I wonder what the people pushing this terminology are smoking to prodcue their own private cloud.
Either that or it's well intentioned subversion to get those tricked by the "cloud" salesfolk back on track.
The cloud salesfolk are afraid of not having a product that can support the Google Chrome OS. Yes, it's all marketing and positioning. In the end, however, we'll end up with nice modular and scalable four-cabinet virtualisation platforms we can buy and install thence to load our own virtual servers network on. I don't care if they market it as a "cloud" or a "puff pastry" platform. We win.
I attended the "Red Hat Virtual Experience" today; their offering seems to have a leg up on the ESX solution. Load balancing is only one of the features. Patch management can be accomplished through Red Hat's web interface, where you build templates and install companywide as desired. I'm getting ready to demo it on our blades to see how it compares. Have you taken a look at it?
It can cut both ways, though... Sometimes, an in-house solution is EXACTLY what a company needs.
Agree, absolutely. Can you imagine how Google would have faired if they tried to run their search off MySQL or SQL Server instead of Bigtables? We'd still be typing in guessed URL's.
I would characterise the origin of the problem you describe as having two foci: (a) Architect not up to the job, and (b) Architecture chosen on the golf course.
I would no sooner use a business leader to choose a large system architecture than I would select me to design a chart of accounts. Dentists shouldn't do their own plumbing, and plumbers shouldn't do their own dentistry.
To me 99% of this stuff seems to be for places that want to hire total dolts and pay somebody else to make it easy for the dolts.
That's not entirely fair. Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is buy something that already works, not something you have to script to get to work. Boxes you can plug into place. The place for the scripting you're describing is in development. You write a script that works, is flexible and efficient - and then get someone in marketing to put a wrapper around it to convince the buyers it's industry practice. That's what they're doing, anyway.
As good as your solution may be (and I've worn those shoes before myself) you'll be outpointed by the buyers who want it all in a bag taped to the cabinet.
After it's all in place then scripting expertise is needed to keep things working when things need to be changed. Trust me, you don't want a dolt for a sysadmin. I'd rather hire a BOFH than do that (just remember to keep your own spare key).
I think in the future it may be easier to find people who know Linux than people who know IBM proprietary mainframe operating systems. The code base will end up larger. IBM's mainframe hardware is definitely more a high-spec, high-reliability set of choices than the server base you'll typically see in your smaller DC's. But if they want their high-end hardware presence to continue to grow, they'll need people to drive them. And of course, people in universities are absolutely flocking to zOS classes aren't they? Umm... right, they're not. Linux makes sense.
If your using linux, why bother with vmware at all?
It's not the environment itself, it's the support stuff. How to manage load balancing a few dozen or even a few hundred servers, what to do with the virtual images you end up with (lots of them. Dedup helps a lot). Server on-boarding VM utilities. Patch management. And do be careful with those DHCP servers, you don't want duplicate address tables.
It's not just running an OS on top of an OS any more. You gotta manage these virtual servers, and that's where people are willing to pay the extra money.
This is all okay with me, as long as they don't use JCL. Ayyy I hated that shit when learning assembler on the 360, but then again they never thought JCL and didn't have any books on it, which is probably why I hated it.
IEBGENR! CORGZ! (runs after IsIIII shouting DASD Acronyms). RACF!!
Now maybe all the companies out there who are thinking of wasting money on cloud computing can just buy one of these, and basically have their own in-house cloud.
Private cloud is flavour of the month it seems. A recent (as in "last month") release from joint venture ACADIA (a Cisco+EMC+VMWare+Intel lash-up) shows that packaged private "Cloud" back end server offerings are at least seen as a way people will go.
I think it's smart packaging myself, four-cab VM building block, just add servers and away you go. And since you're just providing a VM environment, you're not limited in your underlying OS choices. Linux is a good way to go there.
~Although the ACADIA system is clearly superior to the IBM offering because (see above link) it can "accelerate customers' ability to increase business agility through greater IT infrastructure flexibility"./~ Gaaaahh!
The software ecosystem is "much more confusing" because
...because you can't see what it does. You're not allowed to scan the comments or see what instructions are being used for what. You can't read the scripts, parse the language, inform yourself as to what the heck they intend to do with your very own, privately-acquired silicon real estate.
Which they treat like an unfenced lawn on a house between the football stadium and the train home. that's why it's more confusing. You aren't allowed to run with the facts.
I wonder if the cost of digging into the side of the hill and carving out all these facilities is recouped through energy savings very quickly. I guess it all depends on the number of machines they would be running and the cost of electricity in their area- but if it takes 20 years, or even 10 to recoup the cost is it worth it?
