Category Archives: cloud

Its About the Apps – The Need for Application Modernization Webcast

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As we migrate to Cloud models for Enterprise IT one big need that gets overlooked is how the applications are architected. Modernizing existing apps can be a very scary but a necessary step to taking advantage of what the cloud can offer.

Just look at this crazy puzzle. As a VMware/Network/Storage geek I spend so much time focusing on the bottom of this picture the “infrastructure” part. I have to admit though without the Applications no one cares about all my infrastructure.

So what can we do with that middle layer? The legacy apps, Analytics and Cloud applications. Expect more to come from me on this. Don’t worry they won’t be “coding” posts but rather enablement of applications in the world of Private Cloud.

So where to start?
I want to create some awareness for this upcoming webcast. Details are here:

http://www.emc.com/events/2012/q1/01-25-12-application-modernization.htm

Jan 25, 2012

Time:
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST (Set Time Zone)

Event Type:
EMC Live Webcast

Location:
Online

Details: In this session, EMC Consulting will discuss Application Modernization on the road to Platform as a Service.

Our expertise and experience will help you understand Cloud Application Platform technologies, architectural patterns and practical approaches to a modernization strategy that maximizes long-term benefits.

Attend this webcast and learn:

About next generation Application Architectures
How other organizations have successfully tackled an Application Modernization initiative
How to develop a strategy for Application Modernization

vSphere Metro Stretched Clusters – Some Info/Links

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A lot of questions lately about vSphere Clusters across distance. I really need to learn for myself so I collected some good links.

Make sure you understand what “Only Non-uniform host access configuration is supported” means. Someone correct me if I have this wrong but your device that enables the distributed virtual storage needs to be sure that hosts in site A are writing to their preferred volumes in site A and vice versa in Site B. Probably way over simplifying it.


LINKS

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2007545

http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/virtual_geek/2011/10/new-vmware-hcl-category-vsphere-metro-stretched-cluster.html

http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2011/10/07/vsphere-metro-storage-cluster-solutions-what-is-supported-and-what-not/

http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2011/10/05/vsphere-5-0-ha-and-metro-stretched-cluster-solutions/

Big thanks to Scott Lowe for clearing the details on this topic.

An Idea for vCloud Director and View

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Sometimes I am sitting up late at night and I have a thought of something I think would be cool, like if x and y worked together to get z. This time I thought this was good enough to blog about. Now I want to stress that I do not have any special insight into what is coming. This is just how I wish things would be.

Today there are two end user portals from VMware. The vCloud Director for self-service cloud interface and the View Manager access point for end-users to access Virtual Desktops. Each interface interacts with one or more vCenter instances to deploy, manage, and destroy virtual machines. Below is a way over simplified representation of how View, vCloud Director (plus Request Manager) relate to the user experience. I think maybe there is a divide when there does not need to be (someday).

 

 

My idea

What if vCloud director could be used in the future to be the one stop user interface portal. Leveraging vCloud Request Manager, vCD could deploy cloud resources, Desktops or Servers or both. vCloud Director would be the orchestration piece for VMware View. Once the Request for a desktop is approved the entitlement to the correct pool is automatically given. If extra desktops are needed the cloning begins. vCloud Director will learn to speak the View Composer’s language, providing the ever elusive ability to use linked clones with vCD. vCloud Director with this feature could be great for lab and test/dev environments. The best part is operationally there is one place to request, deploy, manage all virtual resources from the end-user perspective. This could eliminate the ambiguity for a user (and service providers) on how to consume (and deliver) resources. This has implications on how IaaS and DaaS would be architected.

 

Now some drawbacks

You might say, hey, Jon you are going to make me buy and run vCD just to get VDI? No. The beauty of the API’s is each product could stand alone or work together (in my Vision of how they should work). Maybe even leverage Composer with vCD without View or Request Manager with View without vCD.

One Cloud Portal to rule them all.

First Three Months and the Cloud

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This is the post where people start accusing me of working for EMC. Guess what? I do.

Now that Geek Week and onboarding are finished and I got my really cool shirt I wanted to spend a few minutes reflecting on the things I learned in the last few months. This post will introduce a few topics and be an overall summary of my first 3 months as a vSpecialist.

What is great is I didn’t have to be convinced to like or do something I didn’t already think or believe. I am definitely able to articulate my thoughts in a somewhat coherent manner.

