I would like to start this post by thanking VMware for inviting me to the vExpert Chat on Private Cloud as part of the Online VMware Forum 2013.
The VMware Online Forums are a great way to discuss and share knowledge and ideas about the virtualization related topics. Thanks to all who attended the session. We had around 19 attendees join the session and the chat transcript is as below :
| [ 10/22/13 10:33 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Good Morning/Afternoon – Depending on which time zone you are in |
| [ 10/22/13 10:34 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Thanks for attending the Online VMware forum sessions |
| [ 10/22/13 10:34 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Hi Bonnie |
| [ 10/22/13 10:34 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Great to have you join this talk |
| [ 10/22/13 10:34 AM] | Anil Sedha: | I would be happy to take any questions |
| [ 10/22/13 10:35 AM] | Anil Sedha: | on private cloud, cost comparisons between private and public ccloud |
| [ 10/22/13 10:35 AM] | Anil Sedha: | evaluation criteria and so on |
| [ 10/22/13 10:35 AM] | Douglas.Brown: | what is a process for moving from being a “data center” to being a private cloud? |
| [ 10/22/13 10:35 AM] | Anil Sedha: | a clearly defined strategy and a roadmap should be the beginning point |
| [ 10/22/13 10:36 AM] | Anil Sedha: | When organizations decide to move to a cloud it is relevant for them to understand that this is a big change |
| [ 10/22/13 10:36 AM] | Douglas.Brown: | or in other words, how do you see them as being fundamentally different |
| [ 10/22/13 10:36 AM] | Anil Sedha: | and you need to involve the stake holders and operational team |
| [ 10/22/13 10:36 AM] | Anil Sedha: | a datacenter is more of a set of physical and logical constructs |
| [ 10/22/13 10:36 AM] | Anil Sedha: | that work within a set limitation |
| [ 10/22/13 10:36 AM] | Anil Sedha: | and that limitation is your physical premise, application silos and so on |
| [ 10/22/13 10:37 AM] | Anil Sedha: | A cloud on the other hand is dynamic, resource driven pool, policies and blueprints |
| [ 10/22/13 10:37 AM] | Anil Sedha: | It also offers orchestration and automation that is not truly achieved with a ‘datacenter’ perspective |
| [ 10/22/13 10:38 AM] | Douglas.Brown: | that is a good thought, can ou expand on it? |
| [ 10/22/13 10:38 AM] | Anil Sedha: | for e.g. components of a vSphere suite are individual technologies that are optionally installed and configured |
| [ 10/22/13 10:38 AM] | Anil Sedha: | depending on use case… whereas – in a vCloud suite you have to integrate most of the components |
| [ 10/22/13 10:39 AM] | Anil Sedha: | to truly function as a end to end model – starting with user portal, approval processes, automated deployment, and decommisioning |
| [ 10/22/13 10:39 AM] | Anil Sedha: | I have experience with vCloud Director, vCenter Orchestrator, and vCenter Automation Center |
| [ 10/22/13 10:39 AM] | Anil Sedha: | so I would recommend those based on their capabilities and deep integration with VMware products |
| [ 10/22/13 10:40 AM] | Douglas.Brown: | Thanks, Anil! I will be quiet now  |
| [ 10/22/13 10:40 AM] | Anil Sedha: | there are a lot of resources available to learn about orchestration |
| [ 10/22/13 10:40 AM] | Anil Sedha: | it’s great to have a conversation Doug.. feel free to ask anything else you have in mind |
| [ 10/22/13 10:41 AM] | Anil Sedha: | vCAC is offered with the vCloud suite Ent |
| [ 10/22/13 10:41 AM] | Anil Sedha: | or Standalone |
| [ 10/22/13 10:41 AM] | Anil Sedha: | http://www.vmware.com/products/vcloud-suite/compare’ |
| [ 10/22/13 10:42 AM] | Anil Sedha: | http://www.vmware.com/products/vcloud-suite/compare (sorry.. typo in earlier link) |
| [ 10/22/13 10:43 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Any other questions or issues that you encounter |
| [ 10/22/13 10:43 AM] | Anil Sedha: | in your organizations |
| [ 10/22/13 10:43 AM] | Anil Sedha: | let me engage you with some conversation then and get some feedback |
| [ 10/22/13 10:43 AM] | Anil Sedha: | how many of you currently use the vCloud suite ? |
| [ 10/22/13 10:45 AM] | Anil Sedha: | do you have a private cloud or are you evaluating a public cloud ? |
| [ 10/22/13 10:46 AM] | Anil Sedha: | have any of you tested the vCloud suite 5.5 product |
| [ 10/22/13 10:46 AM] | Rick.Jensen: | private only. |
| [ 10/22/13 10:46 AM] | Anil Sedha: | k |
