Ceph is an open source distributed object store, network block device, and file system designed for reliability, performance, and scalability. With an advanced placement algorithm, active storage nodes, and peer-to-peer gossip protocols, Ceph scales from terabytes to exabytes with no single point of failure. Through native integrations with OpenStack and Apache CloudStack, Ceph provides a complete object and block storage solution for cloud data. Instead of using scale-up storage appliances, Ceph is a software solution that works on commodity hardware.
Announcing «OpenStack Fundamentals Summit» at Cloud Expo
Delegate registrations for OpenStack Fundamentals Summit is FREE but seating is limited, so we will honor registrations on a first-come, first-served basis. Your confirmed registration will give you FREE access to «full networking opportunities» at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley [November 4-7], exhibit floor access and conference keynotes.
Announcing «OpenStack Fundamentals Summit» at Cloud Expo
Delegate registrations for OpenStack Fundamentals Summit is FREE but seating is limited, so we will honor registrations on a first-come, first-served basis. Your confirmed registration will give you FREE access to «full networking opportunities» at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley [November 4-7], exhibit floor access and conference keynotes.
OpenStack Fundamentals: Guaranteed SDS Framework Performance
For cloud providers, offering predictable storage performance backed by firm SLAs will become a competitive differentiator that drives greater customer affinity and a better application experience. Many providers feel that a Software Defined Storage (SDS) frameworks hold the key to delivering guaranteed performance, yet this «software abstraction layer» is only half of the solution. SDS frameworks are dependent on the virtualized resources presented to it, and without the granular abstraction of physical storage resources, these frameworks will remain limited.
Achieving Application Portability for DevOps
Enterprise applications are increasing in complexity, with multi-tier and distributed applications being the new standards for dealing with high-volume, high-scale requirements. In many development environments, the ideal scenario is to enable DevOps teams to manage dev/test environments in public clouds, with on-demand, usage based billing model – and to ultimately deploy these complex applications in on-premises clouds. Achieving application portability between heterogeneous cloud environments is critical to achieve the productivity goals of DevOps – yet often requires time-consuming workarounds. This article will present examples of approaches employed today, including newer options for model-driven cloud management platforms with their emphasis on automating application portability and approach to eliminating cloud lock-in.
OpenStack Fundamentals: Ceph and DevOps in the Cloud
Is your IT organization being pushed to increase the tempo of your software release cycles? Do you currently automate application builds and the creation of staging environments? Do you always test thoroughly before pushing code out to production? Does your hair catch on fire every time you put out a new release? IT organizations large and small are turning to the set of processes, technologies, and organizational practices called DevOps as a way to deal with the need to release software more often and with less trouble by changing the way the Development and Operations teams cooperate.
Brass Tacks: Answering the Cloud Security Questions That Matter
Strong InfoSec strategies must answer the key questions of who is logging in, what is accessed, when was it changed and how is the IT landscape affected.
Enterprise security can be a labyrinthine, complex beast with many moving parts, dozen upon dozen of requirements, needs, implications, options and alternatives.
But when we get down to the nitty gritty (the brass tacks if you will), cloud security can be simplified by six simple questions.
Drew Houston’s Y Combinator Pitch for Dropbox
Here are some choice tidbits from Drew Houston’s application for Y Combinator backing:
What is your company going to make?
Dropbox synchronizes files across your/your team’s computers. It’s much better than uploading or email, because it’s automatic, integrated into Windows, and fits into the way you already work. There’s also a web interface, and the files are securely backed up to Amazon S3. Dropbox is kind of like taking the best elements of subversion, trac and rsync and making them “just work” for the average individual or team. Hackers have access to these tools, but normal people don’t.
There are lots of interesting possible features. One is syncing Google Docs/Spreadsheets (or other office web apps) to local .doc and .xls files for offline access, which would be strategically important as few web apps deal with the offline problem.
What’s new about what you’re doing?
