EDUCAUSE Live!
Infrastructure as a Service
Kyle Johnson, Associate Provost
SUNY Institute of Technology
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Outline
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Quick background of me and my institution
Overview of cloud computing generally
Conceptual framework for infrastructure as a service
Considerations when looking at IaaS
Examples of IaaS
Outcomes
• Understanding of IaaS concepts
• Ability to apply considerations to your institution
• Willingness to consider IaaS for future needs
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BA in Anthropology and M.Ed. in Higher
Education Administration
Been in this position for about six months
Oversee all the traditional IT areas plus
instructional design, online learning, the
library, and our tutoring center
Previously CTO at a Guilford College in
Greensboro, NC
Before that Director of Student Affairs IT at
Duke University
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Part of the State University of New York
system and located in Utica, NY
2800 students by headcount (2050 FTE)
Started in 1968 as an upper division
comprehensive institution
First campus buildings constructed in 1986
Became a technology focused college in early
1990’s
In early 2000’s began accepting 1st year and
sophomore students
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“…the term cloud computing refers to the
delivery of scalable IT resources over the
Internet, as opposed to hosting and
operating those resources locally, such as on
a college or university network. Those
resources can include applications and
services, as well as the infrastructure on
which they operate.”
EDUCAUSE, 7 Things You Should Know about Cloud Computing
<http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EST0902.pdf>
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“Infrastructure as a Service is a provision
model in which an organization outsources
the equipment used to support operations,
including storage, hardware, servers and
networking components. The service
provider owns the equipment and is
responsible for housing, running and
maintaining it.”
<http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid201_gci1358983,00.html>
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Traditional outsourcing of support
Sourcing of major design and ongoing
operations
Purchasing service level
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Prerequisites
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Financial
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Well designed and implemented identity
management plan
Robust, redundant network
The cloud model tends to shift expenses from
capital to operational
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Important to understand where infrastructure will
reside
Contracts have to be constructed to ensure
institution meets federal, state, and local obligations
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Staffing
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New focus on contract and vendor relationships
More interaction with institutional community in
needs gathering and analysis
Focus on integration of services
Culture
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Shift away from the “not invented here” mentality
IT operation loses some control to gain ability to
meet community needs
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Challenges of research computing
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Potential benefits of cloud based
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Can provision service as needed and pay for what
you use
Allows flexibility for different researchers
Doesn’t require onsite expertise to maintain
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Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
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Uneven demand for services
Expensive to setup and maintain
Hard to justify for smaller teaching institutions
Example
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Challenges of server management
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Myriad of operating system choices requires lots of
specialized in house expertise
Space, HVAC, and power needs can be substantial,
even for a small school
Providing failover at remote location can be
expensive
Potential benefits of cloud based
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Can select OS based on need rather than availability
of in-house knowledge
Most providers include disparate remote locations
No need for massive new data center infrastructure
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Phasing in
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Might start with remote support contract for OS
Move into heavier virtualization and have a partner
design, build and manage the infrastructure
Migrate VM infrastructure to offsite location
Examples
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Amazon EC2 (with Virtual Private Cloud)
Rackspace and GoGrid
Regional higher education hosted private clouds
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Challenges of storage management
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Always increasing customer demand for storage
Hard to differentiate between enterprise and
individual storage needs
Storage Area Network (SAN) infrastructure can
require significant capital outlay with short refresh
cycles
Potential benefits of cloud based
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Can more easily add capacity
Provide custom solutions for enterprise and
individual needs
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Phasing in
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Might start with remote support contract for SAN
Mirror SAN infrastructure to offsite location
As server infrastructure moves to cloud, so does
enterprise storage; provide cloud based solutions
for individual storage
Examples
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Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network (SDN)
DropBox and Box.net
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)
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Challenges of backup management
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Potential benefits of cloud based
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Volume of data storage makes tape or disk
management complicated
Compliance with eDiscovery and retention laws
Not all institutional data on central servers
Data and compliance management simplified
Can offer desktop/laptop backup options
Examples
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Iron Mountain (enterprise)
Mozy and Carbonite (desktop/laptop)
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Challenges of desktop management
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Potential benefits of virtual cloud based
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OS and application patching
Availability of applications to remote customers
Ever decreasing refresh cycle for desktops
Able to provide desktop environment anywhere
Easier to manage virtual images
Examples
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Panologic and NComputing (thin clients)
ICC Global and Secure-24 (virtual desktop service)
North Carolina State Virtual Computer Lab
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Challenges of telephony management
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Potential benefits of cloud based
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Dial tone seen as necessary evil but not investment
area
Many institutions running on unsupported analog
PBX systems
No complicated PBX or VoIP systems to manage
Only thing to manage on premise is handsets
Examples
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PAETEC Hosted IP Telephony solution
Apogeenet for residential telephony
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Challenges of network management
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At some point, networks don’t “scale down” to
smaller schools
Increase of services on network demand more and
more specialized expertise
Potential benefits of cloud based
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Gain access to broader network expertise
Ability to monitor and manage network 7x24
Better scaling both down and up
Stabilization of cost (albeit operating instead of
capital)
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Phasing In
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Contract resources for specific network activities
Partner with firm to design, build, and manage
network (but still own hardware)
Purchase network service level from provider and
don’t own network hardware at all
Examples
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Apoge.net for residential networks
nfrastructure (new partner for SUNYIT)
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Make the data center you have the last one
you will ever need
Everything doesn't need to be sourced at
once, but start somewhere
When opportunities arise TAKE THEM
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Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC): http://aws.amazon.com/vpc/
Rackspace: http://www.rackspacecloud.com/
GoGrid: http://www.gogrid.com/
Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network (SDN): http://www.nirvanix.com/solutions/tier-n.aspx
DropBox: http://www.dropbox.com/
Box.net: http://box.net/
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3): http://aws.amazon.com/s3/
Iron Mountain: http://www.ironmountain.com/online-backup/cloud-based-data-protection.html
Mozy: http://www.mozy.com
Carbonite: http://www.carbonite.com
Panologic: http://www.panologic.com
NComputing: http://www.ncomputing.com
ICC Global Hosting: http://www.iccglobalhosting.com/
Secure-24: http://www.secure-24.com/virtual-desktop-infrastructure.html
PAETEC Hosted IP Telephony Solution: http://paetec.com/products-services/voice/hosted-ip-telephony/overview.html
Apogeenet (digital phone service for students): http://www.apogeenet.net/our-services/digital-phone/
Apogeenet (managed residential network services): http://www.apogeenet.net/our-services/student-networks/
Nfrastructure: http://www.nfrastructure.com/solutions/network/
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