Enterprise-oriented cloud computing, part 3rd: Creating a private cloud using WebSphere cloudburst

The 1th part of this series discusses the basic aspects of cloud computing, including the cloud layer and different cloud types and their pros and cons, and explains why it is important for enterprise developers to understand the cloud. The 2nd part explores the public cloud and how to deliver Web applications hosted on the public cloud infrastructure using Ibm®websphere®smash and IBM db2®express-c. This article describes IBM WebSphere Cloudburst™ and IBM WebSphere creator Server Hypervisor Edition and discusses how these new offerings can introduce the great benefits of private cloud computing to WebSphere Enterprise environment.

Introduction

Data center costs include three components: hardware, physical costs (such as energy and refrigeration), and administration. Among the three, administrative costs are a significant part of the overall continuing cost. Therefore, eliminating manual processes, errors, and repetitive content greatly reduces and controls IT costs.

The new IBM WebSphere Cloudburst Appliance and IBM WebSphere Creator Server Hypervisor Edition provide deployment and management capabilities for rapid, repeatable deployment WebSphere creator Server environment, thereby significantly reducing administrative requirements associated with these activities. In addition, by leveraging virtualization and cloud computing principles, WebSphere Cloudburst can efficiently leverage a shared resource pool-a private cloud-to reduce infrastructure costs.

This article provides an introduction to the WebSphere Cloudburst and WebSphere creator Server Hypervisor Edition, and discusses how these new products bring the great benefits of private cloud computing to WebSphere Enterprise environment.

Private Cloud

As discussed in earlier articles in this series, cloud computing solutions have many forms: the public cloud, the hybrid cloud, and the private cloud. The type of cloud is often defined according to the location of the physical resource and data. For a private cloud, we mean a cloud that exists within the corporate firewall, and all computing resources and services that make up the cloud are protected by firewalls.

While private clouds do not free you from the responsibility to acquire and maintain computational resources, there are many reasons why companies should choose a private cloud over a public cloud:

Security and Compliance: You may need more stringent control and monitoring of how and where your data is stored than a typical public cloud service. Provides functionality that cannot be implemented through a public cloud: You may need a very specific vendor technology, or you may need availability assurance, and the use of a public cloud does not suffice. Private cloud can be a financial asset: if you have a large existing data center investment, you may want to optimize these existing resources without buying a public cloud service. Even companies that do not have the cost of this kind of investment often see the price advantage of an internal (premise) solution because the flexibility of an external (off-premise) solution costs something (like renting a car and buying a car).

Private Cloud solutions deliver many of the same advantages as the public cloud, such as cost reduction, business agility, and enhanced innovation. The main difference is that you gain complete control over the cloud (and responsibility).

Introduction to WebSphere Cloudburst

WebSphere Cloudburst is a new product provided by IBM that includes hardware and software features for creating and managing internal private clouds. WebSphere Cloudburst provides the ability to build, deploy, and maintain virtualized WebSphere creator server configurations, covering many configurations ranging from single server deployment to more complex cluster deployments.

Figure 1. WebSphere Cloudburst

As shown in Figure 1, the WebSphere Cloudburst consists of three basic parts:

Devices: The actual WebSphere Cloudburst appliance includes hardware, management applications, and a set of pre-installed and pre-configured WebSphere creator Server virtual images and schemas. All access to the WebSphere Cloudburst is done through a supported interface, using the WEB 2.0 user Interface, the complete Command line Interface (CLI), or the REST API. Cloud: WebSphere Cloudburst supports the "Use your own cloud" model, which provides management programs (hypervisor), network functionality, and storage for use by devices. The cloud is where the deployed WebSphere applications run, and they do not run on the WebSphere Cloudburst appliance. Virtual systems. WebSphere Cloudburst provides tools to customize the images and schemas provided by IBM to create a service catalog for your WebSphere application and to provide a variety of features to bring WebSphere creator Server The virtual system is assigned to a private cloud. The WebSphere Cloudburst appliance includes intelligent layout capabilities to deploy WebSphere creator Server mode to the cloud and ensure efficient cloud resource utilization and high availability. Once the model is deployed, WebSphere Cloudburst provides management and optimization capabilities, including a mechanism for applying patches to the environment.

