Auto scaling strategies for Windows Azure, Amazon’s EC2 and other cloud platforms The strategies discussed in this article can be applied to any cloud platform that has an ability to dynamically provision compute resources, even though I rely on examples from AzureWatch auto scaling and monitoring service for Windows Azure The topic of auto scaling is an extremely important one when it comes to architecting cloud-based systems. The major premise of cloud computing is its utility based approach to on-demand provisioning and de-provisioning of resources while paying only for what has been consumed. It only makes sense to give the matter of
Open Source
Here is a great resource for cloud developers. libcloud is a standard client library for many popular cloud providers, written in python and java Testimonials “libcloud represents a fundamental change in the way clouds are managed, breaking the barriers of proprietary, closed clouds. We at Linode believe this is of the utmost importance and fully support this effort.” – Christopher S. Aker, Linode, Founder “Libcloud will make life easier for our customers. We appreciate and support this standardization tool.” – Matt Tanase, Slicehost, Founder “I’m excited to see the development of projects, like libcloud, that help make the lives of
The Real Pioneers of the Cloud Long ago, in the early 1990s, the business landscape was rife with what were then known as “dumb terminals.” These didn’t last forever: in just a few years, the consumer-driven market–assisted by a publicly available Internet and a commoditized PC ecosystem–managed to completely change the business IT landscape. Now, it seems, were are about to witness such a consumer-driven change again. Only this time, it won’t be the machines themselves that will be changing, but rather the software that runs on them. The change that is upon business IT is, of course, the cloud.
Red Hat Brings Cloud Scale and Agility to the Data-Tier Open source solutions provider Red Hat has announced the launch of a cloud-ready, highly scalable distributed data cache. Known as JBoss Enterprise Data Grid 6, the new release can deliver a range of benefits such as easing the load on database servers, reduction of response times in applications, and providing additional failure resilience. According to Red Hat, the new data cache will initially be available through an Early Access Program. Elaborating on the rationale of the release, the company says that today it has become challenging for organizations to scale
Cloud Based SugarCRM Releases Sugar 6 SugarCRM’s new edition of software-as-a-service, Sugar 6, is believed to have entered a beta test program from April 13. SugarCRM is an open-source package that now appears with a newly revamped user interface which can accommodate faster navigation with the help of a one-click access to many of its features, and an overhauled application for mobile connectivity. Company officials said that Sugar 6 is scheduled to be available to a selected group of production customers from June, while its general release to the public is scheduled for July. Clint Oram, the vice president of
Can IEEE Help With Lack of Cloud Computing Standards? “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” – Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), British physicist and engineer. I had written earlier on the lack of codified standards in cloud computing to provide benchmarks for service. (See: Cloud Computing Standards: How Important Are They?). I had also discussed one of the major drawbacks for this lacunae – the vagueness in cloud computing contracts (See: The Small Print in Cloud Computing Contracts). Now, a possible solution may be in sight, now that the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or IEEE has joined
GigaSpaces Builds on the Success of OpenStack, Accelerating Choice for Enterprise Cloud App Development NEW YORK and BETHESDA, MD. – April 11, 2011 – GigaSpaces today announced they are collaborating with Citrix to provide an open, scalable platform for the development of enterprise cloud applications. GigaSpaces will leverage Citrix OpenCloud to offer a truly open Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that will enable developers to use any hypervisor, development language, and runtime of their choosing – including Java, .Net, PHP, and Spring – to develop and scale applications for even the largest clouds. As a result, businesses can fully leverage their existing investments
YubiKey Authenticates Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform Yubico has announced the availability of its authentication token YubiKey to increase security for Microsoft Cloud Platform Windows Azure platform applications. Yubico specializes in providing easy and secure login solutions and the scalable and cost-effective Windows Azure Platform enables customers to build, host and dynamically scale applications and services through the Microsoft data centers around the world. The collaboration between two companies will increase security in a very cost-effective and flexible manner thanks to the integration between Windows Azure based solutions and the YubiKey two-factor authentication service. “Being able to integrate solutions for two-factor
