OpenStack services cheat sheet for the AWS developer

Each public cloud provider has its own language. A compute resource or instance in Amazon Web Services, for example, is called Elastic Compute Cloud while OpenStack dubs its instance Nova. Developers familiar with one cloud provider often need a cheat sheet to help understand varying terms.

When one collaboration software provider moved its product to OpenStack, its AWS-savvy developers created an AWS to OpenStack cheat sheet to help ease the transition. Table 1 translates OpenStack services into more familiar AWS concepts.

Table 1. List of AWS and OpenStack services by name.

In general, OpenStack services are limited compared to AWS. In many categories, AWS has multiple offerings; OpenStack has one. While OpenStack does have a full range of offerings that may make sense for certain organizations, its limitations suggest that companies should perform due diligence to ensure OpenStack meets their needs now and in the future. Table 2 shows a glossary for AWS offerings that lack a comparable OpenStack service. However, many OpenStack foundation members or providers may offer these services.

Table 2. AWS offerings not available as OpenStack services.

In general, both public cloud providers support deploying applications and services directly via a Web application resource. They also offer the ability to provision compute and storage resources directly. However, AWS generally offers multiple options for each type of deployment and has a larger set of application support services.