Logicalis Enterprise Cloud Frequently Asked Questions

Transcription

1 Logicalis Enterprise Cloud Frequently Asked Questions

2 Getting Started What is the Logicalis Enterprise Cloud and why is it a great solution? The Logicalis Enterprise Cloud (LEC) is a shared computing environment that can seamlessly connect your organization to the benefi ts of Logicalis Managed Services. You get the full IT capabilities you need without the fi nancial demands of building and maintaining a comparable environment. The LEC offers a variety of advantages for organizations like yours: Multiple layers of redundancy that make hardware failures inconsequential Compute memory, bandwidth and disk space that can be provisioned in just days Scalable, virtualized hardware A separate, remote data center for disaster recovery The LEC also offers industry-best service to support your organization and remove physical and fi nancial burdens. Additionally, the LEC provides sophisticated back-up and disaster recovery functionality that can keep your organization running strong no matter the circumstances. Can the LEC help save money? Absolutely. The LEC can help you cut costs by: Eliminating the need for IT investments Ensuring effi cient and optimized performance through Logicalis engineers Making expansion and upgrades seamless, quick and easy Providing thorough back-ups and disaster recovery Including licensing for many OSes and applications in its monthly fee What other benefits does the LEC provide? The LEC provides all the infrastructure, processes and resources required to host x86 and IBM Power-based virtual machines. Now, virtual machine creation and management is handled by Logicalis engineers but soon, we will have a self-service online portal to allow for full customer control. The LEC makes connecting to your virtual machines a breeze as well, with full support for dedicated circuits, LAN to LAN internet-based VPN and software VPN. Your LEC virtual machines (VM) can be customized to interface with existing infrastructure and equipment and they re regularly backed up and patched by Logicalis personnel. With the LEC, you don t have to worry about the costly downtimes or renovations associated with upgrades in just days, Logicalis engineers can easily provision more capacity and storage for you. What do I need to get started? The Logicalis Enterprise Cloud is a highly customizable public cloud service that is tailored to an organizations needs. To get started, simply let us know your needs and we will confi gure a solution that fi ts. We look at three areas when defi ning the right confi guration: First, you need to select the type of solution you need we offer three options: 1. Flexible: allows for up to 150% of allocated CPU and bandwidth when needed 2. Fixed: uses a defi ned set of specifi cations as absolute maximums 3. Physical: provides an actual physical server to meet your needs Second, you choose the parameters of your solution. We will ask for specifi cations on: Processer capability (in GHz for x86, rperf for AIX and CPW for IBM) Memory capacity (in GB) Bandwidth (in Mbps) Disk space If you are planning a new deployment with no existing reference, determining what you need can be tricky. We are here to help. You can base minimum requirements on the OS and applications you re going to run. Third, we ll need the specifi cs of the virtual machines that we ll deploy for you. For this, we have a spreadsheet that you and Logicalis Solution Architect can fi ll out. To help you prepare, here s what the spreadsheet is going to ask: How much disk space per VM? How many IP networks will your VMs share? Any load balancing needs? How many virtual CPUs per system? These questions help the solution architect develop a solution that best fi ts your needs. Can I use the LEC as a traditional co-location service? The LEC is not a physical co-location service, although Logicalis does offer co-location. Co-Location is a separate offering where a customer provides or purchases equipment and a stand-alone infrastructure is physically hosted in our data center. With the LEC, you are using Logicalis equipment remotely. However, the LEC can be used alongside and integrated with traditional co-location services. 2 / 6

