OpenStack has a modular design, and most of the OpenStack projects and services are capable of being used independently. At a high level, OpenStack services are categorized as core services and optional services. As the name states, the core services have the essential functionality of providing IAAS features for OpenStack. The optional services are like the bells and whistles of OpenStack, which provide the extended functionality for the IAAS platform.
The following listed services are the core components of OpenStack:
- Keystone (identity service)
- Glance (image service)
- Nova (compute service)
- Neutron (networking service)
The following listed services are the optional components of OpenStack:
- Cinder (block storage service)
- Horizon (Dashboard)
- Swift (object storage service)
- Other 20+ projects
We will discuss all the essential components of OpenStack briefly in Chapter 2, Day 2 - Know Your Battalion.