This session gives a brief introduction of the new and exciting feature in the latest (upcoming) CloudStack LTS release, ie, 4.19.0. The discussion includes the details on the timeline of the CloudStack 4.19.0 release, overview of some of the marquee, new feature of the release – Object storage framework, KVM ingestion, Hypervisor agnostic simple DRS, CAPC aware CKS, OAuth2, DRaaS with Multi zone disaster recovery, etc and a summary of improvements added since the previous major LTS release of the CloudStack, ie, 4.18.0. ----------------------------------------- The CloudStack Collaboration Conference 2023 took place on 23-24th November. The conference, arranged by a group of volunteers from the Apache CloudStack Community, took place in the voco hotel, in Porte de Clichy, Paris. It hosted over 350 attendees, with 47 speakers holding technical talks, user stories, new features and integrations presentations and more.

1. What’s New in CloudStack 4.19
Abhishek Kumar @ CloudStack Collaboration Conference 2023

2. About me - Abhishek Kumar
● Committer @ Apache CloudStack project
● Been involved with the project for nearly 5 years now
● Volunteered to RM 4.19 release. In past, I’ve been
involved with 4.17.1, 4.15.1, 4.14.1 as RM or co-RM.
● Software Engineer @ ShapeBlue
● In my free time I try to be regular at gym. I like
spending time taking care of my house plants.

3. Agenda
● CloudStack LTS releases; recent and upcoming releases
● 4.19.0.0 release
○ Timeline
● Key features and improvements
○ Object storage support
○ KVM ingestion
○ Managed Kubernetes Cluster
○ OAuth2 authentication
○ …
● Q & A, feedback

4. CloudStack LTS
releases
● Community aspires to do two
major release per year
● 1-2 minor or dot releases
depending on the issues
reported and bug fixes
● Current LTS release - 4.18.1.0.
Released in September 2023
● Other recent releases - 4.18.0.0,
4.17.2.0
● Upcoming releases - 4.19.0.0,
4.18.2.0#

5. Quick recap of 4.18.0.0 and 4.18.1.0 releases
While 4.18.0 LTS released with over 300 new features,
improvements and bug fixes, over 200 improvement and fixes
were added in 4.18.1. Some of the highlights:
● Edge Zones
● Autoscaling
● Managed User Data
● Two-Factor Authentication Framework; Support for
Time-based OTP (TOTP) Authenticator
● Volume Encryption
● SDN Integration – Tungsten Fabric
● Ceph Multi Monitor Support
● API-Driven Console Access
List goes on…

6. 4.19.0.0 release
● Targeted for Q3/Q4 2023
● Focuses on adding
exciting new features and
functionalities
● Will incorporate fixes
from 4.18.1.0 and may
include additional fixes
that have been added
since
Timeline
● (14 plus weeks) Ongoing – Mid October
2023: Accept all bugs, issues, improvements
allowed in LTS
● (1 week) Stabilise the main (or 4.19) branch,
accept only critical/blocker issues (if any)
● Early December 2023 and onwards: Cut
4.19.0.0 RC1 and further RCs if necessary,
start/conclude vote, and finish release work

7. Some key features #

8. Object storage
feature ● Object storage as a first-class end
user feature in CloudStack.
● Adds capability to integrate
external object store providers that
comply with S3 protocols
● Adds MinIO plugin (and simulator)
as provider

9. KVM Ingestion
● Builds on VM Ingestion
functionality
● Will allow migrating KVM
workload from other tools such
as Proxmox, oVirt, etc
● Larger feature that also
incorporates GSoC ’23 project -
Extend export/import instances
to KVM

10. Managed
Kubernetes
Cluster
● Makes CKS aware of Kubernetes
cluster deployed using external
tools such as CAPC
● CAPI provider logs the lifecycle
events of a clusters in CloudStack
● Part of this feature would need a
new CloudStack Go SDK release.

11. VMware to KVM
migration
● Enables operators to migrate
existing VMware Instances to
KVM, ensuring that the disk
volumes are preserved using
virt-v2v
● UI wizard for admin, adds a
new API - importVm

12. CloudStack
DRS ● Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
automates the balancing and distribution of
workloads across CloudStack Hosts.
● Enhance cloud environment performance
● Introduces algorithm - condensed & balanced

13. Dashboard redesign
● Redesigned dashboard for
admin, users and projects
● Card based interface
● Global create button

14. VNF
Appliances
Support
● Simplifies the registration, deployment, and
management of VNFs through a new
Appliance deployment wizard.
● Service providers can offer VNF appliances
to their end users

15. Snapshot copy
● Copy volume snapshots to
specific zones or create
snapshots with replica in select
zones
● Data replication that can be
employed in disaster recovery
scenarios (DRaaS)
● Copy across zones will work
similar to templates

16. OAuth2
Authentication
● New OAuth2, UI-first plugin - can
perform Single-Sign-On (SSO) with
3rd-party identity providers.
● Currently supports Google and Github as
providers

17. New improvements and concepts for VPCs
Concept of domain VPCs
● VPC can be managed by a domain
● Available only through API
Global ACL for VPCs
● Multiple VPCs can have same ACL rule
● Similar to use of default allow and deny rule

18. Storage plugin additions and improvements
FiberChannel Multipath SCSI
for KVM, HPE-Primera
Support
● New primary storage
volume type called
"FiberChannel"
● Storage provider for the
HP Enterprise Primera
and Pure Flash Array
Storpool
● KVM Host HA
enhancement for the
StorPool storage plugin.
● Volume encryption
support
● Storage and volume
stats
Linstor
● Snapshot backup for
the Linstor primary
storage
● Fixes around rootdisk
resize, template copy

19. Scheduled Instance
Lifecycle Operations
● Introduces a robust Instance
Schedule functionality
● Schedule can be created either
through a user-friendly UI or
API
● Hypervisor-agnostic
● Helps optimizing resource
utilization, and minimizing
operational costs

20. Public IP
quarantine ● Introduces public IP quarantine process
● Quarantine duration controlled by global
config - ip.address.quarantine.duration
● Adds and updates API to
update/remove/list Quarantine IPs

21. Other
improvements
and changes
● Safe shutdown
● Improvements in userdata
functionality
● Edge zone improvements and ability
to deploy CKS clusters
● Storage browser and granular
storage management
● Guest OS Management
● Ant Design upgrade
● Auto enable-disable KVM hosts
● Improvements in Backup & Recovery
frameworks
● Support for vSphere 8.0.0
● Moving subdomains across domains
● New system VM template
Currently over 224 closed items
in the 4.19.0.0 milestone, over
69 closed items in 4.18.2.0
milestone

22. Statistically till now…
224 closed
items
in milestone 188
PRs merged with new
features and
enhancements in the
milestone
Over
100
PRs merged from
4.18.x milestone
Over
40
unique
PR contributors
32 closed issues
in the milestone,
Over 130 closed
issues in 4.18.x
milestone

23. Discuss
Q & A, feedback…
https://download.cloudstack.org/testing/nightly/