Uni | On-Board
An Introduction to Uni Systems Cloud
On-boarding services portfolio
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Contents
Introduction ... 3
The On-Boarding problem Defined ... 3
Defining an application workload ... 3
Secure Enterprise to Cloud communication ... 4
Easy migration of application workloads ... 4
Centralized Workload Management ... 4
CONSIDERATIONS FOR APPLICATION ON-BOARDING ... 4
1. Define an application workload. ...4
2. Establish a transparent bridge and access between the cloud and premise datacenter. ...4
3. Migrate application workloads to the cloud. ...5
4. Support virtualization heterogeneity. ...6
5. Enable seamless access to resources remaining in the enterprise data center. ...6
Uni Systems Cloud solution for ON-BOARDING ... 6
Open Cloud Framework ... 7
Cloud Migration Services and Heterogeneous Formats ... 7
Cloud Access Services ... 8
Cloud Bridging Services ... 8
Edge Networking Services ... 8
Platform Virtualization ... 9
SUMMARY ... 9
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Introduction
Moving applications to the cloud can be complex, and depending upon the application the target cloud environment, may require re-architecting the application and network stack. Many factors must be considered when moving an application to the cloud: application components, network stack, management, security and orchestration. The Citrix On-boarding Solution helps solve all these issues by leveraging technologies around a robust virtual platform, virtual machine migration, open virtualization format (OVF) and key cloud technologies and leading cloud providers. In short, the desire to move application workloads to the cloud should be seamless and with minimal manual effort making cloud computing a reality giving system administrators a solution to move to the cloud with ease.
The On-Boarding problem Defined
Before an application can be successfully on-boarded into a cloud data center, several things must be taken into account. The application itself likely consists of far more components than will initially appear, and some of these components, especially those like directory services that are shared by other applications, likely cannot be moved to the cloud. Therefore, secure connectivity between the enterprise and cloud data center must be established, as well as mechanisms for applications running in the cloud to continue to leverage application components that still reside within the enterprise premise. Conversion – be it physical-to-virtual (P2V) or virtual-to-virtual (V2V) – between how the applications runs in the enterprise vs. how it will run within the cloud also must be considered. And with the application essentially running across data centers, centralized management must be enabled.
Defining an application workload
An application workload can defined as a logical container that houses all of the necessary components needed for the application to run. Using a web site as an example, an application workload initially appears to consist of two components machines; a web server and a database. However, there is more to the application workload than just the core application stack. Things like the network, storage and security will play a big role into how easy it is to migrate an application to a target cloud. The core problem is how to move application workloads to a target cloud without having to re-architect the whole application stack. Complexities include but are not limited to:
• Application Components • Network
• Management • Security
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Secure Enterprise to Cloud communication
Communication between the premise datacenter and the cloud rely on:
1. Need to have a secure and optimized communication layer between the premise datacenter and the cloud.
2. Need to have transparent network configurations across the premise datacenter and cloud to ease application workload migration.
3. Need to secure and enable seamless access to components like LDAP directories, web, data and storage that do not migrate to the cloud.
Easy migration of application workloads
Migrating an application workload to a target cloud can present challenges. Virtual to virtual will be the likely use-case, but physical to virtual may also arise in other use-cases. Thus begs the question; what if the application workload is based on a different virtualization platform then the target cloud migrating to? Can the application workload moved to a target cloud that is hosted on another virtualization platform that is different from the premise datacenter?
Centralized Workload Management
Finally, to tie the solution together, management will be required and some type of graphical user interface whether a web portal, a console application or both. In the end, a holistic view of the application workloads whether in the premise datacenter or the target cloud is desired.
CONSIDERATIONS FOR APPLICATION ON-BOARDING
A comprehensive on-boarding solution will address these issues as application workloads are migrated to public and private clouds, enabling the enterprise to:
1. Define an application workload.
When migrating applications to the cloud, moving one virtual machine to the cloud may not suffice and sometimes more than one virtual machine will need to migrate to the cloud thus defining the whole application. As an example, an application could consist of a virtual machine containing the core application stack and a virtual machine containing a web stack the application may leverage. An application workload can be defined as of one or more virtual machines needed to define a whole application stack and are migrated to the cloud as one entity.
