Basic Rules for Running a Cloud
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So, let's talk about what is your problem. The cloud down the
hall-that's yours. All yours. And there are a few basic rules you
have to follow to ensure when you're running a cloud down the hall:
Rule No. 1: You can't run out
Unlike rolling blackouts, your application owners don't want to hear
that human resources put up some giant new application and now their
Web server is going to be slow. You have to grow the cloud to meet the
consumption needs. And these days, lightning-fast provisioning and
cheaper than physical pricing is really driving up demand.
Rule No. 2: You can't store leftovers
Until someone manages to put time in a bottle, all that extra unused
storage, unused server capacity, underutilized machines and
over-provisioned space is a waste. Unless you're among the mythical few
IT shops that don't feel the squeeze of budget cuts, there is no room
for waste in your cloud.
Rule No. 3: You can't have outages
Now that it's virtual, one outage can mean a whole neighborhood
without power (even a 99 percent uptime service-level agreement (SLA)
equals three days of outage per year!). Since every VM is owned by a
different group-each tinkering around in there to make it work for
their application-it becomes a veritable game of bumper cars around the
electric poles, and every so often, something's going down. And you are
the only one driving the cherry picker.
Rule No. 4: You're the meter reader
The guy that comes by to check the meter? That's you. And you better
be sure you know whose bill to tack that onto. And when they moved. And
whether it is time to cut off power. Right now you have a 32-character
string, an Excel spreadsheet and a pad of Post-it notes. You better
remember your arithmetic because this is your justification for new
investment. And per rule number one, you can't run out.
That's a lot. If the power company did it, we should be able to do
it too. There are really two categories of things that would make these
challenges easier:
1. Better information
Whose VM is whose? When did they use it? How much resource did it
consume? When should I shut it down? How full is my environment? Which
VMs are over-provisioned? There's a long laundry list of fairly basic
questions to which we just don't have answers now. It's like plugging a
subdivision into a power strip-how could you possibly allocate, grow,
charge, decommission or manage those customers?
2. Demarcated control
Certain things are fixed and your customers can't change them. You
get 120v power, whether you like it or not. You probably haven't
haggled over your power bill lately either, and you don't get power
unless you have an account, so there are no squatting tenants running
hair dryers all day. To get a piece of the cloud, you have to play by
the rules.
But there is also flexibility. If I want to stick three PCs, four
monitors, a surround sound system, and a keyboard into the same power
strip, and my circuit breaker flips, taking down my unsaved
masterpiece, that's my own problem to fix. Power is still running to my
house; what I do with it is my problem.
Your cloud needs the same thing: controls that prevent individual
users from compromising the cloud itself (the barriers around the
electric poles) and freedoms to enable users to effectively use their
piece.
The analog way to get information and control would be to send out
meter readers, collate Post-it notes and become veritable policemen of
your own cloud. Most of us don't enjoy those tasks, nor do we have the
time or extra people to staff these goals. Luckily for us, we work in
the digital age, so our solution may come from something more automatic.
