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Eduserv and the Cloud

Eduserv and the Cloud. Who we are, what we do, what you can do…. Matt Johnson. Topics. Eduserv’s Community Cloud Short history of Eduserv Journey to the Cloud Building a Cloud platform Build your own Cloud-based eco-system Questions welcome at any time!. Short History of Eduserv.

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Eduserv and the Cloud

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  1. Eduserv and the Cloud Who we are, what we do, what you can do… Matt Johnson

  2. Topics • Eduserv’s Community Cloud • Short history of Eduserv • Journey to the Cloud • Building a Cloud platform • Build your own Cloud-based eco-system • Questions welcome at any time!

  3. Short History of Eduserv

  4. A history of Eduserv in 3 slides… (1/3) • Started in 1988 as CHEST & NISS at University of Bath • Licensing negotiation & gateway services (via Telnet) • First UK academic web portal in 1994 • Single sign-on service launched 1996

  5. A History of Eduserv in 3 slides… (2/3) • Became the independent charity “Eduserv” in 1999 • Core mission to promote the use of ICT in education • Primary hosting provider for Department of Education • Worked with Cabinet Office to implement UKonline

  6. A History of Eduserv in 3 slides… (3/3) • Year on year growth since 2001 • >3.5m registered users of Eduserv-based services • Returned more than £5m in grants to academia • New datacentre for education & the public sector

  7. Eduserv in 2012 • Stable, trusted provider of services to academia • 127 staff (with around 5 further vacancies) • turnover of £17.8m in 2010/11 • Fully UK based, with no shareholder pressures • Developing new products and services • Next generation of Identity & Access Mgmt services • Implementing Cloud services for education &government

  8. Journey to the Cloud

  9. Eduserv’s journey to the Cloud • Research into public cloud services (early 2010) • JISC FleSSR project (2010-2011) • £30k grant, partnership with University of Oxford • UMF Cloud pilot (2011-2012) • £1.3m HEFCE funded project • Eduserv Community Cloud Infrastructure (2012+) • Delivering multiple cloud-based services for our customers

  10. UMF Deliverables • vCloud Compute (https://vcloud.cloud.eduserv.org.uk/) • VMware-based (vSphere 5 + vCloud Director 1.5) • Being used internally for education, government and 3rd sector services • Currently in beta (with 30+ HE/FE organisations) • File Storage (https://storage.cloud.eduserv.org.uk/) • Deliberately distinct from API-driven web storage (such as Amazon S3) • Delivered using standard storage protocols • Initially WebDAV • SFTP, NFS and CIFS potential future protocols • Launched in beta during July

  11. What wasn’t funded by UMF… • Multi-site deployments • Currently services are based only in Swindon (but has been designed to work across multiple sites) • Backups • Pilot service places onus on customers for backups • Commercial network connectivity • Currently restricted to academic users only • For lots of potential customers, these are “show-stoppers”

  12. Next Step – Community Cloud Infrastructure (CCI) • CCI service will build on UMF to deliver • Dual site capability (Swindon and Slough) • DR functionality (automated site failover) • Customer backups • Documentation to support IL0-2 accreditation • Scheduled to launch November 2012 • Already have customers waiting to use the service

  13. Building a Cloud platform

  14. Design Goals • Community Cloud, not Public Cloud • Already lots of public cloud providers • Need to differentiate on something other than scale • Quality • Built using “premium” components • Capable of being redeployed for different architectures • Security • UK ownership and location (US PATRIOT Act concerns) • Auditability of assets and processes

  15. Hardware - Network • Network requirements • 10 Gbps end-to-end capability • No single point of failure • Scalability to >1,000 connected hosts • *Lots* of VLAN partitioning • Network choices • Juniper SRX gateway for firewall / intrusion detection • Cisco Nexus 7k for core switching • Cisco Nexus 5k for distribution switching

  16. Hardware - Compute • Compute requirements • Highly scalable (to >1,000 connected hosts) • Memory density (limiting factor in virtualisation) • Vmware & Microsoft HCL • Compute choices • Cisco Unified Compute System • Blade-based infrastructure with 2 x CPUs, power management • 192 GB per blade capable (using 8 GB DIMM) • Diskless (for ease of management)

  17. Hardware - Storage • Storage requirements • Highly scalable (multi-PB capable) • Support for block and file-level storage • Easy to manage / support • Storage choices • EMC Isilon Storage Cluster • NFS / iSCSI node-based NAS platform • Scalable to 14+ PB in a single namespace • Mix-and-match different performance/capacity nodes • High efficiency (90% usable space with N+2:1 protection)

  18. Cloud Platform • Cloud platform requirements • Compatibility within Eduserv’s core markets (academic, government) • Cost-effective to sell and support • Cloud platform choices • Initial support for Vmware’s vCloud Director • Builds on vSphere, highly used in the public / academic sector • High levels of existing skills at Eduserv • Complementary to public-cloud – offers different types of functionality

