Abstract
The cloud build methodology chapter provides an introduction to the build methods for hybrid clouds. It does this by first introducing the concept of a hybrid cloud and the different types of services provides by clouds. It then overviews the components of hybrid clouds and how these components get incorporated into the design. It takes a brief look at the cost drivers with building a cloud to provide background with design decisions to be made. With the background on the design, it takes the reader through the build of a hybrid cloud and how automation can be used to reduce the cost. Lastly, it takes a brief look at a possible direction of cloud builds.
TopBackground
There are several different types of cloud. Each type has its own design requirements.
Public Cloud
As with most new technologies, they evolve and change as new uses become available. The initial concept of cloud computing was along the lines of a power supply model. At it’s most fundamental, a power supply model has one or more power generators, a distribution network and a means of measuring a user’s usage. This is not dissimilar to the model initially conceived for cloud computing. One or more central data centres housing all the compute power, a distribution network (the internet) to allow users to access the compute power and user access controls with metering to measure user usage. This is what we today call Public Cloud computing.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Hybrid Cloud: A cloud that consists of multiple virtualization technologies and locations. This can include a private cloud and a public cloud. It also extends to a cloud that encompasses a platform like VMware vSphere under the same services as a KVM region.
Virtualization: A base component of the cloud that consists of software that emulates physical infrastructure.
Managed To: The area of a cloud where a consumer’s compute, network and storage resources are hosted.
Business Support: A component of a cloud responsible for providing business services such as customer management and chargeback. AU12: Reference appears to be out of alphabetical order. Please check
Managed From: The area of a cloud responsible for providing the services to cloud consumers.
Orchestration: The logic behind the cloud that provides the services. Typically broken into Brokerage or cross cloud orchestration, service orchestration (or workflow orchestration), software orchestration (which coordinates the build of software on a platform) and infrastructure orchestration (which coordinates the build of the cloud resources for compute, network and storage that provides the platform).
Cloud: An IT framework that provides “as a service” computing. This could be infrastructure as a service through to software as a service and anything in between.
Virtualization Management: A component of the cloud that manages the placement, movement and allocation of the virtual resources.
Operational Support: A component of a cloud which provides the services that maintain the cloud management platform (managed from). Included are services such as monitoring, problem management, change management and backup/recovery. This may also extent to managing the “managed to” environment in the case of a managed cloud service.