This post describes a prototype implementation of a simple PAAS built on the Hadoop YARN framework and the key findings from the experiment. While there are some advantages to using Hadoop YARN, there is at least one unsolved issue that would be difficult to overcome at this point.
Hadoop is so popular these days as Big Data is one of the major hot topics people are intererested in. Similarly, PaaS (Platform as a Service) is also popular as Cloud Computing is one of the hot topics. Then naturally one question came to us: can we combine both Hadoop and PaaS to satisfy the two hot topics – Big Data and Cloud? At the same time, Hadoop YARN (i.e. MapReduce2 or MR2) architecture became much more flexible compared to the previous version that the idea seemed to become more real.
I went ahead and implemented a proof of concept with Hadoop Yarn. Here I’d like to share its architecture and interesting findings from it.
Archivo mensual: julio 2012
Why Windows Phone 8 breaks the backwards compatibility tradition
Microsoft had always maintained backwards compatibility with most of their products. Compatibility has been one of the main reasons Windows has seen such great success, specifically backwards compatibility to systems such as MS-DOS. Even today you can get to a DOS prompt (command prompt) from Windows 7, this hasn’t changed for years and from a functionality point of view this is a bonus.
The announcement of the new Windows Phone 8 (and previously Windows RT on which Windows Phone 8 is based) flew in the face of tradition for Microsoft, it “broke” the compatibility of the applications and their ability to run on the new platform. This has been a typically non-Microsoft way to act but something that the industry isn’t totally unfamiliar with.
Apple have, on more than one occasion, launched a platform that is incompatible with anything that had come before. I refer to the release …
Virtustream Aligns with SafeNet
Virtustream and SafeNet on Tuesday announced that they have entered into an agreement that will incorporate SafeNet’s market-leading authentication solutions into Virtustream’s enterprise cloud platform, xStream.
“Enterprises looking to deploy the cloud want both enterprise-grade performance and security, while still benefiting from the scalability and economics of multi-tenant virtualization technology,” said Dr. Shaw Chuang, Executive Vice President of Engineering, Virtustream. “Incorporating SafeNet’s authentication platform brings another best-of-breed offering to our platform and lays the foundation for further extensive security capabilities.”
Examining the G-Cloud Initiative – How the UK Public Sector is moving to the Cloud
Guest Post by Ben Jones
Ben Jones is a tech writer, interested in how technology helps businesses. He’s been assisting businesses in setting up cloud based IT services around the south of England.
There’s a cloud on the horizon of Whitehall. But this isn’t a prediction of stormy times ahead. No, this is the G-Cloud, and it’s being heralded by some as government’s biggest ever IT breakthrough.
In years gone by, the government has been accused of paying too much for IT contracts, many of which were won by a small number of suppliers. But now, the G-Cloud initiative aims to change this. The online system called, CloudStore, is part of the government’s plans to slash IT costs by £200million per year. So how is this going to be achieved? Well, the target is to move half of the government’s IT spending to cloud computing services and the CloudStore, also dubbed the government’s app store, is the key.
It was first announced as a government strategy almost 18 months ago in March 2011 with specific aim of making IT services for the public sector easier and cheaper. This means ditching the expensive bespoke IT services with lengthy, expensive contracts. Instead this initiative aims to replace these with more choice both in suppliers and, as a result prices. It’s a radical change in the historic approach by both the government and the public sector. Furthermore, cloud computing has the potential to be a global governmental strategy, with the American government already having its own version in place. And a look at the figures gives a clear indication why, with some governmental departments reporting a drop in the cost of IT services by as much as 90 per cent. And following the first CloudStore catalogue launch in mid-February, some 5000 pages were viewed in the first two hours, and in the first ten weeks, contracts worth £500,000 were signed. In this first procurement, around 257 suppliers offering approximately 1700 services were signed to the first G-Cloud CloudStore.
It’s the government’s attempt to bring competitiveness to its suppliers, encouraging a wider selection and promoting flexibility in procurements thus allowing more choice to the public sector. And what’s interesting is the mix of both small and medium sized businesses with over half of the suppliers signed to the first CloudStore being SMEs. This includes the likes of web hosting company Memset whose managing director Kate Craig-Wood backed the G-Cloud Services, who says they offered value for money for the taxpayer.
This new initiative heralds a new era for the British government and the wider public sector. And it’s hoped the new IT system will put paid to the Government’s history of ill-advised and mismanaged IT projects. That’s not to say there haven’t been any concerns over the G-Cloud Initiative. Some key concerns have related to how it’s going to be rolled out to public sector workers across the UK with some employees having fears over security as well as a lack of understanding. However, these haven’t stopped the second round of procurement for the G-Cloud in May 2012 with the total procurement value now available there soaring to £100 million. And in this time, the framework will run for 12 months and not the six as per the first iteration. This year-long contract will then become the standard, although it has been reported that this could be extended to 24 months in certain cases.
