Modern hosting, and, more specifically, cloud computing, means having your computing infrastructure, platforms, and applications hosted in a location other than your facility. It offers the ability to access storage or computing or processing power on demand through web-based cloud platforms. It benefits small businesses in many ways, including reduced investments in software and hardware, because companies can pay for computing needs on an as-needed basis. [1]

An example of cloud computing architecture.

Photo credit

While some people may be hesitant to embrace modern hosting solutions, it’s clear that small businesses are flocking to the cloud. A recent study conducted by Microsoft revealed that 39 percent of small and mid-sized businesses expect to pay for at least one cloud service in the next three years, and that 43 percent of computer workloads in the United States will shift to paid cloud services. [2]

What Types of Clouds Are There?

Forget the things you learned in science class about stratus and cirrocumulus clouds. Today, the cloud is about IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS; which respectively stand for Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Software (or application) as a Service. [3]

Software as a Service typically involves accessing software applications via a web browser and includes functions such as accounting and invoicing (think Quickbooks Online), human resource management, content management, and other functions. This typically covers the needs of most small businesses that are not in the IT field. [3] [4]

Platform as a Service is the deployment of a computing platform or solution stack on the cloud. Often, it offers the increased ability for development and team collaboration. In simpler terms, PaaS is used to support multiple users simultaneously. PaaS also offers developers greater flexibility by allowing them to work in any programming language, any database, and any operating system. [5]

Infrastructure as a Service typically involves a platform virtualization environment. Clients buy resources such as servers, software, data-center space, and networked equipment as a fully outsourced service that is often billed based on resources consumed.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line for small businesses depends on increasing revenues and cutting expenses. If used properly, modern hosting platforms can contribute directly to the bottom line through savings. The old model involved buying servers, routers, and storage equipment. It meant expensive software that ran in the hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, plus the cost of updates.

With cloud computing, small businesses can limit the risk and financial impact by renting these applications. Online application stores allow small business owners to discover professional applications and services for areas such as customer resource management, marketing, accounting, and collaboration. [4]

Photo credit

Scaling

Scaling is arguably the most attractive feature of cloud-based computing for small business. As Microsoft’s research revealed, growing companies want a scalable environment that meets expanding needs with a pay-as-you go pricing model and one that also eliminates the need for major investments in IT. [2]

This chart shows a model for “on-demand” computing infrastructure. Note that the infrastructure costs rise only as actual demand increases and are not based on anticipated demand.

Photo credit

A company engaging cloud-based computing services pays only for what it needs. What this means is that costs increase only as business grows. This allows for tremendous flexibility for businesses using a new application. The business can start with fewer users, features, or support, and upgrade as needs increase.

Furthermore, the cloud is a great option where frequent spikes or surges in computing demands are a normal part of business. Cloud computing services have the ability to quickly increase resources as demand increases, and then scale the resources back as demand recedes. Often, this change in available resources can be automated by creating trigger actions. [4]

Convenience and Flexibility

In many ways, the cloud “understands” that business has gone global, mobile, and is a 24/7 pursuit. Applications on the web can be accessed from any computer and from many mobile devices. The cloud helps small businesses mobilize their employees, thereby reducing operating costs. [6]

Additionally, many small businesses will find it easier and more convenient to access data stored on the cloud or with application providers. Employees, vendors, and others will be able to access the data stored on the cloud. For example, a CPA would be able to access a company’s cloud-based accounting records, therefore eliminating the need to transfer paper files back and forth. [3]

Cloud computing also makes it easier for small businesses to engage in conferences and business meetings without expensive travel costs. By launching web-based, cloud-powered conferencing platforms, users can give online presentations and conduct meetings and trainings to anyone with a computer, and small business owners can connect quickly and affordably without the need for travel to other locations.  [3]

Additionally, the cloud offers reliability. A business owner will no longer need to worry about a server crash losing important documents and files. [7] Documents created in and accessed through the cloud are also saved in the cloud, providing for continuous access and prevention of accidental erasure of files. [6]

Working Together

The cloud makes collaboration with vendors and experts easier. It also makes teaming with remote employees a realistic alternative to pulling everyone into a central office. A small business may grow to develop its own applications through PaaS and then host those applications through IaaS on the cloud. [3]

Furthermore, simplified document storage makes it easier for employees to upload, store, and share important documents, videos, and files. [6]

Security Concerns

A responsible business should always be concerned with online security. When a story about wrongful access to information breaks, it generally makes headlines and can have a negative impact on a company’s reputation. However, the cloud is a safe computing platform, and in most small businesses a reputable cloud vendor will offer a much higher level of security than what can be achieved in-house. [3]

This chart shows the different layers of cloud security in one cloud platform. The different layers require passwords for access.

