Getting Started: The Rackspace Cloud

  1. Introduction
  2. Get a Username and API Key
  3. Get jclouds
  4. Terminology
  5. Your First Cloud Files App
  6. Your First Cloud Servers App
  7. Working with Cloud Block Storage
  8. Working with Cloud Load Balancers
  9. Next Steps
  10. Rackspace Cloud Providers
  11. Support and Feedback

Introduction

The Rackspace Cloud platform includes everything you need to build websites and applications that scale servers, storage, networking, APIs, and more. The Rackspace Cloud is based on OpenStack, which is a global collaboration of developers and cloud computing technologists producing the ubiquitous open source cloud computing platform for public and private clouds.

This guide assumes you're familiar with Java and its technologies. To get started you'll need access to the Rackspace cloud and jclouds.

Get a Username and API Key

  1. Sign up for free for the Rackspace Cloud (US).
  2. Login to the Cloud Control Panel (US).
  3. In the top right corner click on your username and then API Keys.

Likewise you can go to the Rackspace Cloud (UK) and login to the Cloud Control Panel (UK).

Get jclouds

  1. Ensure you are using the Java Development Kit (JDK) version 6 or later.
    • javac -version
  2. Ensure you are using Maven version 3 or later.
    • mvn -version
  3. Create a directory to try out jclouds.
    • mkdir jclouds
    • cd jclouds
  4. Make a local copy of this pom.xml file in the jclouds directory.
    • mvn dependency:copy-dependencies "-DoutputDirectory=./lib"
  5. You should now have a directory with the following structure:
    • jclouds/
      • pom.xml
      • lib/
        • *.jar

Terminology

There are some differences in terminology between jclouds and Rackspace/OpenStack that should be made clear.

jclouds Rackspace/OpenStack
Compute Cloud Servers (Nova)
Node Server
Location/Zone Region
Hardware Flavor
NodeMetadata Server details
UserMetadata Metadata
BlobStore Cloud Files (Swift)
Blob File (Object)

Your First Cloud Files App

Introduction

Cloud Files is an easy to use online storage for files and media which can be delivered globally over Akamai's content delivery network (CDN).

APIs

Cloud Files works with a portable layer in jclouds that is used to access features common to all cloud object storage systems. Cloud Files also works with the OpenStack layer in jclouds that is used to access features common to all OpenStack Swift object storage systems. Finally, Cloud Files works with the Rackspace layer in jclouds that is used to access features specific to the Rackspace object storage system.

  1. The portable API for Cloud Files is org.jclouds.blobstore.BlobStore.
  2. The OpenStack API for Cloud Files is org.jclouds.openstack.swift.CommonSwiftClient.
  3. The Rackspace API for Cloud Files is org.jclouds.cloudfiles.CloudFilesClient.
  4. You can find these APIs in the latest Javadoc.

The Source Code

  1. Create the directory hierarchy org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudfiles/ in your jclouds directory.
  2. Create Java source files called CreateContainer.java and Constants.java in the directory above.
  3. You should now have a directory with the following structure:
    • jclouds/
      • pom.xml
      • lib/
        • *.jar
      • org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudfiles/
        • CreateContainer.java
        • Constants.java
  4. Open CreateContainer.java for editing.
  5. Go to the example code CreateContainer.java, read it over, and copy the code into your file.
  6. Open Constants.java for editing.
  7. Go to the example code Constants.java, read it over, and copy the code into your file.

Compile and Run

javac -classpath ".:lib/*" org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudfiles/CreateContainer.java

java -classpath ".:lib/*" org.jclouds.examples.rackspace.cloudfiles.CreateContainer myUsername myApiKey

Create Container
  jclouds-example

Your First Cloud Servers App

Introduction

Cloud Servers is an easy to use service that provides on-demand servers that you can use to to build dynamic websites, deliver mobile apps, or crunch big data.

APIs

Cloud Servers works with a portable layer in jclouds that is used to access features common to all cloud compute systems. Cloud Servers also works with the OpenStack layer in jclouds that is used to access features common to all OpenStack Nova compute systems.

  1. The portable API for Cloud Servers is org.jclouds.compute.ComputeService.
  2. The OpenStack API for Cloud Servers is the org.jclouds.openstack.nova.v2_0.features.ServerApi. It's accessible via the org.jclouds.openstack.nova.v2_0.NovaApi.
  3. You can find these APIs in the latest Javadoc.

The Source Code

  1. Create the directory hierarchy org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudservers/ in your jclouds directory.
  2. Create Java source files called CreateServer.java and Constants.java in the directory above.
  3. You should now have a directory with the following structure:
    • jclouds/
      • pom.xml
      • lib/
        • *.jar
      • org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudservers/
        • CreateServer.java
        • Constants.java
  4. Open CreateServer.java for editing.
  5. Go to the example code CreateServer.java, read it over, and copy the code into your file.
  6. Open Constants.java for editing.
  7. Go to the example code Constants.java, read it over, and copy the code into your file.

Compile and Run

javac -classpath ".:lib/*" org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudservers/CreateServer.java

java -classpath ".:lib/*" org.jclouds.examples.rackspace.cloudservers.CreateServer myUsername myApiKey

Images
  Image{id=9eb71a23-2c7e-...}
  ...
Flavors
  Flavor{id=2,...}
  ...
Create Server
.....................................................
  ServerCreated{id=b037b1a1-...}
  Login IP: 123.123.123.123 Username: root Password: a1b2c3d4

Working with Cloud Block Storage

Introduction

Cloud Block Storage allows you to create volumes on which to persistently store your data from your servers, even when those servers have been deleted. It delivers consistent performance for your I/O-intensive applications.

