10 key factors in building a private cloud

Thomas Bittman, cloud analyst at Gartner, a market research firm, says one of the hardest parts of implementing a cloud strategy is not to choose the underlying technology that drives deployment, but to have some process management effectively migrate to the cloud.

While cloud technology is maturing now, migrating to the cloud is one of the early challenges that need to be addressed, Bittman at a Web seminar hosted by Gartner to discuss how to build a private cloud.

The application cloud is a shift in the way IT services are delivered to business units, bringing the benefits of application flexibility and adapting it to the needs of the enterprise. However, achieving this optimization point is not just about what virtualization technology to use or what public cloud providers to hire. This is to have some process to effectively implement the strategy.

Private cloud is the first step that many organizations take in the cloud strategy. Bittman says it is important for IT departments to consider why the cloud should be applied before implementing the strategy. Private cloud is most commonly used to provide server virtualization automatically, providing enterprises with more efficient hardware, provisioning resources, and leveraging local security features to ensure the security of all systems within the company. But companies still need a reason to invest in private clouds. To determine this, IT departments need to work with the business sector to determine what problems they face and how to use it to address these issues.

Once the rationale for using a private cloud is justified, the next step is to build the cloud infrastructure. As a result, bittman the 10 elements that made private cloud computing a success.

1. Leadership. Deploying a cloud strategy requires someone to understand the needs of the business and IT departments. It is the work of the IT department that serves the business unit. Therefore, IT departments must understand the needs of the business unit and develop solutions that address the concerns of the business unit. The top leadership of an institution also needs to support this cloud strategy.

2. Define your service in advance. An important element in deploying a cloud strategy is understanding the services provided by the business unit. This allows the IT department to develop strategies to address these issues. The key to doing this is understanding the services provided. But, Bittman says, not everything is optimized for the cloud. Private cloud is best suited to the dynamic nature of the recurring business requirements service. The cloud is not an ERP system installed every 10. It is updated once a week or a few times a week.

3. Evaluate alternative approaches. Bittman suggests researching solutions that create real value for your business. In many cases, this choice is ultimately a PAAs (Platform-service) level. There, applications are customized to the needs of the business unit while leveraging the benefits of the cloud environment. Bittman says you don't use SaaS or IaaS to make your company different, because each company will eventually use some of those services. You can implement differentiation using new applications written specifically for your needs. These applications are dynamically upgraded.

4. Create metrics. A successful cloud deployment is to optimize a business practice and make business practices more effective than ever before. How do you do this? Metrics can achieve the quantitative value of this strategy. Although cost is a natural measure, customer satisfaction and delivery speed are also metrics. The most important indicator is the most important thing for this business unit.

5. Create a business justification for using the cloud. The most important thing for the IT department is to determine where the biggest bottlenecks in the business benefit from cloud computing. Once you determine where the bottleneck is, start small and expand to cloud deployment. This means automating virtualization to create a private cloud, or using a public cloud for development and testing.

6. Develop a personnel plan. Cloud deployment can in many cases change the role of IT staff. Cloud Architects and choreography experts are needed to build and manage private clouds. The service Manager is required to ensure that the cloud delivers what is needed. At the same time, because of the creation of new roles, traditional it roles or people who maintain traditional infrastructures do not need that much.

7. There is a management plan. Bittman says the future of it is a mixed world. There will be a variety of services: the private cloud will be combined with the public cloud to create a hybrid cloud, while the traditional infrastructure will continue to be used within the enterprise for some applications. The IT department should be the broker who introduces these services to the business, delivering the service based on the business usage case and the services provided.

8. Have the right technology. Although business processes are important, technology cannot be ignored. The basic elements of a technical plan include the control of access to which content is accessed and the service management software that manages the resources provided through the cloud. There are also a variety of vendors to help large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises to manage their cloud deployment. These vendors include high-end providers such as HP, IBM, BMC and CA technology companies, and vendors that focus on virtualization and provide application services on this basis.

9. Focus on the process. The business sector needs development. The IT department needs to change as the business unit develops. As you build a private cloud, you want to look at what to do next, Bittman says. The future of the cloud will be a mixed pattern of private and public cloud resources.

10. Start small, have lofty goals. This is difficult, so be cautious about how you deploy your cloud. Learn by experimenting, monitoring usage and feedback, identifying the needs of business units and developing IT solutions that specifically address these issues. ' We can't design everything perfectly from the beginning, so we have to start small and build from there, ' says Bittman.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)