This post is part of the Open Source Cloud Computing series. For an Overview, please click on the Tag.
Cloud Controller
The Cloud Controller – also known as CLC – is the highest level in Eucalyptus. There is one Cloud Controller per infrastructure. The Cloud Controller is in charge of the following tasks:
- Connect to virtual instances via SSH
- Provide a Front end for the Web Services that are EC2 and S3 compatible
- The Cloud Controller acts as a Meta Scheduler for the Cloud Infrastructure and determines which infrastructure to use.
- The Cloud Controller collects resource information from Cluster Controllers
The Cloud Controller runs per default on same machine as Walrus und the Storage Controller.
The Cloud Controller acts as the main Element for a Eucalyptus Cloud. Each Eucalyptus-based Cloud starts with the Cloud Controller. Different Zones or Regions are realized with a Cluster Controller. There is exactly one Cloud Controller.
Cluster Controller
The Cluster Controller (CC) comes next in hierarchy after the Cloud Controller (CLC). There is exactly one Cluster Controller per location. A location could be compared to an Availability Zone within a Region in Amazon Web Services. The Cluster Controller is basically in charge of receiving requests from the Cloud Controller to deploy new virtual Instances. The Cluster Controller decides which Node is used for the new virtual Instance. The Cluster Controller also maintains virtual Networks available to the instances and collects information about the Node Controllers registered. This information is reported to the Cloud Controller. Each Cluster can have exactly one Cluster Controller.
When a new Instance is started, the Cloud Controller is instructed with the Image, Instance Type and Instance Number. The Cloud Controller looks up a Cluster Controller with enough available resources and selects one to start the instance. The Cloud Controller now itself looks up Node Controllers with enough resource availability and instructs the Node Controller to launch a new virtual Instance. If the Image requested is not available on the Node, the Node Controller looks up the Image by asking the Cloud Controller. The Cloud Controller now provides the Image via Walrus to the Node.
Node Controller
The Node Controller is the lowest Level in the Eucalyptus Stack. Node Controllers run on each physical instance, where virtual machines should run on. Node Controllers support XEN and KVM for virtualization purposes. A Node Controller is in charge of collecting data on the resources available on each instance. It also reports the utilization of the Node the Cluster Controller, to inform the Cluster Controller about the utilization and availability of the instance. The Node Controller also takes care of Instance life cycle management.
The header image is provided by jar (away for a while) under the creative commons licence.