Cloud Computing and Green IT Computing Taster Session Barking Learning Centre 28 th November 2012
Introductions Green IT Gaurav Malik Senior Lecturer in School of Architecture, Computing and Engineering Certified instructor for the ISEB Certificate in Green IT Interests include Green IT, cloud computing, mobile computing and web applications development
Workshop Aims an introduction to Cloud Computing and Green IT risks, threats and security in cloud based solutions getting the best out of the cloud empowering your users and customers taking the first steps in cloud computing deployment saving up for a rainy day
What is Green IT? A collection of strategic and tactical initiatives which directly reduce the carbon footprint of computing operations use IT to help reduce organisations overall carbon footprint encourage greener behaviour amongst employees, customers and suppliers ensure the sustainability of resources used by IT
Sustainability and Green IT? A pile of electronic waste on a roadside in Guiyu, China 5 Electronic waste in Guangdong, China As much as 4,000 tonnes of toxic e-waste are discarded every hour. Vast amounts are routinely and often illegally shipped as waste from Europe, USA and Japan to places where unprotected workers recover parts and materials.
The ICT Lifecycle ICT accounts for 2% of global CO 2 emissions Embodied vs. consumed energy Embodied energy is associated with the manufacture and disposal of ICT Consumed energy is associated with use of ICT Embodied energy may be up to 50% of total Should we replace or not?
Some Statistics Global electricity consumption by PCs is growing by 5% year on year Electricity consumption accounts for 10% of average SME s IT budget (rising to 50%+ in extreme cases) Cost of electricity to run a typical computer over its lifetime greater than purchase price Global data centre electricity consumption doubled between 2000 and 2005 7
The Need for Green IT The effects of climate change The effects of ICT production and disposal Large quantities of hazardous materials Significant water and energy consumption Concentrated mining of precious and nonprecious metals Dangerous and exploitative working practices
Green IT Drivers Environmental ICT emissions set to rise significantly Political Improving our reputation Social Meeting the expectations of others Legal Meeting regulatory obligations
Cloud Computing - a Definition The storing and accessing of applications and computer data often through a Web browser rather than running installed software on your personal computer or office server Internet-based computing whereby information, IT resources, and software applications are provided to computers and mobile devices on-demand Using the Internet to access web-based applications, web services, and IT infrastructure as a service
Cloud Computing - an Alternative Definition is Internet-based development and use of computer technology. IT-related capabilities are provided as a service, allowing users to access services from the Internet without knowledge of, expertise with, or control over the technology infrastructure that supports them. information is permanently stored in servers on the Internet and cached temporarily on clients that include desktops, entertainment centers, tablet computers, notebooks, wall computers, handhelds, sensors, monitors, etc. (Wikipedia) 11
Why Cloud? The cloud is a metaphor for the Internet, based on how it is depicted in computer network diagrams, and is an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it conceals. (Wikipedia) Remote Client Local Area Network 12
What is the Cloud?
What is the Cloud?
What is the Cloud? Microsoft s $500 million Chicago data center, one of the largest data centers ever built, spanning more than 700,000 square feet (Man Utd pitch about 80,000 sq.ft).
CO2 emissions of some everyday activities to "Google searches"
Cloud Computing Various types Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) e.g. Amazon s Web Services Software as a Service (SaaS) e.g. Salesforce.com Platform as a Service (PaaS) Services accessed via a browser What makes cloud computing greener?
Cloud Architecture and Characteristics typically consists of reliable services delivered through data centres and built on servers using virtualisation commercial offerings need to meet QoS requirements and typically offer SLAs open standards and open source software are key to growth of cloud computing free, PAYG or subscription based 20
What is the Cloud? It s not just data centres, but reselling capacity in data centres is key: Advantage of economies of scale to reduce the cost-per-unit service provision and maximize the opportunities for efficient energy use in power and cooling systems machine room vs. broom cupboard? Remove redundant server components during production (e.g. sound cards, USB ports). Usage can be maximized salesforce.com serves more than 1.5M users (and 55,000 enterprise customers) every day with less than a 1,000 servers (500 used to mirror data). As of January 31, 2009, a single, third-party Web hosting facility located on the west coast of the United States, leased from Equinix, Inc.. replicated in near real-time in a separate [Equinix] back-up facility located on the east. What infrastructure duplication would occur if each enterprise customer had their own in-house system?