The WebSphere Cloudburst appliance addresses escalating server costs and middleware management and governance issues in multiple ways. WebSphere Cloudburst provides tools to build consistent, repeatable WebSphere creator Server deployments. These deployments are optimized for virtualized environments, enabling you to reduce management costs and leverage the benefits of server consolidation in this environment. In addition, WebSphere Cloudburst applies best practices to identify and tune configurations.

WebSphere Cloudburst can also be used for integration scenarios involving deployment and service management tools from IBM's rational® and tivoli® series. These integration features provide you with seamless, end-to-end workflows that dramatically improve IT efficiency and agility.

Why Choose WebSphere cloudburst appliance?

As you can see from the name, the WebSphere cloudburst appliance is actually a device. Delivering this new product in the form of equipment can bring many benefits:

Availability: Equipment provides a high degree of usability. After you connect to the device and accept the initial license, the WebSphere Cloudburst console is available immediately. No additional installation steps are required, and you can start building your private WebSphere cloud immediately. Security: WebSphere Cloudburst Appliance is similar to IBM WebSphere Datapower®soa appliance and provides a very solid layer of protection. In addition, WebSphere Cloudburst applies encryption to SSL certificates, passwords, virtual images, applications, and all content stored in them. Users interact with WebSphere Cloudburst using one of the following three interfaces: A WEB 2.0 user interface, a complete Command line Interface, or a REST API. There are no other access points (such as command-line shells), so there is less chance of malicious attacks. Performance: WebSphere Cloudburst Appliance as a dedicated storage for the accompanying and customized WebSphere creator Server virtual images and schemas. The device includes advanced compression and storage technology that allows users to store large numbers of large virtual images. The device also delivers processing capabilities for managing these virtual images and enables you to create a private WebSphere cloud.

Now, let's take a detailed look at the WebSphere creator Server virtual images and schemas, which are essential components of the WebSphere Cloudburst.

Pre-loaded images and patterns

A virtual image is the basic element that makes up a WebSphere cloudburst product. In particular, the new WebSphere creator Server Hypervisor Edition is the building ground for the WebSphere Cloudburst model. The WebSphere Creator Server Hypervisor Edition (Figure 2) is a special edition of WebSphere Creator server, running on top of a hypervisor and optimized for virtual environments. (packaged can be used for both WebSphere creator Server v6.1.0.x and v7.0.0.x). The first edition of the WebSphere Creator server Hypervisor Edition contains WebSphere Creator server binaries and configuration files, IBM HTTP server, and a SLES Linux operating system, all content is preinstalled and packaged using the Open virtualization Format (OVF).

Because virtual images are pre-installed, configured, and tuned, you can achieve a fast return on investment (ROI) because you do not need to install WebSphere creator Server again.

Figure 2. WebSphere Creator Server Hypervisor Edition

WebSphere Creator Server Hypervisor Edition can be purchased separately from WebSphere Cloudburst and is scheduled for initial use with VMware ESX and ESXi. However, greater value is achieved when the WebSphere creator Server Hypervisor Edition is used internally for WebSphere Cloudburst appliance.

WebSphere Cloudburst introduces the idea of the schema, in this sense, the layout structure of the components contained in the WebSphere creator Server Hypervisor Edition. These modes are deployable units that can be run immediately on VMware ESX or ESXi servers. Figure 3 Graphically depicts a representative WebSphere Cloudburst pattern.

Figure 3. WebSphere Cloudburst Mode

The patterns shipped with WebSphere Cloudburst accumulate expertise and feedback from users and technicians over the past decade to build a WebSphere creator Server environment. In addition to delivering deployable topologies, WebSphere Cloudburst is tuned to the WebSphere creator Server environment for specific patterns to ensure that the environment contains the most relevant and valuable best practice knowledge.