Most small teams have a few basic needs: (1) team members need their important stuff in front of them wherever they are, (2) everyone needs to be working on the latest version of a given document (and ideally can track what’s changed), (3) and team data needs to be protected from disaster. There are sync tools (e.g. beinsync, Foldershare), there are backup tools (Carbonite, Mozy), and there are web uploading/publishing tools (box.net, etc.), but there’s no good integrated solution.
Dropbox solves all these needs, and doesn’t need configuration or babysitting. Put another way, it takes concepts that are proven winners from the dev community (version control, changelogs/trac, rsync, etc.) and puts them in a package that my little sister can figure out (she uses Dropbox to keep track of her high school term papers, and doesn’t need to burn CDs or carry USB sticks anymore.)
At a higher level, online storage and local disks are big and cheap. But the internet links in between have been and will continue to be slow in comparison. In “the future”, you won’t have to move your data around manually. The concept that I’m most excited about is that the core technology in Dropbox — continuous efficient sync with compression and binary diffs — is what will get us there.
What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don’t get?
Competing products work at the wrong layer of abstraction and/or force the user to constantly think and do things. The “online disk drive” abstraction sucks, because you can’t work offline and the OS support is extremely brittle. Anything that depends on manual emailing/uploading (i.e. anything web-based) is a non-starter, because it’s basically doing version control in your head. But virtually all competing services involve one or the other.
With Dropbox, you hit “Save”, as you normally would, and everything just works, even with large files (thanks to binary diffs).
What are people forced to do now because what you plan to make doesn’t exist yet?
Email themselves attachments. Upload stuff to online storage sites or use online drives like Xdrive, which don’t work on planes. Carry around USB drives, which can be lost, stolen, or break/get bad sectors. Waste time revising the wrong versions of given documents, resulting in Frankendocuments that contain some changes but lose others. My friend Reuben is switching his financial consulting company from a PHP-based CMS to a beta of Dropbox because all they used it for was file sharing. Techies often hack together brittle solutions involving web hosting, rsync, and cron jobs.
Want more detail? Read the full application.
Aria Systems to Exhibit at Cloud Expo Silicon Valley
SYS-CON Events announced today that Aria Systems, powering recurring revenue for the enterprise, will exhibit at SYS-CON’s 13th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 4–7, 2013, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Aria Systems powers recurring revenue for the enterprise enabling market expansion, improving customer relationships, and providing more revenue predictability. The Aria Cloud Billing platform is used by brand name companies such as Pitney Bowes, AAA NCNU, Experian, Red Hat, Ingersoll Rand, EMC, VMware, and HootSuite to evolve their recurring businesses while delivering outstanding customer experiences.
Cloud Expo Silicon Valley: Zero to Empire in 89 Days
Check your misconceptions about Social Media at the door. Forget about «buzz» and «awareness»: Social Media can be – and should be – a huge revenue channel for your organization.
In his session at the 13th International Cloud Expo®, Hollis Tibbetts, Director for Global Marketing Operations for Dell Software Group, will review the strategies, techniques, tools, «dos & don’ts» that will help you – whether you’re an entrepreneur or a multi-national corporation – create practical and actionable plans for turning Social Media into a reliable and measurable revenue machine.
This session is based on the presenter’s real-life experiences and «lesson’s learned» from the practical applications of Social Media as both an entrepreneur and as part of a Fortune 100 corporation.
Hollis Tibbetts is currently Director for Global Marketing Operations for Dell Software Group. He has established himself as a successful software marketing and technology expert. His various strategy, marketing and technology articles are read nearly 50,000 times a month.
Hollis has developed substantial expertise in middleware, SaaS, Cloud, data management and distributed application technologies, with over 20 years experience in marketing, technical, product management, product marketing and business development roles at leading companies in such as Pervasive, Aruna (acquired by Progress Software), Sybase (now SAP), webMethods (now Software AG), M7 Corporation (acquired by BEA/Oracle), OnDisplay (acquired by Vignette) and KIVA Software (acquired by Netscape). He has established himself as an industry expert, having authored a large number of technology white papers, as well as published media articles and book contributions.