Chef server’s have the same bare minimum recommendations. We found on ebay PowerEdge 2950 servers, 2 x Xeon 2.66 Dual cores, 16gb ram and 2x73GB drives (15k sas).

Two of these shipped: $508.

The OpenStack Controller Node required a bit more storage space, so we found a PowerEdge R900 2x Xeon E7300 Quad Cores, 16 GB memory, and 5x73GB 15k SAS drives (292 GB Raid 5).

Total shipped would be: $400.

Compute Nodes:

So our base setup leaves comes in at $908, with $4092 to spend on some compute nodes. The compute nodes require double the amount of memory of a controller node, so we had to dig a bit deeper on ebay. We found a pretty well loaded Dell PowerEdge 6950 server: 4 x AMD 8218 Dual Core 2.6Ghz, 32GB ram, 292GB Raid-5 15k SAS drives. Each one shipped would be $390 shipped.
The seller only had 5 of those, so total would be $1950.

We found another seller that had Dell PowerEdge 6850: 4 x Intel Xeon 3.4 Dual cores, 32GB Ram, and 5-146GB 10k drives. We would probably take three of the drives out and keep as spares for each, since we only needed two drives for 146GB raid1.
Each one shipped:$460
Seller had four, so we’d load up for a total of $1840.

We would have $302 left in the budget for random spare parts or coffee.

Summary:

OpenCenter and Chef Server: $508
OpenStack Controller: $400
9 x Compute Nodes: $3790
Total: $4698
Left: $302

So for less than $5000 it is very feasible you could build a decent sized test Private Cloud. A great way for a SMB IT shop to start experimenting with cutting edge technology, without having to full commit to moving all of their services over.

Of course if you had more of a budget, you could also conceivably build a monster cloud out of eBay servers.