Whitepaper 7habits Cloud

8/2/2019 Whitepaper 7habits Cloud

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7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveCloud

Architects

BROUGHTTOYOUBY


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Inside

ExecutiveSummary.....................................................................................................................................3 1. IdentifyWorkloadsSuitableForTheCloudThatGiveYouEasyWins.................................................. 52. Assessifyouneedtore-architectyourapplicationstousethecloud.................................................6 3. Empoweryouruserswithself-serviceandcreateinternalevangelists...............................................7 4. Deployconfigurablevirtualdatacenters;dontforgetthenetworks.................................................. 85. Letyourusersrunmultipleenvironmentsinparallel..........................................................................9 6. LetyourusersshareITenvironments;besuretomanageuserroles...............................................10 7. Retainvisibilityandcontrolthroughusageandchargebackpolicies................................................11Conclusions................................................................................................................................................12


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7HabitsofHighlyEffectiveCloudArchitects 3

ExecutiveSummary

Businesseshavespentmillionsofdollarscreatingandoptimizingdatacenterstorunenterprise

applicationsaspredictableworkloads.However,duringthedevelopment,testingandtraining

phasesofthoseapplicationsfunctionalusersrequiredatacenterresourcesforexactlythe

oppositesetofneeds.Developers,testengineers,andanalystscreatedynamicworkloadsthat

requirerapidset-upandfrequentchanges.Whilethesedynamicworkloadsareillsuitedfor

traditionaldatacenters,theyareanidealfitforthecloudmodel.

ITarchitectsareevaluatingpopularcloudservicestomanagetheirdynamicworkloadneeds.

Theyquicklydiscoverthatmostpopularcloudservicespresentathornydilemma:

Commodityinfrastructureservicesofferscalabilityandlowcostresources,buttheyrequireapplicationstoberewrittentoproprietaryformatsandAPIsatconsiderableexpense.

SoftwaretoolssuchasVMwareorCitrixhelpcreateinternalclouds,butrequireadditionalhardware,largecapitalexpenseandtime-consumingITimplementation.

Inshort,neitherapproachisoptimal.NeitherhelpsITarchitectstomovedynamicworkloadsto

thecloudquicklyandcosteffectively.

Businessestodayneedadifferentalternative.Theyneedacloudsolutionthatenables:

Userstorunapplicationsunchangedinthecloudviaaself-serviceinterface,and ITmanagerstoscalecapacityon-demand,reducecosts,gainvisibilityandmaintaincontrol.

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Forward-thinkingIT architectsarediscoveringthatonlycloudsolutionsthatmeetbothneeds

attain faster user adoption and deliver operational cost savings of 70%or more. These IT

architects identify seven highly effective habits that have delivered successful cloud

deploymentstotheirorganization.

Theyare:

1.IdentifyWorkloadsSuitableForTheCloudThatGiveYouEasyWins

2.Assessifyouneedtore-architectyourapplicationstousethecloud3.Empoweryouruserswithself-serviceandcreateinternalevangelists4.Deployconfigurablevirtualdatacenters;dontforgetthenetworks5.Letyourusersrunmultipleenvironmentsinparallel6.

LetyourusersshareITenvironments;besuretomanageuserroles

7.RetainvisibilityandcontrolthroughusageandchargebackpoliciesInthiswhitepaper,weidentifyseveralcommonITproblemsfacebyITarchitectsanddiscuss

solutionstothemindetail.WefocusonthesevenhabitsofsuccessfulITarchitectsand

describehowthesebestpracticescanhelpyoudevelopyourownhighlyeffectiveITstrategy.


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1.IdentifyWorkloadsSuitableForTheCloudThatGiveYouEasyWins

EnterpriseCIOswantcloudcomputingsolutionsthat

(1)Deliveragilityandimmediatecostsavings.(2)Canbeadoptedincrementallywithoutposingamajorrisktobusinesssystems.(3)AvoidITdistractions;enableITtofocusonthecorebusiness.

Dynamicworkloadssuchasapplicationdevelopment,QA,ITsandbox,trainingandconsulting

POCenvironmentsareprimecandidatesforcloud-basedsolutions. Whenexpensivein-house

datacenterresourcesareprovisionedtoservedynamicworkloads,theyareoftenunderutilized

due to uneven demand. Since dynamic workloads dont impact mission-critical business

systems,movingthemtothecloudislowrisk.

