internal clouds
Cloud Expo 2010: Virtualization Steals the Spotlight
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BuzzBy Ellen Rubin
At first glance, cloud computing can appear to be “virtualization taken to its logical conclusion.” After all, if the main benefit of virtualization is to consolidate data center resources and increase the speed of provisioning, then cloud is the ultimate pay-off: don’t own the resources at all and cut provisioning down to a few minutes with instant self-service gratification.
But upon further thought, and as was highly visible at the Cloud Computing Expo this week in NYC, cloud seems to be giving virtualization a return to the spotlight. A recent Gartner study noted that cloud computing is the number 2 priority for CIOs – trumped only by…virtualization. And most of the sessions at the Cloud Expo made some mention of the benefits of extending virtualization footprints within the data center and starting to turn these into internal clouds, or at least “cloud-like” environments.
So is virtualization what’s old but new again? Remember that most enterprises have adopted virtualization in some way, but are only about 20% virtualized so far. So there’s plenty of room left to penetrate, and there’s still lots of opportunity for optimization and better management. Virtualization has primarily been used for consolidation, not for optimizing workload management and self-service. And many companies have large investments in existing hardware and virtualization licenses that they’d like to use more efficiently. In many ways, cloud computing has emerged on the scene as a disruptive force while virtualization is still an evolution in progress.
As at other recent shows, the common wisdom at the Cloud Expo was that “hybrid” environments are key to the emerging IT infrastructure. Some resources will stay behind the firewall and others can be moved to outside cloud environments. Some applications may need to be split between the data center and external clouds, especially where the database needs to stay inside. In this hybrid world, some enterprises will want to focus on growing the internal virtualization footprint and starting to build capabilities for provisioning, charge-back, orchestration, role-based access, etc. This may require significant investment in additional hardware and software. It will also require enterprise IT to develop a new perspective on managing their virt investments, learning from the cloud providers about best practices and from companies like CloudSwitch about how to combine external cloud services with their own environments securely and transparently.
It’s also true that many of the major technology vendors (as well as some IT departments) have a bias towards focusing the cloud revolution on known and existing technologies. It’s still somewhat scary to think about moving things outside the data center and cloud technologies are in relatively early stages. And external cloud services (in particular public clouds) are pushing the envelope in terms of customer expectations and placing new, challenging demands on virtualization.
But virtualization will have to step up to these demands now that the cloud revolution has raised the bar. Many of the emerging capabilities will need to be at the management plane: a broad range of self-service functions, for sure, but also the ability to route workloads to the appropriate environments based on business and technical requirements, and to federate across multiple and diverse environments both on-prem and externally. So maybe cloud computing turns out to be not only the logical extension of virtualization, but the catalyst that helps virtualization move to the next level.
The Hidden Costs of Internal Clouds
By Ellen Rubin
A public cloud can provide access to computing resources that many companies would otherwise never be able to afford. The arguments for the cloud are well-known by now, but remain compelling—no up-front costs, virtually unlimited computing power on demand, and highly efficient pricing where customers pay only for resources used. There’s also less pressure on corporate IT departments that are charged with managing the infrastructure and budgeting for new equipment to keep up with demand.
But concerns about security and loss of control in public clouds have led to an alternative model—the internal cloud—that replicates the cloud environment inside the corporate firewall. Within these boundaries, enterprise users can provision computing resources as needed, using the cloud’s self-service capabilities while leveraging data center services. Internal clouds are often referred to as private clouds, but since private clouds can also be found in external environments, the “internal” designation is a more precise term for what we’re talking about here. (RightScale's blog post provides helpful definitions of the different cloud variants.)
With servers, applications and data within the enterprise walls, internal clouds can provide many of the benefits of cloud computing without the potential risks when the computing environment is provided by a third party. Unfortunately, the economics of internal clouds makes them inherently less efficient than the public cloud, especially as new technology makes the public cloud safer and more reliable. Here are some of the reasons why:
- Infrastructure costs: Deploying an internal cloud requires building out the infrastructure to support the needs of all enterprise users. In addition to acquiring the necessary hardware and software, this includes things like configuring the network, allocating storage, paying the electric bill, and providing square footage for the equipment. Plus, all of this infrastructure has to be managed and supported on an ongoing basis.
- Over-provisioning: Just as with traditional IT infrastructure, anticipating resource requirements for an internal cloud is difficult since applications run at varying usage levels. Some applications consume resources fairly steadily while others require occasional bursts of massive computing power. Companies may have no choice but to over-provision, where some equipment sits idle most of the time in order to have resources available for peak periods. (Meeting these short-term usage needs is one example where the elasticity of public clouds really pays off.)
- Building the management plane: As Jon Brodkin points out, building an internal cloud is about more than just virtualization. One of the key benefits of cloud computing is the self-service aspect, where users can access resources as needed via a self-service portal, which then execute in the cloud automatically without administrator intervention. Building this control plane is another substantial step when implementing an internal cloud.
For all of these reasons, the internal cloud carries a cost overhead compared to leveraging the resources and self-service framework already provided by public clouds. Ironically, much the same protection and control offered by internal clouds is becoming increasingly available in an external public environment. So enterprises may find that a public cloud may provide a more cost-effective home for many (or even most) of their applications.
Internal clouds can make sense for the most business-critical requirements or those that need specialized hardware or have regulatory compliance issues. Focusing internal resources on these types of applications would greatly reduce the investment required to build, sustain and grow enterprise infrastructures. While some applications may always need to run internally, many companies have dozens of others that could run more cost-effectively today in a public cloud, providing computing power on demand along with required security, agility and scalability.
At CloudSwitch, we provide technology that allows companies to take full advantage of the resources and savings that the public cloud has to offer, while integrating seamlessly with their internal environments. Applications deploy automatically, are free from lock-in, and stay tied into internal data center services. In short, the enterprise gets the protection and control formerly found only behind the firewall, and can combine the best of internal and external cloud offerings with maximum agility and value.