Where is the Cloud? Amazon offers use of data centres in four availability zones (US East/West, Ireland, Singapore). Amazon.com also uses other data centres. In 2003, Amazon began to use Equinix as a data centre provider. Equinix has 50 data centres in 19 locations worldwide, with 5 data centres, and the company s 50 th, in and around London. The Salesforce CRM runs in Equinix facilities; further Equinix customers include (or have included) Myspace.com, NASA, Fox Sports Interactive Media and Sandisk.
Traditional vs Cloud Traditional Systems File server MS Outlook, Apple Mail SAP CRM/Oracle CRM/Siebel Quicken/Oracle Financials Microsoft Office/Lotus Notes Off-site backup Server, racks, and firewall Cloud Systems Google Docs Gmail, Yahoo!, MSN SalesForce.com Intacct/NetSuite Google Apps Amazon S3 Amazon EC2, GoGrid, Mosso
SaaS SaaS probably the most mature *aas of Cloud Computing For some, SaaS began with mainframes! Software as a package, with license, distributed on media, installed by individuals / corporates costs all round. Software becomes a download installed by individuals / corporates cheaper for producer. Software becomes large, difficult to install and configure, and needs new hardware more expensive for consumer. Company costs increased by software bloat ; updates become expensive to install, test, deploy, remove (on failure) etc. Software usable over the internet.
SaaS Advantages? Bespoke infrastructure not required Reduced system administrator loading No upfront software costs Users supported by the organisation that knows the product and how to make it work well BUT, some setup costs necessary. Training required, but system consistency preferred, so incremental changes may reduce training overhead. Disadvantages? Costs may be per seat rather than per use. Always-on connectivity / thin pipes problem. Vendor lock-in? Trust in third party? Limited support in Service Level Agreements? Emotional attachment to physical systems?
SaaS: Google Mail / Apps Trinity College Dublin Legacy email system that lacked the features that students wanted; Achieved cost savings associated with labour and operational efficiencies University of Westminster Reported 1 million savings on IT costs Universities of Portsmouth, Sunderland, Loughborough... http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/customers.html Los Angeles City Council (2 nd largest US city) outsources e-mail to Google; $7.25-million contract (5 years) to move all 30,000 city employees.
IAAS Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is the offering of a computing infrastructure as a service. IaaS involves, rather than purchasing software, servers, data center space or network kit, customers buy those resources as an outsourced provision. A IaaS service is usually billed on a utility.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) EC2: APIs for provisioning, managing, and deprovisioning virtual servers inside the Amazon cloud. Any application anywhere on the Internet can launch a virtual server in the Amazon cloud with a single web services call. Several data centres (availability zones) Amazon s EC2 U.S. footprint spans three (or more) data centers on the East Coast of the U.S. and two (or more) in Western Europe. You cannot mix and match U.S. and European environments, though you can run traffic between them. Adapted from Reese, Ch1.
IaaS Amazon Web Services (AWS) including EC2, S3,. Rackspace Flexiscale GoGrid Joyent Terremark vcloud Express ElasticHosts NewServers
PAAS PaaS offerings facilitate deployment of applications without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware and software and provisioning hosting capabilities, providing all of the facilities required to support the complete life cycle of building and delivering web applications and services entirely available from the Internet.
Google App Engine Google has lots of data centres... From: Using Google App Engine Where is my data??
GAppE: What else does it do? When you run on your own web servers ( heavy lifting ): Which O/S, version, patchlevel? (How many?) How patched? (if Windows, reboot??) Antivirus? Firewall? (D)DoS have to contact Google; may cost you. Which DB, version, patchlevel? DB on same machine as web server? DB across multiple machines? DB as a bottleneck? Support for peak demand? Unexpected demand? (When?) When is an upgrade to any kind of capacity needed? Under GAppE, Google s problems! Of course, costs start to apply (but economics need to be considered anyhow). Can you do it cheaper than Google can? Can another provider?
