The StratusLab project has just released the first version of its cloud computing distribution, which aims to provide a full cloud solution for grid and cluster computing. The StratusLab distribution, which includes OpenNebula as the core virtual machine manager and cloud management tool, is being tested on research grid infrastructures, which are composed of dozens of sites and comprises tens of thousands of physical hosts. The first version of the StratusLab distribution is a technology preview, and not yet production-ready, but it will give system administrators and users a chance to try out the new features of what will become an integrated solution for cloud management, running grid services within the cloud, and accessing cloud resources and services from the Grid.

Funded through the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), the two-year StratusLab project aims to integrate ‘cloud computing’ technologies into ‘grid’ infrastructures. Grids link computers and data that are scattered across the globe to work together for common goals, whilst cloud computing makes software platforms or virtual servers available as a service over the Internet, usually on a commercial basis, and provides a way for organisations to access computing capacity without investing directly in new infrastructure. Linking grid and cloud technologies will result in major benefits for European academic research and is part of the European Commission strategy to develop European computing infrastructures.

Visit http://www.stratuslab.eu/doku.php?id=release:v0.1 for more information or to download the StratusLab distribution.