Just as big box stores will see an increase in foot traffic, web outlets will also see more consumer transactions in the days prior. With increased mobile use, it is important to remember to test both your web and mobile application versions, and everything in between. If not, you may think that your mobile site will be prepared to handle the load, when it might not.
Firms Need a Disaster Personality Test By @ABridgwater | @CloudExpo [#Cloud]
The process of bringing firms back from the point of massive systems failure in some form has become known as Disaster Recovery
A surprisingly high ‘one in every three’ companies is said to have experienced and declared a disaster in the past five years, according to a November 2013 survey that still bears enough relevance to repeat now in 2015.
VMware’s Partnership with Google: vCloud Air & the Google Cloud Platform
Following on from Chris Ward’s excellent blog coming out of VMware PEX 2015, I wanted to add some details to the recent VMware announcement (January 29, 2015) to partner with Google to “deliver greater enterprise access to public cloud services” via a combination of VMware vCloud Air and the Google Cloud Platform.
For those who are unfamiliar, vCloud Air (formally VMware vCloud Hybrid Service or vCHS) is a public Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud platform built on the same traditional VMware vSphere we are all used to but managed 24/7 by VMware and their public cloud partners. vCloud Air offers services such as infrastructure, disaster recovery and backups, and allows you to extend both your network and workloads from traditional on-premise to the cloud with relative ease.
For some time now, Google has offered broad cloud platform services in the following categories, but as part of the first wave of integration into the vCloud Air space, only the highlighted sub-set of (4) Google Cloud Platform services will be made available to existing VMware vCloud Air customers, using a PAYG consumption model:
- Compute (no current/planned integration points)
- Storage
- Cloud Storage – Google’s distributed low-cost object storage service
- Cloud Datastore – Google’s schema-less, document-based NoSQL database service with automatic scale and full transactional integrity.
- Networking
- Cloud DNS – A globally distributed low-latency DNS service
- Big Data
- BigQuery – A real-time big data analytics service suitable for running ad-hoc BI queries across billions of data points in seconds.
- Services (no current/planned integration points)
- Management (no current/planned integration points)
Additionally, while Google offers their own management framework, there are some rumors that the partnership could eventually mature to include integration with VMware’s own vRealize Operations management solution. This will most likely be offered via VMware’s vRealize Air platform (in beta), which currently offers both Automation and Compliance programs. To quote our CTO, Chris Ward, “VMware vRealize Air checks a lot of boxes for customers of all sizes seeking multi-vendor, multi-cloud provisioning and management of their infrastructure services.
Industry experts, including GreenPages, Forrester and Gartner, are calling this partnership a big “win” for VMware customers, especially enterprise customers. This relationship will help to truly legitimize not only the cloud, but also the place of the enterprise customer in the cloud. Specifically, it will allow enterprise customers who are looking for broader database, analytics, and storage options and support, beyond the current vCloud Air portfolio, to find a suitable and scalable landing place for their applications and workloads. This will build on vCloud Air’s current support for over 5,000 applications and over 90 operating systems.
This is also a strong move for both VMware and Google. This relationship will give Google much needed enterprise IT exposure, something that VMware has deep roots in, and accelerates VMware’s ability to offer tools to manage a public cloud, an area in which Google has developed a global dominate position.
As with the vSphere 6 announcement, there is no “official” release date, but rumors are suggesting everything from the “first half of 2015” to availability “later this year.” Additionally, VMware had no details to share around pricing, but as soon as we know more and have had a chance to sample the integration ourselves, we will share more details. However, if history is anything to go by we should likely expect something in place by VMworld 2015.
If you have any questions or would like any additional details around this new partnership, email us at socialmedia@greenpages.com
By Tim Cook, Practice Manager, Advanced Virtualization
Containers and AngularJS for Java Developers By @YFain | @DevOpsSummit [#DevOps]
The next decision to make is how to communicate with the Java backend. Forget about JSP, servlets, and JSFs. Preparing HTML in your Java code is out of fashion. A Java server exchanges the JSON-formatted data with a single-page HTML/JavaScript front end, which use either AJAX techniques (old) or WebSocket protocol (new).
On the Java side we like to use such tried and true technologies as RESTful Web service and Java Messaging API.
