Help:Cloud Services introduction
WMCS project overview
What is Wikimedia Cloud Services (WMCS)?
Wikimedia Cloud Services (WMCS) empowers technical contributions to the Wikimedia software world. WMCS is a flexible computing ecosystem built on OpenStack, GridEngine, and Kubernetes.
WMCS products and resources are available for use by anyone connected with the Wikimedia movement. Support and administration of the WMCS resources is provided by a Wikimedia Foundation Cloud Services team and Wikimedia movement volunteers.
WMCS history
From 2011 until early 2017, WMCS was known as "Wikimedia Labs." The term 'Labs' was used to refer to a number of different components, and clarification was required. In 2017, the project was reorganized. The former Wikimedia Foundation Labs team and the Tool Labs Support team joined together to create the Wikimedia Cloud Services team.
WMCS products
| Service | Product | Description | Use | Support Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VPS | Cloud VPS | Provides collaboratively owned collections of virtual private servers where users develop and maintain software projects that help the Wikimedia movement. | Use this to run full virtual instances. | You are willing to administer instances on your own. We can provide quota to do so. |
| PaaS | Toolforge | Provides a shared hosting/platform as a service environment for running bots, webservices, scheduled jobs, and data analysis. | Run a specific webservice, scheduled job, or perform analysis. | You do not want to or are not able to manage a full virtual environment. |
| DaaS | Data Services | A collection of products including private-information-redacted copies of Wikimedia's production wiki databases and access to Wikimedia Dumps. | Create replicas of the production databases and other data for analysis and experimentation. | The Quarry service provides database access via a web interface. Some DaaS resources may need to be requested for specific VPS projects. |
Renaming of products
Efforts are underway to improve the language and branding surrounding the products and services we offer. Working titles are now in use across some documentation, but you may still encounter legacy names and branding.
How to participate
Get Started
Read the WMCS Getting Started guide for information about how to create a user account and become active in Wikimedia software projects.
Terms and Conditions
Wikitech account holders who plan to use WMCS resources and products must read and agree to the following:
- Wikimedia Cloud Services (Wikimedia Labs) Terms of Use
- Code of Conduct for technical spaces
- Agreement to disclosure of personally identifiable information (covers End-Users).
Please pay close attention to the following terms for Toolforge and Cloud VPS:
- Toolforge tools must be open source software licensed under an OSI approved license.
- Toolforge and Cloud VPS projects must not collect, store, or share private data or personally identifiable information, such as user names, passwords, or IP addresses, except when complying with the conditions listed in the Wikimedia Labs Terms of Use.
Support and administration
We use Phabricator (workboard), an IRC channel (#wikimedia-cloud connect), and email list (cloud) as primary support channels.
Wikimedia Cloud Services are a joint effort between Wikimedia Foundation staff and many dedicated volunteers:
- Wikimedia Cloud Services team
- Wikimedia Technical Operations
- Community Liaisons
- Toolforge standards committee
- Phabricator participants
- Cloud VPS project maintainers
- Toolforge tool maintainers
- and many more people who help by creating and maintaining documentation on this wiki and others in the Wikimedia movement
Learn more
- Read our glossary of terminology
- Browse existing VPS projects using OpenStack Browser.
- Project administration is done through the OpenStack dashboard known as Horizon.
- Toolforge (Tools) has a homepage and a directory of Tools
- Other explanations
- Introducing the Cloud Services Team: What we do, and how we can help you blog entry (September 2017)
- What is Wikimedia Cloud Services? presentation slides (12 pages)
- Video presentation: Introduction to Wikimedia Cloud Services, at Wikimania 2017 (56 minutes)