Customizable images and patterns

The WebSphere Cloudburst provides custom functionality in addition to the out-of-the-box features delivered in the form of a pattern. You can customize the virtual images and WebSphere patterns delivered by the device to create a custom, private, private cloud within your environment.

Extending a virtual image

Each WebSphere Creator Server Hypervisor Edition image that is included with WebSphere Cloudburst can be customized with extended functionality: Select to extend an image, make the desired customizations, and then recapture the image. The new image and other images are stored together in the WebSphere Cloudburst directory.

A good use case for extending a virtual image is to create an image that contains custom software. For example, you can extend the WebSphere creator Server Hypervisor Edition, install your company's mandatory anti-virus software, and then recapture the image to store in the WebSphere Cloudburst directory. The resulting image can then be used in build mode to ensure that all deployed virtual systems contain the required software.

Create pattern

Like a virtual image, WebSphere Cloudburst mode can also be customized. You can define the accompanying pattern to add or remove components from or add a script package to the schema. There are 6 components in the WebSphere creator Server Hypervisor Edition that can be used for schema construction:

Deployment Manager (Deployment Manager) Task Manager (Job manager) Management agent (admin agent) custom code (custom node) IBM HTTP Server only node (IBM HTTP Server only node) independent node (Standalone node)

By leveraging the intuitive drag-and-drop configuration builder, you can add, remove, or increase the number of these components. When you create a new schema, you can lock the component-related properties in the pattern. For example, if you create a pattern for testing, you might want to make sure that all test deployments use the same amount of virtual memory. The virtual memory size properties of each component in the pattern can be locked at creation time. In this way, anyone using the pattern can ensure a consistent, repeatable deployment.

This overview is intended to introduce you to the customization features in the WebSphere Cloudburst. Subsequent articles in this series will further explore the WebSphere Cloudburst customization features and explain how and when to use them.

Script packages can also be used in custom mode. The script package is a compressed binary file (. zip or. tgz) that provides an execution script and required artifacts. The script package can be used to install the application into deployed mode, tune the deployed WebSphere creator Server instance, or perform some other necessary action. WebSphere Cloudburst users create script packages and load them into the directory. The script package can be included in the pattern through the drag-and-drop configuration builder.

A set of custom patterns consists of a self-contained WebSphere application directory that can be deployed immediately into a private cloud. However, before WebSphere Cloudburst can perform its first deployment, the system administrator requires a cloud to be defined. Next, let's look at how to build the cloud.

Introduce your own cloud

In addition to being able to create a WebSphere creator Server configuration optimized for a virtual environment, WebSphere Cloudburst helps you create a private cloud to run a WebSphere Creator server virtual system. These virtual systems are not allowed on the device; instead, WebSphere Cloudburst supports the "introduce your own cloud" model, which introduces your private cloud into the device.

In the case of WebSphere Cloudburst, the private cloud consists of three resources: the management program, the memory, and the IP address (Figure 4):

A hypervisor refers to a software virtualization program that provides an abstraction layer between the operating system and the physical resources of the machine. This abstraction enables a higher level of resource utilization by running multiple operating systems and application stacks on a single physical resource. For example, by using a hypervisor, three separate virtual machines (one containing the operating system and WebSphere Creator Server Deployment Manager, and two others containing the operating system and the WebSphere Creator server Custom nodes can be run on the same physical server.

To set up the cloud, the administrator needs to define location and login credentials for the management program (originally VMware ESX or ESXi). These hypervisor will host the virtual systems allocated by the WebSphere Cloudburst appliance. The WebSphere Cloudburst automatically detects the storage associated with the hypervisor and then places the WebSphere creator Server virtual system across multiple management programs.