Efforts Underway to Provide Trusted Supplier Standard
This thought leadership interview examines the latest efforts to make global supply chains for technology providers more secure, verified, and therefore trusted.
The Open Group has a vision of boundaryless information flow, and that necessarily involves interoperability. But interoperability doesn’t have the effect that you want, unless you can also trust the information that you’re getting, as it flows through the system.
Therefore, it’s necessary that you be able to trust all of the links in the chain that you use to deliver your information. One thing that everybody who watches the news would acknowledge is that the threat landscape has changed. As systems become more and more interoperable, we get more and more attacks on the system.
As the value that flows through the system increases, there’s a lot more interest in cyber crime. Unfortunately, in our world, there’s now the issue of state-sponsored incursions in cyberspace, whether officially state-sponsored or not, but politically motivated ones certainly.
Cloud Computing: Coraid Unveils ZX-Series NAS
Coraid on Tuesday unveiled the new Coraid ZX-Series family of NAS servers. Designed for cloud, video and Big Data customers, this high-performance unified storage solution is powered by the Oracle Solaris ZFS file system combined with Coraid’s EtherDrive technology to enable unmatched scalability, performance and operational simplicity.
Carl Wright, executive vice president at Coraid noted that “organizations are increasingly challenged to provide predictable, cost-effective file performance in the face of uncontrolled data growth. By extending our product family to include a best-in-class NAS offering, Coraid can meet that challenge with a unified storage solution that takes full advantage of the scalability and performance of Ethernet SAN.”
Google Exec to Be Yahoo CEO
Yahoo’s going with another plainspoken blonde.
After the market closed Monday Yahoo’s board named Marissa Mayer, one of Google’s first employees and long-time protector of the stripped-down look of Google’s homepage, CEO replacing interim CEO Ross Levinsohn.
The Yahoo board is taking another flyer on Mayer, 37, considering she’s coming out of Google’s product side, responsible for the look and feel of such things as Google Mail, Google News and since 2010 Google Maps and other Google location and local services. She has no CEO or turnaround experience. She did sit on Google’s operating committee and is on the board of Wal-Mart.
It’s speculated that the Third Point contingent on Yahoo’s board, who got there recently by way of a threatened proxy fight, were instrumental in recruiting her. Presumably they think Yahoo’s products and technology need an overhaul to get more competitive with Google and Facebook.
Crunching the Numbers in Search of a Greener Cloud
Although sometimes portrayed as a big computer in the sky, the reality of cloud computing is far more mundane. Clouds run on physical hardware, located in data centres, connected to one another and to their customers via high speed networks. All of that hardware must be powered and cooled, and all of those offices must be lit. Whilst many data centre operators continue to make welcome strides toward increasing the efficiency of their buildings, machines and processes, these advances remain a drop in the ocean next to the environmental implications of choices made about power source. With access to good information, might it be possible for users of the cloud to make choices that save themselves money, whilst at the same time saving (a bit of) the planet? Greenpeace has consistently drawn attention to the importance of energy choices in evaluating the environmental credentials of data centres, with 2011′s How Dirty Is Your Data? report continuing to polarise arguments after more than a year. The most efficient modern data centres deploy an impressive arsenal of tricks to save energy (and therefore money), and to burnish their green credentials. They use the most efficient modern processors, heat offices with waste server […]
Egnyte Secures $16 Million in Financing Led by Google Ventures
Egnyte, the leading provider of cloud and hybrid cloud file sharing solutions for businesses, today announced it has closed a $16 million round of Series C financing led by Google Ventures with additional support from existing investors, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Polaris. The funds will be used to expand sales and marketing efforts as well as further the development of hybrid cloud and next generation cloud technologies. As a part of today’s funding, Karim Faris, Partner at Google Ventures, will join the board of Egnyte.
Cloud Expo Silicon Valley Speaker Profile: Mark Skilton – Capgemini
With Cloud Expo 2012 Silicon Valley (11th Cloud Expo) due to open in just four months ‘time at the Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, let’s introduce you in greater detail to the distinguished individuals in our incredible Speaker Faculty for the technical program at the conference…
We have technical and strategy sessions for you dealing with every nook and cranny of Cloud Computing, but what of those who are presenting? Who are they, where do they work, what else have they written and/or said about the Cloud that is transforming the world of Enterprise IT?