An open source data management group enhanced its Open Data Framework with the Greenland 1.1 update, improving multi-cloud file support and expanding connectivity to data storage options.
The open source SODA Foundation is moving forward with its efforts to help unify data management with the release of its latest Open Data Framework milestone.
The SODA Foundation was formed in June as the evolution of the Linux Foundation's OpenSDS (open software-defined storage) project that started in 2016.
The new SODA framework 1.1 release became generally available on September 30 and is code-named Greenland. The new Open Data Framework adds a series of additional data storage locations, including VMware and NetApp systems. Cloud data also gets a boost with file services support for Google Cloud Platform.
SODA is a recursive acronym that stands for SODA Open Data Autonomy.
Kei Kusunoki, manager of storage at NTT Communications, a network and data center vendor in Tokyo, said the SODA Framework update will be helpful for his organization's data management and access efforts.
NTT's private and public cloud infrastructure extensively uses VMware and NetApp storage technologies, and having a pre-built connector in the SODA Framework helps with data management tasks such as creating new users and data volume provisioning, Kusunoki noted.
SODA Foundation moving fast
While the SODA Foundation is a relatively new organization, it has already adopted a rapid release cycle. The 1.1 release follows the 1.0 release that became generally available at the end of June.
The SODA community decided to adopt an agile process with quarterly releases, said Steven Tan, chairman of the SODA Foundation. The general idea behind the quarterly release cycle is to be able to get new features into the framework faster.
SODA design simplifies multi-cloud deployment by providing a single common interface to different cloud services without the need for users to deal with the intricacies of each cloud.
Steven TanChairman, SODA Foundation
"We have a high-level SODA roadmap, and each release is planned based on it," Tan said. "So, while majority of the developers may be working on the current release, others may be working on the next release."
Better multi-cloud file services in new SODA Foundation update
Initial multi-cloud file services were added to SODA v1.0 release with support for AWS and Azure clouds. In the new update, Tan noted that multi-cloud file services support is stronger, and Google cloud support was added.
"Each cloud service provider offers a proprietary interface that makes it tedious for users to work with other CSPs," Tan said. "SODA design simplifies multi-cloud deployment by providing a single common interface to different cloud services without the need for users to deal with the intricacies of each cloud."
In the SODA 1.1 update, multi-cloud file services currently support all basic CRUD (create, read, update and delete) file service operations for the supported clouds. Tan said the next step is to connect this feature with on-premises data to cloud fileshares that will be useful for hybrid cloud setups.
Looking forward to Hawaii v1.2 SODA Framework
Looking forward, the next SODA Open Data Framework release is v1.2, code-named Hawaii, targeted for the end of December or early January. The Hawaii release will focus on data lifecycle management and storage performance monitoring for big data on cloud-native, multi-cloud and edge environments, Tan said.
"We are working towards our vision for an autonomous data framework, leveraging AI, machine learning and other technologies to improve operational efficiency and make data more reliable, secure, available," Tan said.