2. Establish a transparent bridge and access between the cloud and premise
datacenter.
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cloud computing. Considerations like: network transparency, accessibility to key components back in the datacenter, content management, application firewalling, WAN optimization and secured communication between the cloud and the premise datacenter.
By creating a “bridge” between the premise datacenter and the cloud, the network will become transparent and applications will function with no re-architecting needed. Streamlining the connection to things like LDAP, data and storage with WAN and delivery optimization in the mix will enable seamless migration of application workloads to the cloud.
3. Migrate application workloads to the cloud.
Migrating an application workload to a target cloud can present challenges. Virtual to virtual will be the likely use-case, but physical to virtual may also arise in other use-cases.
Supporting the Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF) will allow virtual machines to be packaged into applications workloads.
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A comprehensive on-boarding solution will address these issues as application workloads are
migrated to public and private clouds, enabling the enterprise to:
1. Define an application workload.
When migrating applications to the cloud, moving one virtual machine to the cloud may not suffice
and sometimes more than one virtual machine will need to migrate to the cloud thus defining the
whole application. As an example, an application could consist of a virtual machine containing the
core application stack and a virtual machine containing a web stack the application may leverage.
An application workload can be defined as of one or more virtual machines needed to define a
whole application stack and are migrated to the cloud as one entity.
2. Establish a transparent bridge and access between the cloud and premise datacenter.
Migrating application workloads to the cloud is only a minor part of the equation when considering
cloud computing. Considerations like: network transparency, accessibility to key components back
in the datacenter, content management, application firewalling, WAN optimization and secured
communication between the cloud and the premise datacenter. By creating a “bridge” between the
premise datacenter and the cloud, the network will become transparent and applications will
function with no
re-architecting needed.
Streamlining the
connection to things
like LDAP, data and
storage with WAN
and delivery
optimization in the
mix will enable
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4. Support virtualization heterogeneity.
The on-boarding of application workloads from a premise datacenter that may be running on a different virtualization platform than the key Uni Systems Cloud Datacenter is possible with the Citrix Cloud On-boarding Solution. Examples include virtual to virtual application workload migrations conversions from .xva, .vmdk, .vhd, and .ovf to a private or public cloud.
5. Enable seamless access to resources remaining in the enterprise data center.
With a secured bridge in place and access back the premise datacenter, application workloads will seamlessly migrate to the cloud with minimal changes needed to the application stack, the network stack and the operating system stack. Key features such as a management portal for provisioning, billing and metering information, monitoring capabilities and basic lifecycle management will allow for tight integration of the premise datacenter and cloud.
Uni Systems Cloud solution for ON-BOARDING
Based upon the Citrix Cloud Solution for On-boarding reference architecture, Unisystem use a combination of their own internally developed technology and processes coupled with infrastructure from Citrix and partners to meet these requirements.
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3. Migrate application workloads to the cloud.
Migrating an application workload to a target cloud can present challenges. Virtual to virtual will be
the likely use-case, but physical to virtual may also arise in other use-cases. Citrix
â
XenConvert
â
will seamlessly
on-board application
workloads to any of
the key Citrix Cloud
Partners. Supporting
the Open Virtual
Machine Format
(OVF) will allow
virtual machines to be
packaged into
applications
workloads.
4. Support virtualization heterogeneity.
The on-boarding of application workloads from a premise datacenter that may be running on a
different virtualization platform than the key Citrix Cloud Partners is possible with the Citrix Cloud
On-boarding Solution. Examples include virtual to virtual application workload migrations
conversions from .xva, .vmdk, .vhd, and .ovf to a private or public cloud.