It's an old question - opex vs. capex. For long term value, where you see the expense would be accelerating for one factor over time (energy costs) it may make sense to make a large capital expenditure to bring that down. A loan is something a business can eventually pay out to zero. If it's an element that's core to your business, it makes even more sense.
Energy use is a large part of the cost of any data centre. Cost is likely to go up over time.
One of the cool things about digging down for a DC is that you can often tap the thermal differential between the top and the bottom of the installation. If it's even a few degrees difference you could potentially get all your electricity for free.
Some companies are doing this because they are either planning to do additional offshoring or outsourcing.
Yes. They'll expect the remainder to manage / feed the offshore ones. See if it can be turned into a B/A title, those will always be needed in an offshore/outsource environment. It will go against the grain a bit, because instead of finding elegant solutions you'll be in a position where you'll be multiplying the work needed sometimes. It isn't always efficient to be cheap.
I've made this move, some years back. My advice? See if it's still possible for you to go back to a technical college and learn how to be a plumber or electrician. You'll be driving a better car. IT is mined out.
Depending on your ambitions for booking targets, of course, but there are some very good people out in the industry who are very well known but still aren't rich. You might be able to entice them to speak for a cut of the gate. Go after a luminary and ask them.
Given your interest in the "soft skills" I'd suggest going after someone like Pamela Jones, Richard Stallman, Randall Munroe, Cory Doctorow, Rob Malda, or Simon Travaglia. People who would drive geeks through the door, just for the opportunity to meet them. Give them an hour to talk and let them sell their own merchandise.
I've only ever set up one conference myself, but I've seen they can be just as big an opportunity for the presenters as the audience. Overall, I believe it's a good thing to do.
Gods that's a beautiful spaceship. I will toast their success with fine wine.
This is exactly the sort of thing that got me interested in science as a young boy. Granted that was in the day of Von Braun and Willey Ley and Chesley Bonestell (yes I am that old) but the Universe wrote large in my imagination back then, and I wanted something more than cars that tried to look like airplanes. I wanted the stars. There is nothing as hungry as the imagination of the young.
I was fortunate to work for NASA for a short while in my career, writing software for the Pioneer spacecraft. I've gone on a bit since then, still in the IT industry and laid a lot of networks. But nothing compares with having been lucky enough to work on something that fired my imagination as a boy.
Did I mention that's a beautiful spaceship? If form follows function, then something with that form has to be awfully functional.
There's our Orient Express, people. It's a short step from tourists to passengers.
Lovely sound, but hasn't that instrument been banned by a large number of orchestras? Something about giving the artists a bad case of the wibblies if they play it much. Nerve-wracking, I'm told.
they place some random artist, a rocket scientist, and a member of mensa before a novel problem, and the random artist is the first to solve it.
The rocket scientist and the member of Mensa are travelling toward each other on a railroad. The rocket scientist starts from San Francisco at 11 am, the member of Mensa starts from Honolulu at 10pm.
Question: What will the sky look like when they meet?
Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me if books are still printed long after every human brain has been uploaded into the memory banks of Google's massive servers.
Will I still be able to play WoW? And if I do, will it hurt?
It's not that Yahoo occasionally complies with the authorities. It is that they have a pricing scheme for it.
Think that one through. If there were no price list posted for the information, then any fool in a bureaucracy can request it and get it. However, government bureaus being what they are, if you put so much as a $50 price tag on the information, you may be requiring said bureaucrat to jump through many hoops and have their actions questioned and tracked. This tiny fee will likely annoy them and stop a very large proportion of inquiries.
A friend of mine (a army colonel in Logistics) said that in government, it's often easier to spend a billion dollars than it is to spend fifty.
I salute Yahoo's putting at least a speed-bump in the way. It's something.
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder what the people pushing this terminology are smoking to prodcue their own private cloud.
Either that or it's well intentioned subversion to get those tricked by the "cloud" salesfolk back on track.
The cloud salesfolk are afraid of not having a product that can support the Google Chrome OS. Yes, it's all marketing and positioning. In the end, however, we'll end up with nice modular and scalable four-cabinet virtualisation platforms we can buy and install thence to load our own virtual servers network on. I don't care if they market it as a "cloud" or a "puff pastry" platform. We win.
I attended the "Red Hat Virtual Experience" today; their offering seems to have a leg up on the ESX solution. Load balancing is only one of the features. Patch management can be accomplished through Red Hat's web interface, where you build templates and install companywide as desired. I'm getting ready to demo it on our blades to see how it compares. Have you taken a look at it?
