Support St. Jude and the Fight Against Childhood Cancer
For some time I've been looking for a charity that Define the Cloud could support. I have no desire to try and monetize my traffic through ads and clutter the content. I also get plenty of benefits from running the site and wouldn’t ask for help with that. That being said I do generate decent traffic and would like to use that traffic to give back. I definitely don’t do enough personally to give back and this is a start. I’ve finally settled on a charity I can stand behind. Being a lover of the under dog and a hater of cancer I couldn’t pick a charity I’d rather support than St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org.) With that, the only banner you’ll ever see on Define The Cloud is that of St. Jude. If you' like my content and prefer free and ad free, you’ve got it. If instead you’d like to support the site, do so by supporting St. Jude. If you prefer donating time to donating money you can find plenty of ways to do so here: http://www.stjude.org/volunteers.
In addition to your donations Define the Cloud will match dollar for dollar all donations made by 10/31/2012 up to $1,000.00 USD (we’re on a shoe string budget here.) If you donate please leave a comment here with the amount so that I can track. I’m trusting the honor system on this one.
Disclaimer: My support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in no way implies their support of me or my content. Let’s not be silly.
Forget Multiple Hypervisors
The concept of managing multiple hypervisors in the data center isn't new--companies have been doing so or thinking about doing so for some time. Changes in licensing schemes and other events bring this issue to the forefront as customers look to avoid new costs. VMware recently acquired DynamicOps, a cloud automation/orchestration company with support for multiple hypervisors, as well as for Amazon Web Services. A hypervisor vendor investing in multihypervisor support brings the topic back to the forefront. To see the full article visit: http://www.networkcomputing.com/virtualization/240003355
Private Cloud: An IT Staffer's Guide To Success
Chargeback/Trackback: Yes You Need It
The Biggest Threat to Your Private-Cloud Deployment: Your IT Staff
People are the No. 1 reason why private clouds fail. The traditional IT staff is a tactically driven, deeply technical group of hardware and software problem solvers who aren't familiar with strategic IT thinking and don't have time for it. They aren't accustomed to aligning IT processes with business drivers. They're more comfortable with explaining why something can't be done than finding a way to make it happen. And they will be the downfall of your private cloud deployment. To see the full article visit: http://www.networkcomputing.com/private-cloud/240002902.
Private Cloud Infrastructure Design: Go Beyond Best Practices
Of all of the possible benefits of a private cloud infrastructure, one of the most valuable is flexibility. With a properly designed private cloud infrastructure, the data center environment can fluidly shift with the business. This allows new applications to be deployed to meet business demands as they're identified, and legacy applications to be removed when the value is no longer recognized. To see the full article visit: http://www.networkcomputing.com/private-cloud/240002196
Why Software-Defined Networking Could Revolutionize Networking
EMC recently announced VSPEX (http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2012/20120412-01.htm)which is a series of reference architectures designed with: Cisco, Brocade, Citrix, Intel, Microsoft, and VMware. The intent of these architectures is to provide proven designs for cloud computing while providing customer choice and flexibility. Overall the intent is to provide flexible architectures of best-of-breed components for cloud computing.
The VSPEX solutions are focused on virtualized infrastructure for private cloud and end-user computing environments. Current options provide VMware vSphere 5.0 and Microsoft Windows Hyper-V server virtualization from 50 - 250 VMs as well as VMware View and Citrix XenDesktop solutions from 50 – 2000 desktops. Additionally VSPEX architectures factor in unified management and backup/recovery. The initial launch solutions are: VMware view (250, 500, 1000, 2000 users), Citrix XenDesktop (250, 500, 1000, 2000 users), VMware Private Cloud (125 & 250 Virtual Machines), VMware Private Cloud (50 & 100 Virtual Machines), Microsoft Private Cloud (50 & 100 Virtual Machines.) Full details can be found at: http://www.emc.com/platform/virtualizing-information-infrastructure/vspex.htm#!resources.
The reference architecture are further supported through VSPEX Labs from EMC for testing and configuration,which enables partners to validate specific configurations. The model also enables partners to further drive new functionality into VSPEX based on their customer base. First-Level Support will be provided by the EMC channel partner and backed by EMC.
VSPEX is different from Vblock’s offered by VCE The Virtual Computing Environment Company and are more along the lines of FlexPod which is a collaboration of NetApp and Cisco with flavors for VMware, Citrix and several other applications/deployments. The VSPEX reference architectures offer more choice and flexibility while sacrificing some in the way of acquisition, and operational support. This gap again presents an opportunity for EMC channel partners to differentiate themselves with custom offerings to fill these gaps.
Overall VSPEX is an excellent offering for both customers and EMC channel partners. It provides additional options for deploying reliable, tested integrated hardware stacks for private cloud and end-user computing environments. It also provides a framework and foundation for partners to build a custom solution set from.
The Stack Wars: OpenStack vs. CloudStack
The industry is moving up the stack. We're migrating from a focus on Layer 1 physical to Layer 7, applications. Software is king in the future of IT--applications and services are what matter. Cloud is what we've termed it for now, and when discussing cloud, open and standard are key discussions. To see the full article visit: http://www.networkcomputing.com/cloud-computing/240000933
Consider Cloud Computing Services Before Your Users Do
Cloud computing is here, get over it. Services are being used, business value is being gained, and budgets are being cut using cloud platforms, be they private, public or other. It's not something you can hide from, and the longer you drag your feet, the worse off you are. To read the full article visit: http://www.networkcomputing.com/cloud-computing/240000713.