Enterprise, Meet Cloud: Mapping a Safe Passage to Enterprise Cloud Adoption

Transcription

1 white paper Enterprise, Meet Cloud: Mapping a Safe Passage to Enterprise Cloud Adoption New horizons Vast new reserves of computing, available instantly and for a small monthly outlay: cloud computing promises to unlock the resource constraints that have landlocked enterprise IT since the credit crunch slashed spending budgets. Many adventurers have swarmed to this brave new world with development and test servers, speculative projects and short-term or longer forays, at the forefront of a remarkable surge in enterprise spending on cloud computing. Yet most organisations still hold back from permanently deploying more substantive production applications to the cloud, and with good reason: cloud providers have been slow to bring order and enterprise-class standards to their virgin territory, across a broad range of critical vectors including security, accountability and support.

2 Contents New horizons 01 Taming the cloud 02 What enterprises want 03 Enterprise-class cloud attributes 04 Hybrid strategies 05 What the cloud brings 06 Mapping a safe passage 07

3 New horizons Vast new reserves of computing, available instantly and for a small monthly outlay: cloud computing promises to unlock the resource constraints that have landlocked enterprise IT since the credit crunch slashed spending budgets. Many adventurers have swarmed to this brave new world with development and test servers, speculative projects and short-term or longer forays, at the forefront of a remarkable surge in enterprise spending on cloud computing. Yet most organisations still hold back from permanently deploying more substantive production applications to the cloud, and with good reason: cloud providers have been slow to bring order and enterpriseclass standards to their virgin territory, across a broad range of critical vectors including security, accountability and support. Many enterprise IT executives are wondering how they can bring the economic and practical advantages of cloud computing the rapid deployment, pay-per-use pricing, scalable capacity on-demand to those more business-critical systems, yet without compromising their security, reliability and governance. This paper maps out how to ensure safe passage, trust and confidence when migrating such valuable IT assets to the cloud. Figure 1: As enterprise gain more confidence in the cloud, more IT assests will migrate there Core business applications Integrated business applications Standalone business applications Ad hoc projects, collaboration servers Batch officed and burst capacity Test and development servers 2008 Time 2012 Vast new reserves of computing, available instantly and for a small monthly outlay: cloud computing promises to unlock the resource constraints that have landlocked enterprise IT since the credit crunch slashed spending budgets. 01

4 Taming the cloud Confronted with the shortcomings of public cloud offerings, it s only natural that the first reaction of many enterprises is to want to bring the cloud in-house, replicating a virtualised cloud computing instance within the familiar and trusted confines of their existing IT infrastructure. Such privately hosted clouds are guaranteed to conform to the established security, oversight and governance norms of the enterprise environment because they re isolated within it. Unfortunately, while they can offer incremental improvements over more traditional architectures, their isolation cuts them off from many of the most important features of the cloud computing model pooled infrastructure, community innovation, ungated connectivity, and other attributes we ll discuss later in this paper. It may look like the real thing, but the stark truth is that you can t take computing out of the cloud and still call it cloud computing. Instead, what s needed is to replicate all the security, oversight and governance an enterprise demands, within the public cloud. Any client can then simply fence off a portion of the infrastructure using virtual private networking technology, free to choose how much or how little it exposes to public view at any given time. The VPN is the easy part; the far tougher challenge is to build all the required enterprise-class attributes into the underlying cloud platform, and then make them available on demand within each individual client s virtual private cloud. Most first-generation cloud providers have preferred to continue with a consumerclass infrastructure, serving the existing, less discriminating demand for cloud computing from independent developers and other early adopters. Figure 2: A virtual private cloud combines enterprise-class attributes with full public cloud capabilities that can be switched on or off at will Oversight Community Governance Private Virtual Private Public Access Security APIs Confronted with the shortcomings of public cloud offerings, it s only natural that the first reaction of many enterprises is to want to bring the cloud in-house, replicating a virtualised cloud computing instance within the familiar and trusted confines of their existing IT infrastructure. 02

