Proposing a new PRD

[Duncan]

Hi everyone.

I have updated the PRD and I would like to request additions comments
and improvements to this first draft.

My first pass can be edited or modified in the cloud-sig fork at
https://pagure.io/fork/davdunc/cloud-sig/blob/prd-improve-davdunc/f/PRD.md

---


Fedora Cloud Working Group                              <2022-05-24 Tue>


1 Purpose and Demographic
=========================

  The /Fedora Cloud Edition/ allows users to work across multiple
  virtual environments at scale by focusing engineering efforts on
  supplying a base disk images, rpms, and container-based tooling of
  various architectures for working in and around public and private
  cloud environments. The /Cloud Edition Working Group/ targets efforts
  towards the facilitation and improvement of continuous delivery by
  ensuring that Fedora project solutions support cloud native workflow
  without forcing users to understand all of the environments in which
  they require enablement.


2 Product Objectives
====================

2.1 The Fedora Cloud Base Image
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  There are many requirements for building and deployment into the
  various options for private and public clouds. The primary goal for
  the Cloud Edition is the Fedora Cloud Base Image. The Cloud Base image
  provides disk images for all of the environments that can be tested
  and confirmed to be functional. It is foundational to additional
  configurations and initiatives that require an image-based deployment
  model.


2.2 Adaptations for Hyperscaler Use Cases
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Some use cases may be considered as antithetical to the goals of other
  edition deployment models, but have a strong use case to be included
  by default in hyperscalers. The use of cloud-native components is
  continually evolving and highly opinionated, so there is added benefit
  to including these curated images for use in the exploration of new
  technologies and scientific reproducibility.

  At the 2020 Power Management and Scheduling in the Linux Kernel summit
  (OSPM)[1], Andrea Righi and Rafael Wysocki discussed the use of
  hibernation on cloud-based systems and reviewed work that they have
  done in support of the program. Jonathan Corbet points out that "[t]he
  value there is to be able to pause a workload to save money. For
  example, Amazon's /spot instances/ run at low priority when there are
  spare resources available; they can be shut down with ten minutes
  notice at any time."  With support from the Cloud Edition team, the
  agents and kernel support can be maintained consistently and reliably.

  There are a number of example use cases to explore in both traditional
  and non-traditional ways and some of them are included in the next
  section. This use cases section is intended to be updated as time goes
  on to identify specific initiatives and configurations that the Cloud
  Edition can support.


2.3 Example Use Cases
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2.3.1 An Example: Base image for use with Cloud IDE
---------------------------------------------------

  The use of Fedora as a foundation for IDE environments such as the
  Amazon /Cloud9/ IDE requires curation and support. When it is not
  properly prepared, it cannot be included as a part of the product
  offerings available to users who might wish to use them. A curated
  package group is beneficial, but insufficient for Amazon service teams
  to trust that there will be continued support. The Cloud Edition is
  consistent with other Fedora Editions, but includes some active
  modifications to ensure support for next-generation technologies that
  would not be possible with systems intended to be more consistent with
  downstream directives.


2.3.2 An Example: Base Image optimized for use with cloud native Kubernetes services
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Amongst the hyperscaler cloud infrastructures there are those services
  where a specialized internal community is served. One for which the
  standard Fedora Editions does not include specialized
  support. Optimizing images for use with downstream platforms, i.e. not
  OKD or Red Hat OpenShift, for managing containerized workloads the
  cloud images can be for example, Kubernetes (k8s): Support for k8s
  is,in all cloud providers, an opinionated configuration that fits
  specifically an immutable operations model.


2.3.3 An Example: (EDA) Electronic Design Automation
----------------------------------------------------

  EDA workloads typically target their support towards stable,
  downstream EL distributions and are therefore not capable of moving as
  quickly as distributions like Fedora. With the use of cloud-native
  technologies, it's clear that the design world is at last ready to
  engage agile processes for the development of system-on-chip (SoC)
  design. The electronic design automation (EDA) industry is maneuvering
  itself into position that makes new technologies critical to
  decreasing time to market. Almost all of the pieces to facilitate an
  SoC methodology are in place in terms of cloud-managed development
  tools. The industry open access model is an ideal dovetail to ensure
  that the Fedora Cloud Edition can be a target for early development
  and adoption of advanced technology.

  For EDA, there is an expectation that a significant number of
  applications will run generally in the same operating
  space. Additionally as function specialization occurs, it will be
  beneficial to have an engineering specialization in tailoring these
  specialized operating systems to the requirements of software-defined
  architecture.


