IBM Cloud Computing Reference Architecture IBM CCRA provides a set of complementary

architecture patterns to build cloud-computing solutions that are organized into four main
adoption patterns.
The adoption patterns categorize the cloud-computing business models and technical goal. They
also represent the way most customers approach cloud-computing solutions. For each of these
cloud adoption 9 patterns, the CCRA identifies common architecture patterns that describe the
technologies that underlie each type of cloud-computing implementation. The IBM CCRA also
includes common architecture patterns for items that cut across all the adoption patterns,
including security, resiliency, performance, and governance. These common patterns enable a
consistent base to support a broad set of business and technical goals that are realized through
different cloud deployments.
The following cloud adoption patterns are identified by the IBM CCRA:
Cloud Enabled Data Center adoption pattern
The Cloud Enabled Data Center adoption pattern is typically the entry point into the cloud
solutions space. It provides guidance on the definition, design, and deployment of cloud-
computing solutions that deliver IaaS typically within the enterprise boundaries.
Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) adoption pattern
The PaaS adoption pattern describes how to design cloud-computing solutions that deliver
preconfigured ready-to-execute runtime environments or middleware stacks onto which
applications can be deployed. It also describes how to tie together application development and
application deployment processes into a single continuous delivery process based on application
development and IT operations (DevOps) principles.
Cloud Service Providers adoption pattern
The Cloud Service Provider adoption pattern defines cloud-based solutions that provide cloud
services through a service provider model. A service provider is an organization that provides the
cloud usually for external customers. A service provider manages and provides cloud services as
a general provider, rather than operating a computing facility for its own organization.
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) adoption pattern
The SaaS adoption pattern defines the architecture for definition and operation of SaaS
applications. The Cloud Service Provider adoption pattern provides the architecture that enables
SaaS applications to be managed and offered by the cloud service provider. The cloud service
provider also supports systems that provide the environment in which SaaS business models are
realized.

Cloud service lifecycle: Acquisition

A prospective cloud customer can use service offerings published by the cloud service provider
to check whether it meets her/his requirements, for example, security, personal data protection,
performance etc., and see how one offering compares with another in the market. Why is it
important? This phase is crucial for establishing an SLA between the cloud customer and the
cloud service provider.
Any relationship starts with pre-assessing what one would like, why,
when and with whom (for instance one or more CSPs), so does the
first Cloud SLA lifecycle phase, Assessment. This includes for
Assessment
instance doing market intelligence, checking specific needs,
offerings, CSPs, performance of CSPs and setting up a business
case...
This second Cloud SLA lifecycle phase, includes for instance, the
Preparation first contact and conversation with possible CSPs, further
assessment, pre-evaluation and fine-tuning goals and assumptions...
This phase can include preparing for negotiation and the actual
negotiation and deal making with one or more CSPs, including
Negotiation sharing concerns, discuss in-scope and out-of-scope (cloud) services,
& debating about trade-offs and finding common grounds, reaching
Contracting agreement, double-checking needs, goals and assumptions, and of
course documenting the contractual arrangements, and signing
thereof...

Cloud service lifecycle: Operation

This phase determines whether a cloud service meets the committed service level objective
(SLO) during the provisioning of the cloud service. This might imply that cloud service
providers taking corrective actions to avoid SLA violations. Why is it important? SLAs can be
used to monitor the cloud service provider in order to assess the correct fulfilment of the cloud
service, or detect potential violations in which case remediation may take place.
This phase includes the actual start of setting up the cloud services,
populating the respective cloud service with relevant data, on
Execution &
boarding and training users, setting up communication channels and
Operation
further operational activities while using the respective cloud
services...
This phase includes updated or otherwise amended needs, goals and
assumptions by the Cloud Service Customer during the term of the
Updates &
ongoing cloud services arrangements, as well as improved or added
Amendment
cloud services by the CSP there under. It also includes optimisation
s
of the respective cloud services by CSP as per (contractual or other)
non-compliance, breaches and other incidents during that term...
This phase deals with contractual or other) non-compliance,
breaches and other incidents during the term of the ongoing cloud
services arrangements that have resulted in a dispute that needs
Escalation
escalation, (perhaps even litigation as a last resort), negotiation and
resolution, either by parties themselves or by arbitration, court or
otherwise...
Cloud service lifecycle: Termination
Why is it important? You should already think about termination in phase 1, as an SLA can be
used to arrange the conditions under which the Cloud customer’s data (including but not limited
to for instance Personal Identifiable Information or PII) will be exported and returned to the
cloud customer, and not retained by the cloud service provider (to the extent mandatorily
possible).
This phase deals with the end of the relationship between CSP and
CSC, including the end of the legal relationship even though the
Termination
latter will generally continue for several years after any termination
&
as per mandatory laws and legislation. This last phase for instance
Consequences
includes the assessment of alternatives, settlement and termination
of
arrangements, cloud services transition projects and services, data
Termination
export, customer and (end)use care and diligence, and adequate
data deletion...

