WHITEPAPER
Understanding the benefits of moving to the cloud
Content Summary
1 Introduction
2 Challenges of Enterprise Implementations 3 AMANDA Application Hosting and
Managed Services
4 The AMANDA Technology Stack 5 Managed Services and Application
Hosting Alternatives – Understanding the Differences
6 Summary 7 About CSDC
8 For More Information.
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to provide a common framework to understand the various possible infrastructure and professional services offerings to serve as a guide for AMANDA clients to differentiate and evaluate the benefits of each offering.
Prime benefits of the outlined service offerings are:
• Facilitate and speedup software maintenance and enhancement by off loading these tasks from client’s IT organization.
• Staff augmentation.
• Increase infrastructure agility.
• Shift capital costs to operational.
Key Concepts
Application Hosting refers to the provisioning of supporting hardware and software required for the execution of a software application. Managed Infrastructure Services is the practice of outsourcing day-to-day IT infrastructure management
responsibilities as a strategic method for improving operations.
CHALLENGES OF ENTERPRISE
IMPLEMENTATIONS
Most large-scale software implementations face the same challenges as they seek to provision new services and capabilities across an enterprise:
• Need for agile infrastructure provisioning - Higher availability (BC/DR) | Unlimited scalability
• Software upgrades, patches, on-going application maintenance & enhancements, new implementations • Reduce Internal IT effort | Relieve staff and regain focus
on core business
• Rising data center costs (labour, storage, energy) • Multi-tenancy, Data location, Data sharing • Compliance, Security Issues
• Application and end-user support
• Fluctuating demands for ITSM & professional services This document outlines several options which could be used to mitigate such challenges and risks in either on-premise or off-premise (hosted) environment.
AMANDA APPLICATION HOSTING AND
MANAGED SERVICES
There are many different ways that Application Hosting and Managed Infrastructure Services may be provided for an enterprise application such as AMANDA.
Understanding and comparing all the possible approaches and options that are available can be confusing, even to industry veterans.
The AMANDA Technology Stack
In order to host an AMANDA application there is additional supporting technology that is required. The full AMANDA technology stack consists of a total of nine (hardware and software) components. These are depicted in the following diagram. Typically, these nine components are grouped into three separate technology stack layers: the application layer, middleware layer and the infrastructure layer.
Application Layer:
• AMANDA Application Software • AMANDA Data
Middleware Layer:
• Application & Web Server Software (Apache Tomcat, IBM WebSphere, etc.)
• Database (Oracle, MS SQL Server, etc.) • Operating System (Linux, MS Windows, etc.)
Infrastructure Layer:
• Virtualization (VMWare ESX, MS Hyper-V, etc.) • Computing Hardware (blades, servers, etc.) • Storage (hard disk, Storage Area Networks, etc.) • Network (network switches, firewalls, load balancing
appliances, web proxy, etc.)
When combined, the middleware and infrastructure layers are also commonly known as an application “platform”.
Application (AMANDA)
Data
Middleware (App., Web Servers)
Database Operating System
Infrastructur
e
Middlewar
e
Application
Virtualization Servers Storage NetworkManaged Services and Application Hosting
Alternatives (Understanding the Differences)
It is common for clients to choose to host these layers within their own data center (on-premise) or at a 3rd party data center (off-premise). It is also common for a client to either manage each of these layers themselves or outsource the management of all or some of the layers to a 3rd party service provider – Managed Services Provider. Such variance of alternatives creates several possible scenarios for on-premise or off-premise hosted applications, either self-managed or managed by a Managed Service Provider. The most common Managed Service packages for an on-premise hosted environment typically include:
• Managed Infrastructure: hardware, virtualization,
storage, network devices
• Managed Platform: Infrastructure and Middleware
operating system, database, application server
• Managed Application: application software (AMANDA)
and data
• Managed Platform and Application: all three layers
Infrastructure, Middleware and Application In case of an off-premise hosting, the list of Managed Services is a little different:
• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): managed
infrastructure – hardware, virtualization, storage, network devices
• Platform as a Service (PaaS): managed Infrastructure
and Middleware – operating system, database, application server
• Software as a Service (SaaS): fully managed offering
Infrastructure, Middleware and Application
The following diagram provides a comprehensive view of various Managed Service and Application Hosting alternatives described above:
Each of the Application Hosting and Managed Services alternatives has different implications on a client’s IT staff as well as the cost model. Progressing from left to right in the following diagram – from Managed by Client [on-premise and self-managed] to Software as a Service (SaaS) [off-premise and Managed Application Service] will result in decreasing staff requirements along with a shift in the cost model from capital expenses towards operational expenses.
It should be noted that based on specific client requirements, other combinations are also possible although not as common.
Application AMANDA
Middleware (App., Web Servers)
Data Servers Storage Network Database Operating System Virtualization Middleware (App., Web Servers)
Application AMANDA Network Storage Servers Virtualization Operating System Database Data Middleware (App., Web Servers)
Application AMANDA Network Storage Servers Virtualization Operating System Database Data Middleware (App., Web Servers)
Application AMANDA Network Storage Servers Virtualization Operating System Database Data Middleware (App., Web Servers)
Application AMANDA Network Storage Servers Virtualization Operating System Database Data Capital Operational Managed by Client Managed Services Managed Services Managed Services Cost Balance Client IT/Support staff requirements Managed Services
Managed Application (PaaS)/Managed PlatformPlatform as a Service Software as a Service (SaaS) Infrastructure as a
The following diagram explores the alternatives form a client’s IT staff requirements perspective:
Summary
The Application Hosting and Managed Services
alternatives described in this document could potentially yield a number of benefits to AMANDA clients in either on-premise or off-premise hosted scenario, specifically: • Fast track software maintenance (software upgrades,
software patches deployment, testing)
• Rapid solution enhancement implementation (integration, testing and deployment)
• Staff augmentation
• Ensure business continuity by hosting the solution at tier-1 data center (off-premise hosting)
• Rapid scalability (off-premise hosting)
• Shift capital costs to operational (off-premise hosting) Also, Managed Services option opens up an opportunity to tap into a number of value added services, such as:
• AMANDA Service Desk Management – A central point of contact for handling customer, user and other operational issues providing integrated 1st, 2nd or 3rd tier support for AMANDA users.
• Software Upgrade and Patch Management – Services to ensure that the latest security, bug and other enhancements are continually applied to both Middleware and Application layers.
• Application Lifecycle Management – Services to manage the lifecycle of AMANDA solution through governance, on-going feature development and maintenance.
• Implementation Services – Provide implementation services for new business solutions and/or new capabilities built and deployed on AMANDA platform. • Strategic Planning & Advisory Services – Professional
services assisting with planning architecture and
implementation of AMANDA enterprise solutions based on best standards and practices.
Managed Platform and application Managed Application Software as a Service (SaaS) Platform as a Service (PaaS) On-Premise
Hosting Off-PremiseHosting
Required Client IT and Support Staff Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) Managed by Client (self-managed) Managed Platform Managed by Client (self-managed)
• Fully Managed Software as a serving offering • Subscription type cost model
• Hosted in a private or public cloud
• Fully Managed platform and application offering • Could be based on a subscription type cost model • Hosted on a dedicated server or in private cloud
• Managed application (AMANDA)
• Hosted on a dedicated server or in private cloud
• Managed platform-network, storage, servers OS, database, middleware
• Hosted on a dedicated server or in private cloud
• Managed infrastructure-network, storage, servers • Hosted on a dedicated server or in private cloud
• Self-managed platform and application (AMANDA) • Hosted on a dedicated server or in private cloud