Photo credit

Similarly, when an application goes down or is temporarily offline, the headlines and Twitter broadcast this immediately to the world. However, this is unlikely to occur with a reputable vendor, as there are frequent redundancies in place – redundancies a small business can’t generally afford to build on its own. A thorough review of the vendor’s Service Agreement will inform a business owner about important factors such as back up plans, redundancies, and how emergencies are handled. [3]

Hybrid Hosting

Using cloud computing offers small businesses many benefits and advantages that they would not be able to afford otherwise, but there are situations when a company is better served by having a dedicated server running an application. For example, if a company needs to guarantee that its sensitive data will be secure, the data should be kept on a server used exclusively for that data. Furthermore, a business website that generates heavy traffic may perform more efficiently if it has its own server. [8]

For these situations, hybrid hosting is a viable alternative to using only cloud computing. Hybrid hosting involves using a combination of cloud computing plus dedicated servers. It has the same advantages as cloud computing – scalability, affordability, increased availability of services, etc. – but instead of having a business share a server with other companies, the Internet service provider (ISP) dedicates an entire server to the company’s network. The ISP is responsible for the maintenance and security of the server, and the company is reassured that its data is as secure as possible. When the company needs to add services or scale up, hybrid hosting can accommodate this. [9]

Why Wait?

The cloud is a great equalizer. It allows small and mid-sized businesses to innovate, grow, and compete with their much larger counterparts. They can expand and contract computing power as needed based on demand, and access platforms and infrastructure that were previously unaffordable to them.

Keeping up to date on emerging technology, as well as maintaining current technology, is an expensive and time-consuming task. It is an area in which many small businesses struggle, which takes a toll on their bottom line. However, cloud computing services level the playing field by removing the costs of technology investment and maintenance, giving small businesses the flexibility they need to grow.

Sources 
1. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cloud_computing
2. 2. http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/03/microsoft-global-smb-cloud-adoption-study-2011.html
3. 3. http://www.getapp.com/blog/cloud-computing-help-grow-small-business/
4. 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/software_as_a_service
5. 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/platform_as_a_service
6. 6. http://esbjournal.com/2011/02/5-reasons-why-clouds-in-the-forecast-is-good-news-for-small-business/
7. 7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g17alupnbyg&feature=related
8. 8. http://hosting.reviewsgurus.com/guide/hybrid-hosting-best-of-managed-cloud-8.aspx
9. 9. http://www.gogrid.com/cloud-hosting/hybrid-hosting.php

So what’s a network engineer to do to in the face of ever-growing challenges that their customer requirements pose?  Keep adding etherchannel links within an oversubscribed network access layer, adjust complex spanning tree algorithms and hope to hell that nobody plugs in a switch in the wrong port that could potentially tear down the whole datacenter? Even with the emergence and availability of 10 Gb ports in today’s DC networks, maintaining a loop free topology becomes increasingly difficult as network access layers grow in size, and inefficient. Locking down a network so that only a very few select operators can work on it, is not an option; Try explaining to the COO that you are slowing down provisioning of customers and keeping operational departments on standby, in the interest of maintaining network stability. Safe to say you won’t win that argument;->

Fortunately, the network hardware vendors recognized these business challenges in the datacenter, and have come up with new strategies and designs that call for the minimization or complete eradication of complex spanning tree protocols inside the DC, while at the same time providing a high availability, highly flexible, easy to scale, and of course a high performing network. PEER 1 Hosting had the chance to review and assess DC strategies from some of these vendors over the last 24 months as we prepared for the new network deployment in our flagship datacenter in Toronto.

Cisco Virtual Switch System (VSS) & Nexus Platform

The Cisco VSS is a network system virtualization technology that pools multiple Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series routers into one virtual router. Access Layer switches connect to this pool of 6500’s, and run Multichassis Etherchannel protocol across multiple links, and all links are live (multipath). There is no port blocking or spanning tree involved on these links, giving high throughput capabilities. Some highlights of the VSS design are ease of management (at the routing level anyways), no need for spanning tree at least at one level, no need for HSRP/VRRP/GLBP, and flexible deployments options as switches can de positioned in various locations throughout the DC, connecting back to the 6500’s either by Gigabit or 10 Gigabit interfaces.

