Company leaders need to think
about incorporating key technologies into their IT environments to set a
foundation for the private cloud. Well, the question arise what are those
key enabling technologies? Broadly speaking, we need fast wide-area networks, powerful,
inexpensive server computers, and high-performance virtualization for commodity
hardware. Once we have these three thing in place. One may start with
virtualization, to get your hands dirty, before moving on to an internal private
cloud deployment. Then, you may decide to move to a managed service model. Well,
one of the best places to start with a private cloud build is to make sure you
have some form of virtualization already in place. It serves as a great
foundation for the private cloud, which requires virtualized servers, mass
storage solutions, and more.
Why do we need a cloud deployment model? The
point is let’s not make the users worry about managing the cloud services. We
must decide a cloud deployment model. In a private cloud, a database appears as
a database service that users can easily access to read or write data and run
their business applications. Users need not be concerned with management of the
consolidated private cloud infrastructure, but they will require stringent
performance, availability, and data security service levels. IT departments
must choose the best deployment model to meet both budgetary constraints and
business application service levels.
What’s
the big deal about the collaboration on a joint task?
My friend, it is a big deal when the two roles are different and works in their
own limited scope. Managing Storage and Server Infrastructure. In order
to boost efficiency in an increasingly shared, converged or cloud environment,
the roles and responsibilities of server and storage administrators must
be clearly understood and coordinated. Server administrators manage and deploy
the server infrastructure and the applications that run on them, whereas
storage administrators maintain the overall health of storage and manage the
consumption and protection of data. Many solutions fail to take this into
account: While both are IT administrators, their roles are different with few
opportunities for interaction, and it is often difficult for them to collaborate
on a joint task. It is important to pick a private cloud solution that
addresses both roles.
How
do we consolidate onto a private cloud? You must be curious to know – why
we consolidate so early. Well, we will get to that latter, while discussing the
‘shared services’. Let’s first see, how we make the consolidation happen
intelligently? IT infrastructure consolidation can get really complex at times.
Thus, it must be done so logically in phases to avoid any chaos later. True, that
is typically executed in three steps: rationalization, architecture
optimization, and implementation of shared services.
Do
we need to follow any standards or benchmarks?
Well, we do need to streamline and bring all the variables on the same page.
Actually, IT rationalization determines the best use of IT services and reduces
nonproductive redundancy throughout the enterprise. IT departments should
rationalize their technology architecture by standardizing their service
portfolio and technology stack. Through standardization, the IT environment
becomes much more homogenous, which makes it easier to manage. It also reduces
costs and complexity and increases agility.
How
do we ensure the right blend of technologies used? You
got this right! Architectural Optimization. All layers of the technology stack
must support service-level objectives and growth requirements. Scalability,
availability, data security, and datacenter management are only as strong as
the weakest link. A balanced technology architecture employs virtualization,
consolidation, and management automation to meet business requirements.
Virtualization, for example, transforms the typical server-to-application silo
model to a multi-tenancy model. The key to virtualization is not necessarily
the underlying technology, but rather the capability to abstract resources
requested by the business from resources fulfilled by IT in a diligently
optimized manner.
Why
do we have to share services? Implementation
of shared services is required, if we really want to enjoy the economies. Else,
we won’t be able to justify the investments we do in building the cloud. We
need to capitalize on our investment. This ‘shared services’ business model is
well proven in the industry to spread the cost to multiple service lines in a
large organization. Let all the stakeholders and business units relish the
services for a small price to them. As the saying goes ‘you get what you paid
for’. If you need quality and prompt service, you need shell out some money for
it. Eventually, this money spent will be realized and spread over time to bring
the cost down to an unbelievable cost savings. IT departments can leverage
shared services to reduce costs and meet the demands of their business users,
but there are many operational, security, organizational, and financial aspects
of shared services that must be managed to ensure effective adoption.
Why do we consolidate so early? When we can always
do it latter!! Friends, believe me ‘a stitch in time, does saves nine’ Consolidation
plays an important role to the 'shared services', as it allows us, to
restructure resources that combines multiple applications into a cohesive
environment. Well, it goes a way beyond hard cost savings; it simplifies
management, improves resource utilization, and streamlines conformity to
security and compliance standards. Therefore, the next item to consider is the
level of consolidation that can be achieved in a private cloud architecture.
Let's see how this consolidation in a private cloud environment can offer us at
various stages. Firstly, Server consolidation - it reduce the number of
physical servers and consolidate databases onto a smaller server platform.
Secondly, Storage consolidation- it unifies the storage pool through improved
use of free space in a virtual storage pool. Thirdly, Operating System
Consolidation - it reduces the number of operating system installations.
Remember! Reducing server footprints does not always provide the best ROI.
Instead, reducing the number of operating systems will improve overall
manageability. Fourthly, Database Consolidation. Reduce the number of database
instances through schema consolidation.
Well, separate databases are consolidated as
schemas in a single database, reducing the number of databases to manage and
maintain. Finally, Workload consolidation - it merges the redundant databases
that support business intelligence or operational data store systems. By
consolidating into a single data store, these workloads benefit from the
additional resources and scalability provided by the private cloud
infrastructure.
We started from the key elements in setting up a cloud and addressed the
some important issues could have be easily ignored during adoption to the
cloud. We discussed, the complexity of technologies, standards, consolidations,
deployment models, and cost savings through shared services. Hope, this article
will help you get to the broad understanding and key factors to keep in mind to
take a step forward in the ‘Cloud Adoption’ model for your organization. If we look
at the statistics to get a feeler. You will be surprised to know that 65
percent of the IT organizations plan to use the private cloud deployment model.
Despite the best efforts of cloud computing vendors, and increased adoption in
recent years, concerns are around cloud security, which is extremely high as 70
and so is the privacy. Well, up-time and the control of data constituting 60 percent
in the most likely inhibitors to adopting cloud computing services and
applications. Let’s look at the ‘cloud security’, as one of the key concerns in
the cloud adoption in my next post.
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