In his session at 12th Cloud Expo | Cloud Expo New York [June 10-13, 2013], Intel's Chris Black will review the background of Apache Hadoop, its application, and methods to accelerate data system clusters with Intel SSD technology. The session will overview the genius of Hadoop and provide an overview of the ecosystem landscape.
Cloud Expo/Big Data Expo delegates will learn how the Hadoop framework and SSD technology augment cloud data systems ranging from analytics to on-line transaction pro...| By Yung Chou | Article Rating: |
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| March 2, 2012 05:00 AM EST | Reads: |
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Virtualization vs. private cloud has confused many IT pros. Are they the same? Or different? In what way and how? We have already virtualized most of my computing resources, is a private cloud still relevant to us? These are questions I have been frequently asked. Before getting the answers, in the first article of this two-part series listed below let's first go through a few concepts.
- Part 1: Cloud Computing Goes Far Beyond Virtualization (This article)
- Part 2: A Private Cloud Delivers IT as a Service
Lately, many IT shops have introduced virtualization into existing computing environmentw. Consolidating servers, mimicking production environment,
virtualizing test networks, securing resources with honey pots, adding disaster recovery options, etc. are just a few applications of employing virtualization. Some also run highly virtualized IT with automation provided by system management solutions. I imagine many IT pros recognize the benefits of virtualization including better utilization of servers, associated savings by reducing the physical footprint, etc. Now we are moving into a cloud era, the question then becomes "Is virtualization the same with a private cloud?" or "We are already running a highly virtualized computing today, do we still need a private cloud?"The answers to these questions should always start with "What business problems are you trying to address?" Then assess if a private cloud solution can fundamentally solve the problem, or perhaps virtualization is sufficient. This is of course assuming there is a clear understanding of what is virtualization and what is a private cloud. This point is that virtualization and cloud computing are not the same. They address IT challenges in different dimensions and operated in different scopes with different levels of impact on a business.
Virtualization
To make a long story short, virtualizationin the context of IT is to "isolate" computing resources such that an object (i.e. an application, a task, a component) in a layer above can be possibly operated without a concern of those changes made in the layers below. A lengthy discussion of virtualization is beyond the scope of this article. Nonetheless, let me point out that the terms, virtualization, and "isolation" are chosen for specific reasons since there are technical discrepancies between "virtualization" and "emulation", "isolation" and "redirection." Virtualization isolates computing resources, hence offers an opportunity to relocate and consolidate isolated resources for better utilization and higher efficiency.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing on the other hand is an ability to make resources available on demand. There are statements made on what to expect in general from cloud computing. A definition of cloud computing published in NIST SP-800-145 outlines the essential characteristics, how to deliver, and what kind of deployment models to be cloud-qualified. Chou further simplifies it and offers a plain and simple way to describe cloud computing with the 5-3-2 Principle as illustrated below.
The essence of cloud computing is rooted at the appreciation of a "service." In the context of cloud computing, a service simply means the state of being available on demand. So SaaS means software, i.e. an application, is available on demand and the focus is on functions available within and not beyond the application. PaaS provides a run-time environment on demand and the scope becomes what are the common set of capabilities available on demand for applications deployed to this run-time environment. Since the run-time environment is available on demand, an application deployed to the run-time environment then can be brought to a running state on demand. Namely those applications deployed to a PaaS environment are delivered, as a consequence, with SaaS. And IaaS denotes infrastructure available on demand, which means the ability to provision infrastructure on demand. For IT professionals, provisioning infrastructure at an operational level translates to deploying servers. And in the context of cloud computing, all servers are virtualized and deployed in the form of a virtual machines or VMs. So, IaaS ultimately is the ability to deploy VMs on demand.
"On-demand" is not to be casually used. This is a loaded term with a strong connotation of the five essential characteristics of cloud computing. On-demand means high accessibility and always-on readiness since it must be accessible and ready per SLA. In cloud, they are represented by self-service model and ubiquitous access. On-demand suggests there are likely standardization, automation, optimization, and orchestration in place, which are presented collectively as resource pooling and elasticity. On-demand implies the need for auditing and metering, i.e. analytics, so capacity can be planned accordingly. And that is why consumption-based charge-back or show-back model is included in the essential characteristics of cloud computing.
Unequivocally Different
With what has been described above, to realize the fundamental differences between virtualization and private cloud becomes rather straightforward. Noticeably, virtualization is not based on the 5-3-2 principle as opposed to cloud computing is. For instance, a self-serving model is not an essential component in virtualization, while it is essential in cloud computing. One can certainly argue some virtualization solution may include a self-serving component. The point is that self-service is not a necessary , nor sufficient condition for virtualization.
