In an era where "the cloud" often implies surrendering control to proprietary hyperscalers, OpenStack remains the bastion of infrastructure freedom and data sovereignty. However, the operational complexity of managing a truly free cloud can sometimes be a barrier to entry.

In this talk, we introduce the OpenStack Resource Controller (ORC), a tool designed to lower that barrier without compromising on freedom. By marrying the declarative power of Kubernetes Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) with OpenStack’s mature, open ecosystem, ORC enables a true GitOps workflow for private cloud infrastructure.

We will demonstrate how ORC simplifies the complexity of self-hosted environments through built-in dependency management and the Kubernetes self-healing reconcile loop. We will also compare ORC against other Infrastructure-as-Code solutions, candidly discussing strengths and trade-offs. Join us to discover how to achieve seamless, robust orchestration that respects your data sovereignty.