  19. Lots of things to think about… • Customer services • DNS, DHCP, SMTP, AD, VPN, NTP, SSH, RDP • Self service support v Managed services • Management services • Monitoring, Alerting, Reporting, Billing • Orchestration, automation, backup, firewall, load-balancing, IDS • Multi-site implementation • Automated v manual failover capabilities • Management plane resilience

  20. Biggest challenges to Cloud • Pricing model • Getting the balance right between covering costs and remaining competitive • Understanding average / peak usage, usage profiles, growth trends, etc • Intrusion Detection / Prevention • How much is the supplier responsible for customer services • Balancing autonomy against a requirement to retain network whitelisting • Requires different mind-set for architects • Encouraging people think “Cloud” design, rather than “Legacy” design • Doesn’t often work with current generation of “enterprise” applications

  21. Build your own Cloud eco-system

  22. In less than 2 hours, you will have • Generic email address with ActiveSync capabilities • Fully manageable DNS with own domain name • Personalised email address using own domain name • Website / Intranet / Wiki / Document Management services • Cloud compute, database, network and monitoring services • Cloud storage and synchronisation between computers • And all for the price of a domain registration (£2.40 per year)

  23. 1. Register a (generic) email address • Lots of free webmail services • Using MS Outlook.com • ActiveSync services • Clean interface • Time taken: 2 mins • summerschool12@outlook.com

  24. 2. Register a domain name • Lots of services • Using 123-reg • UK-based • Cheap (£2.39 for .info) • Time taken • 5 mins (to register) • 5 mins (to configure) • Up to 12 hours (to propagate)

  25. 3. Register for Name-server hosting • Using Point • SaaS DNS hosting • UK-based service • Free (for 5 domains) • Time taken • 5 mins (to register)

  26. 4. Configure NS records • 123-reg control panel • Use Point NS servers • dns1.pointhq.com … • Point control panel • Allocate domain name • Auto-add Google Apps • Time taken • 5 mins (to configure) • 2 hours (to propagate)

  27. 5. Check DNS configuration • From command line • Nslookup • From the web • DNS Stuff, Pingdom • Check • NS records • MX records • Time taken • 1 min

  28. 6. Personalised Email (matt@summerschool12.info) • Fewer choices • Google Apps • MS Office365 • Multi-step registration • Register details • Validate identity, DNS • Configure Google App Services • Time taken • 30 mins

  29. 7. Google Apps • Google Apps • Familiar Gmail interface • ActiveSync integration • Powerful Drive integration • Paid and free options • Up to 10 users for free • Time taken • 30+ mins

  30. 8. Cloud IaaS, PaaS, SaaS • Lots of cloud services • Few offer free service • Amazon Web Services • Original & biggest cloud provider • Free tier (for one year) • Registration is straightforward • Requires credit card • Mobile validation • Time taken • 10 mins to register

  31. 9. Amazon Web Services • Wide range of services • EC2 - compute • S3 - storage • RDS / DynamoDB – database • SNS - notifications • CloudWatch – monitoring • … and lots more • Well documented • Check out the Kindle library

  32. 10. Microsoft WebSiteSpark • MS Web Development • Aimed at SMEs / individuals • Free for 3 years • Range of services • Free licences (Visual Studio, etc) • Free access to Azure PaaS • Hosting support • Time taken • 15 mins to register

  33. 11. Cloud Storage & Synchronisation • Hugely competitive • Free tiers with bonus storage • Inter-machine syncing • Market leaders • DropBox (2 GB) • SugarSync (5 GB) • Google Drive (5 GB) • MS SkyDrive (7 GB) • Time taken • 5 mins to register

  34. Other useful Cloud apps • Pivotal Tracker – Agile PM • Google Analytics – Web Analytics • Wordpress.com – Blogging • Kindle – reading (& docs) • Pingdom – web monitoring • Evernote – online notebook • Pastie.org – online clipboard • TryStack.org – OpenStack sandbox • JotForm.com – online web forms • Moonfruit.com – hosted CMS • Heroku.com – Ruby hosting

  35. Useful Links • MS Outlook: http://www.outlook.com/ • Point DNS: http://www.pointhq.com/ • 123-Reg: http://www.123-reg.co.uk/ • Google Apps: http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html • AWS: http://aws.amazon.com/free • MS WebSiteSpark: http://www.microsoft.com/web/websitespark/support.aspx • Dropbox: http://ww.dropbox.com • SugarSync: http://www.sugarsync.com/ • Google Drive: http://drive.google.com/ • MS SkyDrive: http://skydrive.live.com/

  36. Where to find out more • Education Cloud support site: • http://support.cloud.eduserv.org.uk/ • Website: • http://www.eduserv.org.uk/hosting/cloud-computing/

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