Embracing Cloud in a Traditional Data Center

Eagle Technologies, Inc. © Copyright 2015

Embracing Cloud in a Traditional Data CenterBrian Anderson, Senior Systems Engineer

Eagle Technologies, Inc. © Copyright 2015 2

• What’s so great about Cloud?

• The Cloud Computing Model– Five Essential Characteristics

– Three Cloud Service Models

– Four Deployment Models

• Considerations

• What do we see our customers doing?– Low Hanging Fruit & Opportunities

• Comments & Summary

Agenda


By The NumbersRespondents from a recent poll by Eagle

Being asked by upper management

to look at cloud

Investigating cloud services

60%

73%

Have already implemented some

type of cloud service14%


• CIO’s like Operational Expense (OpEx)– Capital Expense (CapEx) can be unpredictable and painful

– There is a perception that the cloud is more cost-effective

• Talent is expensive– Cloud allows the delivery of IT services without the labor and technology costs

associated with maintaining complex computer systems

• Elasticity, Ease of Provisioning/Deployment

• IT shops have much to do

• Large cloud vendors are shaping the conversation

Why the Push for Cloud?


What is the Cloud?

5


cloud com·put·ing noun

Cloud computing is a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.

The cloud model is composed of:

– Five essential characteristics

– Three service models

– Four deployment models

Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology

What is the Cloud?


The Five Essential Cloud Characteristics

7


On-Demand Self-Service– A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and

network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider.

Cloud Computing: Five Essential Characteristics


Broad Network Access– Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard

mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).



Resource Pooling– The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a

multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter). Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, and network bandwidth.



Rapid Elasticity– Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically,

to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be appropriated in any quantity at any time.



Measured Service– Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a

metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.



• On-Demand Self-Service– Provision without human interaction with the service provider

• Broad Network Access– Access from nearly anywhere, no location dependence

• Resource Pooling– Multi-tenant model, pooled resources, location independence

• Rapid Elasticity– Scale rapidly outward or inward

• Measured Service– Metering capabilities (monitor, control, report)

Wrap-Up: Essential Characteristics


The Three Cloud Computing Service Models

14


• Examples:– Co-located Data Centers (CoLo)

– Amazon Web Services (AWS)

– Microsoft Azure

– Rackspace

• IaaS providers are responsible for:– Physical security

– Power

– Cooling

– Compute, Storage, & Networking

• Consumer is responsible for:– OS & Applications


Cloud Computing Service Models

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

IaaS


• Examples:– Microsoft Azure

– Google App Engine

– Force.com

– Connectria

• PaaS providers are responsible for:– Physical security

– Power

– Cooling


– Software Development Environment

– Web & Application Hosting

• Consumer is responsible for:– Application Development & Maintenance


Platform as a Service (PaaS)

IaaSPaaS

Saa


• SaaS providers are responsible for:– Physical security

– Power

– Cooling


– Software Development

– Web & Application Hosting

– The Application

*Consumer manages nothing but the application settings.


Software as a Service (SaaS)

• Examples:– Gmail

– LinkedIn

– Twitter

– Facebook

– Salesforce.com

– Office365

– WebEx

IaaSPaaS

SaaS


IaaS

PaaS

SaaSEnd-U

sers


GmailFacebookLinkedIn

RackspaceAmazon Web Services (AWS)

Google App EngineMicrosoft AzureConnectria

Developers

Sys Admins


The Four Cloud Computing Deployment Models

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Details

• Infrastructure provisioned for use by general public

• Exists on premises of cloud provider

Deployment Models: Public Cloud

Control/Access

• Compute resources are shared

• Public has access

• Provider controls security

Examples

• Gmail

• Twitter

• Salesforce.com

• Office365

• WebEx


Details

• Infrastructure provisioned for exclusive use by single organization

• Exists on or off premises

Deployment Models: Private Cloud

Control/Access

• Compute resources are NOT shared (outside the company)

• Access limited to business consumers

• Business controls security

Examples

• OpenStack

• vCloud


Details

• Infrastructure provisioned for exclusive use by a community of organizations with shared concerns

• Exists on or off premises

Deployment Models: Community Cloud

Control/Access

• Compute resources are shared

• Access is restricted outside of community user groups

• Business controls security

Examples

• Research

• LinkedIn

• Facebook


Details

• The combination of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures

• Data and application portability is key

• Parts may be managed remotely by MSP’s

Deployment Models: Hybrid Cloud

Use Cases

• Cloud Bursting

• Data Protection

• Disaster Recovery


Cloud Computing Considerations

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• Vendor Lock-in

• Less Flexibility

• Reduced Governance

• Data Location

• Data Ownership

• Increased Attack Surface

• Less Visibility Into Networks & Security

• User Education

Cloud Computing Considerations

• Reduced Monitoring

• Extreme Outages

• Compliance Limitations

• Operational Expense

• Bandwidth Costs

• Service Level Agreements

• Long-term Contracts

• Cost Overruns

• Platform Maturity


There are plenty of great use cases for cloud.

