In a previous blog post, I went on a tear explaining why, in today’s world of the hybrid cloud, Leostream is not a VDI company. I still think that’s true if you limit “VDI” to pools of persistent or non-persistent virtual desktops managed exactly the same way by every company. If that’s VDI, then Leostream is not a VDI company…we do much, much more than manage pools of virtual desktops.
And, that’s good, because today’s IT landscape isn’t just being redefined by the hybrid cloud, it’s being retooled by DevOps practices. Now’s the time to think about a connection broker as part of your DevOps suite. In DevOps environments, Leostream can be a VDI company. You just need to rethink what the D stands for. Leostream transforms the D in VDI from “Desktop” to “Developer”.
With Leostream, you manage your Virtual Developer Infrastructure. That may be a subtle distinction, but it’s an important one. Not only does it put the person’s needs ahead of the infrastructures, it’s more flexible. Here why!
The Importance of Development Operations
Let me start by saying, I’m talking about operations as it relates to deploying the tools that developers use, as well as the environments that run the applications they build. It’s almost DevOps 2.0, covering not just the production application but the resources needed to create it. Really, the requirements and problems are the same at both stages. How do you scale up server capacity? When and how do you roll out updates to the developer’s tools? How much CPU is required for the production application?
The faster operations can allow developers to answer these questions, the more efficient your organization becomes. Your developers’ time literally is your company’s money, so they should spend as much time as possible writing code, not waiting for their development laptops to be delivered or their IDE to be installed. Automated virtual developer infrastructures are the key, and using Leostream with OpenStack makes them possible.
Why OpenStack is the Ideal Platform for Developer Environments
A well automated virtual developer infrastructure allows operations to update desktop and server performance, define different desktop layouts, update operating systems and applications, and build entire developer environments in minutes. It also includes some of the traditional virtual desktop infrastructure benefits, like securing corporate data in your data center and offering high availability.
OpenStack is ideal for building on-premises cloud environments that can expand and contract based on developer needs. By managing master desktop and server instances, operations can control and offer different types of environments based on specific developer needs. Deploying OpenStack isn’t enough, however. You still need tools to automate compute capacity and ensure that developers have access to the necessary resources. That’s where Leostream comes into play.
Leostream: The Ultimate DevOps Tool for OpenStack
Leostream pools automate provisioning new instances in OpenStack, based on the master images defined by operations. Need to update an OS or application? Simple rebuild your master image and tell Leostream to create new instances. Have a developer who needs access to instances of various sizes? Setup their Leostream policy to allow them to select which instance size they need at that particular time. Want to keep compute usage under control? Use Leostream plans to shut down, suspend, or even terminate instances when the user logs out. Got traveling users? Leverage the Leostream Gateway to provide in-browser SSH connections to the developer’s server. (Because developers love Linux and Leostream is the best broker for that operating system.)
There are so many other workflows and scenarios where Leostream can help you efficiently manage developer environments. Don’t take my word for it, though! For an independent take, view the presentation by the staff at Fairbanks NL given during the OpenStack Summit in Berlin. In it, they demonstrate using Leostream to deploy development environments and explain why they think Leostream with OpenStack is great for this use case.
Want to learn more? Just give us a call!