Cloud computing for the enterprise: Part 1:Capturing the cloud

Understanding cloud computing and related technologies

Level: IntroductoryDustin Amrhein, Staff Software Engineer, IBMScott Quint, Cloud Computing Technology Evangelist, IBM08 Apr 2009Looking back to our recent technological past, it’s clear that the cloud computing movement has beencoming in the time since distributed computing and its related technologies (like grid computing andSOA) gained widespread adoption. Cloud computing is now here, but many still have questions aboutthis new technology. Part 1 of this article series discusses cloud computing in general, then dissects the layers of the cloud, presents the different cloud types, along with their benefits and drawbacks, and explains why thismovement is important for enterprise developers.From IBM WebSphere Developer Technical Journal.

Introduction

What is cloud computing?

The question seems pretty innocuous and simple, but looks are deceiving. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of cloudcomputing definitions floating around the Web today. To answer this question adequately, it might be easier to first understandwhat cloud computing is not before we try to arrive at a definition.Some will suggest that cloud computing is simply another name for the Software as a Service (SaaS) model that has been onthe forefront of the Web 2.0 movement. Others say that cloud computing is marketing hype that puts a new face on oldtechnology, such as utility computing, virtualization, or grid computing. This thinking discounts the fact that cloud computinghas a wider scope than any of these particular technologies. To be sure, cloud solutions often includes these technologies (andothers), but it's the comprehensive strategy that sets cloud computing apart from its predecessors.For the purpose of this article, consider that cloud computing

is an all-inclusive solution in which all computing resources(hardware, software, networking, storage, and so on) are provided rapidly to users as demand dictates

. The resources, or services, that are delivered are governable to ensure things like high availability, security, and quality. The key factor to thesesolutions is that they possess the ability to be scaled up and down, so that users get the resources they need: no more and noless.In short, cloud computing solutions enable IT to be delivered as a service.

Why cloud computing?

There are many reasons why more and more companies are shifting toward IT solutions that include cloud computing. First of all, cloud computing can cut costs associated with delivering IT services. You can reduce both capital and operating costs byobtaining resources only when you need them and paying only for what you use. In addition, by offloading some of the burdenassociated with managing various resources across the enterprise, your key personnel can focus more on producing value andinnovation for the business. Finally, cloud computing models provide for business agility. Since the entire IT infrastructure canscale up or down to meet demand, businesses can more easily meet the needs of rapidly changing markets to ensure they arealways on the leading edge for their consumers.In many ways, cloud computing is the realization of combining many existing technologies (SOA, virtualization, autonomiccomputing) with new ideas to create a complete IT solution.

Cloud computing for the enterprise: Part 1: Capturing the cloudhttp://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0...1 of 77/21/09 2:01 PM

Anatomy of a cloud

With what is hopefully is an acceptable definition of cloud computing behind us, let's take a look at the layers of the cloud.Figure 1 is a distillation of what most agree are the three principle components of a cloud model. This figure accuratelyreflects the proportions of IT mass as it relates to cost, physical space requirements, maintenance, administration, managementoversight, and obsolescence. Further, these layers not only represent a cloud anatomy, but they represent IT anatomy ingeneral.

Figure 1. Cloud anatomy

The layers that make up a cloud include:

Application services

This layer is perhaps most familiar to everyday Web users. The application services layer hosts applications that fit theSaaS model. These are applications that run in a cloud and are provided on demand as services to users. Sometimes theservices are free and providers generate revenue from things like Web ads, and other times application providersgenerate revenue directly from the usage of the service. Sound familiar? It probably does since almost all of us haveused them. If you've ever filed your taxes online using Turbo Tax, checked your mail using GMail or Yahoo Mail, or kept up with appointments using Google Calendar, then you are familiar with the top layer of the cloud. These are just acouple of examples of these types of applications. There are literally thousands of SaaS applications, and the number grows daily thanks to Web 2.0 technologies.Perhaps not quite as apparent to the public at large is that there are many applications in the application services layer that are directed to the enterprise community. There are hosted software offerings available that handle payroll processing, human resource management, collaboration, customer relationship management, business partner relationship management, and more. Popular examples of these offerings include IBM® Lotus® Live, IBM LotusSametime®, Unyte, Salesforce.com, Sugar CRM, and WebEx.In both cases, applications delivered via the SaaS model benefit consumers by relieving them from installing andmaintaining the software, and they can be used through licensing models that support pay for use concepts.

Platform services

This is the layer in which we see application infrastructure emerge as a set of services. This includes but is not limitedto middleware as a service, messaging as a service, integration as a service, information as a service, connectivity as aservice, and so on. The services here are intended to support applications. These applications might be running in thecloud, and they might be running in a more traditional enterprise data center. In order to achieve the scalability requiredwithin a cloud, the different services offered here are often virtualized. Examples of offerings in this part of the cloud

Cloud computing for the enterprise: Part 1: Capturing the cloudhttp://www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/techjournal/0...2 of 77/21/09 2:01 PM

include IBM® WebSphere® Application Server virtual images, Amazon Web Services, Boomi, Cast Iron, and GoogleApp Engine. Platform services enable consumers to be sure that their applications are equipped to meet the needs of users by providing application infrastructure based on demand.

Infrastructure services

The bottom layer of the cloud is the infrastructure services layer. Here, we see a set of physical assets such as servers,network devices, and storage disks offered as provisioned services to consumers. The services here support applicationinfrastructure -- regardless of whether that infrastructure is being provided via a cloud -- and many more consumers. Aswith platform services, virtualization is an often used method to provide the on-demand rationing of the resources.Examples of infrastructure services include IBM BlueHouse, VMWare, Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure Platform, SunParaScale Cloud Storage, and more.Infrastructure services address the problem of properly equipping data centers by assuring computing power whenneeded. In addition, due to the fact that virtualization techniques are commonly employed in this layer, cost savings brought about by more efficient resource utilization can be realized.

Public, private, and hybrid clouds

Now that you have an idea about what cloud computing is and what makes up a cloud computing solution, let's take a look atthe three major types of clouds. For the purpose of this article, we'll take a look at the types as they would relate to anenterprise consumer of cloud computing (Figure 2):

Figure 2. Cloud typesPublic clouds

are cloud services provided by a third party (vendor). They exist beyond the company firewall, and theyare fully hosted and managed by the cloud provider.Public clouds attempt to provide consumers with hassle-free IT elements. Whether it is software, applicationinfrastructure, or physical infrastructure, the cloud provider takes on the responsibilities of installation, management, provisioning, and maintenance. Customers are only charged for the resources they use, so under-utilization iseliminated.However, this comes at a cost. These services are usually offered with "convention over configuration," meaning thatthey are delivered with the idea of accommodating the most common use cases. Configuration options are usually asmaller subset than what they would be if the resource was controlled directly by the consumer. Another thing to keepin mind is that since consumers have little control over the infrastructure, processes requiring tight security andregulatory compliance are not always a good fit for public clouds.

Private clouds

are cloud services provided within the enterprise. These clouds exist within the company firewall andthey are managed by the enterprise.Private clouds offer many of the same benefits that public clouds do with one major difference: the enterprise is incharge of setting up and maintaining the cloud. The difficulty and cost of establishing an internal cloud can sometimes