I spent my day working on deploying software in our company's private cloud. It may sound complicated, but isn't really once you get past a few basic concepts. Remember that "The Cloud" means different things to different people, but generally means computer servers running in an environment that is accessible on the Internet. We have all sorts of security to keep the wrong people from being able to do bad things to our computers and so that adds a level of complexity to install software. Furthermore, we are still testing our cloud and that means servers need to be easily configured even with all of the added security.
There are several open-source tools to help with this type of software deployment. We have started using Chef and it is supposed to make our life easier. At first glance, Chef looks fairly complicated. There are recipes and cookbooks with all sorts of different options and bits to twiddle. Today I worked with another one of our software engineers and we worked on getting MongoDB up and running on three different servers. If you go to the Opscode website for Chef, you can see that there is already a cookbook for MongoDB. We just downloaded it and made simple modifications for our specific environment. Now if we need to add a fourth MongoDB server, it is just a matter of running a single command on the server and everything is ready to go.
Sir Isaac Newton once said something along the lines of, "All that I have achieved is because I have been able to stand on the shoulders of other great men." He didn't worry about recreating work done before him, he just made sure to add to it. Open-source software and Chef are good examples of that principle in action today.
Showing posts with label Cloud Computing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cloud Computing. Show all posts
Friday, May 17, 2013
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Performance Tuning in the Cloud
I have been spending the last couple of days working on performance tuning for our big project at work. We are moving the software from ancient hardware and migrating it into our own private cloud. What is the difference? With the old system, we had a fixed number of servers and had to manually spread pieces of the application across them. With our own private cloud, we have a number of servers that we make look like a single machine. Then we divide up that machine so that each piece of the application looks like it is running on its own server. One thing that we are discovering is that performance problems can be much more difficult to solve.
Yesterday we ran into an interesting problem that we spent today figuring out. In the video gaming world, people don't like it when the game crashes. To combat this issue, we run redundant systems and so there are always two of everything. The problem we came across was that one server was processing more data than the other, even though they were configured identically. Everyone looking at the problem suggested going through both configurations line by line. We did and verified the two systems were set up identically. Then we all sat around scratching our heads wondering what to look at next. We tried twisting some nobs and pushing various buttons only to have more questions after looking at the performance numbers.
It turns out that the process of taking a bunch of machines and combining them together to form this computing cloud obfuscates what is happening on the raw hardware underneath. To figure out what is really taking place, one has to look there. We are still in the midst of improving performance but now have a much better handle of what is going on. Amazingly this new system already is running circles around the old one, we just want it to run faster.
Yesterday we ran into an interesting problem that we spent today figuring out. In the video gaming world, people don't like it when the game crashes. To combat this issue, we run redundant systems and so there are always two of everything. The problem we came across was that one server was processing more data than the other, even though they were configured identically. Everyone looking at the problem suggested going through both configurations line by line. We did and verified the two systems were set up identically. Then we all sat around scratching our heads wondering what to look at next. We tried twisting some nobs and pushing various buttons only to have more questions after looking at the performance numbers.
It turns out that the process of taking a bunch of machines and combining them together to form this computing cloud obfuscates what is happening on the raw hardware underneath. To figure out what is really taking place, one has to look there. We are still in the midst of improving performance but now have a much better handle of what is going on. Amazingly this new system already is running circles around the old one, we just want it to run faster.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Are You Better Off Now
It is election season and I try to avoid politics in my blog, but this is a question I keep hearing, "Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago?" One thing about technology is that it continues to evolve and so we should all be better off as time passes. The President of the United States could be a monkey with a dart board and we should all be better off with regards to our computers. So let's look back over the past 4 years and see how computer technology has improved.
When I look at my desk in my home office, I am much better off than I was 4 years ago. The biggest change is the advance in video monitor technology. I used to have a single 17-inch LCD monitor capable of displaying 1280x1024 pixels. Now I have 2 HDTV monitors on my desk. Both are seamlessly connected to my desktop computer and are capable of displaying 1920x1080 for a total size of 3840x1080 pixels. I don't know how I survived before.
Video monitors for my desktop are just the start. I also have a tablet computer. I actually have 2 tablet computers, both of which were given to me. I only keep 1 on my desk as the other one is kept upstairs in the bedroom. Most of the time I just use the tablet to play Pandora, but it is nice to be able to keep tabs on things when I leave the office without having to grab my laptop. The tablet is much lighter.
Speaking of laptops, I used to have a MacBook and now I have a MacBook Pro. The biggest difference there is that I now run a solid-state drive. They make great sense for a laptop because they are much more shock resistant. They are also a lot faster. My laptop boots in about the same amount of time as it takes me to count to 3. I'm still not sure about reliability, but my current drive is almost a year old and seems to be working great.
One final improvement worth mentioning is that we are starting to see more cloud technology. Sure some of it is just marketing. However we will start to see more services come to the cloud and life should improve because of it. Imagine walking into your house and having your digital camera automatically sync with your home network and upload your most recent photos to a staging area where you can sort them and share your favorites. We are almost there.
Technologically, we are all better off now than we were 4 years ago. Just don't let the politicians think they are responsible.