Links please?
It can cut both ways, though ... Sometimes, an in-house solution is EXACTLY what a company needs.
Agree, absolutely. Can you imagine how Google would have faired if they tried to run their search off MySQL or SQL Server instead of Bigtables? We'd still be typing in guessed URL's.
I would characterise the origin of the problem you describe as having two foci: (a) Architect not up to the job, and (b) Architecture chosen on the golf course.
I would no sooner use a business leader to choose a large system architecture than I would select me to design a chart of accounts. Dentists shouldn't do their own plumbing, and plumbers shouldn't do their own dentistry.
I feel your sorrow.
Is "profane" language really such a concern anymore?
Damn, that's profound.
Actually, what's happened is that language considered "profane" has changed it's shape. Example:
HAY n00b KIN U GIVE ME 5 G FOR A SOWARD?
I know that sort of language offends me. Maybe it's simply that the parents want to keep the kids out of their games.
Or: "Your account has been compromised and is now locked. Log in to blizzard.wow-accounts.cardscraper.com to unlock it".
Yep, profane language still exists.
To me 99% of this stuff seems to be for places that want to hire total dolts and pay somebody else to make it easy for the dolts.
That's not entirely fair. Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is buy something that already works, not something you have to script to get to work. Boxes you can plug into place. The place for the scripting you're describing is in development. You write a script that works, is flexible and efficient - and then get someone in marketing to put a wrapper around it to convince the buyers it's industry practice. That's what they're doing, anyway.
As good as your solution may be (and I've worn those shoes before myself) you'll be outpointed by the buyers who want it all in a bag taped to the cabinet.
After it's all in place then scripting expertise is needed to keep things working when things need to be changed. Trust me, you don't want a dolt for a sysadmin. I'd rather hire a BOFH than do that (just remember to keep your own spare key).
I think in the future it may be easier to find people who know Linux than people who know IBM proprietary mainframe operating systems. The code base will end up larger. IBM's mainframe hardware is definitely more a high-spec, high-reliability set of choices than the server base you'll typically see in your smaller DC's. But if they want their high-end hardware presence to continue to grow, they'll need people to drive them. And of course, people in universities are absolutely flocking to zOS classes aren't they? Umm... right, they're not. Linux makes sense.
If your using linux, why bother with vmware at all?
It's not the environment itself, it's the support stuff. How to manage load balancing a few dozen or even a few hundred servers, what to do with the virtual images you end up with (lots of them. Dedup helps a lot). Server on-boarding VM utilities. Patch management. And do be careful with those DHCP servers, you don't want duplicate address tables.
It's not just running an OS on top of an OS any more. You gotta manage these virtual servers, and that's where people are willing to pay the extra money.
This is all okay with me, as long as they don't use JCL. Ayyy I hated that shit when learning assembler on the 360, but then again they never thought JCL and didn't have any books on it, which is probably why I hated it.
IEBGENR! CORGZ! (runs after IsIIII shouting DASD Acronyms). RACF!!
Ok, ok, it's your lawn.
Now maybe all the companies out there who are thinking of wasting money on cloud computing can just buy one of these, and basically have their own in-house cloud.
Private cloud is flavour of the month it seems. A recent (as in "last month") release from joint venture ACADIA (a Cisco+EMC+VMWare+Intel lash-up) shows that packaged private "Cloud" back end server offerings are at least seen as a way people will go.
I think it's smart packaging myself, four-cab VM building block, just add servers and away you go. And since you're just providing a VM environment, you're not limited in your underlying OS choices. Linux is a good way to go there.
~Although the ACADIA system is clearly superior to the IBM offering because (see above link) it can "accelerate customers' ability to increase business agility through greater IT infrastructure flexibility"./~ Gaaaahh!
The software ecosystem is "much more confusing" because
...because you can't see what it does. You're not allowed to scan the comments or see what instructions are being used for what. You can't read the scripts, parse the language, inform yourself as to what the heck they intend to do with your very own, privately-acquired silicon real estate.
Which they treat like an unfenced lawn on a house between the football stadium and the train home. that's why it's more confusing. You aren't allowed to run with the facts.
You may, provided you postulate the deck of the ferry to be a frictionless plane in a perfect vacuum.
I wonder if the cost of digging into the side of the hill and carving out all these facilities is recouped through energy savings very quickly. I guess it all depends on the number of machines they would be running and the cost of electricity in their area- but if it takes 20 years, or even 10 to recoup the cost is it worth it?