5. Enable seamless access to resources remaining in the enterprise data center.
With a secured bridge in place and access back the premise datacenter, application workloads will
seamlessly migrate to the cloud with minimal changes needed to the application stack, the network
stack and the
operating system
stack. Key features
such as a management
portal for
provisioning, billing
and metering
information,
monitoring
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Open Cloud Framework
Cloud framework services provide the foundational logic for rapidly provisioning, managing and controlling workloads deployed into multi-tenant, shared infrastructure clouds. The cloud framework ensures policy enforcement and security, and provides for integration with existing services such as billing, metering and self-service portals. Interoperability with other popular Cloud interfaces, and extensibility of the framework itself, provide the flexibility to leverage existing investments when migrating between clouds.
Cloud Migration Services and Heterogeneous Formats
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.vhd, and .ovf to a private or public cloud.
Cloud Access Services
Citrix CloudAccess ™ is a pragmatic solution to the cross-domain authentication problem that leverages existing enterprise infrastructure and works to extend the policy framework that has already been put in place. Features include: Unified Password Management for SaaS, SSO to Cloud/SaaS applications, Password Workflow Automation, support for all major SaaS providers, and integrates into the with full transparency. Benefits include: Improve security across all applications, no end user training required standardizes password policy across both internal and external applications, automatically removes access to applications for users removed from the enterprise authentication framework, and simplifies password reset for end users.
Cloud Bridging Services
All but the simplest cloud use cases will require a secure, persistent connection between enterprise and cloud data centers. While this “bridge” does incorporate VPN services for security, the bridge is much more than a VPN tunnel. Strategically, the key role of the bridge is to provide an overlay network across physical and virtual topologies, making the cloud a seamless extension of the enterprise network. With the cloud a transparent extension of the enterprise network, migrating application workloads becomes far easier since the applications network-specific configurations won’t need to be overhauled.
Uni Systems Cloud offering provides on monthly subscription model Cloud bridge services
Edge Networking Services
Edge networking services are critical to ensuring the reliability, security and performance of any cloud-based offering. Properly deployed, these services are largely transparent to the cloud consumers, yet are fundamental to ensuring the cloud remains available in the face of natural and man-made disasters, hacker attacks, planned and unplanned network and server outages and unanticipated surges in traffic.
Uni Systems cloud offering is based on the true multitenant environment that Citrix NetScaler®
technology provides, as an integrated Web application delivery controller that provides advanced traffic management through Layer 4-7 load balancing and content switching. Global server load balancing provides critical business continuity and disaster recovery support during site-level disruptions and outages. NetScaler also includes application security via a web application firewall and SSL VPN.
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Platform Virtualization
Server, storage and network virtualization are linchpins of the flexibility, affordability and scalability of any cloud-based offering. By simultaneously optimizing resource utilization through consolidation while still maintaining full isolation, virtualization supports the cost effectiveness of cloud offerings. By abstracting workloads from the underlying physical resources that run them, virtualization enables the elasticity needed for cloud services to be made available on-demand and self-service.
Uni Systems Cloud services supporting Citrix Xenserver, Microsoft Hyper –V and Vmware v-Shere virtualization platforms.
SUMMARY
With the Uni Systems Cloud Solutions, cloud computing will become feasible for more use-cases moving forward. On-boarding will enable:
• Migration and Virtualization Heterogeneity • Enabling Hybrid Cloud Computing
• Powerful Cloud Partnerships
To summarize, on-boarding can be more than just moving an application to a cloud but rather the whole application stack; or an application workload. The Uni Systems On-boarding Solution helps solve all migration issues by leveraging technologies around platform virtualization, edge networking services, Cloud Bridging Services, Cloud Access Services, migration services, heterogeneous format support, and cloud management.
The key benefits of the Citrix On-boarding Solution are:
• Applications are on-boarded to the cloud with minimal effort without the need to re- architect the application and/or network stacks.
• Applications can be bundled into application workloads that encompass key components such LADP, storage, data access and web that the application may need once on-boarded to the cloud.
• There is no dependency on the premise datacenter virtualization platform when moving to the cloud, where various virtual machine formats are supported enabling heterogeneous format support.
• Once on-boarded, application workloads will function as if they are still in the premise datacenter coupled with robust management capabilities.
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