The successor to the Liberty release of the OpenStack open source cloud computing platform, OpenStack Mitaka made its debut on April 7th, 2016 as the thirteenth major release of OpenStack. Mitaka is the first major update in 2016 for OpenStack, with OpenStack Newton following its release in early October 2016, which is expected to be succeeded by OpenStack Ocata in April 2017.
As with previous OpenStack releases, Mitaka takes its name from a nearby city or distinguishing feature relative to the OpenStack design summit corresponding to each OpenStack release. In this case, Mitaka is the name of a Japanese city with the metro area of Tokyo.
Feature Enhancements in OpenStack Mitaka
With the OpenStack Mitaka release, a major focus has been to simply and improve the installation and deployment process for those new to OpenStack. Specifically, OpenStack Mitaka offers default configurations for new deployments as well as easier integration and management of all the projects in the OpenStack “Big Tent” model.
One of the key ways it does this is through a new component called the OpenStack client, which is a command-line client with a standardized set of commands that helps unify access across all the main OpenStack projects. With the OpenStack client, there’s also an effort to create “common verbs,” which are shared commands that enable capabilities across an OpenStack cloud.