I believe the way we DO technology will need to transform in order compete in the future. If you are doing well now and still spending most of your time and money keeping the lights on the margin for error is shrinking. Your IT needs to be empowered to focus on applications that will give you a competitive edge. I have seen that EMC is going all in to make this vision of the cloud reality.

Automate – Manage – Self-Service

We all have a vision of how the “cloud” will help us. For us technical guys our list may look like this:

  1. I want my kids to recognize me.
  2. I want tools that work.
  3. I like sleep.
  4. My Call of Duty Black Ops game needs some work.

Will we all be able to play golf every afternoon because of cloud? Most likely not. Let me know if it happens for you. It will enable us to provide more meaningful impact on the bottom line of our business. If that means I can spend less time pouring over logs to find errors and fixing them and more time improving the delivery and impact of our applications, I am sold. What I seek is less time fighting fires and more time creating value. I see that EMC is aiming (and currently delivers) to provide tools to make this happen. This will be done with tools to help automate, manage and supply self-service IT.

It has been a good few months learning. Soon I will have a few more posts about the last few months.

Coming Soon:

Everyone has a Shiny Thing

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) is really cool.

You Care about Business Impact

A Team Makes a Difference

VMware View and Xsigo

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*Disclaimer – I work for a Xsigo and VMware partner.

I was in the VMware View Design and Best practices class a couple weeks ago. Much of the class is built on the VMware View Reference Architecture. The picture below is from that PDF.

It really struck me how many IO connections (Network or Storage) it would take to run this POD. Minimum (in my opinion) would be 6 cables per host with ten 8 host clusters that is 480 cables! Let’s say that 160 of those are 4 gb Fiberchannel and the other 320 are 1 gb ethernet. The is 640 gb for storage and 320 for network.

Xsigo currently uses 20 gb infiniband and best practice would be to use 2 cards per server. The same 80 servers in the above cluster would have 3200 gb of bandwidth available. Add in the flexibility and ease of management you get using virtual IO. The cost savings in the number director class fiber switches and datacenter switches you no longer need and the ROI I would think the pays for the Xsigo Directors. I don’t deal with pricing so this is pure contemplation. So I will stick with the technical benefits. Being in the datacenter I like any solution that makes provisioning servers easier, takes less cabling, and gives me unbelievable bandwidth.

So just in the way VMware changed the way we think about the datacenter. Virtual IO will once again change how we deal with our deployments.

The Philosophy of Cloud

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With several great posts recently about the cloud and its definitions I decided to jump in from maybe a new perspective.
So check out these links:
The Cloud is Kicking my Butt – Mike DiPetrillo

Is Virtualization Required for the Cloud to Work? – Mike DiPetrillo

Cloud Butt Kicking – Jason Boche

So to relate Cloud Computing to Philosophy. I have to define the previous way of computing would be the Modern way of thought. It fit with the very way most Engineers thought. It is linear. A + B = C computing design made sense. Faster CPU’s means faster programs. More memory meant bigger programs running faster. More Storage means we could store more and more data. Faster Networks let us move that data faster and faster.
Cloud computing redefines our existing way of thought but only does so be erasing our previous definitions. Cloud computing is POST-modern. It is the next step in the philosophy of computing. Postmodern philosophy is defined by being undefinable. The more you try to label and categorize the more it wiggles away. I have read a lot about the Cloud abstracting computing away from our traditional way of defining data center, computing, or information systems. So some thoughts on what this actually means to me.

1. It is ok that Cloud can mean 1000 different things to 1000 different people. That is what makes it “cloud”. What matters is what you experience from the cloud. Virtual Desktops? ok. Distributed Computing or Software as a Service? ok. Online backups? sure. Virtual Firewalls?. You bet! Going on and on…

2. Claiming to be the sole provider of what is really “cloud” will make you seem very “un-cloud”. Cloud computing will be such that when we hold it tighter the more we don’t understand it.

3. As we abstract our data away from the linear thought of the PC in front of me uploads and downloads data to various servers through various network devices sitting in various data centers in certain cities. We will work on relationships and experiences. As a consultant my goal would be to show how your information will “relate” to others and how you interact with the information.

What does all this mean for privacy, security and identity?
Our technical devices will be “connection points” to what is happening in the cloud.

This is getting rambling now so I will stop.