Ubicloud: An Open Source Alternative to AWS for Cloud Infrastructure

Introduction

Ubicloud is an innovative open source cloud platform that serves as a direct alternative to major proprietary cloud providers like AWS. Designed to run anywhere, it allows users to build and manage their own cloud infrastructure on bare metal servers. Ubicloud offers a comprehensive suite of IaaS features, including elastic compute, non-replicated block storage, firewalls, load balancers, managed PostgreSQL, Kubernetes, AI inference, and IAM services. Its core mission is to provide an open, cost-effective, and portable cloud solution, giving users greater control over their infrastructure.

Installation

Ubicloud offers flexibility in how you can get started:

• Managed Platform: For immediate use without any installation, you can leverage Ubicloud's managed service. This option allows you to benefit from underlying provider advantages like pricing and location.
  • Access the Managed Console
• Build Your Own Cloud: If you prefer to host your own cloud, Ubicloud provides the tools to set up its control plane and connect to its cloud console. This process involves:

  git clone git@github.com:ubicloud/ubicloud.git
  ./demo/generate_env
  docker-compose -f demo/docker-compose.yml up
  

  Then visit localhost:3000 to access the console.

  To cloudify bare metal instances, such as those leased from Hetzner, update your .env file with HETZNER_USER, HETZNER_PASSWORD, HETZNER_SSH_PUBLIC_KEY, and HETZNER_SSH_PRIVATE_KEY. Then, run the cloudification script for each instance:

  docker exec -it ubicloud-app ./demo/cloudify_server
  

Examples

Ubicloud is suitable for various use cases, providing a compelling alternative to traditional cloud offerings:

• Ephemeral Workloads: Ideal for CI/CD pipelines or compute/memory-intensive tests, where cost savings can be significant (e.g., ~3x cheaper than AWS for some managed cloud workloads).
• Portable App Deployment: Integrate with tools like Kamal for simple, portable application deployment, leveraging Ubicloud for open and portable services for Kamal's dependencies.
• Private Cloud on Bare Metal: Build your own cloud on existing bare metal machines for enhanced portability, security, or compliance requirements.

Why Use Ubicloud

Ubicloud addresses key challenges with proprietary public cloud providers by offering:

• Open Source Freedom: A true open source alternative that eliminates vendor lock-in and provides transparency.
• Cost Efficiency: Significantly reduces infrastructure costs, with managed services offering substantial savings compared to major cloud providers.
• Control and Ownership: Returns control of your infrastructure, allowing you to manage and customize your cloud environment.
• Focused Feature Set: Aims to implement the 10% of cloud services that account for 80% of consumption, focusing on essential and high-impact features.

Key architectural components include:

• Elastic Compute: Utilizes Cloud Hypervisor as the VMM, with instances isolated within Linux namespaces.
• Networking: Employs IPsec tunneling for encrypted private networks, supporting IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack, public/private networking, and Linux nftables for firewalls and load balancers.
• Block Storage: Leverages SPDK for virtualized block storage, with future plans for snapshots and replication, and secure encryption of data encryption keys.
• Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC): Provides fine-grained access control with definable attributes, roles, and permissions.

Links

• GitHub Repository: ubicloud/ubicloud
• Managed Service Console: console.ubicloud.com
• Community Forum: GitHub Discussions
• Learn with Greptile: learnthisrepo.com/ubicloud
• Ubicloud Blog Posts:
  • Ubicloud Firewalls: How Linux nftables enables flexible rules
  • Ubicloud Load Balancer: Simple and Cost-Free
  • ABAC Design Documentation