3 What can I run in the LEC? You can basically run any website, third-party software, server software or custom-developed application just as you would with a traditional server. Customers are running everything from static websites in the Logicalis Enterprise Cloud to revenue-producing e-commerce websites to SaaS applications to mission critical IT infrastructure like Microsoft Exchange, Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server databases. How many servers can I run? You are only limited by the compute resources you ve contracted. What is the maximum server size I can run? The maximum server size is 8 virtual processors and 24 GB of memory. Operating Systems, Applications and Licensing How is operating system and application licensing handled in the LEC? The LEC offers licensing, management and hosting of many popular OS types like Windows 2003 and 2008, and RHEL as well as many popular applications like Microsoft Exchange, SQL and Sharepoint server. All server OS licenses are covered as part of the monthly server fee. Customer owned server licenses cannot be transferred to the LEC, with the exception of Microsoft Exchange user licenses. How are applications managed in the LEC? Applications are managed according to the Logicalis Managed Services Statements of Work (SOWs) for which Service Level Agreements (SLAs) exist. Only applications contracted for deployment and management by Logicalis will be managed by Logicalis Managed Services. Requests for management of applications not already offered by Logicalis will be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Are physical (non-virtualized) systems supported in the LEC? What OS types are supported? Dedicated Intel-based resources with Logicalis-provided Blade systems that are available for Windows bit support and Linux. Customer-provided server hardware co-located in the Logicalis facility is also supported as well as co-location of appliance products integral to cloud operation, such as WAN acceleration products or VTL (virtual tape libraries). Integrating co-located equipment with the LEC will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Can the LEC help make changes go more smoothly through change management services? The LEC can assist with changes for any applications or components managed by Logicalis engineers. Through the dynamic nature of the cloud and the expertise of our engineers, we can help ensure that any IT changes occur quickly and without issues. Can I deploy open-source software to our systems? You can. The LEC allows you to deploy open-source software to your VMs. Customers may load any part of their third party software within a VM. Logicalis Managed Services will work with any client to confi gure their VM so it meets software provider licensing guidelines. 3 / 6

4 Integration, IP Addresses and Reporting What are the network capabilities of the LEC? Is load-balancing available? What about multi-site load balancing? The LEC offers application load balancing for a variety of protocols and data centers as well as data center load balancing for locations that require fault-tolerance. The LEC can also accommodate multi-site load balancing through matching Cisco hardware at the customer site. This will require an additional consultation before implementation is offered. Logicalis also provides several optimization methods that can help applications operate at peak performance. Do you support remote consoles? At this time, system access is through RDP, SSH or VNC over your dedicated or VPN connection. Console access is not provided. We are working to provide a self-service portal soon where console access and control will be available. Logicalis engineers that manage your system will also have access to this console, allowing them to better troubleshoot and solve your issues. Do you support WAN Acceleration? Yes. We support WAN acceleration using Riverbed appliances. How do we communicate with our cloud systems? Usually, systems on your enterprise network can communicate with cloud systems as if they were on your LAN through hardware VPN devices that Logicalis supplies. There are other options, though, like internet connections, RDP/SSH and Dynamic SSL. How are VMs deployed within the cloud? How are IP addresses assigned? LEC VMs are deployed from Logicalis VMware OS templates, which utilize Logicalis Microsoft licensing. VMs are assigned private IP space with addresses supplied by Logicalis. Usually, one public IP is available per customer VM. Can we integrate our MPLS network into the LEC? How? Yes. Simply order an MPLS network drop to our location through your vendor. It will terminate on a Logicalis owned and managed router for a monthly fee. How is bandwidth utilization reported and monitored? Bandwidth use of each assigned public IP as well as VPN traffi c is reported to you on a monthly basis. Can we directly communicate with another customer in the LEC? Yes. With permission from both parties, secured connections can be confi gured between multiple containers. Can you provide details about your Internet connections and their performance at the LEC? We currently use two ISPs for Internet connection in Cincinnati Time Warner and Cincinnati Bell to prevent failover. We consistently register pings of 4ms to a nearby MPS, and have ample bandwidth with the ability to ramp up quickly if we need to. The Cisco IPS we utilize provides well more than the bandwidth needed at all times. The Phoenix location is a blended redundant circuit provided to us by the data center facilities. 4 / 6

