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OpenStack Solum

OpenStack Solum is an application lifecycle management service (platform-as-a-service / Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) layer) that runs on top of OpenStack infrastructure to build, deploy, and manage cloud-native applications.

  • Application lifecycle management service on OpenStack (PaaS / application platform)
  • Automates application build, deploy, and scaling workflows on OpenStack clouds (deployment automation)
  • Integrates with core OpenStack services such as Nova, Heat, Keystone, and others for runtime and orchestration (cloud orchestration)
  • Provides an API-driven model for language- and framework-agnostic application delivery (DevOps enablement)
  • Targets operators and developers who want platform-style capabilities on private or public OpenStack clouds (private cloud platform)

More About OpenStack Solum

OpenStack Solum is an OpenStack project that delivers an application lifecycle management layer on top of OpenStack infrastructure, allowing organizations to build, deploy, and operate applications using a PaaS style model while retaining control of their OpenStack environment. It addresses the problem space where enterprises run OpenStack as their Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) platform but require a higher-level service to standardize and automate how applications are packaged, launched, and updated.

Solum focuses on automating application delivery workflows (deployment automation) by providing a service that takes application source code or artifacts and orchestrates the build and deployment process on OpenStack. It leverages core OpenStack components (cloud infrastructure), such as Nova for compute, Heat for orchestration templates, and Keystone for identity, to provision and manage the underlying resources needed by the application. Through this layering, Solum connects developer-centric workflows with OpenStack’s infrastructure capabilities.

The project exposes API-driven capabilities (application platform) to define and manage application plans, which describe how an application should be built, what artifacts are produced, and how those artifacts are deployed and scaled on OpenStack. This enables organizations to encapsulate language- and framework-specific build logic while presenting a consistent operational model to operators. The design allows for support of multiple languages and frameworks without coupling the platform to a single technology stack.

In enterprise environments, Solum is used as part of private or hosted OpenStack deployments (private cloud platform) to give internal development teams a unified path from code to running services. Operators can define standardized templates and workflows so that applications consume OpenStack resources through Solum rather than each team scripting directly against lower-level APIs. This supports governance and policy enforcement while reducing duplication of deployment logic.

Solum’s implementation model fits into the broader OpenStack ecosystem (cloud ecosystem integration) by integrating with existing services instead of replacing them. Heat provides orchestration, Nova or other compute backends provide execution environments, and Keystone manages identity and access control. By building on these components, Solum aligns with the OpenStack architecture, allowing organizations that already operate OpenStack to extend their stack with PaaS-like capabilities without introducing a separate, unrelated platform.

From a directory and taxonomy perspective, OpenStack Solum is categorized as an application lifecycle management and deployment automation service that runs on OpenStack (PaaS / DevOps platform on IaaS). It connects developer workflows to OpenStack infrastructure services and offers a structured approach for building, packaging, and deploying applications in OpenStack-based clouds.