Emergent Consensus: Private Cloud Needs a Front Office Part 1

Last week I attended Structure 09, one of the better cloud computing conferences. Everyone I could hear the echo of the need for a service catalog; often it was implicit.

For example, everyone spoke about the need for standardization and multi-tenancy, about the need to abstract computing resources from the application to enable moving workloads as needed.  Which in my mind requires you to a) know what the workload is, b) know the SLA of that workload, c) have well defined underpinning technical services that compose that application service, and therefore d) Have a SERVICE CATALOG to track all of that!

And so a consensus begins to form. I'll track that on my blog.  First up, is a Sandhill article on how to take the next step up from virtualization to a private cloud.
 

Turning Your Virtual Datacenter Environment into an Internal Cloud

Introducing processes and tools that are similar to those provided by external cloud vendors can turn your virtual datacenter environment into an internal cloud.

By first developing [editor note: or acquire?]  tools to handle life cycle management of virtual machines, a user can request a virtual machine using a menu to specify resource requirements (CPUs, memory, storage), operating system details, lease period (no more than 12 months) and other miscellaneous configuration information.

The request then goes through an IT approval process, that once approved, is assigned and the virtual machine is rapidly provisioned from templates. A requisition process that used to take weeks is now completed in just days and urgent requests can be handled within hours. To further avoid server sprawl problems and to maximize resource utilization for legitimate purposes, it is recommended that the virtual machines either get a lease extension in three month increments or are retired when a lease period expires.

SandHill.com | Opinion : Building an Internal Cloud.

It's worth commenting on the lifecycle. I'll do that in future blog posts.

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And so a consensus begins to form. I'll track that on my blog. First up, is a Sandhill article on how to take the next step up from virtualization to a private cloud.

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The request then goes through an IT approval process, that once approved, is assigned and the virtual machine is rapidly provisioned from templates. A requisition process that used to take weeks is now completed in just days and urgent requests can be handled within hours. To further avoid server sprawl problems and to maximize resource utilization for legitimate purposes, it is recommended that the virtual machines either get a lease extension in three month increments or are retired when a lease period expires.