CLOUD GUIDE BY CARLOS ESCAPA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, QUMOTECH AUGUST 6, 2010 As organizations push more data into the Cloud, managing these new infrastructures is becoming the major challenge for IT. This guide provides the latest information on the Cloud computing management market and tips on how to compare the key Cloud management vendors and their offerings.
Page 1 FIRST CAME VIRTUALIZATION Adoption of virtualization in datacenters continues to accelerate. In fact, IDC claims that customers now have a virtualization first mentality, which is reflected in the 16% increase in virtualized servers deployed in the last year. In addition, IDC projects 36 million new virtual servers will be deployed representing continued double digit growth through 2013. 1 Within the next 12 to 18 months, it s likely that half of all datacenter workloads will run virtualized. The main virtualization driver is to decrease IT costs by increasing hardware utilization (less than 10% of CPU capacity is used on average, according to Gartner). Virtualization increases that efficiency ratio dramatically, but cannot fully optimize hardware utilization as long as humans still make the decisions about where and how servers are virtually deployed. LET S START BY DESCRIBING WHAT CLOUD IS AND HOW IT CAME INTO EXISTENCE. ENTER CLOUD COMPUTING AND CLOUD With millions of new virtual environments to provision, it s easy to see why virtualization, by necessity, is evolving into Cloud computing where physical and Cloud resources (spanning private, public or hybrid Clouds) are dynamically and automatically provisioned and managed by software not humans. This new software market is coming to be known as Cloud Infrastructure Management or simply Cloud Management. Cloud Management software is infrastructure software that has the following core features: Dynamically provisions or de-provisions infrastructure resources (servers, storage and networks) to the Cloud (private, public or hybrid). Ensures provisioned resources can be securely consumed by virtual enterprises. Provides centralized capacity planning, monitoring, reporting and sometimes even billing of ALL infrastructure resources (physical or virtual) used in the Cloud. When it comes to meeting these three criteria, there are a few vendors that have announced offerings: Abiquo, CA Technologies, Cloud.com, Enomaly, Eucalyptus, Nimbula, Rackspace, and VMware. These are currently the key vendors to watch in the Cloud management software market. 1 IDC Virtualization Trends, April 2010; IDC Worldwide Server Provisioning Software 2009-2013, December 2009; IDC U.S. and Worldwide Sever Installed Base 2011 Forecast
Page 2 CLOUD SOFTWARE BENEFITS By utilizing a single management console, Cloud management software harnesses the different islands of computing power in both the physical and virtual worlds. As a result, a fully-functional, enterprise-class Cloud management software tool can be used to: NOW THAT WE HAVE A HANDLE ON CLOUD, LET S TAKE A Adapt IT business processes to provide computing power as a utility. Define different levels of computing services with different cost models. Manage the computing installations as a multi-tenant, multiplatform utility with federation both within and outside the firewall. Ensure compliance with corporate standards for the use of platforms and middleware. Measure use and cost, and optimize workload placement based on policies and compliance requirements. Migrate workloads transparently across platforms or outside the firewall. LOOK AT WHERE CLOUD FITS INTO THE OVERALL (CLOUD) SCHEME OF THINGS. Now that we have a handle on Cloud management, let s take a look at where Cloud management fits into the overall (Cloud) scheme of things. CLOUD COMPUTING ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES There are several different types of software that enable Cloud computing today including hypervisors, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud application management and Cloud infrastructure management. See the diagram on page three for details. Hypervisors Hypervisors offer virtualization technologies, which are the building block of the virtual world. In the private or inside-the-firewall Cloud space, key players include: VMware, Microsoft, Citrix, and RedHat. Meanwhile, the public Cloud space is mostly running on customized hypervisors, many originating from the Xen open source hypervisor. PaaS General purpose hypervisors have so far a relatively modest level of market adoption in public Clouds. The customization has been further extended into development platforms (e.g., Google App Engine, Microsoft Azure, force.com, EngineYard). This nascent middleware or Cloud application infrastructure services market is known as Platform as a Service (PaaS) and is expected to mature rapidly.
Page 3 IaaS Another set of Cloud enablers are the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) vendors. IaaS vendors provide system infrastructure services. Key IaaS vendors include Amazon Web Services/Amazon EC2, Terremark, Rackspace, GoGrid, IBM, BMC and CA. WHICH CLOUD VENDOR DOES WHAT? SaaS At the top of the stack are the Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors, which provide application services on demand. Key players include Salesforce.com, NetSuite, Success Factors, Work day, LotusLive, Microsoft Dynamics, and Right Now. Cloud Management Cloud management software is the glue across the other Cloud enabling infrastructure technologies listed above. Separate software is required to manage Cloud applications. Key Cloud (infrastructure) management players include Abiquo, Cloud.com, Enomaly, Eucalyptus, Nimbula, Rackspace and VMware. In addition, there are several technologies that have been recently acquired by larger companies including 3tera, acquired by CA Technologies.
