As the world moves towards more DevOps and Microservices, application deployment to the cloud ought to become a lot simpler. The Microservices architecture, which is the basis of many new age distributed systems such as OpenStack and NetFlix, is at the heart of Cloud Foundry – a complete developer-oriented Platform as a Service (PaaS) that is IaaS agnostic and supports vCloud, OpenStack and AWS.
Archivo mensual: marzo 2016
Analysing the latest AWS services: Certificate Manager, Lambda, and DevSecOps
Picture credit: «The Crunchies Awards 2008», by «Nandor Fejer», used under CC BY / Modified from original
The Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud is continuing its pace of rapid, iterative service improvements in 2016. It has already announced several hundred updates in the last few months alone, proving yet again why it is a top choice for enterprises: not only are core AWS services stable and mature, but AWS is constantly improving services and software — innovation that comes “built in” by using the AWS platform.
Here are the 2016 AWS service announcements that the senior DevOps engineering team at Logicworks are especially excited about:
AWS Certificate Manager
For any systems administrator that has experienced downtime from misconfigured or expired certificates – in other words, every systems administrator – AWS Certificate Manager is an ideal solution. Released in January 2016, Certificate Manager removes the everyday “annoying” parts of managing SSL certificates and allows you to provision, manage, and renew SSL certificates for AWS resources.
The certificates are free and self-renewing, but currently can only be deployed to AWS resources like Elastic Load Balancer or a CloudFront distribution. There are many 3rd party services that perform the same function, but Certificate Manager is sure to appeal to enterprises that need to maintain encryption standards and centrally manage certifications across large, complex AWS environments.
AWS Lambda – VPC access
Released in mid-February 2016, AWS Lambda can now access services within a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). This means your Lambda functions can now access resources that are “behind” a VPC like RDS databases, ElasticCache nodes etc. or you can use VPC NAT gateway to give Lambda access the internet.
AWS Lambda is in many ways the future of infrastructure-as-code and cloud automation. Lambda allows you to run code without managing instances or networks, and can be used in conjunction with other automation tools like Puppet, Chef, AWS CloudFormation and CodeDeploy to create infrastructure that is truly built, managed and secured with code. (We talk more about why we love Lambda here.) Although it is likely not being adopted by many AWS cloud consumers at this point, it has generated buzz since its spotlight at Re:Invent 2015 and will likely reach many more milestones in 2016.
Scheduled reserved instances
Managing cloud costs remains a top concern for SMBs and enterprises, and around 30% rely on AWS Reserved Instances (RIs) to optimise cloud costs. They will likely be pleased by a new type of RI: Scheduled Reserved Instances, released in mid-January 2016.
Scheduled Reserved Instances allow you to reserve EC2 capacity in advance for recurring jobs. You can think of it like a highly reliable version of an AWS Spot Instance that cannot fail mid-job and is provisioned on a regular schedule. This will be very useful for companies that run batch jobs once a month, such as periodic business intelligence “data crunching” jobs or Elastic Map Reduce (EMR) workloads. That said, for the vast majority of use cases, an enterprise can just purchase a group of standard RIs to receive the 30-70% discount.
CodeDeploy push notifications
AWS CodeDeploy is a very simple, language agnostic platform that allows enterprises to create fully automated deployment pipelines. The best part is that they can easily reuse existing setup code or software release processes in CodeDeploy, making it easy to setup and use.
However, in the past it has been difficult to find out the live status of a deployment — the only option was actively monitoring updates. In mid-February 2016, AWS remedied this problem by adding push notification support for CodeDeploy, meaning that your developers or systems staff can receive notifications for CodeDeploy events (e.g. deployment failure) directly to email, text, pager, etc. This means engineers can respond more rapidly to troubleshoot and remedy deployment errors.
As AWS continues to emphasise the benefits of DevOps tooling and practices, expect more service updates around AWS Developer Tools (CodeDeploy, CodePipeline, CodeCommit, etc.) this year.
New DevSecOps documentation
Recently AWS has increased its output of documentation and whitepapers related to DevOps tooling, security and governance on the cloud, which they call DevSecOps. Although not technically a new service, this documentation can make a huge difference for enterprises looking to achieve compliance or architect for better security policies on AWS.
