| Current Status | Published |
|---|---|
| Year Started | 2010 |
| Last Version | 1.1 |
| Organization | Open Grid Forum |
| Related Standards | Open Virtualisation Format (OVF), Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) |
| Domain | Cloud Computing |
| Abbreviation | OCCI |
| Website | OCCI working group |
The Open Cloud Computing Interface (OCCI) (TM) comprises a set of open community-lead specifications delivered through the Open Grid Forum[1][2][3], which define how infrastructure service providers can deliver their compute, data, and network resource offerings through a standardized interface. OCCI has a set of implementations that act as proofs of concept. It builds upon World Wide Web fundamentals by using the proven REST (Representational State Transfer) approach for interaction and delivers an extensible model for interacting with “as-a-Service” services.
Contents |
The aim of the Open Cloud Computing Interface is the development of an open specification and API for cloud offerings. The current focus is on Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) based offerings but the interface can be extended to support Platform and Software as a Service offerings[4] as well.
IaaS is one of three primary segments of the emerging cloud computing industry in which compute, storage and network resources are provided as services. The API is based on a review of existing service-provider functionality and a set of use cases [5] contributed by the working group's members. OCCI is a boundary API that acts as a service front-end to an IaaS provider’s internal infrastructure management framework. OCCI provides commonly understood semantics, syntax and a means of management in the domain of consumer-to-provider IaaS. It covers management of the entire life-cycle of OCCI-defined model entities and is compatible with existing standards such as the Open Virtualisation Format (OVF) and the Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI)[6]. Notably, it serves as an integration point for standardization efforts including DMTF, IETF and SNIA[7].
OCCI began in March 2009 and was initially led by co-chairs from SUN Microsystems, RabbitMQ and Universidad Computense de Madrid. Today, the working group has over 250 members and includes numerous individuals, industry and academic parties. The OCCI community works in a distributed, open community under the umbrella of the Open Grid Forum (OGF)[8], using a wiki [9]and a mailing list [10]for collaboration. The governance model ensures rights for every voice through the OCCI working group as an open body. Anyone can join and participate freely. Some of these members that have contributed include:
| Project | OCCI link |
|---|---|
| OpenNebula | OCCI supports |
| SLA@SOI | automated infrastructure service-level agreements using OCCI |
| Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) | uses OCCI to power their on-demand computing infrastructure |
Several implementations have been released and are available for use, or are scheduled to be released soon[11][12]. Complementing these are a variety of developer tools [13].