Skytapapproach:Skytapprovidesaneasyon-ramptomoveyourexistingdynamicworkloads

to the cloud. You can import your VMware images easily. You can create use case specificgolden imagesandprovision newenvironments on-demand. Justaseasily as you created

them, you can export Skytap environments back to your data center. No proprietary file

formatsorAPIsareinvolved.

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2.Assessifyouneedtore-architectyourapplicationstousethecloud

AskanyITarchitecttonametheplatformsandtoolshe/sheusestoenablethebusiness,and

youll likely tohear a long list. IT architects todayhavemany operating systems (Windows,

Linux, Open Solaris), application servers / platforms (.NET, J2EE, etc.) and databases (SQLServer,Oracle,DB2etc.)deployedin theirorganization. Mostcloudservices only supporta

limited set of operating systems, databases and tools making them ill-suited for existing

applications.Theyaredesignedtorunnewapplications.

Choosingoneofthoseservices isnot aviable option formany ITarchitectsastheymay be

required to re-architect or rewrite the applications, which is very expensive and time

consuming.Youneedtoassessthecloudfitforyourapplicationsbeforeselectingasolution.

Skytap approach: Skytap supports multiple operating systems, databases, and application

serversthatrunonthex86platform.Skytapmeetsthecomplexnetworkingneedsofenterprise

applications. Finally, Skytap provides IPSec VPN capability to enable secure, seamless

connectivitytoin-housesystemssoyoucanbetterleverageyourcurrentinvestments.

Skytap provides us with far greater flexibility than a physical IT lab. Testing our

software on client platforms, such as Windows 7, can be achieved without waiting for IT

operations to manually provision machines. Skytap's self-service model and pre-builtvirtual machine templates allow us to provision a new test environment in minutes.

- Quality Assurance, Ellie Mae


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3.Empoweryouruserswithself-service&createinternalevangelists

As an IT architect, teams count on you to drive rapid innovation within your

organization. Cloud computing promises to be an enabler of inovation; however, your

developers,testengineers,businessanalysts,orsupportstaffneedtorealizethevaluequickly.

Ease-of-use and self-service are an important aspect of cloud computing for these users.

Unfortunately,most cloud services only offer command-line tools or a basic web interface

designedfortechnicalusers.ThesetoolsincreasetheITsupportburdenanddonotfullymeet

user expectations for cloudcomputing. IT architectswith the best track record select self-

servicecloudsolutionstofunctionalusersandrecruitthemasevangelistsearlyintheprocess.

Agoodwaytodothisistoshowthemhoweasyitistocreate,deploy,andmanagecloud

resourcesontheirown.Anotherwayistoconfigurecomplexenvironmentsandprovidethem

astemplatessothatyouruserscangetgoingimmediately.

Skytapapproach:SkytapprovidesawebinterfacethatempowersuserstoperformcomplexIT

operationsbasedonpoliciessetbytheITadministrators.ITmanagerscancreatepre-defined

templatesthatenablesuserstobeself-sufficient.Thiseliminatesthefrequentinterruptions

andproductivitydisruptionsthatcommonlyplagueITshops.

With hundreds of sales professionals worldwide, we were looking for a highlyscalable cloud solution that could offer access to our latest demo builds. UsingSkytap, our sales engineers can launch their own virtual lab in seconds to demo any

product or answer customer questions on a proof-of-concept in real time.

- Technical marketing manager, Open Text


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4.Deployconfigurablevirtualdatacenters;dontforgetthenetworks

Asacloudarchitectyoumayneedtomovearangeofapplicationsthattypicallyrunincorporatedata

centersto thecloud.To ensurea smoothmigration andsuccessfuladoption, successful ITarchitects

createvirtualdatacentersthatmimicin-housedatacentercapabilitiesandenablenetworksrequired

for complex applications.For instance, oneapplicationmay requireclustered databaseserverswith

multiple network interfaces (NICs) that connect to different networks. Another applicationmay be

processorintensiveandneed4to6CPUcoresor32GBmemoryperserverforeffectiveperformance.

