Effective End-to-End Enterprise Cloud Management

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1 SOLUTION WHITE PAPER Effective End-to-End Enterprise Cloud Management By combining technologies from BMC and VMware, enterprises and large service providers gain end-to-end management of their cloud infrastructure enabling significant cost savings and accelerated time to market. A Joint VMware and BMC Whitepaper

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary Cloud Basics THE BMC and VMware Relationship Provisioning in a BMC/VMware Environment Serving the Public: Service Provider Cloud Offerings Conclusion

3 Executive Summary Cloud computing is a hot topic in enterprises today and the object of considerable hype. As companies experiment with cloud technology in pilot projects, however, they are discovering that cloud computing does indeed deliver clear benefits. Of these, the most immediately recognized are cost savings due to better use of hardware, faster time to market, and greater flexibility in the deployment of assets. One challenge companies face as they move from pilot projects to broader adoption of cloud technology within the enterprise is the management of the cloud both the physical hardware and the virtual machines that run on it. To address this challenge, BMC Software, with its heritage of management and automation software, and VMware, with its market-leading virtualization technology, have worked together to provide enterprises an integrated, end-to-end manage ment solution for cloud infrastructure. Figure 1. Overview of how VMware and BMC products work together. This solution enables companies to implement a robust cloud infrastructure to maximize the principal benefits of cloud computing. This white paper discusses VMware vcloud Director and BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management, and it shows how, by using both solutions, enterprises can manage cloud systems effectively and efficiently. Cloud Basics The hype around cloud technology has generated lots of dazzle as well as a slew of new words and concepts. Most often, cloud discussions center on how the cloud is defined, and the major models of cloud computing in use today. A cloud has been described as: A pool of shared server, storage and network resources that can be dynamically arranged to meet the on-demand needs of a customer, and subsequently disbanded. The key point in this definition is that the resources are dynamically arranged. This is accomplished today by using virtualization technology running on pools of hardware. The virtual machines (or VMs) are highly configurable entities that can be set up, provisioned, used, and broken down quickly. 1

4 There are three major models of cloud deployment: Private clouds are constructed within an enterprise, specifically within the enterprise firewall. Private clouds enable all the flexibility of the cloud within the security of the IT organization. Public clouds are maintained by service providers for variable on-demand consumption by their customers, often enterprises. By consuming public cloud resources, the custom ers shift infrastructure capex to opex, thereby changing the financial dynamics of IT. Hybrid clouds are the flexible blend of private and public clouds under a joint management framework, enabling the seamless transition between both types of resources to meet the needs of the business. The benefits driving adoption of the cloud inside enterprises were summarized earlier, but they warrant deeper examination: Cost reduction: Automation and standardization reduce the cost of service delivery. Efficient utilization of hardware reduces the cost of infra structure. On-demand use of external service providers shifts capex costs to opex. And the service-based approach makes the cost of every unit of service more measurable. Time to market reduction: Because systems can be provisioned quickly and with exactly what the user needs, no time is lost in administrative and management processes, nor is there a need for capex approvals for onetime or short-lived projects. Flexibility: By pooling hardware, administrators can allocate the necessary virtual resources that users or customers require to satisfy their computing needs. And they can dynamically expand these resources in the event of spikes and surges, while returning those resources to the pools when usage and demand slacken. Risk and compliance management: By having a standard, defined set of resources that are permitted on the cloud, companies can enforce company policies and governmental regulations. To obtain these benefits, enterprises are increasingly relying on vendors of hardware manage ment and virtualization platforms to provide solutions to the challenges of systems management and administration. By working together, BMC and VMware are bringing to market cloud-oriented solutions for use by large service providers and enterprise IT organizations. THE BMC and VMware Relationship BMC Software and VMware have been close technology partners for more than seven years, focusing on helping organizations expand their adoption of VMware virtualization and enable business-critical service virtualization across the data center and the cloud. Because virtualization and cloud computing are driving and enabling the transformation of IT, organizations can increase visibility of IT infrastructure, reset IT cost structures, reduce fixed costs, drastically reduce time to change infrastructure and services, and, generally, be more responsive to business demands. As large enterprises and service providers pursue these goals by shifting critical business services to VMware vsphere or vsphere-based clouds, BMC and VMware have collaborated to reduce operational risk and cost by addressing heterogeneous planning, provisioning, operation and governance of cloud infrastructure. More specifically, BMC has created a Cloud Lifecycle Management solution that leverages established capabilities in products such as the BMC Atrium CMDB, BMC BladeLogic Server Automation Suite, BMC BladeLogic Network Automation, and BMC Atrium Orchestrator. This solution uses the VMware vsphere and the vcloud API to provide consistent management and performance over the lifecycle of cloud infra structure. The VMware vcloud API is an open, REST-based API that allows scripted access to cloud resources, such as vapp upload/download, catalog management, and other operations. BMC can enable business-critical service virtualization for private, public, and hybrid clouds by giving customers control of the full lifecycle of virtualization from service planning to service configuration to automation to 2