Here are a few of the resources that every security professional should check out:
- The Automating HIPAA Compliance Series on the AWS Security Blog; interesting for any security professional, not just at healthcare organisations
- Videos and Slide Decks from Re:Invent 2015 related to security, especially Architecting for End-To-End Security in the Enterprise
- Shannon Lietz’s now classic presentation on DevSecOps (from 2014)
- AWS Security by Design and AWS GoldBase: a set of AWS CloudFormation templates and documents describing secure, compliant AWS cloud configurations (from late 2015)
The post New 2016 AWS Services: Certificate Manager, Lambda, DevSecOps appeared first on Logicworks Gathering Clouds.
Announcing @FormationDS to Exhibit and Speak at @CloudExpo New York | #Cloud
SYS-CON Events announced today that Formation Data Systems, a company revolutionizing enterprise storage, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Formation Data Systems enables organizations to realize transformative benefits of modern, software-defined storage to address the challenges faced by customers deploying traditional and modern applications. The revolutionary FormationOne™ Dynamic Storage Platform combines the agility, flexibility and simplicity of public cloud approaches with the control, security and flexibility of private datacenter storage. FormationOne has been built for Enterprise IT, SaaS application providers, and service providers, seeking ways to transform the agility and economics of their storage and data management environment.
Tech News Recap for the Week of 3/14/2016
Were you busy this week? Here’s a tech news recap of articles you may have missed for the week of 3/14/2016!
VMware has patched two serious vulnerabilities in its vRealize software which could lead to remote code execution and the compromise of business workstations. Users should upgrade as soon as possible. Home Depot is paying $19.5 million to customers in a data breach settlement. The Legal Cloud Computing Association has set new cloud security standards for the legal industry. PureStorage is announcing FlashBlase, a platform designed to store petabytes of unstructured data. Contrary to recent trends, this week there were two examples of companies moving away from AWS (DropBox and Apple). March Madness Apps may create security risks for BYOD users, the CIA appoints a new CIO, Google traffic is 77% encrypted, and more top news from this week you may have missed!
Tech News Recap
- 11 Things We Learned at SXSW 2016
- VMware patches severe XSS flaws in vRealize software
- Home Depot To Pay $19.5 Million in Data Breach Settlement
- Legal Cloud Computing Association Sets New Cloud Security Standards for Legal
- Pure Storage’s upcoming FlashBlade will store petabytes of data at less than $1 per gigbye
- Dropbox takes the reins, moves off AWS and onto its own infrastructure
- Google just scored a huge win against Amazon by landing Apple as customer
- Frankly Speaking: IT Execs on Moving to Managed Services: Strategies, Curveballs, Results
- AT&T to Virtualize 75 Percent of its Network by 2020
- CIA appoints new CIO
- Two recent reports confirm that your greatest security threat is your users, not outside hackers
- Report: March Madness Apps May Create BYOD Risk for Enterprises
- You can now find IBM Watson in Formula One racing pits
- IoT Bringing Changes To Company Networks, Big Data Projects
- Google Traffic Is 77% Encrypted
- Microsoft will continue to support bitcoin after ‘inaccurate information’ was posted online
- Data Storage for Media and Entertainment
We’re hosting a webinar on 3/31 at 11am featuring two IT executive guest speakers. GreenPages’ Geoff Smith will moderate the panel discussion. Register now to hear directly from two of your peers!
By Ben Stephenson, Emerging Media Specialist
IBM acquires Optevia to strengthen position in public sector CRM market
IBM claims the acquisition of Optevia will improve its position as a SaaS and digital consultant in the lucrative market. Optevia has a track record of working with UK Emergency Services, Central Government, Local Government and Social Enterprises, including the Ministry of Justice’s National Taxing Team’s rollout of Dynamics CRM.
“By acquiring Optevia, IBM will be able to provide Public Sector clients and prospects with a range of unique, industry focused Microsoft Dynamics CRM based solutions,” said Joanna Davinson, IBM’s European Public Sector Leader. “This strategic acquisition will help strengthen IBM as a SaaS provider and Global Software Integrator.”
