'Service Sentinel’ - Mobile application envisioned to manage OpenStack related services on the go.
In this paper, we present this application detailed over the following points:
- Current pain points
- Our proposition
- Architecture
- Solution Features
- Demo
- Key Benefits
Current pain points :
- No mobile application to handle all the OpenStack related activities
- No single portal with specific customizable dashboards for 'All users' of OpenStack community
- Currently, we have different login screens for different activities (log bugs, submit bugs, test them, updates, chats, help, wiki)
- Tools (Launchpad, Gerrit, OpenStack Wiki, IRC, Jenkins)
- Users (Service Providers, Infrastructure Team, Developers/Reviewers, Lab users)
- No reminders/notifications on IRC chats, OpenStack work, release updates, sharing options, product catalogue of service providers, etc.
Our proposition: A one-stop OpenStack services mobile application (Service Sentinel) for enabling potential users to seamlessly operate, monitor, collaborate and contribute to OpenStack while on-the-go.
Service Sentinel will facilitate the following services:
- Service Providers/Enterprise users: Automate/approve OpenStack business processes remotely for multiple distributed processing steps
- DevOps users: Get involved in deployments, testing and work with collaboration tools for the day to day activities of continuous integration/continuous development (CI/CD)
- Lab Management users: Track the usage of resources, remotely execute 3rd party tools related activities, monitoring the configured OpenStack environment.
- Contributors: can collaborate/review the churn/work in OpenStack projects : Nova, Keystone, Neutron, Horizon, Glance, etc.
- Enabling users to access OpenStack information anytime and anywhere
Architecture: Service Sentinel is an android application being developed by TCS that encompasses the core modules to enable inter-working with OpenStack / tools as well as extend user-based roles and applicable profile specific dashboards. We aim to release the application to open-source community.
All Service Sentinel dashboards ingest information via various Openstack related portals' APIs and inter-works with third party tools. The data is then processed, analysed and presented on the user-specific dashboards of the applications.
A few examples of viable usage extended by Services Sentinel are:
- Service Providers/ Enterprise users: App dashboard integrated with vendor-specific portals for OpenStack products and services. Additionally single-page dashboard for OpenStack Wiki, Ask OpenStack, IRC and Stackalytics.
- DevOps users: Application dashboard integrated with continuous integration/continuous development tools – CI/CD (example: Launchpad, Jenkins, Zuul, Nodepool, Puppet, Storyboard, OpenStack Wiki, Gerrit, Ask OpenStack, IRC, Stackalytics, etc.). The Service Sentinel application can be extended to infrastructure, build management and professional services users.
- Lab management users: Enable extract of environment information through some vendor-specific third-party tools and leverage CI/CD. In general can also access Openstack Wiki, Gerrit, Ask Openstack, IRC, Stackalytics, etc through the application dashboard.
- Contributors: App dashboard integrated with are Launchpad, OpenStack Wiki, Gerrit, Ask OpenStack, IRC, Stackalytics, etc.
Solution Features: To discuss about 'Service Sentinel' solution features, below are some applicable operational use-cases where Services Sentinel can be used by the main end-users:
- Service Providers - Maintain service catalogue, monitor competitor(s) and comparative study, market products, capacity planning, etc.
- DevOps Team - Automated testing and deployment updates related to Gerrit, Git, Jenkins, zuul, puppet, storyboard, etc.
- Lab Management - Template handling for workspace and network environment, manage resources and user groups.
- Contributors - Bugs and blueprint management mapped with Gerrit IDs, monitor individual and company contributions.
- Common features - OpenStack Wiki, join IRC, release and summit updates, providing feedbacks, filtered results, RSS feeds, share options, receive notifications for tasks, single place to access all profiles (Launchpad, Gerrit, Storyboard, GIT, etc), ask forum and help section.
What we present and demo:As part of the presentation we cover the ideation behind Service Sentinel, the architecture and the applicable use-cases that will enable user to leverage Service Sentinel.
In the Service Sentinel demo, we showcase user-role specific dashboards integrated with tools and interfaced with open-APIs that can be directly consumed for information.
The demo consists of a-day-with-Service-Sentinel:
- Service Providers/Enterprise users: Market and compare their Openstack products and services anytime, to make a direct channel with the customers, monitor the timelines and have direct reporting
- Devops users: Track bugs related to deployments, operations and integration on storyboard as part of end-to-end CI/CD process
- Lab users: Handling Lab resources, managing scale-up/scale-down
- Developer: Clone/change/submit changes pertaining to launchpad project. Collaborate with other developers/contributors on the go.
Key Benefits:
- Unified Openstack services management
- Effective business decisions
- Improved customer engagement
- Efficient Resource Management
- Build direct Marketing channel
- Complex Reporting
- IRC chats on the go
- Openstack Wiki updates
- Monitor automated tests, studies and services
- No more vendor dependency
- Personalize and Interact
- Fast results and increased productivity
