Introduction

The basic concept of Cloud IT is a serverless office, all servers (domain controllers, file servers, mail servers, etc.) are virtualized in a datacenter with WAN Optimized connections. Why? Less expensive and more reliable.

This is not theoretical. My name is Rick Parker and I started Bedouin Networks in late 2006 to prove this would work. Bedouin's beta client was Gimundo.com and Gimundo ran on the Bedouin platform for about 14 months before being sold. The results were simply stunning, no downtime for any services, none, for the last 7 months. This is the way IT should be and can be. What I will be doing is explaining how this was done and what can be done to improve the concept and design by suggesting and requesting feedback from others.

Some of the Vendors on the right I am sure you have heard of, others probably not, but they were selected primarily through experience but a few out of sheer interest. This is one of those circumstances where the whole is exponentially more important then the parts. The list is a Cloud IT Stack made up of the primary components, Datacenter, WAN Optimization, Virtualization, Monitoring, etc. some components may be swapped out but one of each is required.

The othe key concepts are the Virtual Private Cloud and RAID to the next level, The Redundant Array of Inexpensive Datacenters

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

What if we could virtualize everything?

What if we can get the same benefits of virtualization for all IT systems not just servers? Routers, Firewalls, WAN optimizers, Backup systems? Everything.

We can, by selecting specific venfors and models that support it. What does the V in VPN stand for? How many devices support Virtual Private Networks? A lot. How do network VPNs relate to server virtualization? A lot. I have been working and thinking about this a lot, almost 2 years now.

For example backup hardware can be "virtualized" if it supports SAN storage and backup servers in multiple domains or backup software that can group media / tapes by domain or project and send backup status reports
by project / backup job.

Another example, the Juniper SA 4000 SSL / VPN has an IVS feature, what's the V stand for?
Virtualization.... I bet you dont think of Viruualization when you think of SSL VPN remote acces systems but you do now.

SSL Instant Virtual Systems (IVS)
IVS (available on select platforms) is a framework that enables administrators or service providers to completely segment SSL VPN traffic between multiple groups or customers within a single appliance/cluster. IVS features (available on select platforms) complete application-layer, network-layer and access management virtualization so that end groups can have the experience of their own SSL VPN deployment, while the administrator only has to manage one device or cluster.
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