New IT delivery model: cloud services Play Tricks

The beauty of cloud computing is that users can start using their IDs and credit cards, but that's the problem. Such a simple service is bound to bring many challenges to the unprepared IT department. We've been through this many times before: the benefits of a technology that are easy to use end up being an unexpected management challenge, such as virtualization, which causes virtual machines to become fragmented, new security risks to smartphones, and instant messaging that triggers corporate governance problems.

This article shows that we are still in the early stages of cloud computing, which means that relevant tools and technologies are still being perfected. For example, after two years of testing, Amazon Network services company's flexible computing Cloud (elastic Compute Cloud) services to the market at the end of last year, monitoring, management and load balancing enterprise-class features are still in its planning. Similarly, the Google Application engine (app Engine) is a preview version. Microsoft's Azure cloud service is also a preview version, and currently only Windows developers can use limited functionality that other early adopters cannot use.

But now you can start planning, you can actually feel this new IT delivery model (including understanding the various faults and defects), and can be a step ahead of other company colleagues who are considering using cloud services alone.

I. Management articles

Firmly control cloud computing

The tools for managing cloud computing services are diverse, with simple dashboards that allow you to create virtual software stacks in minutes, as well as enterprise-class platforms that handle a variety of configuration and management tasks. The wider the use of cloud computing, the more high-end tools are needed.

Amazon, Google and other cloud service providers provide the basic tools to help customers get started. For example, the Google Application engine's management console can show traffic size, bandwidth, CPU utilization, and the error rate of Google's managed applications, which can help you delve into log files, get additional details, and use it to control administrative permissions and manage upgrades to your applications.

However, the application engine still belongs to the "preview" version; This means that these tools will not be able to meet the requirements as the requirements get higher. Pete Koomen, Google's product manager, admits: "We're missing a part of the function." ”

We see cloud service providers, start-ups, and system management vendors competing to provide customers with more full-featured tools to manage resources in the cloud environment. Amazon said it would "soon" launch a new management console and cloud monitoring capabilities for the flexible computing cloud service. Amazon already offers some basic features, such as the ability to create Amazon Machine Images using a command-line interface. The management console gives users the ability to configure and manage EC2 resources, and the monitoring feature will contain real-time metrics for EC2 instances and "available zones" (availability zones)-The available areas are part of the Amazon infrastructure that customers choose to ensure redundancy and highest availability. Amazon also plans to provide load balancing and automatic expansion in 2009.

A company specializing in cloud management is another option. Rightscale's Managed services platform includes managing dashboards, database and Web site management, batch processing, multi-server deployment capabilities, and automatic extension capabilities. Development versions that provide basic functionality are available free of charge, but most IT departments will need another three versions of Rightscale (Web, grid, and advanced), starting at $500 a month, plus a one-time fee of 2500 dollars.

Founded in 2007 to manage Amazon's Web services, Rightscale is now expanding its business to manage other public cloud services, including Flexiscale and Gogrid cloud services. Rightscale also provides a platform for the Eucalyptus Public cloud at the University of California, Santa Barbara, to deploy Open-source Eucalyptus software for cloud computing to clustered servers. It is actually a research test project, but the goal is to manage the public cloud and proprietary cloud based on eucalyptus through the Rightscale dashboard.

As simple as a Web application

It organizations with experience in managing Web applications and infrastructure will find that cloud computing has similarities. "If you manage Web applications, you can manage cloud applications," said Javier Soltero, chief executive of Hyperic. "The company has a version of Web application monitoring software running on Amazon Web services."

Hyperic HQ consists of a central management Server and agent software that is typically run on servers that are deployed internally, while the latter resides on a Web server and reports availability, performance, and other metrics to the central management Server. The newly released HQ 4.0,hyperic server can be configured as an Amazon machine image in EC2. For IT administrators, this means simple deployment, lower subscription fees, and higher performance. Hyperic HQ features Automated discovery Software, diagnostics, alerting, analysis and reporting, and other tools.

Some argue that this attitude is problematic for cloud applications that are "out of sight". "Some people think that because you deploy applications in the cloud, there is no need for monitoring and management, which is one of the biggest lies in cloud computing," Soltero said. The code is inherently flawed and technology can be problematic, so you need to monitor the functionality. ”

Kaavo Company also specializes in multiple cloud management. The emerging company platform supports server monitoring, lamp software configuration in the cloud, load management, software audits, patch management, runtime Configuration management, notification, and alerting. It has launched a free beta version of on-demand infrastructure and middleware (infrastructure and middleware on Demand); Kaavo's strength lies with its management team: Founder and CEO Jamal Mazhar is the Sun-certified Java EE Architect, chief technology officer Shahzad Pervez previously served as it head and Enterprise Architect in a large company.

Well-known system management software vendors have also brought new control tools to the cloud environment. IBM's Tivoli Department plans to integrate cloud management functionality into the Service Request manager, the Configuration Manager (provisioning), said Dennis Quan, director of independent Computing development Manager) and monitoring (monitoring) and other product lines. IBM also wants to give customers greater "control" over the systems that put data in the cloud, raising customers ' confidence in cloud security, but Quan did not disclose how IBM would do that.

Microsoft is still developing solutions to cloud management challenges. It launched the Windows Azure operating system and its associated Azure service platform last October, but did not indicate when Azure cloud services were enabled, but developers can start with development tools and basic building blocks. Microsoft Senior Vice President Bob Muglia, in the same one months, demonstrated the System Center enterprise Management platform code-named Atlanta, which will run in Microsoft's cloud.

All of these activities show that vendors are racing to develop enterprise-class control tools for emerging cloud services. The challenge for IT administrators is to deploy the relevant tools in place before the cloud services are used in leaps and bounds.

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)