2.4 Focus on the familiarity of the users.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  There are many people who have not advanced to the level of using
  container-based models for their bespoke code or operations
  practices. We don't want to leave them behind. Furthermore, there are
  still established practices which can only support containerization in
  part. Supporting these transitional and hybrid models is the focus of
  the Cloud Working Group.are looking at ways we can build support for
  next-generation support models.

  Many users of applications software have decades of experience
  interacting with a base operating system standard actions. They may
  not yet be able to move their practice to an immutable OS model or use
  projects that abstract away from decades of *nix software development
  models.


2.5 An established practice for investigating the best model for deployment and
governance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  In many cases, cloud providers may determine that their opinionated
  model is the best or singularly valid model. This may be the result of
  focused groups or Product Managers who do not have a familiarity with
  the possiblities of incorporating open source into their active
  process due to concerns of any sort. It is a function of the cloud
  working group as curators of the edition to actively explore these
  management models and software decisions as a method to either
  determine the best of class open source interaction or to identify in
  a way that is acceptable to the greater Fedora community exactly why
  the current model is not handled in an [open source way].

  Examples of opinionated models are the use of python 2.7 in Google's
  gcloud sdk or the practice of clobbering the systemd-acpid `sleep.sh`
  file in the Amazon Hibernation Agent. Simply put, these are problems
  for the Cloud Edition to resolve and to help work with the upstream
  teams responsible to make their applications functional in the context
  of the Fedora Distribution and downstream Enterprise Linux.

  As a part of the working group, this team builds, monitors and
  improves the upstream experiences complicated by closed or
  non-standard models to ensure that there is a path forward to remove
  the barriers that block open source success for the cloud communities
  to which we are aligned.


[open source way] <https://www.theopensourceway.org/>


3 Participants
==============

  Currently the following people are involved in the Cloud Working
  group.

  - [David Duncan]
  - [Dusty Mabe]
  - [Major Hayden]
  - [Neal Gompa]
  - [Davida Cavalca]
  - [Michel Salim]
  - [Amy Marrich]
  - [Joe Doss]

  Many others have participated in the past and the projects a whole was
  founded by the current (2022) [FPL], [Matthew Miller]. Matthew has
  been integral in working on the scope and practices followed by the
  Cloud Working Group for many years.


[David Duncan] <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Davdunc>

[Dusty Mabe] <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Dustymabe>

[Major Hayden] <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Mhayden>

[Neal Gompa] <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Ngompa>

[Davida Cavalca] <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Dcavalca>

[Michel Salim] <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Salimma>

[Amy Marrich]
<https://blog.centos.org/2022/03/new-centos-director-amy-marrich/>

[Joe Doss] <https://fedoramagazine.org/joe-doss-how-do-you-fedora/>

[FPL] <https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/council/fpl/>

[Matthew Miller] <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Mattdm>


4 Project Status
================

  The Working group is *ACTIVE*

  Currently the Cloud Working Group is focused on returning to status as
  an [Edition].  Edition status lapsed as a result of a number of
  changes. The first was a move to focus efforts related to cloud images
  to include [Project Atomic] as well as the standard cloud edition and
  then a complication occurred when Fedora Atomic was replaced by Fedora
  CoreOS. The directives for these working groups is distinctly
  different and supports different goals related to downstream adoption
  and support.


[Edition] <https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/RestoreCloudEdition>

[Project Atomic] <https://projectatomic.io/>

4.1 Meeting Times
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Bi-Weekly, every other Thursday at 14:00 UTC



Footnotes
_________

[1] <https://lwn.net/Articles/821158/n>


--
David Duncan	| He/Him
Partner Solutions Architect, Linux

[Chris Murphy]

On Tue, May 24, 2022 at 11:28 AM Duncan <davdunc(a)amazon.com&gt; wrote:
>  Hi everyone.
>
>  I have updated the PRD and I would like to request additions comments
>  and improvements to this first draft.
>
>  3 Participants
>  ==============
>
>    Currently the following people are involved in the Cloud Working
>    group.
>
>    - [David Duncan]
>    - [Dusty Mabe]
>    - [Major Hayden]
>    - [Neal Gompa]
>    - [Davida Cavalca]
>    - [Michel Salim]
>    - [Amy Marrich]
>    - [Joe Doss] 

Chris Murphy : chrismurphy


-- 
Chris Murphy

[Major Hayden]

On 5/24/22 10:09, Duncan wrote:
>    As a part of the working group, this team builds, monitors and
>    improves the upstream experiences complicated by closed or
>    non-standard models to ensure that there is a path forward to remove
>    the barriers that block open source success for the cloud communities
>    to which we are aligned. 
I'm +1 on everything here and I love this paragraph. Being focused on
the *experience* gives us the latitude to work with other groups to make
changes and keeps our focus on how Fedora works for users in clouds.

👍🏻

-- 
Major Hayden