Libcloud Python driver for Brightbox Cloud API

Hot on the heel of last weeks announcement of support for our new cloud API in the Fog Ruby cloud library – some news for Pythonistas! We now also have a Brightbox driver for Libcloud – the Python (and now Java) client library for interacting with multiple cloud computing APIs.

The driver is available right now via our fork of libcloud on Github and will hopefully be merged into the official codebase soon.

Here’s a quick example using the Python shell…

libcloud-brightbox:trunk$ python
Python 2.6.5 (r265:79359, Mar 24 2010, 01:32:55)
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5493)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> from libcloud.drivers.brightbox import BrightboxNodeDriver
>>> from libcloud.types import NodeState
>>> driver = BrightboxNodeDriver('my_client_id', 'my_client_secret')
>>> len(driver.list_nodes())
3
>>> size = driver.list_sizes()[0]
>>> image = driver.list_images()[0]
>>> node = driver.create_node(name='Libcloud test server', size=size, image=image)
>>> node.id
'srv-0dj5y'
>>> len(driver.list_nodes())
4

If you’ve not already done so, request a free cloud beta account and have a go yourself :)

posted 30 Nov 2010 by Jeremy Jarvis

FreeBSD in the Brightbox Cloud

Last week we added a “compatibility” mode to our new cloud platform, which allows running operating systems without virtio support. This opens up our platform beyond Linux, and for starters we’ve added FreeBSD 8.1 images:

$ brightbox-images list img-1okdf img-aoubd

id         owner      type      created_on  status  size   name
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
img-1okdf  brightbox  official  2010-11-19  public  20480  FreeBSD 8.1 minimal (i686)
img-aoubd  brightbox  official  2010-11-19  public  20480  FreeBSD 8.1 minimal (x86_64)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you’d expect, you can control FreeBSD servers via the API, just like any other Brightbox cloud server – and that includes snapshotting the disk. If you’re a FreeBSD nerd and want to have a play, then sign up to our beta.

Now I’m off to learn how to use FreeBSD to see what all the fuss is about :)

posted 23 Nov 2010 by John Leach