Page 4 COMPARISON OF CLOUD SOFTWARE PLAYERS This section will compare the Cloud Management vendors based on product maturity, focus and functionality. First, let s look at product maturity. Since this is an emerging market, it is not surprising that several of the vendors have not yet released products in this space. Companies who need a Cloud management solution immediately or require a solution that is proven should look to vendors who are currently shipping, ideally ones with multiple releases under their belts such as Abiquo, Enomaly or Eucalyptus. See the table below for Cloud management vendor comparison based on product maturity: WHICH CLOUD SOFTWARE SHOULD WE CHOOSE? COMPARE BY MATURITY Product Maturity Level Cloud Management Vendors No release yet or pre-v1.0 release (alpha or beta) Nimbula Rackspace s Openstack Project (code name) VMware s Project Redwood (code name for vcloud Services Director (vcsd) Initial release CA 3tera (3tera released prior to acquisition by CA) Cloud.com (previously VMOps.com) Multiple releases Abiquo Enomaly Eucalyptus Table 1 - Cloud Management Software Vendor Comparison by Product Maturity
Page 5 Second, let s look at focus. Many of the Cloud management software vendors have different heritages, and as a result, different focuses for their products. Companies who are seeking a Cloud management software vendor should definitely take into account this point, especially in the case of recently acquired solutions such as the 3tera acquisition by CA Technologies. See table below for Cloud management vendor comparison based on focus. WHICH CLOUD SOFTWARE SHOULD WE CHOOSE? Primary Focus (in terms of operating platform and hypervisors) Single Platform Cloud Management Vendors CA (3tera) AppLogic VMware s Project Redwood/vCSD (primary focus on VMware, unclear support for other hypervisors) COMPARE BY FOCUS Limited Platform Rackspace s Openstack Project (focus on hosting providers only using KVM) Multi-platform with Linux Heritage/Focus (e.g., primarily KVM or Xen on Linux; can run Windows guest OS but do not support Microsoft Hyper-V) Cloud.com (Linux focus with support for three hypervisors KVM, Xen, Citrix Xenserver) Enomaly (Linux focus with support for three hypervisors VMware, KVM and Xen) Eucalyptus (Linux focus with support for three hypervisors VMware, KVM and Xen * ) Multi-platform (Windows & Linux) with multiple hypervisors Abiquo (supports six hypervisors: VMware, Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, Xen, KVM and VirtualBox) Nimbula (supports two hypervisors KVM and Xen **, not yet released) * Eucalyptus recently announced support for Windows Server as a guest VM; they do not support Hyper-V. ** Nimbula has announced VMware import capability for late 2010 Table 2 - Cloud Management Software Vendor Comparison by Focus
Page 6 Finally, let s look at functionality. Specifically, let s highlight any known functionality gaps by vendor. Companies who are looking for a current Cloud management solution should definitely investigate these limitations and thoroughly understand vendor roadmaps for addressing these issues. See vendor listings below (in alphabetical order) for functionality details. Abiquo Abiquo is a second generation solution that has supported heterogeneous, enterprise environments from its first release, including Microsoft Windows Server and Linux plus support for all six major hypervisors (VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, Xen, KVM, and VirtualBox) and built-in seamless virtual-to-virtual (V2V) migration across them to eliminate vendor lock-in. WHICH CLOUD SOFTWARE SHOULD WE CHOOSE? COMPARE BY FUNCTIONALITY With four years of development and two major releases, Abiquo s solution shows some clear enterprise maturity with early Microsoft Windows Server and HyperV support, service provider scale, and advanced features like support for multi-datacenter, multi-geography environments. Abiquo provides a rich, enterprise-oriented set of Cloud management features with management reach in different dimensions (multi-tenant, multi-site, multi-home etc.) with advanced policy-driven automation and control. Abiquo is a compelling enterprise Cloud management solution to consider especially in light of its recent recognition by the Cloud Computing World Series, which named Abiquo the Best Enterprise Software of 2010. CA Technologies/3tera/AppLogic CA Technologies acquired 3tera in March 2010. Since the acquisition, CA has announced that they will focus on integrating AppLogic with CA enterprise management products. As a result, CA AppLogic should be considered by companies who want a vendor-specific Cloud management platform based on CA products. CA has not yet announced when or how they will integrate AppLogic with their other Cloud platforms or products, and seem to be focused on the inside-thefirewall, private cloud. As a result, companies for the foreseeable future will not be able to get an integrated, single GUI Cloud platform from CA Technologies. Cloud.com Cloud.com offers a version 1.0 Cloud management product that has strong Linux roots with support for three hypervisors: KVM, Xen, Citrix
