May 31 is OpenStack Essex Deploy Day, namely, a “hack-a-thon [that] focuses on automation for deploying OpenStack Essex with Dell Crowbar and Opscode Chef.” The event is designed to facilitate deployments of the Essex version of OpenStack by providing novices and experts alike with instruction about OpenStack Essex and Crowbar, an open source product used for deploying OpenStack and Hadoop. The event represents an opportunity for developers, administrators and users to learn more about the basics of automating deployments of OpenStack Essex with Crowbar and Chef. Given that OpenStack Essex Deploy Day focuses on automation, the event stands to raise important questions that apply to cloud automation software other than Crowbar and Chef such as Puppet. Currently, Crowbar supports Chef but not Puppet, for example.