Data center, network monitoring emerging as key component to cloud SLAs
Network monitoring becoming a much more important consideration for organizations maintaining cloud SLAs.
By Donna DonnawitzAugust 30, 2012
Service level agreements can be extremely difficult to manage within cloud environments. The technology enables data center flexibility, system scalability and data portability that makes it unpredictable and difficult to manage. As a result, many experts agree that cloud computing SLAs are challenging to meet. However, a recent TechTarget report said more cloud vendors are turning to data center and network monitoring solutions to provide greater insight into operations and ensure SLA compliance.
Citing a recent company blog post from VMware's Jon Herlocker, TechTarget said companies are increasingly looking to monitoring devices that gather operating data about their data centers to give them a competitive advantage over their peers.
According to the news source this has left many cloud vendors investing in traditional infrastructure monitoring tools to support their SLA management requirements.
Network monitoring is also a key component of supporting cloud SLAs. The network plays a critical role in cloud services because it is integral to data delivery from the vendor to the end user. Furthermore, some SLAs will include provisions for how well an application or service will perform, making network operations a key component to supporting the cloud effectively.
Amy DeCarlo, principal analyst for security and data center services at Current Analysis, told TechTarget that network analysis, and not just data center monitoring, plays a key role in maintaining SLAs.
"It's more than just the data center [which cloud providers] need to monitor - they also need to monitor the network," DeCarlo told the news source.
For cloud vendors or businesses working to manage internal SLAs for private cloud solutions, there are many ways to monitor systems within the facility. However, simply keeping track of infrastructure and operating conditions within the data center are not enough to improve SLA compliance. Instead, companies have to find a way to effectively use that knowledge to improve server management, facility-related operations and other aspects of data center maintenance that can contribute to service availability.
Console server infrastructure provides the capacity to use monitoring data effectively, as it provides an application where all of that data can be collected and used by IT managers to adjust the configuration from a central control panel or remote location. This enables businesses to manage multiple geographically diverse facilities from a single office without having to travel to each facility every time a problem arises.
Perle’s wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.
Citing a recent company blog post from VMware's Jon Herlocker, TechTarget said companies are increasingly looking to monitoring devices that gather operating data about their data centers to give them a competitive advantage over their peers.
According to the news source this has left many cloud vendors investing in traditional infrastructure monitoring tools to support their SLA management requirements.
Network monitoring is also a key component of supporting cloud SLAs. The network plays a critical role in cloud services because it is integral to data delivery from the vendor to the end user. Furthermore, some SLAs will include provisions for how well an application or service will perform, making network operations a key component to supporting the cloud effectively.
Amy DeCarlo, principal analyst for security and data center services at Current Analysis, told TechTarget that network analysis, and not just data center monitoring, plays a key role in maintaining SLAs.
"It's more than just the data center [which cloud providers] need to monitor - they also need to monitor the network," DeCarlo told the news source.
For cloud vendors or businesses working to manage internal SLAs for private cloud solutions, there are many ways to monitor systems within the facility. However, simply keeping track of infrastructure and operating conditions within the data center are not enough to improve SLA compliance. Instead, companies have to find a way to effectively use that knowledge to improve server management, facility-related operations and other aspects of data center maintenance that can contribute to service availability.
Console server infrastructure provides the capacity to use monitoring data effectively, as it provides an application where all of that data can be collected and used by IT managers to adjust the configuration from a central control panel or remote location. This enables businesses to manage multiple geographically diverse facilities from a single office without having to travel to each facility every time a problem arises.
Perle’s wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.
