OpenStack Heat is an orchestration service that allows you to define and manage cloud infrastructure resources using templates. It enables users to describe their cloud application deployments in a declarative format called Heat Orchestration Templates (HOT). Heat provides an API for managing the lifecycle of resources and handles the deployment, scaling, and monitoring of those resources.
Heat API-CFN (CloudFormation) is one of the supported APIs in OpenStack Heat. It is a compatibility layer that allows users to interact with the Heat service using the AWS CloudFormation API. AWS CloudFormation is a similar service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) for managing infrastructure resources.
Heat API-CFN translates AWS CloudFormation API requests into equivalent Heat API requests, allowing users to leverage their existing CloudFormation templates and tools with an OpenStack-based infrastructure. It provides a seamless way to migrate or integrate with OpenStack environments for users familiar with AWS CloudFormation.
Some key features of Heat API-CFN include:
- Template Compatibility: Heat API-CFN provides compatibility with AWS CloudFormation templates. It supports the same template format and resource types, allowing users to reuse their existing CloudFormation templates.
- Stack Operations: Users can create, update, delete, and query stacks using the Heat API-CFN. Stacks represent a collection of resources that are managed as a single unit. Stack operations provide a way to manage the lifecycle of resources in a coordinated manner.
- Resource Provisioning: Heat API-CFN handles the provisioning of resources defined in the template. It communicates with the underlying OpenStack services to create and manage the requested resources, such as instances, networks, storage volumes, and more.
- Template Validation: Heat API-CFN validates the CloudFormation templates for correctness and compatibility with the Heat service. It performs syntax and semantic checks to ensure that the template is well-formed and adheres to the Heat template specification.
- Resource Mapping: Heat API-CFN maps AWS CloudFormation resource types and properties to their equivalent counterparts in Heat. This mapping allows users to seamlessly translate their CloudFormation templates to Heat templates when deploying in an OpenStack environment.
- Event and Stack Monitoring: Heat API-CFN provides mechanisms to monitor stack events and status. Users can retrieve information about stack operations, track progress, and view any errors or warnings encountered during the deployment process.
It’s worth noting that Heat API-CFN is just one of the APIs available in Heat. OpenStack Heat also provides a native Heat API for users who prefer to work with Heat-specific features and template formats.