The CentOS Storage SIG Proposal
The CentOS Storage Special Interest Group (SIG) is a collection of like-minded individuals coming together to ensure that CentOS is a suitable platform for many different storage solutions. This group will ensure that all Open Source storage options seeking to utilize CentOS as a delivery platform have a voice in packaging, orchestration, deployment, and related work. Should any proprietary storage solutions seek inclusion the Storage SIG will approach the CentOS board for legal and policy acceptance.
Deliverables
The Storage SIG seeks to make it easy to deploy CentOS as a storage node for various distributed and traditional storage solutions. This would include streamlined packaging and deployment deliverables as well as the management, updating, patching, and maintenance frameworks for those who wish to participate. We will only work with open source, redistributable software. However some of the code we want to build and ship might not be mainline accepted as yet, and would be clearly indicated as such.
Initially this SIG will deliver packages in the CentOS repositories for easy consumption and will then move on to broader, and more impactful, deployment and integration efforts. In tandem with efforts to make storage solutions easily deployable, this SIG will also work to maintain clear user documentation to help streamline adoption.
Beyond the efforts of technical implementation, the members of this SIG will also work to actively promote CentOS as a platform for storage deployment through meetups, hackathons, CentOS Dojos, tradeshows, and other community events.
Interface with other SIGs
Since storage is consumable by everyone we expect to eventually interface with most SIGs, however we will need to focus on a few to establish the foundation of storage efforts. We expect to work most closely with the following SIGs in the near future:
- Core - will need to adopt practices and procedures as well as ensure that storage deployment solutions are integrated at the lowest possible level.
- Cloud - since much of the storage landscape is being driven by cloud platform adoptions, close integration between cloud and storage will be needed
- Virtualization - virtualization efforts are driving much of the cloud world, and in many ways act as a layer between the overall cloud and the lower level of storage deployment.
Mechanism to deliver software
The Storage SIG will begin with a single repository to house development, testing, and production code with the appropriate tagging and branching to ensure that developers and users are always getting the appropriate level of stable code. We will interface with other SIGs to ensure that appropriate development efforts are either providing the requisite storage code, or committing changes directly to the appropriate SIG.
In some cases storage solutions may wish to run their own technology-specific repositories as is currently done by the Ceph and GlusterFS projects. We will work with those organizations to decide where the best place for that code is and attempt to aggregate as much of the CentOS storage-specific code into a single location as possible.
Who is involved with the Bootstrap
PatrickMcgarry - Ceph Project, has offered to run the SIG
LalatenduMohanty - GlusterFS Project, has offered to help
KaranbirSingh - CentOS Project, has offered to interface between the SIG and CentOS Project
The core members of this SIG will agree to meet periodically to discuss progress and plan an open roadmap. These meetings will be twice per month and can be adjusted as needed.
Software going into Bootstrap
Currently the Ceph and Gluster projects are the founding members of the SIG and will both be included in the initial bootstrap efforts of the CentOS Storage SIG. Both projects will be providing packages as well as efforts to further refine and configure CentOS as a delivery platform for Open Source storage.
Future potential collaborators
As storage is ubiquitous we expect that there are a wide array of potential contributors to this effort and plan to adopt an all-inclusive mindset. Anyone who is willing to contribute will be given a voice, and the appropriate assistance, to promote CentOS as a solid platform for enterprise-grade storage.
Why this SIG is important
Storage is a resource that everyone needs. This SIG aims to ensure that CentOS can provide a streamlined, practical platform for any and all storage solutions that wish to be included. This is especially important as distributed and software-defined storage options are beginning to shape the future of how we think about the massive storage needs projected in the enterprise.
Resources needed
We expect the following from the CentOS Project:
- Buildsystem access to build rpms
- QA resources to test the devel/testing grade code
- Release mechanism to push released code publicly
- git repositories to maintain code ( including commit access for SIG contributors )
- Wiki and documentation space for content related to the SIG
- Bugs and issue tracker project to track user issues and incident reports
- private security email address for issues that need to be kept private
- CentOS Project involvement to liaison with CentOS Core SIG to sync and test with potential CentOS Linux releases
- A dedicated mailing list for users and contributor
- However SIG will be using centos-devel mailing list to begin with and may move to a separate SIG specific mailing list later depending on the requirement of the community.
Eventually other resources may become necessary to execute on the needs of the Storage SIG. We will solicit the CentOS board for necessary help but may also accept sponsorship or other resources from external organizations on an as-needed basis.
Current Status
Currently the two founding members of the SIG have packages that could be easily migrated to the CentOS repo.
Bootstrap process
The first step in this bootstrap is ensure that all expectations are aligned with the CentOS board. Once this SIG is established as a necessary resource the founding members will migrate their packaging and deployment resources over to CentOS infrastructure and start promoting development work as a participatory effort in that setting.
We will aim to document this process as it happens so that other wishing to join at a later date will have a clear pathway on how to participate. Part of this process will be a discussion with the CentOS board, and community-at-large, on the best way to deliver storage options on top of the CentOS platform.