| [ 10/22/13 10:46 AM] | Anil Sedha: | and do you deploy storage profiles currently in that cloud ? |
| [ 10/22/13 10:46 AM] | Rick.Jensen: | no |
| [ 10/22/13 10:47 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Bonnie – that’s the case with most organizations today. And there are limited reasons in moving to public cloud. Actually a hybrid cloud is becoming the preferred choice |
| [ 10/22/13 10:48 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Rick – It would be great to start working on a storage profile mechanism |
| [ 10/22/13 10:48 AM] | Anil Sedha: | because personally I encountered continuous challenges with providing clarity on what kind of performance can be guaranteed |
| [ 10/22/13 10:48 AM] | Anil Sedha: | so having the tiers clearly defined helps with new projects and mission critical applications |
| [ 10/22/13 10:49 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Another question – has anyone tried the vCloud Automation Center product ? |
| [ 10/22/13 10:49 AM] | Anil Sedha: | reason I ask is that many organizations had deployed vCloud director only |
| [ 10/22/13 10:49 AM] | Anil Sedha: | and that is not compatible with SRM. however, vCAC works with SRM and addresses a lot of use cases |
| [ 10/22/13 10:50 AM] | Rick.Jensen: | we use storage clusters for the different tiers, but do not use profiles |
| [ 10/22/13 10:50 AM] | Anil Sedha: | great. so you do have tiers identified. that’s good |
| [ 10/22/13 10:50 AM] | Anil Sedha: | once you move to a true private cloud setup you will increasingly find a need to enable either profiles or provide datastore clarity |
| [ 10/22/13 10:51 AM] | Anil Sedha: | for automation purposes |
| [ 10/22/13 10:51 AM] | Anil Sedha: | because end users or application owners always want to go for the topmost tier |
| [ 10/22/13 10:51 AM] | Anil Sedha: | and there is a cost associated with it.. so when the user request process (orchestration) is setup it is valuable to define a cost |
| [ 10/22/13 10:52 AM] | Anil Sedha: | even though it may be showback and not truly chargeback |
| [ 10/22/13 10:53 AM] | Anil Sedha: | vCAC is a blueprint driven self service functionality that offers a flexible automation platform |
| [ 10/22/13 10:53 AM] | Anil Sedha: | however vCO offers workflows |
| [ 10/22/13 10:54 AM] | Anil Sedha: | to create a process around your automation |
| [ 10/22/13 10:54 AM] | Andrew.Nelson: | thank you |
| [ 10/22/13 10:54 AM] | Anil Sedha: | you are quite welcome Andrew. |
| [ 10/22/13 10:55 AM] | Anil Sedha: | have any of you received a push internally from application groups for a Cloud deployment ? |
| [ 10/22/13 10:55 AM] | Anil Sedha: | with fully automated functionality. |
| [ 10/22/13 10:55 AM] | Jeff.Parker: | yes, with user “self service” interface |
| [ 10/22/13 10:55 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Note that it is only a matter of time until an executive comes along and says that IT is a hinderance and does not innovate quickly |
| [ 10/22/13 10:56 AM] | Anil Sedha: | so it is very important to get started if you haven’t already with a cloud setup. especially as cost pressures ramp up |
| [ 10/22/13 10:56 AM] | Anil Sedha: | Jeff – what kind of self service functionality was sought ? |
| [ 10/22/13 10:57 AM] | Jeff.Parker: | mainly guest server provisioning |
| [ 10/22/13 10:58 AM] | Jeff.Parker: | we are trying to use Orchestrator now |
| [ 10/22/13 10:58 AM] | Anil Sedha: | great… look at vCAC as well to integrate with vCO because you may want to use the self service portal |
| [ 10/22/13 10:58 AM] | Anil Sedha: | and tie the approval with your helpdesk/service desk right into the request |
| [ 10/22/13 10:58 AM] | Anil Sedha: | a common issue I encounter is the scape up versus scale out of provisioned VMs |
| [ 10/22/13 10:59 AM] | Jeff.Parker: | thanks, we are looking at that now too |
| [ 10/22/13 10:59 AM] | Anil Sedha: | and I recommend that you offer scale out as an option because its easier to manage and accepted very well by Operating systems |
| [ 10/22/13 10:59 AM] | Anil Sedha: | some operating systems don’t support dynamic change of resources – like shrinking a hard drive |
| [ 10/22/13 10:59 AM] | Jeff.Parker: | good info, thanks |
| [ 10/22/13 11:00 AM] | Anil Sedha: | thanks for your input Jeff |
| [ 10/22/13 11:00 AM] | Anil Sedha: | We are at the end of our session time. A big thank you to all. if you have any further questions please reach me via twitter – @anilsedha |
| [ 10/22/13 11:00 AM] | Anil Sedha: | or through my blog www.virtualascetic.com |