[ubuntu-cloud] A Basic Eucalyptus Network

[Neil Soman]

On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 8:03 AM, Chase Adams<chase at curvedinfinity.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> I'm new to enterprise level networks, and I'm helping my workplace (a
> very small company) buy new server equipment. We don't really need a
> cloud or any system larger than a single server, but some people in the
> company want something fancy so we look good to potential clients (we
> sell a web-based service to the government).
>
> So, my question is in order to run -- say --- three eucalyptus nodes on
> a subnet in STATIC mode, what would be the minimum hardware required? In
> my personal readings, it seems like I'd need the three nodes, the
> command server, a load balancer, router, and switch. Is that right?
>
> If that's right, the part I've never touched is the HTTP load balancer.
> How does an HTTP request end up getting tossed around through a
> eucalyptus system? When the VMs boot up, claim a physical network
> interface, and get assigned an IP, how does the load balancer know? --
> I'm aware that in STATIC mode letting the load balancer "know" isn't
> necessary, but it seems strange with DHCP or having multiple eucalyptus
> users. It makes me believe I'm missing some feature eucalyptus has. --
> Does the eucalyptus control server forward HTTP requests or something?

If you have 3 nodes in your setup, you don't need to worry about load
balancers or anything else. The only point of contact for users and
user requests is the cloud controller/front end. Communication between
various components of the system is via standard web services
security, but global state is maintained at the front end. The user
doesn't have to worry about individual components and how they
interact (unless, of course, you are interested in
developing/extending eucalyptus). You need one cloud controller, one
cluster controller and one or more nodes. In your setup, you can
install "eucalyptus-cloud" and "eucalyptus-cc" on a single machine and
"eucalyptus-nc" on your nodes.

Here is an overview of various networking modes, what features they do
(or more importantly, do not, provide) and how to set them up.

http://open.eucalyptus.com/wiki/EucalyptusNetworking_v1.5

Hope that helps.
neil