What is private cloud?

Private cloud (also known as an internal cloud or corporate cloud) is a cloud
computing environment in which all hardware and software resources are dedicated exclusively
to, and accessible only by, a single customer. Private cloud combines many of the benefits of
cloud computing—including elasticity, scalability, and ease of service delivery—with the access
control, security, and resource customization of on-premises infrastructure.
Many companies choose private cloud over public cloud (cloud computing services delivered
over infrastructure shared by multiple customers) because private cloud is an easier way (or the
only way) to meet their regulatory compliance requirements. Others choose private cloud
because their workloads deal with confidential documents, intellectual property, personally
identifiable information (PII), medical records, financial data, or other sensitive data.
By building private cloud architecture according to cloud native principles, an organization gives
itself the flexibility to easily move workloads to public cloud or run them within
a hybrid  cloud (mixed public and private cloud) environment whenever they’re ready.
How private cloud works
Private cloud is a single-tenant environment, meaning all resources are accessible to one
customer only—this is referred to as isolated access. Private clouds are typically hosted on-
premises in the customer's data center. But, private clouds can also be hosted on an independent
cloud provider’s infrastructure or built on rented infrastructure housed in an offsite data center.
Management models also vary—the customer can manage everything itself or outsource partial
or full management to a service provider.
Private cloud architecture

Single-tenant design aside, private cloud is based on the same technologies as other clouds—
technologies that enable the customer to provision and configure virtual servers and computing
resources on demand in order to quickly and easily (or even automatically) scale in response to
spikes in usage and traffic, to implement redundancy for high availability, and to optimize
utilization of resources overall.
These technologies include the following:

 Virtualization, which enables IT resources to be abstracted from their underlying

physical hardware and pooled into unbounded resource pools of computing, storage,
memory, and networking capacity that can then portioned among multiple virtual
machines (VMs), containers, or other virtualized IT infrastructure elements. By removing
the constraints of physical hardware, virtualization enables maximum utilization of
hardware, allows hardware to be shared efficiently across multiple users and applications,
and makes possible the scalability, agility, and elasticity of the cloud.
 Management software gives administrators centralized control over the infrastructure
and applications running on it. This makes it possible to optimize security, availability,
and resource utilization in the private cloud environment.
 Automation speeds tasks—such as server provisioning and integrations—that would
otherwise need to be performed manually and repeatedly. Automation reduces the need
for human
 intervention, making self-service resource delivery possible.
In addition, private cloud users can adopt cloud native application architectures and practices—
such as DevOps, containers, and microservices—that can bring even greater efficiency and
flexibility and enable a smooth transition to a public cloud or hybrid cloud environment in the
future.
Benefits of private cloud
Building a private cloud makes it possible for all enterprises—even those in highly regulated
industries—to avail themselves of many of the benefits of cloud computing without sacrificing
security, control and customization. Specific advantages of private cloud include the following:

 Full control over hardware and software choices. Private cloud customers are free to
purchase the hardware and software they prefer, vs. the hardware and software the cloud
provider offers.
 Freedom to customize hardware and software in any way. Private cloud customers
can customize servers in any way they want and can customize software as needed with
add-ons or through custom development.
 Greater visibility into security and access control, because all workloads run behind
the customers’ own firewall.
 Fully enforced compliance with regulatory standards. Private cloud customers aren’t
forced to rely on the industry and regulatory compliance offered by the cloud service
provider.
The chief disadvantage of private cloud is the higher cost, which can include the cost of
purchasing and installing new hardware and software and the cost of managing it (which may
involve hiring additional IT staff.) Another disadvantage is somewhat limited flexibility—once
an organization invests in hardware and software for its private cloud, adding capacity or new
capabilities requires additional purchases. Virtual private cloud and managed cloud services (see
below) can lessen these disadvantages to a degree.
Private cloud vs. public cloud
Public cloud is a multi-tenant cloud environment, where the same computing resources are
shared among multiple customers—sometimes hundreds or thousands of them. In public cloud,
an independent cloud services provider owns and maintains the infrastructure, and access to
resources is offered on a subscription basis or via pay-per-use pricing. The model is analogous to
the way we purchase utility services, such as access to a municipal water supply or electric
power in our homes.

