What Is OpenStack?

A short content stub that describes in basic detail what OpenStack is and a brief background of OpenStack's start and core mission. This content was prepared as part of a series for training new team members to support OpenMetal.io's OpenStack cloud platform.

What is OpenStack?

OpenStack is open source, enterprise-quality private cloud software with its own set of distinct value propositions.

OpenStack started out as a collaboration between NASA and RackSpace, the cloud services provider, to use a large cluster of servers for processing huge amounts of data. Since then, OpenStack has grown to be the cloud computing choice for teams of all sizes across the globe.

OpenStack itself is several distinct independent projects that individually provide pieces of cloud computing functionality. There are a number of these projects that make up the "core" OpenStack services that you need to run OpenStack.