5 service management, service support, and finally service retire ment. With this approach, organizations that have made investments in BMC management solutions can deploy more mission-critical workloads on VMware vsphere, balancing control and agility to reduce costs and minimize risk. These advanced, integrated solutions enable organizations to leverage existing personnel, proces s es and technologies. They integrate out of the box with other BMC solutions, VMware products, and third-party tools. As a result, IT staff have a single set of solutions that encompass both the physical and virtual assets both inside and outside the data center. Provisioning in a BMC/VMware Environment To the user of a cloud environment, provisioning resources should be a straightforward experience. This is a central requirement of the concept of user self-service, which underlies the benefit of rapid configuration and deployment of cloud technology. Ideally, a well-implemented cloud environment creates a shopping-cart like experience and provides nearly instant gratification for the user. Cloud environments supported by BMC and VMware technologies seek to deliver this user experience without compromising the manage ability of the environment for IT administrators. Figure 2. BMC Self service portal and wizard. In a typical implementation that employs BMC s Cloud Lifecycle Management portal, users have a login to a self-service portal. This web site (Figure 2) which, in this case, is driven by BMC s portal software is the user s single port of entry to the cloud environment. It provides role-based access to the full catalog of services (cloud, as well as non-cloud) offered by the IT organization. From this site, the user can view and manage existing cloud services and request new services. Through the request wizard in Figure 2, users are given role-based access to the cloud options they are permitted to select. Initially, they are asked to select from a set of base configurations of resources and operating systems (which can be shown with associated pricing). Users can have the option to build a custom configuration, as well. Behind the scenes, the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management technology leverages VMware vcloud Director to provision an image that meets the user s requirements. vcloud Director enables enterprises to build secure, multi-tenant private clouds by pooling infrastructure resources into virtual data centers and exposing them to users through Web-based portals and programmatic interfaces as fully automated, catalog-based services. 3

