November 2013 Server and StorageIO Update Newsletter & AWS reinvent info

Welcome to the November 2013 edition of the StorageIO Update (newsletter) containing trends perspectives on cloud, virtualization and data infrastructure topics. Fall (here in North America) has been busy with in-person, on-line live and virtual events along with various client projects, research, time in the StorageIO cloud, virtual and physical lab test driving, validating and doing proof of concept research among other tasks. Check out the industry trends perspectives articles, comments and blog posts below that covers some activity over the past month.

Last week I had the chance to attend the second annual AWS re:Invent event in Las Vegas, see my comments, perspectives along with a summary of announcements from that conference below.

Watch for future posts, commentary, perspectives and other information down the road (and in the not so distant future) pertaining to information and data infrastructure topics, themes and trends across cloud, virtual, legacy server, storage, networking, hardware and software. Also check out our backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving (Under the resources section on StorageIO.com) for various presentation, book chapter downloads and other content.

Enjoy this edition of the StorageIO Update newsletter.

Ok, nuff said (for now)

Cheers gs

Last week I attended the AWS re:Invent event in Las Vegas. This was the second annual AWS re:Invent conference which while having an AWS and cloud theme, it is also what I would describe as a data infrastructure event.

As a data infrastructure event AWS re:Invent spans traditional legacy IT and applications to newly invented, re-written, re-hosted or re-platformed ones from existing and new organizations. By this I mean a mix of traditional IT or enterprise people as well as cloud and virtual geek types (said with affection and all due respect of course) across server (operating system, software and tools), storage (primary, secondary, archive and tools), networking, security, development tools, applications and architecture.

That also means management from application and data protection spanning High Availability (HA), Business Continuance (BC), Disaster Recovery (DR), backup/restore, archiving, security, performance and capacity planning, service management among other related themes across public, private, hybrid and community cloud environments or paradigms. Hmm, I think I know of a book that covers the above and other related topic themes, trends, technologies and best practices called Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press) available via Amazon.com in print and Kindle (among other) versions.

During the event AWS announced enhanced and new services including:

• WorkSpaces (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure – VDI) announced as a new service for cloud based desktops across various client devices including laptops, Kindle Fire, iPad and Android tablets using PCoIP.
  
• Kinesis which is a managed service for real-time processing of streaming (e.g. Big) data at scale including ability to collect and process hundreds of GBytes of data per second across hundreds of thousands of data sources. On top of Kinesis you can build your big data applications or conduct analysis to give real-time key performance indicator dashboards, exception and alarm or event notification and other informed decision-making activity.
  
• EC2 C3 instances provide Intel Xeon E5 processors and Solid State Device (SSD) based direct attached storage (DAS) like functionality vs. EBS provisioned IOPs for cost-effective storage I/O performance and compute capabilities.
  
• Another EC2 enhancement are G2 instance that leverage high performance NVIDIA GRID GPU with 1,536 parallel processing cores. This new instance is well suited for 3D graphics, rendering, streaming video and other related applications that need large-scale parallel or high performance compute (HPC) also known as high productivity compute.
  
• Redshift (cloud data warehouse) now supports cross region snapshots for HA, BC and DR purposes.
  
• CloudTrail records AWS API calls made via the management console for analytics and logging of API activity.
  
• Beta of Trusted Advisor dashboard with cost optimization saving estimates including EBS and provisioned IOPs
  
• Relational Database Service (RDS) support for PostgresSQL including multi-AZ deployment.
  
• Ability to discover and launch various software from AWS Marketplace via the EC2 Console. The AWS Marketplace for those not familiar with it is a catalog of various software or application titles (over 800 products across 24 categories) including free and commercial licensed solutions that include SAP, Citrix, Lotus Notes/Domino among many others.
  
• AppStream is a low latency (STX protocol based) service for streaming resource (e.g. compute, storage or memory) intensive applications and games from AWS cloud to various clients, desktops or mobile devices. This means that the resource intensive functionality can be shifted to the cloud, while providing a low latency (e.g. fast) user experience off-loading the client from having to support increased compute, memory or storage capabilities. Key to AppStream is the ability to stream data in a low-latency manner including over networks normally not suited for high quality or bandwidth intensive applications. IMHO AppStream while focused initially on mobile app’s and gaming, being a bit streaming technology has the potential to be used for other similar functions that can leverage download speed improvements.

When I asked an AWS person if or what role AppStream might have or related to WorkSpaces their only response was a large smile and no comment. Does this mean WorkSpaces leverages AppStream? Candidly I don’t know, however if you look deeper into AppStream and expand your horizons, see what you can think up in terms of innovation. Updated 11/21/13 AWS has provided clarification that WorkSpaces is based on PCoIP while AppStream uses the STX protocols.

Check out AWS Sr. VP Andy Jassy keynote presentation here.

Overall I found the AWS re:Invent event to be a good conference spanning many aspects and areas of focus which means I will be putting it on my must attend list for 2014.

The following is a synopsis of some StorageIOblog posts, articles and comments in different venues on various industry trends, perspectives and related themes about clouds, virtualization, data and storage infrastructure topics among related themes.

Recent industry trends, perspectives and commentary by StorageIO Greg Schulz in various venues:

NetworkComputing: Comments on Software-Defined Storage Startups Win Funding

Digistor: Comments on SSD and flash storage
InfoStor: Comments on data backup and virtualization software

ITbusinessEdge: Comments on flash SSD and hybrid storage environments

NetworkComputing: Comments on Hybrid Storage Startup Nimble Storage Files For IPO

InfoStor: Comments on EMC’s Light to Speed: Flash, VNX, and Software-Defined

InfoStor: Data Backup Virtualization Software: Four Solutions

ODSI: Q&A With Greg Schulz – A Quick Roundup of Data Storage Industry

Recent StorageIO Tips and Articles in various venues:

FedTechMagazine: 3 Tips for Maximizing Tiered Hypervisors
InfoStor:
RAID Remains Relevant, Really!

Recent StorageIO blog post:

EMC announces XtremIO General Availability (Part I) – Announcement analysis of the all flash SSD storage system
Part II: EMC announces XtremIO General Availability, speeds and feeds – Part two of two part series with analysis
What does gaining industry traction or adoption mean too you? – There is a difference between buzz and deployment
Fall 2013 (September and October) StorageIO Update Newsletter – In case you missed the fall edition, here it is

Check out our objectstoragecenter.com page where you will find a growing collection of information and links on cloud and object storage themes, technologies and trends.