AWS is a platform where we can perform most any kind of process. It can be stored, processing unit, Big Data platform, ML platform etc. For this platform, it changes very less amount, anyone can afford according to their needs. But aws is not opensource, how it works internally, we can’t able to know. We can only use it as an user. This makes a difference with OpenStack.
OpenStack-It is also a platform where we can perform the tasks that aws provides. But OpenStack is an opensource platform. We can create our own cloud and customize things according to our needs. We can see how it works internally. You can go through the below link for more information.
The dilemma of choosing AWS or OpenStack cloud services by an enterprise or the customers, in general, has been a serious question in recent times that needs to be answered. From a superficial point of view firstly if we talk about OpenStack, OpenStack by its shared services can manage your applications data storage, computation, and network through a dashboard or its command line. On the other hand, AWS enables to access the web services with the help of infrastructure which is owned and maintained by the Amazon company itself.
Difference Between AWS and OpenStack
| Parameters | AWS | OpenStack |
|---|---|---|
| Virtual Server | EC2 | Nova Instance |
| Relational Database | RDS | Trove |
| Networking | Networking | Neutron |
| Load balancing | Elastic Load Balancing | LBaaS |
| API | EC2 API | OpenStack API |
| GUI | Console | Horizon |
| Storage object | S3 | Swift |
| Block Storage | EBS | Cinder |
| Security Identity | IAM | Key Stone |
Different services of AWS and OpenStack for different key aspects of computer science.
1. Computation
To compute means to run any application on a virtual server. You will have to provide a CPU and other necessary hardware along with Operating system applications pre-installed (or not). On both, OpenStack and AWS users can upload their own images. AWS has EC2, which are scalable virtual networks with Xen and EMR Hadoop based big data analytics. OpenStack, on the other hand, boasts of an IaaS infrastructure. It scales horizontally and is designed to scale on hardware without specific requirements.
2. Networking
It is important to connect your servers to other internal as well as external servers. This basically means connecting the user to virtual servers. When such a facility is offered to the admin, he or she must have the right to know who has access to the networks. AWS has DNS scalable route 53, Amazon ELB (Elastic Load Balancing), and, Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) which extends its ability to connect to corporate servers. The AWS will allocate private IP addresses to instances running on DHCP and ELB just helps in distributing incoming traffic to Amazon EC2 instances. Openstacks LBaaS and flat networks VLAN allows automatic as well as manual management of Ip addresses and networks. You have the power to create networking functions and networks
3. Identity
Keystone for OpenStack and IAM for AWS decides the identity functions. Identity servers allow you to have power over who is going to access your cloud by implementing multi-factor authentication. This can also be integrated with some external providers such as AD or LAPD. These are the key services that OpenStack and AWS have to provide. All of the other services run in accordance with these services and applications and are subsets to the main functionalities.
4. Security
The term basically means access control over Virtual servers and machines. Whenever an instance is launched a separate security group(s) should be available to attach to it. The OpenStack security lags behind that of AWS in terms of this condition and may not render the desired array of services when needed. AWS instills a more private approach to gain access to instances locked by the user making it the clear winner between AWS Vs OpenStack.
5. Storage
You need two types of storage units when you come to cloud computing – Block Storage and Object Storage. The block storage is used to assign values to virtual servers to increase their capacity when reaching threshold as well as backing up the virtual servers. Object storages contain media files, images and so on. AWS has S3 and OpenStack has Swift as their object storage services while Cinder and EBS are their block storage counterparts.
The article covers all the necessary information required to help you make a better decision. It explains features provided by both of the service providers, their tabular comparison for better understanding and in-depth comparison which would finally enable you to make the right choice.