Mostcloudvendorsdontprovidethesophisticatednetworkingfeaturesnecessarytodeployenterprise

applicationsthatincludeclusteringandfailovermechanisms.Also,theyonlysupportfixedinstance

types(e.g.small,large,extra-largeinstances),soitbecomesdifficulttoreplicateanexistingIT

environmentinthecloud.Cloudsolutionsthatprovideconfigurablevirtualdatacentersandadvanced

networkingsettingswillenableyoutocreateproductionlikescenariosinthecloud.

Skytapsolution:Skytapoffersfullconfigurabilityofserversandnetworkingthroughitsuserinterface

andAPIs.ThisconfigurabilityempowersITarchitectstoscaledisks,setCPUcores,establishmemoryper

virtualmachineandconfigureNICsandMACaddresses.Theycanalsospecifynetworksubnet

addresses,hostIPaddresses,hostnames,DHCP,DNSgatewaysandmore.Skytapprovidesapowerful

administratorinterfacetoquerythatstatusofdeployedvirtualmachinesandvirtualdatacenters,

createdetailedusagereportingandconductcomplianceaudittracking.


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5.Letyourusersrunmultipleenvironmentsinparallel

Enterpriseapplicationsarecomplexinnatureandcompriseofmultipleinterconnectedserversand

services.Toresolveacomplexbugscenario,yourteammayneedtocapturethefullstateofthose

serversandservices.Yourdevelopmentteamwillneedtorunaninstancetodebugtheissuewhilethe

QAteamisrunningaparallelinstanceforloadtesting.

Onewaytodothiswouldbetouseacloudsolutionthatcanrunmultipleenvironmentsinfullyisolated

andnetworkfencedVLANs.Withoutthiscapability,bothusersandITwillwastevaluabletimequeuing

uptheworkonsamesetofresourcesorsettingupandtearingdownnewdatacenterresources.

Skytapsolution:Skytapprovidesvirtualdatacenters(VDCs)thatruninsideaVLAN.EachVDCcan

havemultiplemachinesandnetworksthatruninsidetheVLAN.MultiplesuchVDCscanruninparallelwithoutanyconflict.SkytapalsoenablesITarchitectstocreateahubandspokemodelforcreating

sharedserverresources.Thisisespeciallyusefulwhendiagnosingperformanceissues,architecture

changesorsoftwarebugs.Userscanalsosaveagoldenimageforrapiddeploymentatalaterdate.

"Before Skytap it would take us 2-4 hours to build a local environment and constant

back & forth with Support & Engineering teams. For many of our clients, especially

during implementations, we would spend many hours each week just on low-value

environment support. With Skytap it took less than 15 minutes to provision an

environment and share globally, providing Calypso dev / test teams greater

productivity and higher value-add to our customers."

-DirectorEngineeringOperations,Calypso


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6.LetyourusersshareITenvironments;besuretomanageuserroles

A big part of being agile in software development is the ability for developers, test engineers and

supportstafftocollaboratewithoneanotheroncommonissues.Traditionaldatacenterresourcesmay

providemachinelevelscreensharing;however,sharinganentireITenvironmentthatincludesservers,

databasesandnetworksisnoteasywithphysicalresources.Usingacloudbasedarchitecture,youcan

easilyenableuserstoshareITenvironmentsassimpleassharingaURL.Inaddition,yourusersmay

alsowanttoorganizetheirworkbyprojectandlimittheaccesstomembersofaspecificproject.For

instance,anadministratormayhavetherighttoviewacompleteaudittrailofactivityinavirtualdata

center,whereasanoffshoretestermayonlyhaveaccesstoasandboxtestenvironmenttocomplete

specifictestcases.MostcloudprovidersdontoffereasysharingofITenvironments.Whatsmore,

creatinggranularrole-basedaccesscontrolpermissiontoITenvironmentsoftenaprogrammingtask.

Deployingacloudsolutionthatenableseasyuser-to-usercollaborationwillensureyourearlyusersare

successfulandraveaboutyourdeployment.Bychoosingcloudsolutionsthatprovideaself-service

interfacetosetgranularuseraccesscontrol(UAC)permissions,ITarchitectscansaveconsiderable

amountoftime.

SkytapSolution:SkytapenablesusersandITarchitectstocreateandpublishURLsforITenvironments

thatcanbeeasilysharedwithvendorsorconsultantssothatworkcanbecompletedovertheweb.

