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Difference between revisions of "Daniel Yip,IT Director"

(How do you use OpenStack today?)
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I oversee the entire IT infrastructure for the university and ensure maximum availability of all critical infrastructure.  As part of these responsibilities, I lead the technology team responsible for managing this infrastructure.
 
I oversee the entire IT infrastructure for the university and ensure maximum availability of all critical infrastructure.  As part of these responsibilities, I lead the technology team responsible for managing this infrastructure.
  
====<font color="#00B0DA">Who are the users of your cloud?</font> ====
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====<font color="#00B0DA">Are you involved in the OpenStack Community?</font> ====
So, there’s more than 100 active users and roughly 35 research projects running on its OpenStack cloud. That research runs the gamut – from analyzing how computers understand text, to conducting hardware research. Some of them submit their jobs to an admin, and we make sure it gets done. Some of the other users have access through Horizon, so they can experiment a bit more -- these are the more developers types, not the scientists.  People really appreciate the service; those who use it are really starting to depend on it, which is exciting for us to see.
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We encourage our employees to contribute to the community on their own time, but we don't spend much time in the code ourselves. Our infrastructure is working well now and we have many mission-critical systems running on it, so we are only going to replace that with code that is ready for deployment. If it is not ready, then we can't use it.
  
====<font color="#00B0DA">Are you involved in the OpenStack Community?</font> ====
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Of course, we expect our employees to submit bug reports when they find them.
I wouldn’t say I’m ‘involved.’ I follow the [operator’s] mailing list and some blogs. I’ve contributed code before -- when we found a bug and patched it. But other than that, I’m not all that involved.
 
  
 
==== <font color="#00B0DA">What are the key obstacles that you see with OpenStack Today? </font>====
 
==== <font color="#00B0DA">What are the key obstacles that you see with OpenStack Today? </font>====
We’ve had a few bumps along the way with issues that come up that are new to us. There isn’t always documentation, probably because OpenStack is new, so some of the problems we see haven’t been seen by a lot of other people.  That means I have to experiment on my own to solve problems, but you can usually get help from the mailing lists. I do wish sometimes there was more documentation of specific solutions, especially around networking.
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The general consensus in my team is that OpenStack isn’t a mature technology. We’re interested in tracking its progress, but using it within our own IT infrastructure for noncritical applications. At least right now, in my mind exposes us to too much risk. This is a conservative industry that’s traditionally slow to change, especially when there is any chance of a negative impact on security or disaster recovery. That’s just not something we can afford. And open source is a different ball game for us. We have a lot of clout with our vendors given our size, but when you get to something like OpenStack, the only way to influence direction is through contributing code, and that’s certainly not how I want my team to spend their days, maybe they can spend their nights on it.
  
  

Revision as of 21:48, 22 December 2014

OpenStack Personas

Nishiki University

  • Daniel Yip (IT Director, Nishiki University IT)
  • Daichi Nakamura (Cloud / System Administrator, Nishiki University IT)
  • TBD User (Researcher using Central OpenStack)
  • TBD User (Researcher managing their own OpenStack?)

"Lead with speed and agility while keeping the same budget."

Daily Horizon Usage

None

Location

Ibaraki, Japan

Nishiki University

Nishiki University is a mid-size university focused on research. They have a mid-sized IT infrastructure that runs many mission-critical applications. They are frequently on the cutting edge of new technologies as they are used as part of the course curriculum and for graduate research studies. They value solid, industry standard technology backed up by vendor support that provides stability, reliability, and security.

How do you use Horizon Today?

I don't use it, but the OpenStack cloud is an important part of the IT services we provide at the university. I've a member of my team -- Daichi -- who does all the day-to-day management of our OpenStack cloud, which we use in production; you should speak with him to find out his experience with Horizon.

In terms of OpenStack, we're looking for rock-solid vendor support, stability, reliability, and security against cyber threats.

What are your main responsibilities?

I oversee the entire IT infrastructure for the university and ensure maximum availability of all critical infrastructure. As part of these responsibilities, I lead the technology team responsible for managing this infrastructure.

Are you involved in the OpenStack Community?

We encourage our employees to contribute to the community on their own time, but we don't spend much time in the code ourselves. Our infrastructure is working well now and we have many mission-critical systems running on it, so we are only going to replace that with code that is ready for deployment. If it is not ready, then we can't use it.

Of course, we expect our employees to submit bug reports when they find them.

What are the key obstacles that you see with OpenStack Today?

The general consensus in my team is that OpenStack isn’t a mature technology. We’re interested in tracking its progress, but using it within our own IT infrastructure for noncritical applications. At least right now, in my mind exposes us to too much risk. This is a conservative industry that’s traditionally slow to change, especially when there is any chance of a negative impact on security or disaster recovery. That’s just not something we can afford. And open source is a different ball game for us. We have a lot of clout with our vendors given our size, but when you get to something like OpenStack, the only way to influence direction is through contributing code, and that’s certainly not how I want my team to spend their days, maybe they can spend their nights on it.



Status: Draft

Data source: OpenStack and non-OpenStack Customer interviews


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