What’s the low-hanging fruit?

The Cloud Is Here To Stay


Cloud Computing: Low-Hanging Fruit

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• Benefits– Most system administrators loathe managing Exchange (get rid of it).

• Examples– Google Apps, Microsoft Office365

• Considerations:– Make sure you consider your compliance and retention requirements

– This is a core business app, do your homework

Low-Hanging Fruit – Email (SaaS)


• Benefits

– Get rid of facilities management

– Improve your infrastructure

– Does not fundamentally change how IT is done

• Considerations

– Must sign contract with a term (3-5 years)

Low-Hanging Fruit – Co-located Data Centers (IaaS)


• Benefits – Take advantage of the cloud model– Elasticity

– Ease of provisioning

– OpEx

• Examples– Holidays, tax season

– QA & Dev environments

– Building out new environments

Low-Hanging FruitSeasonal Workloads & Pilot Projects (IaaS & PaaS)


• Embracing the cloud doesn’t mean every part of a solution has to live there.

• This is not difficult or disruptive

• Offsite Backup Copies + Local Retention– Overcome availability concerns by keeping backup copies local.

• Cost-effective Offsite Data Protection– Many business can avoid secondary DR infrastructure (CoLo or owned) with a hybrid

backup solution.

Low-Hanging Fruit – Hybrid Backup


• Benefits– Availability and time-to-restore concerns are low with archive

• Examples– CommVault

• AWS, Glacier, DASH

• Considerations:– Make sure you consider your SLA’s and availability requirements

Low-Hanging Fruit – Archive


• Benefits– In-house equipment with a OpEx model

– Pay for what you use, even when usage shrinks

• Examples– Nimble Storage-on-Demand

• Considerations:– This isn’t necessarily the most cost-effective option

Low-Hanging Fruit – Infrastructure-on-Demand


• SaaS: Lots of opportunities to look at cloud:– Document imaging/management

– Video and teleconferencing

– Training

– Customer relations

– Accounting

• Considerations: All of them!

Low-Hanging Fruit – SaaS in General


If you were in a bare metal situation, would you start with bare metal?

• Benefits– Fewer up-front investments (costs don't go away, but are evenly distributed)

– Get going quickly

– Scale up fast (when you need to)

– When you grow from scratch using the cloud, you’re less likely to hit a major obstacle

Gartner: Startups that can leverage the cloud have an early advantage.

Low-Hanging FruitNew IT Startups


Tips & Lessons Learned

36


• Run your data center like a managed service provider:– Think of applications in terms of how many resources they consume:

• Memory• Compute• Storage

– Employ showback or chargeback methods• Show your company what each workload costs

– Make wise hardware decisions and communicate your expenses well in advance

– Take another look at OpEx• Look at on-site on-demand models (e.g., storage on-demand)• Leases

Tips – Treat Your DC Like The CloudBad data center management makes a great case for the cloud.


Leading with either cloud OR on-premises solutions is a mistake

• Step One: Determine your needs

• Step Two: Assess your environment (collect data)

• Step Three: Solve your problem from an academic standpoint

• Step Four: Find the products that meet your needs

• Step Five: Evaluate management and geography options– Who’s going to take care of it?

– Where will it reside?

Tips – Choose Your Solution First!


• We see folks moving to cloud when they are in crisis in their own datacenter.– “If you can't manage the systems & information in your own data center, how is

moving the systems to the Cloud going to change anything?”

• The cloud reduces business flexibility, and even when they can add those special services we see a swing in the costs (back to favoring in-house)

• Shadow IT – Employees will find ways to solve problems on their own, often this includes using rogue cloud services.

More Tips


At the very least, Hybrid Cloud is inevitable!

Summary

Educate yourself! Understand the attributes of cloud computing

Remember the considerations and pain points of offsite solutions

Focus on the solution first, not where it will live, and who will manage it

Take care of your current data center first!Use a managed service provider mentality and have your own private cloud

Remember that IT management issues don’t go away with cloud solutions


Got questions?We’ve got answers.


Thank you!

Brian Anderson

Senior Systems Engineer [email protected]