GMO Cloud

Why Network Bandwidth Matters in Cloud Hosting

One of the elements that have been closely discussed with the introduction of cloud hosting is multi-tenancy. This is when more than one non-related resource is allocated on the same hardware. A good example of this are VM instances that are running on the same servers sharing CPUs, memory and network adaptors. In the case of SaaS (Software as a Service), multi-tenancy is created when your have more than one client sharing the same application while making sure that the data is properly partitioned.

But when you have a tenant who behaves badly, the other tenants who act in good faith can find themselves starved out when there are controls lacking to limit the consumption habits of their neighbors. Sadly, this can happen all too easily. Often the limits are not enforced when the hosts believe they can easily scale up or down as needs arise. This is, after all, one of the big promises of cloud hosting.

Unfortunately, not all resources are created equal and so they also do not scale equally. Any re-allocations from the pool could result in a negative impact on the other tenants’ ability to scale as well. The area that is often forgotten in this scenario is bandwidth. While CPU time or memory can quite easily be controlled, the bandwidth process can be much harder to control for each tenant. Sometimes this can result in a denial of service to other tenants because they are sharing the same switch or running on the same network adaptor.

It is important for any cloud adaptor to remember that anything in the cloud needs bandwidth. So in addition to taking care of client requests, your client requests generate traffic which consumes bandwidth. In the end it doesn’t really matter if the traffic is created by communication with the storage network, database, or application servers. You could have the hypervisor substrate reallocating and balancing loads, they all take up bandwidth. The bottom line is there are limitations to the network, physical ones that can be as simple as fiber-based connections. It is rare for anyone to measure or understand the aggregate network load created by one tenant within the multi-tenant architecture and in many situations being able to directly access a particular network load may not even be possible.

So beyond how this affects performance, why should we care? Well, if you are designing solutions for the cloud, you need to be sure that you test your production environment’s real operating performance and not just count on the specs given by your host provider. A machine instance with two-cores operating at 2.5Ghz, 2048 megabytes of RAM, 500 gigabytes of disk space and 1 gigabyte network adapter does not equate 1:1 performance. Testing is imperative while the application is running in this environment. Of course, you still cannot assume it will run in real life the way it ran in a test environment. So be sure to also obtain average IOPS for storage, and average bandwidth over a reasonable amount of time, and always look at your response times around key processes. This should give you the minimum needed to assess.

Our newsletters and blogs are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. We invite you to engage in our online community by following us on Twitter @GMOCloud and ‘Liking’ us on Facebook.

Preparing Your Business for the Cloud

As cloud adaptation quickly moves into business, IT Department Heads must learn how to prepare for changes in technology and staff or suffer the consequences. Here are a few pointers to help prepare for that move to the cloud in today’s IT world.

Prepare for the shift
Don’t assume you can just move everything to the cloud. Plan how your department will strategize to make organizational improvements to align your department with the cloud.

Restructure IT and Manage the Cloud
Don’t let management be seduced by the accessibility of the cloud. Be sure that your department is still the go to expert of all things IT, including the cloud.

Extend IT influence
With the cloud removing the IT department as simply maintenance, now is the time to establish the department’s place regarding strategy and business critical initiatives.

Make use of traditional outsourcing skills
This is one area where IT already should have skills, and working with the cloud has many similarities to the role of product and service evaluation, contract negotiations and performance monitoring that were needed before.

Reduce IT risk by adjusting your organizational design

Maintain control of the technology decision making process by making adjustments to your organizational design to align IT with the cloud.

Manage the cloud as part of IT structure
Take an active role in managing the cloud by deciding which services should migrate to the cloud and which should stay in-house. Create a hybrid environment that is the best of two worlds.

Our newsletters and blogs are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. We invite you to engage in our online community by following us on Twitter @GMOCloud and ‘Liking’ us on Facebook.

Moving Small Business to the Cloud

A recent survey of 1,800 small independent businesses revealed that 71% of small business owners had never heard of cloud computing.

The SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey was commissioned by Newtek Business Services as a monthly view into the concerns of independent business owners. It presented four questions covering cloud computing and security. It went on to show that of the 29% of those questioned who had heard of cloud computing, 74% could not describe just what cloud computing is.

The Small Business Authority CEO, Barry Sloane, commented on the results, stating that “Cloud computing will be the next important trend in the U.S. economy for businesses large and small…and (we) discovered that the concept of cloud computing has begun to disseminate into the marketplace.” He named cost control, data security, data protection, accessibility, efficiency and productivity as areas of great proficiency that small business needs to take advantage of in order to profit from this new business model.

In addition to the two questions regarding cloud computing, 78% thought their data was secure and yet 71% said their data was not backed up offsite. So when a disaster strikes, as the proliferation of extreme weather and computer hackers point to as a more likely scenario in the last few years, how are small businesses to recover?

Cloud Business Review points to the need for small business owners to learn more about the various cloud hosting opportunities as more and more companies offer a broad range of services. The business site commented on the results of this survey by pointing out that many small businesses need to do their due diligence when investigating cloud computing options and should be prepared to hire a cloud-savvy tech consultant. Reading up on reviews for cloud solutions you are interested in and discussing them with your IT team were among the suggestions made to small business owners who are looking to grow by moving onto the cloud. The most important point is to be informed.

Our newsletters and blogs are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. We invite you to engage in our online community by following us on Twitter @GMOCloud and ‘Liking’ us on Facebook.

Cloud Hosting Applications – Is Cloud Hosting the Right Fit for Web Developers or Designers?

With the rapid growth of Cloud Computing, particularly Cloud Hosting, many web designers and developers are finding a need to rethink their processes. The potential for it is huge, but so is the potential for misguided solutions. Let’s look at how Cloud Hosting, a subject we are very familiar with, is affecting how web designers and developers work.

For many developers, the lure of the cloud for web hosting is the potential for freeing them from the time and expense of managing physical hardware, leaving them more time for their real passion, the actual development of sites. The ability to scale up while in the development phase, especially when memory for resource heavy applications are needed, and then scaling down just as quickly at the end of the project is a wonderful tool for any developer.

For many web designers, cloud hosting’s ability to deal with traffic spikes, especially in this age of special promotions on social network sites such as Facebook or Twitter, make it an ideal environment. Traffic spikes that result in crashed sites make any designer’s life a nightmare. Many ecommerce sites are considering the move to cloud hosting as such promotions become more prevalent.

When you couple this flexibility with the cost control for a designer or developer when it hosts for their client sites, a certain inevitable conclusion begins to appear. A developer or designer that hosts the sites for its clients as well can enjoy the added benefits of a more easily controlled IT budget by not being tied to the cost of physical servers added to control traffic spikes. For many web developers and designers, the concept of public cloud hosting couldn’t have come at a better time.

Our newsletters and blogs are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. We invite you to engage in our online community by following us on Twitter @GMOCloud and ‘Liking’ us on Facebook.

GMO Cloud K.K. raises the bar in Cloud Hosting with GMO Cloud America

GMO Cloud K.K. brings its experience as the number one hosting company in Japan to the US with the announcement of GMO Cloud America, its cloud hosting entry in the American market.

Cloud Hosting can offer a more cost-effective solution to hosting needs than traditional VPS or dedicated servers. Customers can design their own servers based on CPU, RAM, Hard Drive and Port Speed resource selection according to their individual or business needs.

The company’s three pre-defined packages, GMO10, GMO20 and GMO30, are being offered at a significantly low introductory price for the first six months following launch. Its basic plan, GMO10, is offered at absolutely no charge during this period.

Of course, with new technology comes a learning curve for everyone. That is why we have created the Think Cloud blog, to share the journey with you our fellow cloud innovators. Join us here daily as we bring you the latest and greatest in Cloud Computing and Cloud Hosting technology from around the world.

Our newsletters and blogs are written to provide you with tools and information to meet your IT and cloud solution needs. We invite you to engage in our online community by following us on Twitter @GMOCloud and ‘Liking’ us on Facebook.