APIs

Cloud Block Storage works with the OpenStack layer in jclouds that is used to access features common to all OpenStack Cinder block storage systems.

  1. The OpenStack API for Cloud Block Storage is the org.jclouds.openstack.cinder.v1.CinderApi. All other APIs for working with block storage are accessible via the CinderApi.
  2. You can find these APIs in the latest Javadoc.

The Source Code

  1. Create the directory hierarchy org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudblockstorage/ in your jclouds directory.
  2. Create Java source files called CreateVolumeAndAttach.java and Constants.java in the directory above.
  3. You should now have a directory with the following structure:
    • jclouds/
      • pom.xml
      • lib/
        • *.jar
      • org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudblockstorage/
        • CreateVolumeAndAttach.java
        • Constants.java
  4. Open CreateVolumeAndAttach.java for editing.
  5. Go to the example code CreateVolumeAndAttach.java, read it over, and copy the code into your file.
  6. Open Constants.java for editing.
  7. Go to the example code Constants.java, read it over, and copy the code into your file.

Compile and Run

javac -classpath ".:lib/*" org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudblockstorage/CreateVolumeAndAttach.java

java -classpath ".:lib/*" org.jclouds.examples.rackspace.cloudblockstorage.CreateVolumeAndAttach myUsername myApiKey

Create Server
  {id=DFW/8814...}
  Login: ssh root@123.123.123.123
  Password: a1b2c3d4
Create Volume
  Volume{id=53d9...}
Create Volume Attachment
  VolumeAttachment{id=53d9...}
Mount Volume and Create Filesystem
  Exit Status: 0
List Volumes
  ...

Working with Cloud Load Balancers

Introduction

Cloud Load Balancers distributes workloads across two or more servers, network links, and other resources to maximize throughput, minimize response time, and avoid overload. Rackspace Cloud Load Balancers allow you to quickly load balance multiple Cloud Servers for optimal resource utilization.

APIs

Cloud Load Balancers works with the Rackspace layer in jclouds that is used to access features specific to the Rackspace load balancer system.

  1. The Rackspace API for Cloud Load Balancers is org.jclouds.rackspace.cloudloadbalancers.CloudLoadBalancersApi. All other APIs for working with load balancers are accessible via the CloudLoadBalancersApi.
  2. You can find these APIs in the latest Javadoc.

The Source Code

  1. Create the directory hierarchy org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudloadbalancers/ in your jclouds directory.
  2. Create Java source files called CreateLoadBalancerWithExistingServers.java and Constants.java in the directory above.
  3. You should now have a directory with the following structure:
    • jclouds/
      • pom.xml
      • lib/
        • *.jar
      • org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudloadbalancers/
        • CreateLoadBalancerWithExistingServers.java
        • Constants.java
  4. Open CreateLoadBalancerWithExistingServers.java for editing.
  5. Go to the example code CreateLoadBalancerWithExistingServers.java, read it over, and copy the code into your file.
  6. Open Constants.java for editing.
  7. Go to the example code Constants.java, read it over, and copy the code into your file.

Compile and Run

javac -classpath ".:lib/*" org/jclouds/examples/rackspace/cloudloadbalancers/CreateLoadBalancerWithExistingServers.java

java -classpath ".:lib/*" org.jclouds.examples.rackspace.cloudloadbalancers.CreateLoadBalancerWithExistingServers myUsername myApiKey

Create Cloud Load Balancer
  LoadBalancer{id=85901...}
  Go to http://166.78.34.87

jclouds in a Managed Container

Setting up jclouds to work in a managed container is easy. You simply need to ensure that jclouds won't spawn any of its own threads. You can do this by using the ExecutorServiceModule when building your Context.

An example code snippet.

import static com.google.common.util.concurrent.MoreExecutors.sameThreadExecutor; 

import org.jclouds.compute.ComputeService;
import org.jclouds.compute.ComputeServiceContext;
import org.jclouds.concurrent.config.ExecutorServiceModule;

public class MyJEEClass {
  ...
  
  private void init() {
    Iterable<Module> modules = ImmutableSet.<Module> of(
      new ExecutorServiceModule(sameThreadExecutor(), sameThreadExecutor()));

      ComputeServiceContext context = ContextBuilder.newBuilder("rackspace-cloudservers-us")
            .credentials("myUsername", "myApiKey")
            .modules(modules)
            .buildView(ComputeServiceContext.class);
      ComputeService compute = context.getComputeService();
  }
  
  ...
}

Next Steps

  1. Try the rest of the examples and the Logging example.
  2. When you're ready to publish some web pages on the internet, try the CloudFilesPublish.java, CloudServersPublish.java, or CreateLoadBalancerWithNewServers.java examples.
  3. Change the examples to do different things that you want to do.
  4. After running some examples, compare the output with what you see in the Cloud Control Panel.
  5. Browse the documentation and have a look at the latest Javadoc.
  6. Return to the Installation Guide and have a look at the different ways to integrate jclouds with your project.
  7. Join the jclouds mailing list or maybe even the jclouds developer mailing list.

Rackspace Cloud Providers

This is a list of providers that work with the Rackspace Cloud that you can use to build your Context.

  • "cloudfiles-us"
  • "cloudfiles-uk"
  • "rackspace-cloudservers-us"
  • "rackspace-cloudservers-uk"
  • "rackspace-cloudblockstorage-us"
  • "rackspace-cloudblockstorage-uk"
  • "rackspace-cloudloadbalancers-us"
  • "rackspace-cloudloadbalancers-uk"

Support and Feedback

Your feedback is appreciated! If you have specific issues with Rackspace support in jclouds, we'd prefer that you file an issue via JIRA.

For general feedback and support requests, send an email to:

sdk-support@rackspace.com