Flexibility central to optimizing networks for private cloud setups
Having flexible underlying infrastructure is essential to making the most of the cloud.
By Donna DonnawitzSeptember 24, 2012
The private cloud has been on my mind a lot recently, if only because cloud computing seems close to taking another step toward maturity and pervasive use. The private cloud's role in this future is really interesting to me because the technology essentially got going as a crutch companies could use to get themselves up and about in the cloud world without too much risk.
This first step into the cloud made sense. When the technology first got going, it was like the Wild West of the IT world, with nobody quite knowing what was going, providers stepping into town, dictating their terms through heavily weighted service level agreements and companies trying to keep their data as close as possible in the chaotic environment.
But this period actually went by pretty quickly once the cloud gained steam because the technology was simply too good for businesses to ignore. Soon, more companies were experimenting in the public cloud while keeping those private clouds they had already built going. This led to a dynamic in which the private cloud is used for incredibly critical and private data and applications, while the public cloud runs for less essential purposes.
With private clouds being used for the most important functions, having the right architectures in place to support them is essential, and you may have noticed that many current data center network systems aren't up to the task.
A recent Network Computing report explained that making network upgrades to support private cloud setups is becoming much more important, as the core network architectures in traditional data centers are not equipped to handle the cloud's needs.
To illustrate this dynamic, the report explained that QoS, which uses special routing techniques to optimize network performance, will struggle somewhat when supporting the private cloud because it requires fairly regular manual input when application requirements change. Because the cloud changes so fast, constant manual updates would be needed within a QoS setup. More flexible, adaptable and automated systems are needed to work with the cloud.
But how do companies go about building such a system? While a number of emerging technologies can help, having the right cabling foundation in place is vital for flexibility. Fiber to Ethernet media converters are critical in this process, as they enable organizations to mix fiber and copper media as necessary, establishing an optimal foundation for flexible networking.
Perle has an extensive range of Managed and Unmanaged Fiber Media Converters to extended copper-based Ethernet equipment over a fiber optic link, multimode to multimode and multimode to single mode fiber up to 160km.
This first step into the cloud made sense. When the technology first got going, it was like the Wild West of the IT world, with nobody quite knowing what was going, providers stepping into town, dictating their terms through heavily weighted service level agreements and companies trying to keep their data as close as possible in the chaotic environment.
But this period actually went by pretty quickly once the cloud gained steam because the technology was simply too good for businesses to ignore. Soon, more companies were experimenting in the public cloud while keeping those private clouds they had already built going. This led to a dynamic in which the private cloud is used for incredibly critical and private data and applications, while the public cloud runs for less essential purposes.
With private clouds being used for the most important functions, having the right architectures in place to support them is essential, and you may have noticed that many current data center network systems aren't up to the task.
A recent Network Computing report explained that making network upgrades to support private cloud setups is becoming much more important, as the core network architectures in traditional data centers are not equipped to handle the cloud's needs.
To illustrate this dynamic, the report explained that QoS, which uses special routing techniques to optimize network performance, will struggle somewhat when supporting the private cloud because it requires fairly regular manual input when application requirements change. Because the cloud changes so fast, constant manual updates would be needed within a QoS setup. More flexible, adaptable and automated systems are needed to work with the cloud.
But how do companies go about building such a system? While a number of emerging technologies can help, having the right cabling foundation in place is vital for flexibility. Fiber to Ethernet media converters are critical in this process, as they enable organizations to mix fiber and copper media as necessary, establishing an optimal foundation for flexible networking.
Perle has an extensive range of Managed and Unmanaged Fiber Media Converters to extended copper-based Ethernet equipment over a fiber optic link, multimode to multimode and multimode to single mode fiber up to 160km.
