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All in the name of Liberty: OpenStack 12 set free!

It scales! It virtualises! It helps you containerise yourself! Is it also still too weird?

The 12th version of OpenStack, Liberty, is on the streets.

The OpenStack foundation reckons it's kicked some big goals this time around, especially in terms of security thanks to refined role-based controls and scalability thanks to a hotter Nova.

Plenty of OpenStack users are service providers, so it makes sense that the new release is better able to handle network function virtualisation, network virtualisation in its other forms and is ready to go with containers. Kubernetes, Mesos and Docker Swarm can all play nice with the new Magnum containers code.

The Heat orchestration project has been turned up, apparently to a very pleasant level, as there are more APIs across the stack to be managed and therefore more automation possibilities.

Should you care?

Michael Warrilow, a research director on analyst firm Gartner's infrastructure software team, rates Liberty “A little bit better, but not enterprise ready.”

“Nobody knows what's core and what's optional,” he said, and even service providers are having difficulties making OpenStack work.

If you're considering OpenStack, Warriwlo recommends looking at “a very managed version” as “ even if you have a tolerance for hand-knitted IT, OpenStack will test you.”

The OpenStack foundation sees it differently, citing use of OpenStack at BMW, Disney, and Walmart as proof of the stack's readiness for production. All three of those outfits, however, are on the large side. And the rest of us? You tell us, dear readers: what are your OpenStack opinions? ®

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