Got a data center? Want to make it all nice and cloudy like the good folk at Rackspace do?

Your wish is its command, as you can download free open source Private Cloud Software and start messin’ with the mechanics of your machinery.

What we find a little more interesting down at TechDay Towers is the ready availability of enterprise-grade software at no (immediate) cost. Rackspace is doing it, Kaseya is doing it, hey, everyone’s doing it!

Well, no, that’s not true, there are plenty of olde-worlde software companies which still believe fervently in the ‘write once, sell many times at as high a price as possible’ business model. You know who they are.

Of course, since you weren’t born yesterday, you’ll know as well as we do that free ain’t free, but rather opens the door to a commercial relationship. And what’s wrong with that, so long as there’s an exchange of value.

But back to Private Cloud Software; this, evidently, is a combination of OpenStack community 'trunk' code and Rackspace tools, packaging and configuration.

While sending a lengthy press release to push the product, Rackspace’s PR flack was kind enough to bottom line it for us in her email: “[Private Cloud Software] is completely free [we’re not buying that], open source software that lets enterprises operate their own private cloud, using the same software, the same configuration and the same operations that power Rackspace's public cloud.”

Here’s the bit where you ready your wallet; run your private cloud the Rackspace way, and you’re ready to buy additional capacity, services, etc, from its public cloud. Handy for you, handy for it.

Features of Private Cloud Software include:

• OpenCenter – provides a centralised GUI and API that simplifies and automates the operational activities associated with establishing, managing and maintaining private clouds.
• High Availability – API or point-and-click deployment and management of high availability environments for OpenStack controller nodes, improving up-time.
• Host Operating System Choice – Select from Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux or CentOS for the host operating system in your private cloud.