5 What enterprises want The core proposition of cloud computing is that the provider assumes responsibility for the computing infrastructure. For the first wave of early adopters, not having to worry about infrastructure has been a boon. But in the enterprise, it is the IT department s job to worry about such matters. That doesn t mean enterprises should try and dictate how providers set up and operate their underlying data centre infrastructure that s the provider s realm. What s needed is a collaborative partnership in which providers get on with the job of keeping the infrastructure running, while at the same time giving enterprise IT enough visibility, choice and delegated control over its own assets to fulfil its obligations to stakeholders. The buck still stops with enterprise IT, irrespective whether the infrastructure is cloud-sourced or in-house. Forward-looking IT managers who recognise the need to work with cloud providers on all these aspects of infrastructure management are carving out a new role for themselves as custodians of enterprise IT, responsible and answerable for its governance whether it s hosted locally or at a third party. Figure 3: Management and oversight of cloud infrastructure is a collaborative partnership between the enterprise customer and the provider Management & Oversight Monitoring Configuration Provisioning Security Visibility Reporting Virtualised Infrastructure Usage / Billing Control Instrumentation Data Centre Operations & Processes Helpdesk & Customer Service Operations 03

6 Enterprise-class cloud attributes To ensure safe passage into the cloud for their IT assets, enterprise cloud adopters look for providers that exhibit an extensive set of enterprise-class attributes. Secure, verifiable infrastructure and processes Any reputable cloud provider s data centre should at least match and will usually far exceed the security, reliability and performance characteristics of its clients own enterprise data centres. Each of those clients will still insist on its own audit, along with regular updates, so that it can demonstrate it has met its legal obligations to protect data. The ability to inspect certified documentation, such as SSAE16 Type 2 and PCI accreditation, along with historic operational and uptime data, also plays a crucial role in due diligence prior to signing up for cloud services. Fine-grained access control Delegated user administration is a basic enterprise requirement for any cloud service, enabling a team to share access to the service but with different levels of role-based rights. Enterprises operate complex permission hierarchies, often tracking each user s activity for chargeback and audit trail purposes. Detailed configuration options Enterprises will look for more granular control over cloud assets than consumer providers typically allow, such as a wider choice of machine images, minimum latency between systems, ability to specify geographic location, custom firewall settings, and so on. A range of payment options Production systems can t be left prey to the vagaries of individual credit card accounts. Providers must accommodate invoice terms and electronic bank settlement. Instrumentation, feeds and reporting Enterprise IT remains continuously accountable for the performance of the IT infrastructure. A status dashboard is a bare minimum. Providers must have the instrumentation in place to report metrics and exceptions in real-time to their enterprise clients, preferably as feeds that can plug into the client s existing management systems. There should be established processes for status updates during a service outage or slowdown. Access to historic data allows clients to analyse contract compliance and value for money. Robust track record and customisable, rigorous SLA Service level agreements need to reflect the needs of the enterprise, not just the raw speeds and feeds of traditional managed hosting environments. They need to have real teeth, too, with actionable penalties. Just as important, though, is transparent measurement and reporting of the provider s track record, which establishes a benchmark for reliability, consistency and quality of performance. Properly staffed service desk with guaranteed service levels Unpredictable, sporadic web-based and support of the kind we ve seen from consumer cloud providers won t cut it in the enterprise world. Enterprises need one-to-one support, and rapid, guaranteed response and resolution times. Documented API and proven integration Services and APIs must be fully documented to meet the demands of enterprise developers. Providers must demonstrate experience of integrating to on-premise assets, and ideally will offer ready-made integration options for common use cases. Structured change management processes Providers must show they have implemented enterprise-class best practices and should have audited, SOX-compliant processes in place. They must measure up to the standards their enterprise clients have committed to their own stakeholders, in particular those governing changes to core infrastructure or applications. Patch management and upgrades There should be fully documented processes for notifying and scheduling changes to the underlying infrastructure, and any other upgrade processes undertaken by the cloud provider. Options for application management services As enterprises build sufficient confidence to deploy business-critical production servers to the cloud, it s likely they ll look to the cloud provider to add management services such as application monitoring, database management and performance management, alongside existing infrastructure services. 04

7 Hybrid strategies For the foreseeable future, most enterprises will continue to maintain important and substantial off-cloud assets. As their usage of the cloud increases, they will have to become adept at managing a hybrid environment in which cloud-based assets will coexist and interact with onpremise IT assets. Successfully managing those interactions will depend on implementing a robust infrastructure capable of handling three separate forms of integration: Data exchange between cloud and on-premise systems. While it may make sense initially to rely on point-topoint integrations, it will soon become more manageable and cost-effective to implement some form of mediation technology. Systems integration of infrastructure services. To help automate governance and oversight of the cloud environment, it will become necessary to link up infrastructure services such as user authorisation, systems management and application lifecycle management. Transfer of software assets and processes between on-premise and cloud environments. Automating the process of migrating assets on and off the cloud allows it to act as a seamless extension to the on-premise infrastructure. Enterprises will have to examine both their own infrastructure and that of potential cloud providers to determine the feasibility, cost-effectiveness and performance of each type of integration. Factors to look at on the provider s side include the breadth of configuration choice offered, the degree of standardisation of APIs for infrastructure services, and the ability to leverage multitenant versions of common integrations to reduce implementation and operational costs. For the foreseeable future, most enterprises will continue to maintain important and substantial off-cloud assets. As their usage of the cloud increases, they will have to become adept at managing a hybrid environment in which cloud-based assets will coexist and interact with on-premise IT assets. 05