Page 7 Xenserver. Cloud.com also has Windows guest OS support, but does not support Microsoft Hyper-V. In May 2010 it announced a 2.0 version that was not yet released at the time this article was written. Enomaly Enomaly offers a second generation Cloud management product called ECP v3 that has strong Linux roots with support for three hypervisors: VMware, KVM and Xen. Enomaly also has Windows guest OS support. Like cloud.com, Enomaly does not yet have Microsoft Hyper-V support or inter-platform V2V capability. Eucalyptus Eucalyptus is an open source clone of Amazon s EC2 compute Cloud and S3 storage Cloud. Currently, Eucalyptus Enterprise Edition 2.0 supports three hypervisors, including VMware, KVM and Xen. Like other providers with Linux roots, Eucalyptus has just recently announced Windows Server support although they do not support Microsoft Hyper-V. WHICH CLOUD SOFTWARE SHOULD WE CHOOSE? COMPARE BY FUNCTIONALITY Nimbula New-entrant Nimbula has not yet released its product, but plans to introduce their version 1.0 product called Nimbula Director in the second half of 2010. It is noteworthy that VMware is one of Nimbula s shareholders and VMware (see VMware listing below) also plans to release their version 1.0 product in the second half of 2010. When both Nimbula s and VMware s products are released, it will be interesting to see whether they will compete head-on or aim for different market segments. Rackspace/Openstack Project In July 2010, Rackspace announced their Openstack project, which includes an open source data storage system as well as an open source Cloud platform. Rackspace s Openstack project is based on Rackspace technology, but is now fully available under the Apache 2.0 open source license. The benefit of this approach is that organizations can leverage and integrate to the Rackspace Cloud platform. Companies considering using Rackspace Openstack should keep in mind that Openstack is designed for hosting providers, not enterprise businesses. The solution was not yet available at the time this paper was written.
Page 8 VMware Project Redwood/vCloud Service Director (vcsd) VMware aims to leverage its dominant position in virtualization with a new product to build and manage multi-tenant Clouds. vcloud Service Director (also known as project Redwood ) is currently in beta testing and is expected to be released in the second half of 2010. CONCLUSION Apart from the fact that it is going to be a version 1.0 release, the key question for potential customers to consider is whether it is wise to adopt such a strategic tool from a vendor that has never released a product that supports any hypervisors other than its own. VMware has not released any product extensions that support HyperV, Xen or KVM hypervisors, which are fundamental to allow the management of private Clouds that span computing utilities within and outside corporate firewalls, and deliver computing elasticity. CONCLUSION As global demand for virtual environments continues to explode, one of the key IT challenges is increasingly becoming Cloud management, which requires software to dynamically and automatically provision and manage all physical and Cloud infrastructure resources, while delivering transparent elasticity inside and outside the corporate firewall without compromising security and respecting corporate policies. This infrastructure Cloud management layer is an area of heavy investment and innovation where there are currently nine key vendors to watch including Abiquo, CA Technologies/3tera, Cloud.com, Enomaly, Eucalyptus, Nimbula, and VMware. Given the new and dynamic nature of the Cloud management software market, IT managers should understand that there are significant differences in product maturity, focus and even functionality between the nine key vendors. Based on this multi-level comparison, Abiquo has the lead as the enterprise-ready solution for global 2000 firms or service providers, especially in terms of scalability, functionality and support for both VMware and Microsoft environments. Over time as the Cloud management software market progresses, organizations should continue to evaluate the key vendors against their companies specific business needs. However, keep in mind that the best enterprise Cloud management software is most likely to be one that can act as a single computing utility managed from a single pane of glass, harnessing different islands of computing power managed by different hypervisors and bringing them together. With that in mind, organizations of all types should probably continue to look to the vendorindependent Cloud management software platforms as the best bets.
Page 9 ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE AUTHOR Carlos Escapa is Managing Director of Qumotech, a strategic IT consultancy in the areas of virtualization and Cloud computing. Prior to Qumotech, Carlos Escapa was Senior Regional Director, Southern Europe at VMware, where he managed VMware s field operations in France, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece and grew the business to include 4500 customers and 300 certified channel partners including IBM, HP, Dell and Accenture. Before joining VMware, Escapa held several senior positions at CA Technologies, Sterling Software, Wall Data and VM Software. Escapa holds degrees in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and Illinois State University. For more information about Carlos Escapa, view his public profile at http://es.linkedin.com/in/cescapa Permission is granted to freely distribute the content of this report, in any form or by any means, provided only that the text is reproduced unmodified and that the author of the report is properly attributed.