SkytapalsooffersarichUACmodelandabilitytosetfine-grainpermissionsdependingontheroleofthe

user.Forinstance,rolessuchasmanagers,editorsandmemberscanbeimplementedtoenable

differentlevelsofaccesstoavirtualdatacenter.

The self-provisioning features of Skytap Cloud mean that our developers can simply

add or subtract computing resources according to their needs. Skytap Cloud has

worked extremely well for our development and test needs.

- Manager IT Systems Engineering and Architecture, Coinstar


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7.Retainvisibility&controlthroughusage&chargebackpolicies

CIOsexpectITarchitectstocreateandenforcesecurityandcompliancepolicies.CIOsalsoneedusage

visibilitytokeepcostsundercontrol.InsomecompaniesCIOsalsorequireITarchitectstoimplement

chargebackpoliciesduetoasharedservicemodel.Onegoodwaytomeettheserequirementswouldbe

tocreateITapprovedpolicycomplianttemplatesmadeavailabletousersbasedontheirprojectneeds.

Inaddition,bycreatingprojectanduserspecificusagereports,ITarchitectscanprovidedetailedusage

visibilityacrossusersandimplementchargebackpolicies.

MostIaaSproviders,unfortunately,provideonlysimplecreditcardbasedprovisioningonaperuser

basis.Thedonotofferadvancedsecurityandcompliancepolicymanagementtools.Theyalsodon't

provideanycostcontrolcapabilitiesortheabilitytoisolateusagetointernalgroupsforchargeback.

TheyrequireITpoliciesbeimplementedinaseparatesolutionratherthanprovidingitoutofthebox.

CloudsolutionsthatprovidepolicymanagementasanintegralpartofthesolutionsavesITarchitectsa

lotoftimeandmoney.TheyalsoenableITarchitectstomanageusagecostspro-activelyandavoid

nastystickershockattheendofthemonthwhenthebillarrives.

Skytapapproach:Skytapofferscorecostcontrolcapabilitiesintegratedintheproduct.Forexample,

Skytapenablesvirtualdatacenterstobeauto-suspendedwhennotinusetosavecosts.Inaddition,

quotascanbeappliedtoindividualsandorganizationstocapusageunlessauthorizationisobtainedto

burstcapacity.SkytapalsoenablesglobalenforcementofITpolicies,suchastemplatesthatcontain

licensedoperatingsystems,applicationsanddatabases.Italsoprovidesworkflowsofsubnetrangesfor

virtualdatacentersanddisapprovalsofpublicIPaddressestovirtualmachines.Finally,Skytapprovides

adetailedreportingandauditingcapabilityforadministratorstomaintainfullvisibilityandcontrol.


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Conclusions

AsanITarchitect,youarecalledupontomakealotofdecisions,guideyourorganization

towardssuccessfulclouddeploymentsandunderstandhowtoweedthroughallthe

hype.SuccessfulITarchitectsidentifyworkloadsthatareagoodfitforthecloudmodeland

deliverearlysuccess.Theyalsounderstandthatyoudon'thavetore-architectappstomove

themtothecloud.Theyrecognizetheimportanceofeasytolearn,self-servicesolutionsthat

makeitpossibletoachievefasteradoptionandrecruitinternalevangelistsfromsuccessful

projects.Finally,successfulITarchitectsarekeenlyawareoftheneedtodriveuserproductivity

byenablingthemtomulti-taskinthecloudwhileprovidingfullvisibilityandcontrolover

clouddeploymentstomanageusagecostsprudently.Thesesuccessfulhabitsareapplicableto

allITarchitectsthatwanttodrivefasterinnovationintheircompanyandbethepioneerthat

transformstheirbusinessusingthecloudmodel.

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TolearnmoreabouthowSkytapcanhelpwiththesuccessofyourfirstcloudprojectortosign-

upforafreetrialofSkytapcloud,pleasevisitwww.skytap.com.

Skytap,Inc.

7102ndAvenue,Suite1130

Seattle,WA98104USA

TollFree:+1-888-SKY-TAP8(1-888-759-8278)Web:www.skytap.com

Skytap,Inc.Allrightsreserved.

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