While in cloud computing, self-service is a crucial concept to deliver anytime availability to user, which is what a service is all about. Furthermore, self-service is an effective mechanism to in the long run reduce training and support at all levels. It is a crucial vehicle to accelerate the ROI of a cloud computing solution and make it sustainable in the long run.
Virtualization is centered on virtual machines and rooted in infrastructure management, operations, and deployment flexibility. Virtualizationis about the abilities to consolidating servers, managing VMs, streaming desktops, and so on. How to productively configure, deploy, and manage a workload in a deployed VM and
At the same time, cloud is about "service"and "service" is about the readiness and responsiveness relevant to market opportunities. Cloud is about go-to-market. Cloud focuses on making a requested LOB application available on demand and not just on just how to deploy a VM. Cloud is interested in not only operating VMs, but providing insights of a target application running in those VMs.
No, virtualization is not cloud computing. And cloud goes far beyond virtualization. So what are the specifics about virtualization vs. a private cloud? [To be continued in part 2]
This article is a cross-posting from http://aka.ms/yungchou.
Published March 2, 2012 Reads 8,531
Copyright © 2012 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
Syndicated stories and blog feeds, all rights reserved by the author.
More Stories By Yung Chou
Yung Chou is a Technology Evangelist in Microsoft. Within the company, he has had opportunities serving customers in the areas of support account management, technical support, technical sales, and evangelism. Prior to Microsoft, he had established capacities in system programming, application development, consulting services, and IT management. His recent technical focuses have been in virtualization and cloud computing with strong interests in hybrid cloud and emerging enterprise computing architecture. He is a frequent speaker in Microsoft conferences, roadshow, and TechNet events.
In his session at 12th Cloud Expo | Cloud Expo New York [June 10-13, 2013], Intel's Chris Black will review the background of Apache Hadoop, its application, and methods to accelerate data system clusters with Intel SSD technology. The session will overview the genius of Hadoop and provide an overview of the ecosystem landscape.
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Cloud computing is transforming the way businesses think about and leverage technology. As a result, the general understanding of cloud computing has come a long way in a short time. However, there are still many misconceptions about what cloud computing is and what it can do for businesses that adopt this game-changing computing model.
In his General Session at the 12th International Cloud Expo, Gene Eun, Senior Director, Oracle Cloud at Oracle, will discuss and dispel some of the common myth...
SYS-CON Events announced today that Wowrack will exhibit at SYS-CON's 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10–13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York.
Wowrack’s core expertise lies in high-availability Private and Public Cloud IaaS Hosting Solutions. Wowrack provides a true Hybrid service – where business release all IT management and hardware provisioning – taking the data center and server system administrative headaches off our customer’s shoulders. ...
SYS-CON Events announced today that nfina Technologies, a provider of highly reliable cloud server products, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10–13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York.
nfina Technologies develops, manufactures, and markets highly reliable cloud server products, designed to solve the most demanding data center requirements in mission-critical cloud applications. Nfina’s staff has decades of experience in co...
SYS-CON Events announced today that OpenStack will exhibit at SYS-CON's 12th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 10–13, 2013, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. OpenStack software controls large pools of compute, storage, and networking resources throughout a datacenter, all managed by a dashboard that gives administrators control while empowering their users to provision resources through a web interface.
OpenStack powers some of the most widely-used SaaS app...
As enterprises deploy private IaaS clouds into production they are reevaluating their future application delivery models. SUSE and WSO2 believe that private PaaS will leverage the automation and scalability of Private IaaS solutions, such as OpenStack-based SUSE Cloud, to deliver the secure, standardized development environments that will make migrating to an agile, serviceoriented delivery model possible.
In their session at the 12th International Cloud Expo, Chris Haddad, VP of Technology Ev...
Organizations across the world are increasingly starting to see the benefits of moving more and more services to the cloud. The focus on the cost-saving potential of cloud is rapidly shifting to completely transforming the business with cloud. As organizations are investing enormous sums on technology they are starting to realize that in order to maximize the return on investment and accelerate the business transformation process the first area of focus should be people. By ensuring the organiza...
"Since Cloud Expo is running the week of June 10, we thought it'd be a great idea to schedule our Meetup this week. That way, if you have colleagues, friends, or family in town that week for the Expo, you can invite them to join you!" With those words, the OpenStack New York Meetup Group's organizer's launched a landing page this week where anyone interested can register for the June 12 evening event.
“Open source has always provided a number of benefits, including easing adoption costs, propagating a better understanding of the technology, and allowing for faster evolution and commercialization of products and services based on it,” noted Terry Woloszyn, Founder & CEO, Leeward Security Ltd., in this exclusive Q&A with Cloud Expo Conference Chair Jeremy Geelan. “This is clearly evident with the OpenStack and CloudStack,” Woloszyn continued, “and others that have been quickly commercialized as...
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