5 Security and Back-Up What security infrastructure is in place in the LEC environment? LEC customers receive the following security infrastructure and/or services: Integrated HA s Private VLANs Client-LAN VPN for secure remote server administration Deployment in top-tier, SSAE 16 certifi ed data centers SSL Encrypted management portal Encrypted Storage Each customer container comes with one managed fi rewall, which provides internal fi rewalling between intra-container customer networks. Is VM-based anti-virus available? Each customer is responsible for deploying anti-virus software on their LEC VMs. Logicalis IDS sensors and alarms will detect virus activity passing through external fi re walls and deny traffi c to the VMs should such activity be detected. We will be offering standard antivirus protection with VMware vshield in the near future. Does the LEC offer encrypted data storage? Yes. The LEC solution offers both encrypted and non-encrypted storage. Although all storage is protected from access by any system other than your specifi c hosts or users, we offer encrypted storage for clients who need extra data security. Encrypted storage means that your data can only be accessed from within the current storage environment, and if the hardware is removed the data is rendered unreadable. All tape used for backups is also encrypted. What other security services are available for the LEC? Other security services that are available to you via the LEC include: Log Management: Event logs are collected from your VMs in a centralized location and monitored 24x7x365 days/year. Security Event Management: Event logs are analyzed by our security operation center for suspicious activity and security violations on a 24x7x365 days/year basis. Server Patch Management: Automated process determines which security patches are missing and makes recommendations as to which patches should be applied. Once you approve the recommended patches the system automatically applies the patches to the right servers. External Vulnerability Scanning: Need to meet PCI-DSS external scanning requirement? Logicalis can scan your environment in accordance with PCI-DSS 11.2 requirement ensuring your environment remains compliant. What backup software do you use? What tape formats can you read? The LEC employs Netbackup 7. We use LTO5 tapes, but can read back to LTO3. What protection is available if Logicalis experiences a disaster at one of the LEC facilities? Logicalis offers a DR Protection as a service level option. This provides redundancy across two Logicalis data centers enabling disaster recovery protection and higher redundancy for critical customer systems. IT Resources, Storage and Disaster Recovery How are our resources contained? All customer VMs use the resources defi ned by their confi guration. VMs within the cloud have the ability to use additional resources beyond their reservations. Memory and disk space is not burstable, but requests for more can be handled much quicker than in noncloud environments. You will be notifi ed when you are reaching your allocated disk space, so that you can order more without suffering performance loss. How is storage configured and secured? We offer both encrypted and non-encrypted storage. Although all storage is protected from access by any system other than your specifi c hosts or users, we offer encrypted storage for clients who need extra data security. Encrypted storage means that your data can only be accessed from within the current storage environment, and if the hardware is removed the data is rendered unreadable. How do I keep tabs on our utilization? Hourly updates are provided through a secure, easy-to-use portal designed for customer use. What happens if I need to use replicated disaster recovery systems? Logicalis offers two services to respond to disaster situations. DRaaS is an offering that allows you to replicate your on-site data to our cloud data center and have that data available for testing or a declared disaster. We also offer a DR Protection service that will replicate data between our data centers for protection if there is a disaster declared at the Logicalis Data Center. How is replication handled if I use the LEC as a DR site for our corporate systems? Virtual Machine Replication between off-cloud customer systems and systems within their LEC container is supported, and the replication set-up and management is provided by Logicalis. 5 / 6

6 How are my LEC systems backed up? We provide fully managed daily back-ups for each server in the LEC. These include: Windows VMware Snapshots, OS Weekly Full Backup, Daily Incremental Backup Capacity to Shared LTO5 Media Linux VMware Snapshots, OS Weekly Full Backup, Daily Incremental Backup Capacity to Shared LTO5 Media, NetBackup Client on Guest Backup for OS / Files Weekly Media Offsite Rotation (retained for 9 weeks) Optional services include: Daily full back up for databases and applications EOM Media Offsite Dedicated LTO Media (HIPPA/PCI-DSS) If you have further questions or would like more information about the LEC, please visit or contact your dedicated Logicalis representative. Logicalis Cloud Functional Diagram ISP A ISP B Router Router Load Balancer Load Balancer Compute Resource Compute Resource Example Security Zone Public Example Security Zone HIPPA / PCI Tier 1 Disk Redundant 10G Core Encrypted Disk Redundant SAN Fabric 6 / 6