The OpenStack Services
The OpenStack API is broken down into many smaller component APIs, also called "services". Each service provides access to a set of related functionality. A typical OpenStack application will need to call multiple service APIs in order to accomplish its goals. The OpenStack team provides comprehensive documentation for each of its API components.
The following table lists some of the most commonly used API components, along with each of their code names (which are frequently used to identify them). It also links to their OpenStack documentation and gives short descriptions of the functionality they provide. Similar information for the other API components can be found at the link above. Note that the "Introduction" links will take you to documentation for the latest OpenStack release, while Jetstream2 servers typically run one version behind the latest.
| Component | Name | Documentation | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity | keystone |
Introduction Reference |
The common user and client authentication system used by all other OpenStack services. |
| Networking | neutron |
Introduction Reference |
Provides network connectivity features within the OpenStack environment. |
| Compute | nova |
Introduction Guide Reference |
Provisions compute instances to provide virtual machines and bare metal servers. |
| Image | glance |
Introduction Reference |
Allows discovery and uploading of the images that are used to create virtual machines. |
| Block storage | cinder |
Introduction Reference |
Provides the volumes that contain (and are attached to) OpenStack instances. |
| Object storage | swift |
Introduction Reference |
Offers distributed storage and retrieval of large data "blobs". |