When I look at my desk in my home office, I am much better off than I was 4 years ago. The biggest change is the advance in video monitor technology. I used to have a single 17-inch LCD monitor capable of displaying 1280x1024 pixels. Now I have 2 HDTV monitors on my desk. Both are seamlessly connected to my desktop computer and are capable of displaying 1920x1080 for a total size of 3840x1080 pixels. I don't know how I survived before.
Video monitors for my desktop are just the start. I also have a tablet computer. I actually have 2 tablet computers, both of which were given to me. I only keep 1 on my desk as the other one is kept upstairs in the bedroom. Most of the time I just use the tablet to play Pandora, but it is nice to be able to keep tabs on things when I leave the office without having to grab my laptop. The tablet is much lighter.
Speaking of laptops, I used to have a MacBook and now I have a MacBook Pro. The biggest difference there is that I now run a solid-state drive. They make great sense for a laptop because they are much more shock resistant. They are also a lot faster. My laptop boots in about the same amount of time as it takes me to count to 3. I'm still not sure about reliability, but my current drive is almost a year old and seems to be working great.
One final improvement worth mentioning is that we are starting to see more cloud technology. Sure some of it is just marketing. However we will start to see more services come to the cloud and life should improve because of it. Imagine walking into your house and having your digital camera automatically sync with your home network and upload your most recent photos to a staging area where you can sort them and share your favorites. We are almost there.
Technologically, we are all better off now than we were 4 years ago. Just don't let the politicians think they are responsible.
Monday, September 28, 2009
What is Cloud Computing?
Friday I got an e-mail from the Oracle Alumni list of which I am a subscriber. The message had a link to a YouTube video where Larry Ellison and Ed Zander talk about cloud computing as well as a few other topics. The video was interesting to me because I know both gentlemen who are big names in the computer industry. However I think it would be boring for most everyone else and so I won't bother to provide the link.
For those that don't know, Larry Ellison is the CEO of Oracle Corporation. When I first started at Oracle back in January of 1986, it was not uncommon to see Larry walking down the hall dribbling a basketball just after a quick game across the street. He is now one of the richest men in the world and understandable a lot less approachable.
Ed Zander and my Dad used to work together back at Data General in the 80's. I remember going to company softball games and meeting Ed. Every couple of years or so, he goes skiing with my Dad at Deer Valley and I manage to invite myself along for the trip. Ed left Data General and evenutally found himself as President of Sun Microsystems (just purchased by Oracle). Most recently he was CEO of Motorola.
The video was fun to watch as Larry got very animated when the topic of cloud computing was mentioned. Larry pointed out that cloud computing is really the computer industry going in circles. He is right. Twenty or thirty years ago we just called it timesharing, which is different than buying a piece of a condo or luxury apartment.
Five or six years ago there was a big emphasis on how McDonalds was not in the business of selling fast food. Instead they were in the business of real estate. Companies like Google, Salesforce.com, and Amazon have taken a page from the McDonalds playbook and realize that one of their core competencies is in creating bullet-proof data centers. They then provide access to these data centers through the Internet. This is cloud computing. You tell the provider what type of environment you want (i.e., RAM, Operating System, Services like e-mail, database, or web server, etc.) and they set it up for you.
Cloud computing makes it much easier to do things like set up websites. It is also a great way to borrow a computer for testing without having to buy one. So cloud computing makes it easier to create your own BLOG (this one is hosted by Google) but it probably won't directly effect your own home computing environment.
Now if all the cloud computing companies can figure out that McDonalds started loosing marketshare when they forgot they were in the food business, we won't have to watch the decline of our favorite online bookstore.
For those that don't know, Larry Ellison is the CEO of Oracle Corporation. When I first started at Oracle back in January of 1986, it was not uncommon to see Larry walking down the hall dribbling a basketball just after a quick game across the street. He is now one of the richest men in the world and understandable a lot less approachable.
Ed Zander and my Dad used to work together back at Data General in the 80's. I remember going to company softball games and meeting Ed. Every couple of years or so, he goes skiing with my Dad at Deer Valley and I manage to invite myself along for the trip. Ed left Data General and evenutally found himself as President of Sun Microsystems (just purchased by Oracle). Most recently he was CEO of Motorola.
The video was fun to watch as Larry got very animated when the topic of cloud computing was mentioned. Larry pointed out that cloud computing is really the computer industry going in circles. He is right. Twenty or thirty years ago we just called it timesharing, which is different than buying a piece of a condo or luxury apartment.
Five or six years ago there was a big emphasis on how McDonalds was not in the business of selling fast food. Instead they were in the business of real estate. Companies like Google, Salesforce.com, and Amazon have taken a page from the McDonalds playbook and realize that one of their core competencies is in creating bullet-proof data centers. They then provide access to these data centers through the Internet. This is cloud computing. You tell the provider what type of environment you want (i.e., RAM, Operating System, Services like e-mail, database, or web server, etc.) and they set it up for you.
Cloud computing makes it much easier to do things like set up websites. It is also a great way to borrow a computer for testing without having to buy one. So cloud computing makes it easier to create your own BLOG (this one is hosted by Google) but it probably won't directly effect your own home computing environment.
Now if all the cloud computing companies can figure out that McDonalds started loosing marketshare when they forgot they were in the food business, we won't have to watch the decline of our favorite online bookstore.
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