6 Enterprise cloud users rarely need only a bare operating system. They often require middleware and applications as well. The BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management pulls from a list of application and middleware packages in the BMC Service Catalog to display a list of options from which the user can select. In addition, at many sites there are regulatory compliance and monitoring services that might be needed on the cloud service. Through a wizard, users define and customize their cloud service to meet their needs and fulfill corporate directives. Once the stack is defined by the user, VMware vcloud Director initiates the delivery process by provisioning the base operating system from a VM image in its repository. That image is booted in a sandbox environment and BMC software provisions the middleware, applications, network containers, plus the monitoring and compliance components. Users are shielded from the under lying complexity of the infrastructure environment. Once provisioned, the cloud service is placed by VMware vcloud Director on the appropriate server or servers and the user is given access to the service, which can be further managed through the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management portal and the VMware vcloud self-service portal. Cloud computing works only if the environment is highly automated and organized into virtual pools. By leveraging both VMware and BMC technologies, as shown in this example, IT admin i strators can build a cloud that: Delivers highly customized cloud services in a very standardized and controlled manner. Leverages the underlying VMware platform s dynamic workload balancing, optimal location of virtual services, and efficient use of hardware resources. Integrates with existing management technologies for consistency in operations and reporting. Serving the Public: Service Provider Cloud Offerings Enterprises familiar with cloud technology find it effective in handling spikes in demand. When these spikes occur, IT organizations may rely on public or hybrid clouds to provide the needed resources on a temporary basis. There can be many reasons for such needs. For example, enter prises might not want to keep excess computing capacity on hand for occasional bumps in demand due to seasonal or quarterly activities. Special, one-time projects can also cause sudden peaks in demand that are short-lived but must be fully satisfied. As a result, the benefits of bursting to a public cloud vendor during these times is very appealing. Many public cloud environments, developed by service providers, rely on the VMware vcloud APIs. These APIs enable consumers of those public clouds to more easily request virtual resources, manage their cloud services, and ultimately decommission those resources facilitating a flexible and scalable hybrid cloud model. Depending on the design decisions of IT, the underlying location of the resources whether on-premise or external could be shared with or obscured from the user. In instances where the knowledge might drive optimal user behavior such as significantly lower pricing or a different service level the explicit public cloud option might be preferred. At other times, it might be better to have the user not involved in deciding where certain needed resources are drawn from or provisioned to. These services can be configured, exposed and accessed via the VMware vcloud APIs and VMware vcloud Director or through the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management software. Either way, the process mirrors the IT organization s preferences. The user is shown only the options that reflect the organization s policy and preference. If the organization employs BMC technology on the front end, the portal then reaches via VMware s vcloud APIs to the public cloud and requests services as seamlessly as if the resources were in the next room. 4

7 With this integration, a hybrid cloud infrastructure can leverage the VMware vcloud APIs to enable the consumption of resources from a variety of public cloud providers without requiring much up-front configuration. By using these familiar APIs, IT organizations can become selective and efficient consumers of external cloud resources to meet the needs of the business. For service providers who use the vcloud API to govern their cloud, the API presents a significant opportunity to ease the on-boarding of enterprise customers onto their cloud computing infrastructure. Conclusion Adopting cloud computing at the core of IT dramatically improves efficiency and agility while maintaining customer choice. By using VMware and BMC solutions together, IT organizations can rely on an infrastructure that offers: Resource Pooling Leveraging virtualization to change the model from machine-based to shared resource pools that enable on-demand resource allocation in the most efficient manner. Zero-touch Provisioning and Management Policy-driven management automates routine operational tasks, minimizing operational expense and overhead. Self-Service Provisioning and deployment are simplified through a self-service model, within the parameters of defined business and governance policies, while management of systems and infrastructure is reduced through policy-driven automation. Interoperability Application mobility between clouds within a common management model, based on open standards, extending to large ecosystem of public cloud providers. Evolutionary Adoption The ability to bring existing applications and all of IT into the cloud computing model, starting internally with a private cloud. To enjoy these benefits in your cloud deployment, contact your BMC or VMware repre sent atives or go to and to obtain more information. 5

8 About VMware VMware (NYSE: VMW) delivers virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes. With the industry-leading virtualization platform VMware vsphere customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security, and go green. With 2009 revenues of $2 billion, more than 190,000 customers, and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization which consistently ranks as a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at Business Runs on IT. IT Runs on BMC Software. Business thrives when IT runs smarter, faster and stronger. That s why the most demanding IT organizations in the world rely on BMC Software across distributed, mainframe, virtual and cloud environments. Recognized as the leader in Business Service Management, BMC offers a comprehensive approach and unified platform that helps IT organizations cut cost, reduce risk and drive business profit. For the four fiscal quarters ended June 30, 2010, BMC revenue was approximately $1.92 billion. BMC, BMC Software, and the BMC Software logo are the exclusive properties of BMC Software, Inc., are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and may be *174557* registered or pending registration in other countries. All other BMC trademarks, service marks, and logos may be registered or pending registration in the U.S. or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners BMC Software, Inc. All rights reserved.