Another component of a private WebSphere Cloudburst cloud is an IP address pool that is used by WebSphere creator Server virtual machines. The administrator defines this IP address pool, and when a new virtual machine is created, WebSphere Cloudburst is responsible for assigning a unique value to each virtual machine.

Your administrator only needs to define the Administrator program and IP address for the WebSphere Cloudburst. Once these resources are defined, WebSphere Cloudburst creates and manages the private cloud for the virtual system.

Figure 4. Private WebSphere Cloud

From device to Cloud

Deploy to the Cloud

Once the administrator has defined the private cloud, you can start deploying WebSphere mode. The deployment process is simple enough to provide only information (such as a user's specific password) during deployment. WebSphere Cloudburst uses intelligent layout features and information about WebSphere creator Server resource requirements to put virtual systems between physical machines as needed. It communicates with the management program, understands their capacity, and considers high availability issues. For example, the custom nodes in the WebSphere creator Server cluster model will be placed in multiple physical machines, as shown in Figure 5, to prevent a single point of failure scenario, if a single point of failure occurs, a physical server will fail.

The deployment process, which includes all operating system content, federation and startup of WebSphere creator Server, and the installation of user applications, is rapid and can be installed in just a few minutes with a complete cluster application. The user will be notified when the application is ready to be put into use. From the WebSphere Cloudburst console, you can easily log on to the virtual system using SSH or VNC, or log on directly to the WebSphere creator Server management Console.

Figure 5. Virtual system View

Manage Cloud

The functionality of the WebSphere Cloudburst is not limited to deploying virtual systems to private clouds. WebSphere Cloudburst also enables you to monitor and manage WebSphere creator Server deployments.

Apply Patches

WebSphere Cloudburst provides a variety of maintenance features to update virtual images, schemas, and virtual system deployments. The easiest way to do this is to migrate to a new version of WebSphere Creator Server Hypervisor Edition, a complete image with all WebSphere Creator server and operating system maintenance applied. and redeploy the schema using the new image. This is a fast, repeatable process.

However, in some cases, you may need to apply patches directly to the virtual systems deployed in the cloud. For this, you can use the WebSphere cloudburst console to upload service patches and ifixes directly to the directory. You can choose a virtual system, and WebSphere Cloudburst will be responsible for completing the patch application process, even including creating a screen shot of the virtual system before applying the patch. Any time after the patch is applied, you can easily roll back to the previous virtual system state by simply clicking the button.

Monitor Cloud Usage

Cloud computing uses a "pay-for-use" pricing system. Of course, to achieve this, the use of cloud resources must be tracked and reported. WebSphere Cloudburst provides statistical data about the use of the cloud, which supports the cost of returning to the enterprise. For each user within the WebSphere Cloudburst, administrators can retrieve information about virtual machine usage, CPU, memory, and IP usage. All of this information can be viewed in the WebSphere cloudburst console (Figure 6), or it can be downloaded to a spreadsheet.

Figure 6. User usage reports

In addition to providing user resource usage, WebSphere Cloudburst provides information about the use of resources in the cloud. Utilization of physical and virtual memory, memory usage, IP usage, and storage usage can be viewed from the WebSphere cloudburst console.

Concluding

Private Cloud provides the company with many of the same advantages as the public cloud, and based on familiarity with existing resources, private cloud can even provide a simpler entry point for cloud computing. The WebSphere Cloudburst Appliance is an innovative new product that makes the private WebSphere creator Server cloud a reality, enabling you to create virtualized, repeatable deployments Contains everything from the operating system to custom user scripts and applications. With just the click of a button, these repeatable deployments can easily migrate to a private cloud. In the cloud, you can take advantage of WebSphere Creator Server virtual systems like standard WebSphere Creator server deployments. By supporting the application of maintenance in service packs and Ifixes, WebSphere Cloudburst perfects The lifecycle management of the WebSphere cloud environment. All of these features can be delivered via an Easy-to-use Web 2.0 interface, or through an archived REST API and Command line Interface.