Operational Concept
The bwCloud Region Freiburg sees itself as an "Idea Cloud". The focus is on providing an environment for re-deployable services of any size. We aim to offer a platform where every researcher can immediately implement and test their ideas.
This means that services should not depend on the state of a VM but can be re-deployed to the cloud on demand and started there. Relevant data should be stored in secure storage areas, not on the cloud’s own storage (such as volumes or images). We do not provide data backups.
One way to use external storage is by mounting appropriate NFS or object storage resources. Regular backups of data to secure storage systems are also recommended.
Productive and Experimental bwCloud Freiburg
To enable testing of various cloud functions within the scope of projects, two independent computing clusters exist: Productive and Experimental bwCloud Freiburg.
On one hand, there is the current Productive bwCloud, intended for all standard needs, with a focus on stability. It represents the familiar setup and covers the requirements of most users. On the other hand, the Experimental bwCloud is available for testing new features, such as GPU integration, long-term scheduling, or ongoing work by students. This cluster also serves as the environment where the next Productive bwCloud is developed.
Migration from Experimental to a New Productive bwCloud
At least once a year, major maintenance is carried out on the bwCloud Freiburg. This is announced in advance.
During the migration period, OpenStack objects (instances, volumes, snapshots, etc.) can be moved from the Productive bwCloud to the Experimental bwCloud. Transfers between instances are also possible.
During maintenance, all instances and services in both the Productive and Experimental bwClouds are shut down. The bwCloud creates an image for each instance in the Productive bwCloud.
After the maintenance:
The Productive bwCloud becomes the Inactive bwCloud, and users can no longer start instances there.
The Experimental bwCloud becomes the new Productive bwCloud, where users can restart previously migrated instances or create new ones.
During a communicated transition period, users can manually move images from the Inactive bwCloud to the Experimental bwCloud.
After the transition period, all OpenStack objects in the Inactive bwCloud are deleted.
A new Experimental bwCloud will be made available at a later time.