8 What the cloud brings Accessing enterprise-class infrastructure within a public cloud platform preserves the benefits of all the defining characteristics of cloud computing. While some of the more obvious attributes can be replicated in privately hosted infrastructures, the most important are only available within a truly public cloud platform. Attributes that theoretically can be replicated off-cloud may not be executed as well in a private environment as they would be in the cloud. More pressing priorities may crowd out the best intentions of emulating a public cloud environment, with the result that changes are often deferred or watered down. In principle, at least, the following attributes are common to both environments: Cloud scale. Massive infrastructure, ample connectivity and a rigorously componentised architecture in which infrastructure resources are accessed solely via a web API Flexibility. Scale up/scale down on demand, and pay only for what you use Resilience. The cloud provider keeps the infrastructure running and handles any patches or upgrades. Clients can count on a consistent track record and a rigorous SLA. In addition to these well-known attributes, there are a number of less well rehearsed attributes that are unique to public cloud platforms and which deliver the most valuable benefits: Pooled infrastructure All clients collectively benefit from the provider s investment in cloud-scale, multitenant infrastructure: Instead of incurring the cost of separately operating their own independent infrastructure and each maintaining sufficient spare capacity to sustain usage spikes, those redundant costs are eliminated and reduced to a much lower overall aggregate cost of ownership The cumulative effect of having to meet the varied demands of many different applications, usage loads and patterns, tests and audits ensures the infrastructure is tuned and battlehardened in the most cost-effective manner to deliver optimum security, reliability and performance. The provider continues to develop and enhance the platform based on aggregate metrics from clients, all of whom immediately share the results of this continuous innovation Community innovation Clients and partners are all working with a shared interest in the success of the same platform and API set, sharing ideas and critiques. Their collective influence ensures that the API is robust, continually evolving and up-to-date with newly emerging cloud resources. Ungated connections Multi-tenancy also applies to the infrastructure s connections out to other cloud resources. Instead of being limited to a single enterprise-size pipe, any client s bandwidth can spike on demand, ensuring that it s always possible to connect to external cloud resources as required. Optional infrastructure services such as mediated integration and application management can also be multitenant, benefiting from the same aggregate cost of operation, community innovation and battle hardening as the underlying platform itself. Mobility The infrastructure is already in the cloud and therefore ready to connect to everyone and everything else the enterprise interacts with via the cloud offsite workers, external resources, partners, clients, and so on. Figure 4: The shared multi-tenant architecture of a public cloud is strengthened by communal usage testing and innovation, at the same time as driving down aggregate cost of operation Mobility Resources Shared multi-tenant infrastructure Collaborative innovation Collective testing and feedback Aggregate cost of operation 06

9 Mapping a safe passage In the rush to stake a claim to the cloud, many setbacks and false turnings lie in wait for the unprepared. The safe choice of staying put on familiar ground won t deliver the aggregate cost savings, community-driven innovation and ungated connectivity of public cloud infrastructures. But the public cloud isn t enterprisefriendly: few providers are prepared to invest in meeting the needs and existing realities of enterprise IT. Virtual private networking makes it possible to establish a logical domain within the public cloud with controlled exposure to the open cloud. This allows an enterprise to choose how much or how little it engages with the cloud, without restricting future access to the cloud environment. But achieving fine-grained control over that access and exposure depends on the sophistication of the provider s infrastructure. It must provide the accountability, visibility and governance that enterprise IT requires of any computing assets under its management. Only then can the enterprise plan the integration, migration and oversight of cloud-based IT assets with the same level of confidence and trust it has today in its own in-house infrastructure. With the right foundations and guarantees in place, cloud computing will at last become an accepted part of the enterprise IT landscape. CS / DDMS-1084 / 10/12 Copyright Dimension Data

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