It's an old question - opex vs. capex. For long term value, where you see the expense would be accelerating for one factor over time (energy costs) it may make sense to make a large capital expenditure to bring that down. A loan is something a business can eventually pay out to zero. If it's an element that's core to your business, it makes even more sense.
Energy use is a large part of the cost of any data centre. Cost is likely to go up over time.
One of the cool things about digging down for a DC is that you can often tap the thermal differential between the top and the bottom of the installation. If it's even a few degrees difference you could potentially get all your electricity for free.
Am I the only one thinking Planet of the Krell" here? Waiting for the giant spark-emitting elevators next.
Some companies are doing this because they are either planning to do additional offshoring or outsourcing.
Yes. They'll expect the remainder to manage / feed the offshore ones. See if it can be turned into a B/A title, those will always be needed in an offshore/outsource environment. It will go against the grain a bit, because instead of finding elegant solutions you'll be in a position where you'll be multiplying the work needed sometimes. It isn't always efficient to be cheap.
I've made this move, some years back. My advice? See if it's still possible for you to go back to a technical college and learn how to be a plumber or electrician. You'll be driving a better car. IT is mined out.
And of course, 22% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
I'm sure in all those scenarios what I'll be thinking is "OMG, My Data!"
Gives a new meaning to the term "thumb drive".
Depending on your ambitions for booking targets, of course, but there are some very good people out in the industry who are very well known but still aren't rich. You might be able to entice them to speak for a cut of the gate. Go after a luminary and ask them.
Given your interest in the "soft skills" I'd suggest going after someone like Pamela Jones, Richard Stallman, Randall Munroe, Cory Doctorow, Rob Malda, or Simon Travaglia. People who would drive geeks through the door, just for the opportunity to meet them. Give them an hour to talk and let them sell their own merchandise.
I've only ever set up one conference myself, but I've seen they can be just as big an opportunity for the presenters as the audience. Overall, I believe it's a good thing to do.
Gods that's a beautiful spaceship. I will toast their success with fine wine.
This is exactly the sort of thing that got me interested in science as a young boy. Granted that was in the day of Von Braun and Willey Ley and Chesley Bonestell (yes I am that old) but the Universe wrote large in my imagination back then, and I wanted something more than cars that tried to look like airplanes. I wanted the stars. There is nothing as hungry as the imagination of the young.
I was fortunate to work for NASA for a short while in my career, writing software for the Pioneer spacecraft. I've gone on a bit since then, still in the IT industry and laid a lot of networks. But nothing compares with having been lucky enough to work on something that fired my imagination as a boy.
Did I mention that's a beautiful spaceship? If form follows function, then something with that form has to be awfully functional.
There's our Orient Express, people. It's a short step from tourists to passengers.
I salute you, Sir Richard.
I like Mozart on the glass armonica, myself.
Lovely sound, but hasn't that instrument been banned by a large number of orchestras? Something about giving the artists a bad case of the wibblies if they play it much. Nerve-wracking, I'm told.
No. Now go away, silly man. Your mother was a hamster and your father stinks of elderberry.
they place some random artist, a rocket scientist, and a member of mensa before a novel problem, and the random artist is the first to solve it.
The rocket scientist and the member of Mensa are travelling toward each other on a railroad. The rocket scientist starts from San Francisco at 11 am, the member of Mensa starts from Honolulu at 10pm.
Question: What will the sky look like when they meet?
Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me if books are still printed long after every human brain has been uploaded into the memory banks of Google's massive servers.
Will I still be able to play WoW? And if I do, will it hurt?
Not that there's anything wrong with 37 links. But sometimes I just want to want to know the definition of the word.
"Just tell me what time it is - don't tell me how to build a clock!" - Groucho Marx
It's not that Yahoo occasionally complies with the authorities. It is that they have a pricing scheme for it.
Think that one through. If there were no price list posted for the information, then any fool in a bureaucracy can request it and get it. However, government bureaus being what they are, if you put so much as a $50 price tag on the information, you may be requiring said bureaucrat to jump through many hoops and have their actions questioned and tracked. This tiny fee will likely annoy them and stop a very large proportion of inquiries.
A friend of mine (a army colonel in Logistics) said that in government, it's often easier to spend a billion dollars than it is to spend fifty.
I salute Yahoo's putting at least a speed-bump in the way. It's something.
Is there a way to simply block ALL present and future application notices?
Don't use Facebook. Works for me =)