On the heels of VSS strategy, Cisco also came out with another virtualization design that started at the access layer instead of the distribution. The Nexus 5000/2000 Platform virtualizes the access layer by using a pair of 1U  5000 model switches that act as ‘parents’ to a maximum of 12 Nexus 2000 fabric extenders. All devices act as a single logical unit, flattening the access layer, simplifying operations and removing the need for spanning tree. The Nexus seems to be the dominant datacenter strategy for Cisco, as it addresses a lot of the ‘moving parts’ and requirements at the access layer instead of just at the distribution layer like the VSS does; operationally speaking, the access layer has been the most volatile to deal with inside any large enterprise datacenters.

Brocade TRILL

While not a Brocade specific protocol, the TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) protocol has been embraced by the company for their datacenter network initiatives. Akin to VSS, TRILL introduces multipath into the Layer 2 networks, while at the same time minimizing the need for spanning tree. In a flattened layer 2 network, TRILL requires each device to run a link state protocol amongst themselves to identify optimal paths through the various links within (via ISIS or in Brocade’s case FSP). In the Brocade implementation, switches participating in the TRILL protocol will auto discover and auto-configure each other to form a single logical switch to the rest of the datacenter network as one large switch. The very recent launch of the Brocade VDX Datacenter Ethernet Fabric is being touted as significant development on their Trill strategy, and initial indications are impressive.

This tactic, coupled with their Multi Chassis trunking solution at the distribution layer (very similar to the Cisco VSS), brings a lot of simplicity and scalability to the datacenter network. And because TRILL is an IETF protocol, it should allow for interoperability with other hardware vendors, such as Cisco and HP, although I wouldn’t hold my breath for this to be realized any time soon..

Juniper Virtual Chassis & Stratus

Taking a decidedly different path, Juniper has taken a proprietary approach for the datacenter fabric, which is as a bold step for company traditionally viewed as being in the carrier space only. Starting with their virtual chassis (VC) EX4200 switch fabrics, one of the first to market in this sphere (Brocade has a FCX switch fabric in this sphere), Juniper was able to provide the first 10 member VC switch fabric with a 128 Gb/s backplane. This virtual chassis, not to be confused with stackable switches, has an ‘any to any’ port mapping within, meaning that full Ethernet packet processing is executed only once upon entering the VC and the packet is transported to the exit port without repeating that processing; a radical departure from what happens in typical tree architectures seen in most datacenter network implementations. Even in a TRILL implementation, each network element has to do it’s own packet processing as a packet passes within a TRILL boundary. To deliver the any-to-any port mapping, the EX4200 uses shortest-path, cost-aware and multicast-aware protocol, ensuring optimal use of the VC backplane resources and allowing multipath and extended reach topologies; a huge advantage when it comes to customizing a network deployment to the unique needs of each datacenter.

Aside from the flattening and simplification of the data plane, the EX4200 proprietary approach calls for a single control plane (unlike TRILL), which allows for master/backup routing engine architecture within a VC, and all members have a consistent view of the forwarding database.  This provides for substantial improvement in management and availability, inherently lower latencies and excellent cross-sectional bandwidth. And of course removes the need for the dreaded spanning tree protocol from your operation.

Everything I’ve discussed has pertained to the access layer so far, but Juniper’s vision, known as the Stratus Project, is to realize the any-to-any, single control plane design to encompass the distribution and edge routers. Their ultimate goal is to have the whole datacenter network be administered as one big logical switch, allowing for simplicity, huge scale, and great flexibility.

So, Who did PEER 1 Hosting Choose?

After taking all the vendor proposals into consideration with what we wanted to achieve at our new flagship datacenter in Toronto, we went with the Juniper solution. Our DC design called for top of rack switches for individual rows, where each row needed a minimum of 10 Gb/s trunk capability, and an ability to LAG up in 10 Gb increments for massive capacity. We also needed network profiles for customers to easily move anywhere throughout the DC, for many reasons including vMotion and supporting non linear customer growth. In addition to meeting our requirement for removing spanning tree and providing huge flexibility and simplicity, the Juniper platform also has the added benefit in its operating system by providing onboard automation. As most network engineers are quasi developers and scripters at heart, we were able to start developing operational, event driven, and commit scripts on the network devices themselves to help manage the network infrastructure. We are also exploring utilizing this onboard automation to enhance the current automated provisioning process of our hosting products.

