Hi Greg,
> As has been pointed out, "cloud" is a very large topic. Which means that,
> IMO, there are two directions we can go on this list that are not mutually
> exclusive: long-winded, bloviating discussions about what we *could* do,
> and detailed plans for what we *will* do.
>
> Let's focus on the second for now, since the first is going to happen
> anyways.
Agreed on this, everyone's definition of clouds are different so lets focus on what's easy now.
> There are many potential cloud goals that we could be tackling, but I
> believe that a lot of people would agree with this proposed initial goal:
>
> LET'S CREATE FEDORA EC2 IMAGES THAT DON'T SUCK.
>
> :)
>
> Right now we face a dilemma:
>
> * The latest Fedora kernel available on Amazon EC2 is Fedora 8;
> * Various people are creating "Fedora images" based on that AKI;
> * Confusion results, e.g.:
> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/448794/how-does-an-amazon-ec2-instance-select-its-kernel
> * Which (a) doesn't work and (b) gives Fedora a bad name in the process.
>
> We have an opportunity to fix this. Justin Forbes has been working with
> some folks at Amazon to make this better, and it looks like we'll have an
> "official" account that will allow us to do something clever, like put a
> Gold Star next to "official" Fedora EC2 images.
>
> Once we actually get them up and running, of course. Which, painted in
> broad strokes, maybe looks something like this:
>
> 1. Getting a basic image uploaded and working for anybody (Justin is on
> this, but maybe could use some help?);
>
> 2. Getting a basic image uploaded and working for everybody (which means
> coordinating a testing account for Fedora people to use free-of-charge,
> which we have funding for, and then finding actual people to test);
>
> 3. Getting that basic image created as part of the Fedora release process
> (which was discussed at FUDCon, but I don't know if any of those
> conversations continued);
>
> 4. Providing proper tools for people to create their own images, since
> creation of a custom "spin" is basically an essential activity in the
> cloud.
I'm happy to help out where I can on all of the above. From the discussion @ FUDCon I'd add two points to this
5. A fedora mirror within EC2 so people don't have to pay for updates etc. This allows us to provide a very small base image and people can just do "yum groupinstall some-service" to get what they want.
6. The tools and API etc (if they aren't already) for the redhat deltacloud stuff.
> It may be that some of this activity is going on already, and that's a
> large part of what this SIG is about: to find those people and get them
> talking in one place, away from the clutter of fedora-devel and other
> lists. So if you're working on tools that will help with this goal, by
> all means, speak up.
I've not heard a whisper since the FUDCon discussion and was wondering what the status of it was.
> And now, a couple of questions.
>
> * For Justin. How's your current image looking? Does it work well enough
> for other folks to try it out? If not, what's the issue, and can anyone
> help?
>
> * For everyone. Have you played with EC2 yet? If not, do you have a
> side project that could benefit from its use, that furthers the goals of
> Fedora / free software / etc., and are willing to test our images? If so,
> let us know -- we've got an account for this purpose, and can send you the
> info needed to get started. Even if we don't have the latest Fedora up
> yet, there are plenty of images that you can play with to get a sense of
> how EC2 works.
Briefly, not as much as I would have liked but its on my ToDo list. The details to get started would be great, I've got 2 weeks spare in Feb where I should be able to get a good look at this.
> * For everyone. Would an IRC meeting to talk through some of this stuff
> be useful -- sort of a kickoff where everyone takes an hour out of their
> life to think about all this -- or should we stick to the mailing list for
> now?
I'd prefer mailing list discussion where possible. I find it notoriously hard to make it to IRC meetings due to other schedules and timezones. With list discussion it makes that easier.
Cheers,
Peter