In Gartner’s CRM Forecast Overview, published last summer, the global CRM market was valued in the region of $23 billion, with around 50% of the market accounted for by the top 5 services providers. SaaS continued to demonstrate strong demand, with almost 47% of the revenue attributed to the service. According to Gartner,Salesforce.com is the market leader, with IBM claiming 4% of the CRM segment.
While IBM already has an established position in the public sector market, the company has 98 current offerings on G-Cloud, the acquisition of Optevia signals its intentions of increasing its share of the public sector CRM segment.
Alongside IBM, other players have been bolstering their position in the wider CRM market. Last year, Accenture acquired Tquila and Cloud Sherpas, both of which are Salesforce partners on G-Cloud. The acquisitions more than doubled the number of Accenture’s Salesforce consultants in the UK.
“We have seen significant growth in SaaS as more companies adopt the cloud and digital strategies to collaborate better, drive greater operational efficiencies and accelerate the development of new products and services,” said Emma McGuigan, UK and Ireland MD at Accenture Technology. “One key factor for our continued success in delivering Salesforce solutions depends on having the right skilled professionals to meet the growing demand. With Tquila on board we have the critical mass to more proactively target big opportunities both in the UK and Europe, which will extend our position in the region.”
Despite Salesforce.com’s current market-leading position there have been a number of calls-to-arms by competitors looking to challenge the CRM giant. Alongside IBM’s announcement, Oracle has hinted at its intention to take on Salesforce.com. On Oracle’s earnings call this week, CTO Larry Ellison highlighted the company’s positioning “should make it easy for Oracle to pass Salesforce.com and become the largest SaaS and PaaS cloud company in the world.”
Employees are biggest security inhibitor – survey
A survey from Citrix and Censuswide has revealed employee negligence and indifference to IT policy is one of the most significant inhibitors to cloud security.
Polling around 2000 IT workers, the results showed respondents have a much more stringent approach to security at home than in work, while older younger employees are more likely to ignore company protocols when using devices and platforms.
“This research demonstrates that despite many individuals being well aware of basic precautions for handling their own personal data, too many are not so conscientious at work,” said Chris Mayers, Chief Security Architect at Citrix. “Employers have a responsibility to provide the tools and safeguards: employees need to use them. Protecting a company’s digital assets is a two way street.”
The survey highlighted specifically that while 45% of workers are likely to use passwords to secure documents at home, this number drops to 35% at work. In terms of shredding and disposing of important documents, 68% would do this at home, whereas only 40% would do it in the work environment.
Despite security being consistently highlighted as a top concern for decision makers and the board, industry insiders have told BCN the company culture, as opposed to the technical challenges, should be more of a priority. The importance of security is underplayed by employees as they do not appreciate the threat of downloading unauthorized software or using public cloud platforms that are not approved by the IT department.
Our sources highlighted that board members in enterprise are focusing their attention on technology to address security challenges, when very little will change if the culture towards security is not altered, and education programmes are not launched.
The survey results also highlighted there is a much more relaxed approach to security from younger generations. Respondents aged over 55 are more likely to only use work devices with trusted company security software, 59%, compared to 47% of those aged between 25 and 34.
IBM partners with Aberdeen University to bring Watson to medical research
The University of Aberdeen has recently announced a partnership with IBM, which will allow students and staff to utilise Watson Engagement Advisor.
IBM scientists are collaborating with researchers at the university on the EU Marie Curie K-Drive project, an initiative which explores a number of different use cases for big data and knowledge graphs, including the treatment of cancer. The results of the project will also form the foundation of any proposals put forward by the university for the EU Horizon 2020 Programme.
“Cognitive represents an entirely new model of computing that includes a range of technology innovations in analytics, natural language processing and machine learning,” said Paul Fryer, Academic Initiative Leader at IBM. “The collaboration between IBM and the University of Aberdeen, which builds on a long-standing relationship, aims to help nurture the next generation of innovators; and is the first initiative of this type in Scotland.”
The university is now one of four in the UK to have access to the Watson Engagement Advisor, which will be used by students and staff to forward their cognitive computing research.
“The partnership with IBM is an exciting opportunity to advance our research in this area,” said Dr Jeff Z. Pan, coordinator of the K-Drive project at the university. “Cognitive computing is empowering human decision-making processes by understanding and exploiting data which is structured and unstructured, and our research is focused on how to make the best use of both types of data.”