Public cloud sacrifices much of the control and security of private cloud, but provides significant
benefits in exchange:

 Greater elasticity and scalability: With public cloud, a customer can add capacity in
response to unexpended surges in traffic, without purchasing and installing new
hardware.
 Lower cost of entry: Most customers can begin using public cloud services without
adding physical compute resources of their own.
 Faster access to the latest technologies: In many cases, economies of scale enable cloud
providers to offer the latest hardware and software faster than customers could if they had
to purchase and install them themselves.

For a closer look at public cloud, see the following video: 

What is service management?

Cloud Service Management and Operations entails all the activities that an organization does to
plan, design, deliver, operate, an
d control the IT and cloud services that it offers to customers.
Service management includes the operational aspects of your applications and services. After an
application is pushed to production, it must be managed. Applications are monitored to ensure
availability and performance according to service level agreements (SLAs) or service level
objectives (SLOs).

There are many reasons for an organization to deploy a private cloud instead of a public cloud.
Security needs, the type of workload, integration, cost and service management are all factors in
the decision.
Service management includes a range of Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)
disciplines and should cover the entire cloud infrastructure, from below hypervisor (network,
storage and server) through above hypervisor (workloads, OS, application and middleware).
When a company deploys a private cloud, it usually manages the cloud environment on
premises. But what about when the private cloud is not deployed in the company’s environment?
What options are available for private cloud management?
The first option I mentioned (a private cloud in the company’s environment) requires a skilled
team in the company responsible to perform all the work. Another option is to hire a service
provider for service management. The service provider would manage the entire cloud
environment, providing tools and a skilled team.
This sounds like outsourcing, doesn’t it? As Colin Baker discussed in his blog post on ZDNet, if
cloud is an evolution of outsourcing, then it is very important for the company to choose a
service provider with experience in managed services, right?
Let me present one IBM solution that fits well into this scenario: IBM SmartCloud Management
Services – managed infrastructure for private cloud. This solution provides an extensive set of
services for companies that may not have the skills or simply may not want to manage their
private cloud. It is based on ITIL best practices, utilizes the expertise and experience of IBM in
cloud computing and was created based on proven cloud architecture and standards.
The following figure displays the components of SmartCloud Management Services – managed
infrastructure for private cloud.

The main characteristics of this solution are:

• Modular capability selection: The customer can select the level of service (base or advanced)
as well as the scope of service.
• Broad security management: IBM SmartCloud Management Services – managed
infrastructure for private cloud deploys a wide range of security disciplines, including security
health checks; patch management; issue management; threat and risk management; identity and
access management; security compliance; and security and audit information.
• End-to-end management and monitoring: Managed infrastructure for private cloud deploys
an integrated set of tools and automation.
• A dedicated account team: A skilled team is responsible for the entire cloud environment.
• Reports and service level agreements (SLAs): The solution provides base and advanced
reporting capabilities, as well as standard and premium SLAs based on resolution and response
time.
• VMware support: The first release of managed infrastructure for private cloud supports
VMware technology.
If you are looking for a service provider to manage your private cloud, IBM SmartCloud
Management Services – managed infrastructure for private cloud may be a good fit for your
organization! Contact me on Twitter @varga_sergio to talk more about service management for
cloud environments.
 That's what SmartCloud Entry 3.1 is—an easy cloud solution. It's a private cloud solution that
runs on your infrastructure in the privacy of your data center. Being a private cloud solution
means that you can now enjoy the benefits of cloud computing in a secure environment. The best
part, in my opinion, other than it being easy, is that it installs into your virtualized environment
no matter which vendor's products you use.
Don't let the Entry moniker imply any limitations on the SmartCloud Entry solution, because
there aren't any. Entry just means easy, not limited. SmartCloud Entry is a full-blown, full-
featured, highly scalable cloud enabling solution for businesses. IBM has just taken the sting out
of cloud adoption both in complexity and in affordability.
SmartCloud Entry is an affordable cloud solution. And it's doubly affordable because you don't
have to purchase a bit of new hardware or rip out and rebuild your current virtualized
infrastructure to start using your own private cloud.

It's a cross-platform, multi-platform cloud solution that makes creating, using, and managing
cloud resources as easy as a few mouse clicks.

Some of the new key features of the new version, 3.1, are:

 Expanded hypervisor options now includes Hyper-V.
 Multiple server architecture support from the single interface.
 Enhanced web portal for rapid self-service workload provisioning.
 Pre-configured VM appliance images.
And of course, its standard features of automated approvals, metering, billing, users, and projects
through the SmartCloud Entry interface and the capability to create gold master images, to
convert from physical systems, and to convert virtual machine images between hypervisors.