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hinchcliffe/comparing-amazons-and-googlesplatform-as-a-service-paas-offerings/166?tag=btxcsim
Risks, threats and security What s the Agreement? Where Does the Data Go? Does One Size Fits All Work? How Reliable Is the Service? What Are Other Standards for the Services? When and How Can the Customer Get Its Data Back? How Safe Is the Customer s Data (Regulatory compliance)? What if There s a Data Breach? What if There s a Disaster? What if There s a Dispute? How Much Does the Service Cost? How Is Risk Allocated? What if the Agreement Terminates? Is It Really Your Vendor Holding the Data? How Can the Customer Review the Vendor s Performance? Who has privileged user access? Will there be Investigative support? Long-term viability. http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/gartner-seven-cloud-computing-security-risks-853?page=0,1 http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2010/04/cloud-computing-technology-a-checklist-for-cloud-computing-deals/ 35
Application Getting the best out of the cloud Examples Calendar Schedules Planning / Task Management Event Management Project Management Web Databases Bookmarking Photo Editing Photo Sharing Desktops Web Conferencing Groupware Blogs and Wikis Google, Yahoo, Windows Live, CalendarHub, Hunt Calendars, Calendar Net Diarised, Windows Live Events, Schedulebook, AppointmentQuest Bla-bla List, Hiveminder, Remember the Milk, Tudu List, HiTask, Zoho Planner Conference.com, RegOnline, Event Wax BaseCamp, Project Drive, Zoho Projects, onproject Zoho Creator / Zoho DB & Reports, MyWebDB, Cebase, QuickBase, Lazybase BlinkList, Clipmarks, del.icio.us, Tagseasy FotoFlexer, Preloadr, Snipshot dotphoto, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa Web Albums ajaxwindows, eyeos, g.ho.st, YouOS Genesys Meeting Center, IBM Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Office Live Meeting, WebEx, Zoho Meeting Contact Office, Google Sites, Project Spaces, teamspace Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, Pbwiki, wikihost.org, Wikispaces, Zoho Wiki
Companies offering UC solutions Hosted and Software as a Service (Saas) Skype Virtual PBX BT RingCentral - Virtual Phone System OneBox by J2Global Panterra Networks My1Voice
Taking the first steps in cloud computing deployment Standardisation Integration with legacy systems The market is full of supposed Cloud providers but it might not be Cloud as you expect it or if you subscribe to NIST/Gartner (etc.) definitions or Open Cloud Manifesto. A variety of pricing structures exists. Everybody has a faster Cloud than everybody else.
Saving up for a rainy day At the macro-economic level, cloud computing helps achieve economies of scale by centralizing compute power and democratizing access. At the CIO level, cloud computing helps shift the mindset to commoditize computing power, not servers, and therefore drive efficiencies via virtualisation and greater utilisation rates which allows systems to scale up or down due to load fluctuations. At the data center level, cloud computing s drive towards consolidation paves the way for new standards for energy efficiency. At the R&D level, cloud computing creates incentives for software engineers to code more efficient applications, as often their company will become the host for said applications.
Additional Reading Reese, G. (2009) Cloud Application Architectures: Building Applications and Infrastructure in the Cloud. O'Reilly Media, Inc. ISBN(13): 978-0596156367, 204 pages. Above the Clouds: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/pubs/techrpts/2009/eecs-2009-28.pdf Amazon AWS: http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/awsec2/latest/developerguide/ Sun s Introduction: http://www.sun.com/featured-articles/cloudcomputing.pdf Cloud Computing and the Law: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/docs3/mowbray.pdf
Nikolaos Antonopoulos and Lee Gillam (Eds.) (2010): Cloud Computing: Principles, Systems and Applications. Springer. ISBN: 978-1-84996-240-7
Gaurav Malik gaurav@uel.ac.uk THANK YOU