When we hire a AngularJS/Java developer, we expect him to be familiar with at least 90% of all the above buzzwords. Finding such skilled software engineers may be difficult, so we’ve created a training program to prepare such a person.
By now, we’ve taught and fine-tuned this training class multiple times. The latest online version of this class consists of seven weekly training sessions (3.5 hours each) and seven consultations (from 30 to 60 min each). Programmers learn and gradually apply all of the above tools and techniques while working on the Online Auction application that has the following architecture:
Google launches PerfKit, open source benchmarking tool for cloud performance
(c)iStock.com/gerenme
Google has announced the launch of PerfKit, an open source cloud benchmarking tool aimed at aiding developers evaluating performance features.
The search giant claims it has worked with over 30 leading researchers, companies and customers in developing this tool, as well as educational institutes: Stanford and MIT will be having quarterly discussions on default benchmarks and settings on the back of this development.
Google claims PerfKit is unique because not only does it report on standard metrics such as peak performance, is also measures end to end time provision resources in the cloud. PerfKit also comes with a visualisation tool, PerfKit Explorer, to help developers interpret the results.
Picture credit: Google
“PerfKit is a living benchmark framework, designed to evolve as cloud technology changes, always measuring the latest workloads so you can make informed decisions about what’s best for your infrastructure needs,” the Google Platform Performance Team posted in a blog.
“As new design patterns, tools, and providers emerge, we’ll adapt PerfKit to keep it current,” they add. “It already includes several well-known benchmarks, and covers common cloud workloads that can be executed across multiple cloud providers.”
There are plenty of cloud benchmarking tools out on the market at the moment. CloudHarmony is one of the best known, and the company updated its metrics in January to provide a list of the most reliable public cloud providers. Amazon Web Services, Google and SoftLayer were the most reliable according to CloudHarmony, while Aruba Cloud’s storage facility clocked up a whopping 407 outages across five regions in 2014.
Given Google’s perspective as one of the most reliable cloud providers for performance, it makes sense that they want to move into the benchmarking game. Google’s Cloud DNS had a 100% record, while Cloud Storage suffered eight outages at an SLA of 99.9996%, App Engine suffered just one outage and Compute Engine had 66 outages for a 99.982% SLA.
You can find out more about PerfKit here.
Want to pick up the right cloud storage for your business? Leviathan offers a few ideas
(c)iStock.com/Henrik5000
Risk management consulting provider Leviathan Security Group has released a whitepaper discussing the issues in choosing local and cloud storage, as well as potential vulnerabilities and risks.
The paper on the value of cloud security, and vulnerabilities in storage, assumes three scenarios, based on small, medium and large businesses, and outlines solutions based on their business needs:
- For a small consultancy scenario, the nature of their work means they are unlikely to connect back to the office during the work day, although many will synchronise files from home using an in-house VPN service when they return. The storage space they require for 50 employees is 15TB. Leviathan notes the Dell PowerVault NX400 would be ideal as a storage server, with Windows 2012 R2 as an operating system, backup needs met by a Drobo 5D system, and Symantec Endpoint Protection leverage for protection against malware. Total three year cost for local storage is $48,000, while cloud is $60,000.
- A mid sized regional corporation, which would require around 150TB of storage accessible from the internal LAN as well as for VPN users, would be ideally suited for a Storinator Redundant NAS as a storage server, powered by an Intel Dual-core i3-3240 and 90 Seagate 4TB disks, and a Dell PowerEdge R520 Server as backup with Windows 2012 R2 as OS and 83 LTO-6 backup tapes. Malware protection would be handled by another Dell PowerEdge server, alongside Symantec Endpoint Protection. Total three year cost is $276,000 for local, $377,000 for cloud.
- For a big corporation, 750TB of storage space would be necessary, with 24/7 support requirements and a four hour replacement part guarantee. For this, Leviathan recommends a Petarack High Availability SAN as a storage area network, with two Intel Xeon E5 Sandy-Bridge Processors. Backup solution would be a Tandberg Data T160+ Tape Library, consisting of a Dell PowerEdge R720xd server, Windows 2012 R2, and 2013 LTO-6 backup tapes. A single Symantec console managing Symantec Endpoint Protection, installed and run on a Dell PowerEdge R725xd, would be more than enough to handle malware. Total three year cost is $1.75m for local, $1.86m for cloud.