Watson’s marketing messaging has primarily focused around the commercialization of artificial intelligence and big data. The partnership with the University of Aberdeen and the K-Drive project builds on IBM’s efforts to demonstrate the real-world viability. Over recent weeks, IBM has announced a number of collaborations to utilize the Watson proposition, including with Mastercard and the Honda Formula One team.
IBM and Honda announced that Watson technology would be incorporated into the McLaren Honda Formula One cars and pits to improve performance and racing decisions in real-time. The sensors will collect data from a number of different sources including driver timing, fuel flow rates and engine performance. The partnership is in reaction to new regulations that required all Formula One cars to use hybrid engines and limited fuel consumption during races.
“With the rapid growth of the Internet of Things, by 2025, every car will be connected in some way exuding vast amounts of streaming data ranging from traffic updates to health of the vehicle, operations and more,” said Harriet Green, GM for Watson IoT at IBM. “We are excited to team with Honda to provide sophisticated cognitive IoT capabilities and analytics to combine data directly from the F1 racing vehicles with other sources, allowing Honda to not only enhance its vehicles that are built for speed, but to also be more friendly to our environment.”
Natural Resources Wales extends cloud ERP relationship with Trustmarque
System integrator Trustmarque has announced it will continue it work with Natural Resources Wales, focusing on disaster recovery, and application and infrastructure support.
The agreement, which has now been in place for two years, was initially launched to help Natural Resources Wales simplify its IT estate following the merger of the three different bodies. Natural Resources Wales was brought about through the merger of Countryside Council for Wales, Environment Agency Wales, and the Forestry Commission Wales, all of which operated on different ERP systems.
“The creation of Natural Resources Wales resulted in a complex and disparate IT estate, and over the past two years Trustmarque has helped us effectively simplify it,” said Paul Subacchi, Head of Business Support Services at Natural Resources Wales. “Our ERP system is absolutely critical to the organisation, enabling us to become more efficient and offer greater self-service functionality to our employees. Cloud is a significant part of our IT strategy, so we need a platform that is available, resilient, flexible and secure to deliver our ERP system.”
Initially projects focused on consolidating all ERP systems it was using for finance and HR onto a single platform, delivered through a combination of cloud, on premise and managed services. Trustmarque will now deliver Natural Resources Wales’ sole ERP system as a private cloud service, as well as creating a self-service portal, MyNRW, for the organizations 2000 employees.
Security was an important consideration for Natural Resources Wales, as Trustmarque has to continually demonstrate that it meets minimum security requirements set forward by G-Cloud. The requirements range from encryption to protect consumer data transiting networks, Trustmarque staff security screening and consumer separation, as well as ensuring that its own supply chain meets the same standards.
“The work we have done with NRW throughout our collaboration is testament to Trustmarque’s end-to-end IT service capabilities and our expertise in delivering cloud services,” said Mike Henson, Cloud and Managed Services Director at Trustmarque. “By selecting the Trustmarque Cloud, Natural Resources Wales is now able to realise the benefits of its Unit 4 ERP system via a secure and robust platform.
“We’ve also removed the potential ‘headache’ that software licensing can cause, allowing Natural Resources Wales to focus on its core business without any compliance concerns. We see our continuing partnership with Natural Resources Wales as an important and valuable digital transformation programme, and look forward to our future work together.”
Men & Mice Suite Version 7.1 Released | @CloudExpo @MenAndMice #Cloud
SYS-CON Events announced today that Men & Mice, the leading global provider of DNS, DHCP and IP address management overlay solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Men & Mice announced the release of Version 7.1 of the Men & Mice Suite.
The Men & Mice Suite is a software-based IP Address Management (IPAM) solution, used by many large and growing global enterprises, to establish secure and efficient control of their networks.
Nexonia Announces Partnership with Amadeus North America | @CloudExpo @Nexonia #Cloud
Nexonia has announced the latest partnership with Amadeus, provider of advanced technology solutions for the global travel industry. The new partnership signals the advanced integration of Nexonia Expenses with Amadeus’ corporate self-booking tools, creating a consolidated and agile solution for corporate travel management. The new integration, which will be available to Nexonia customers in North America, streamlines the entire T&E booking and expense process from beginning to end.