Migration to Apache CloudStack
Hystax Acura is an any-to-any migration solution, and the platform now joins the list of supported targets. Source environments include VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, physical servers, public clouds, and KVM-based platforms. VMware-to-CloudStack migration is the most common scenario, as organizations revisit their virtualization strategy, and Acura supports it without re-architecting applications.
Hystax Acura replicates running machines with either an external, hypervisor-level replication agent that needs no software inside the guest OS (for example, for VMware sources), or an internal agent installed in the guest OS – depending on the source platform. Workloads keep running throughout replication: Acura takes consistent snapshots, tracks block-level changes, and synchronizes them incrementally to the target environment. Through the CloudStack API, Hystax Acura automatically provisions target volumes, instances, and networks and maps disk layouts, network configurations, and instance sizes to the corresponding target resources.
Before the final cutover, teams can run unlimited test migrations. Test instances start from replicated snapshots on actual target compute and storage in an isolated environment, without touching production, so engineers can verify application behavior, database integrity, and network connectivity, refine post-migration scripts, and repeat the test until the result is signed off. The cutover itself then becomes a short, planned maintenance window instead of an extended outage.
CloudStack support adds no platform-specific limitations: Acura covers the same guest operating systems and workload types as for any other target, including Windows Server, RHEL, Ubuntu and Debian. The full list is available in the Hystax Acura compatibility matrix.
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Disaster recovery and backup for Apache CloudStack
Migration is only the first phase of the workload lifecycle. Hystax Acura also delivers disaster recovery and backup for Apache CloudStack on the same platform, and it works in both directions:
- Protecting workloads that run in CloudStack. VMs hosted there can be replicated to a DR site or backed up to any target Acura supports: another CloudStack environment, a public cloud such as AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud, or a KVM- or OpenStack-based private cloud. The recovery site does not have to be the same platform.
- Using CloudStack as the DR site. Workloads running elsewhere – on VMware, Hyper-V, physical servers, or another cloud – can be consistently replicated there and started when the primary site fails.
For disaster recovery, administrators define recovery objectives (RTO and RPO) for each workload, and Acura replicates consistent snapshots to the target volumes on the schedule that meets them. When an outage occurs, automated orchestration runs the failover according to a pre-configured recovery plan – boot order, dependencies, and network mappings – and executes it the same way every time. You can test DR plans in isolated networks without affecting production, so recovery procedures stay current as environments change.
Backup provides point-in-time recovery of full machine states and individual file systems, with flexible retention policies and replication schedules. Restore points are stored in cost-effective object storage (S3-compatible, Samba or NFS), and on S3-compatible storage Acura writes them as immutable objects using Object Lock, so backup data cannot be deleted or overwritten during its retention period.
For service providers, this is one end-to-end workflow: onboard a customer into CloudStack through migration, then protect the same VMs with DR and backup – to a secondary CloudStack zone, to a different site or to a public cloud – all from the same multi-tenant console.
Consistent operations across hybrid infrastructure
In practice, Apache CloudStack rarely runs alone. It coexists with VMware, Hyper-V, public clouds and other virtualization stacks, and running separate tools for migration, DR and backup at each layer fragments operations and adds maintenance overhead.
Hystax Acura provides a single management plane across all supported platforms – KVM, OpenStack, Red Hat OpenStack Services on OpenShift, Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, KubeVirt, oVirt, OpenNebula, Virtuozzo, VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Alibaba Cloud and now Apache CloudStack – with one set of workflows, a multi-tenant partner portal and a RESTful API. Adding the new platform to an existing estate reuses the operational process already in place rather than introducing a new one.
Hystax has already presented Acura for CloudStack to early adopters, including US Signal and Tigo/Millicom. Their interest reflects a broader pattern: organizations moving to the platform need a proven way to migrate production workloads there and to protect them once they are running.
“Apache CloudStack has become a practical choice for providers and enterprises that are rethinking their virtualization strategy. Our job is to give them a predictable path to move workloads there, and to protect those workloads once they are running.”
— Max Bozhenko, CTO at Hystax
Learn more
Hystax Acura supports migration, disaster recovery, and backup for a broad range of platforms, including KVM, OpenStack, VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Red Hat OpenStack Services on OpenShift, AWS, MS Azure, Google Cloud, and now Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization.
Explore Hystax Acura live migration capabilities
Learn about disaster recovery and backup