It’s worth noting here that the researchers are not advocating any of these vendors, just that these vendors were able to provide the best fit for pricing. “As is commonly the case in real-world purchasing, the vendor that was able to provide the most accurate and timely pricing for a solution that met our needs was selected,” they explain.
The report also assesses the different types of vulnerabilities in these kinds of solutions. While CloudTech has examined in-depth data loss and cloud vulnerabilities in the past, this report offers a few interesting insights. Vulnerabilites highlighted include process failure, malicious insiders, and hardware and software failure among others. Cloud-specific threats include a lack of monitoring and audit capabilities and problems with internet connectivity, while local storage threats include a loss of local knowledge, natural disasters, which this publication examined earlier this week, equipment scarcity and geographical restrictions.
The overall aim from the report is to show how capricious choosing a cloud storage solution is. “A simple price calculation – even one that contains significant detail and technical depth – cannot be the deciding factor for organisations with significant storage needs,” the report notes.
“An organisation should consider its predicted rate of expansion, its technical requirements, its appetite for capital outlay, its ability to establish a long-term supply chain, and its ability to recruit adequate technical and security personnel as criteria equal to or more significant than price.”
You can read the full 37-page paper here.
Give the Gift That Keeps on Giving By @AriaSystemsInc | @CloudExpo [#Cloud]
Valentine’s Day is around the corner and most of us fall into one of the following categories: 1) In a relationship and gifts/dates have been purchased/planned for weeks; 2) In a relationship but you don’t care to celebrate the holiday; or 3) Single and avoiding every drugstore greeting card and seasonal gifts section.
Then there are those of us who fit somewhere in between. Perhaps, like me, you’re in a relationship but just haven’t found the time or have no clue what to give for a gift. Or maybe you’re dating someone but unsure of whether it’s closer to casual or serious so you don’t want to come off too strong or not strong enough.
Jump on Free Cloud Storage (with Caution!) By @IanKhanLive | @CloudExpo [#Cloud]
Imagine the scenes from any of the last few Black Fridays with people lined up for days to grab the new flat screen TV or a new iPhone. The moment the gates open up there is usually a crowd of people swarming like bees, trying to get their hands on what they can, and yes there were also many reported cases of snatching, grabbing and what not. If only the world of cloud storage could be so dramatic!
New Rules of Digital Engagement By @MLeray24 | @DevOpsSummit [#DevOps]
Good food is not the most important attribute for a restaurant. Cleanliness is. It doesn’t matter how great your dishes are – if patrons catch even a glimpse of a roach, they won’t stick around to sample your cooking.
The same principle applies to your company’s digital experience. You may have great products at a great price. But if customers have a bad experience with your digital channels, they won’t buy from you. In fact, studies show that 73-82% of customers abandon intended purchases because of a poor online experience.
SDK Support for @Atmel Internet of Things By @PubNub | @ThingsExpo [#IoT]
“With easy-to-use SDKs for Atmel’s platforms, IoT developers can now reap the benefits of realtime communication, and bypass the security pitfalls and configuration complexities that put IoT deployments at risk,” said Todd Greene, founder & CEO of PubNub.
PubNub will team with Atmel at CES 2015 to launch full SDK support for Atmel’s MCU, MPU, and Wireless SoC platforms. Atmel developers now have access to PubNub’s secure Publish/Subscribe messaging with guaranteed ¼ second latencies across PubNub’s 14 global points-of-presence. PubNub delivers secure communication through firewalls, proxy servers, and on unreliable mobile networks with a security model that guarantees no open ports on IoT devices. Developers can now implement important features like remote device control, firmware upgrades, and device provisioning using PubNub’s suite of IoT building blocks that includes realtime device presence detection, stream storage & playback, and data stream syndication.
“PubNub’s realtime global data stream network combined with our embedded solutions helps IoT developers reduce time-to-market and solve the challenges of reliable IoT deployments,” said Reza Kazerounian, SVP and GM of Microcontroller Business Unit at Atmel. “By removing complexity and focusing on developer-centric tools and services, PubNub shares Atmel’s philosophy of driving competitive advantage for our customers.”