At the time of our decision, it was seen as a bold move to use Juniper, as it was not regarded as a traditional datacenter network vendor. However, we’ve been duly impressed by the rollout, and it would seem that the industry recognizes this as well: Juniper’s Enterprise product line appeared recently in the Gartner Magic Quadrant in the Enterprise Lan as a challenger to the traditional incumbents of Cisco and HP (http://www.gartner.com/technology/media-products/reprints/juniper/vol6/article4/article4.html), as well as being identified in the latest market share report from Dell’Oro Group showing Juniper advancing to the #3 spot in the Ethernet switch market. It’s been enough of a success in our new Toronto DC , that we chose to use the same strategy in upgrading our Serverbeach networks. I’ll describe that in a later post.

State-of-the-art mantrap installed in PEER 1 Hosting's latest datacenter strongly resembles another famous space-age device.

Beam me up Scotty?

No (we tried) – it just looks like a transporter from Star Trek, but in fact, it’s our newly installed mantrap inside our flagship datacenter located at 20 Pullman Court in Scarborough (Toronto), Ontario.

WHIR tv continues to cover the ongoing construction of our new flagship data center in Toronto, Canada.

We will deploy the industry standard sFlow® network monitoring technology and InMon’s Traffic Sentinel, in all of our data centers to provide an industry leading bandwidth billing solution for Managed Hosting customers.

Bandwidth usage is measured on a per-IP address basis, so we are able to ignore traffic occurring inside the data center, and provide precise traffic charges to our customers in a way that is not possible through per-port or physical-layer network traffic monitoring.

For PEER 1 customers, the InMon-powered network traffic monitoring and analysis is accessible in real time through the online customer portal with customizable graphs and downloadable data.

Full press release: http://www.peer1.com/aboutus/news.php?id=134

Here is the second video installment of The Whir’s ongoing coverage of the build out of our state-of-the-art green data center in Toronto, Canada. The new facility will provide Managed Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, and Colocation services.

See first video here

This 41,000 sq ft space will transform into our most eco-friendly data center. The facility will use some of the most efficient products and technologies on the market, including the use of a local well for primary water supply with redundant connection to the city water system to reduce overall carbon footprint and provide lower energy consumption. The first of four planned stages is scheduled for completion in early 2010. Other efficiencies planned are the use of redundant high efficiency VFD centrifugal chillers and heat exchangers to take advantage of “free cooling” during colder months, providing significant energy savings. This also enables us to use more environmentally friendly refrigerants not commonly found in current air-cooled systems.

Charnell Pugsley, Rob Kinkaid, Dave Sherman, Kevin Lee, Jim Park

Wow! We’ve returned home from the 24 Hours of Lemons event at the No Problem Raceway in Belle Rose, Louisiana. I can honestly say that we got a true taste of this race this past weekend.

In my last post, I mentioned the PEER 1 road trip that started off on the wrong foot with an incompatible wire harness from RV to car trailer which left us with no working lights. Then the car trailer coming off of the hitch to the RV that left us stuck in rush hour traffic in Atlanta. Definitely not the way we wanted to start our road trip. Nonetheless, we made it to the event and all was well. Sort of.

After we finally passed tech and were allowed to race, the first day of racing started off great. The PEER 1 car and drivers (Team PEER Pressure) handled well and then the problems began. First we had an overheating problem due to a stuck

PEER 1 Car Overheating

thermostat.  We pulled the thermostat to run the coolant at full flow all the time.  Apparently, that causes the car to overheat almost instantly.  We drilled the thermostat, but the car would still overheat so we had to run a few laps, come off of the track to let it cool and do it all over again. By the end of the first day, we weren’t confident the PEER 1 car would make it for the next days race.

We started off Sunday replacing the water pump and thermostat with new units. I asked Kevin Lee, our racing team lead what exactly happened and he said:

After a few runs, we never got the car to the point where it wouldn’t overheat and started seeing oil in the cooling system.  This could be an indication of blown head gasket or cracked heads and we suspect that something may have broken off in the block that is possibly blocking the flow of water.

By the end of the race, the PEER 1 car just couldn’t make another lap around the track. We ended up finishing in 42nd place (which by the way matched our car – #42 and we all know 42 = answer to life, the Universe, everything ) After all of the long hours our team spent wrenching and welding, getting sunburned and dehydrated, we still had a damned good time and we’re looking forward to doing it again. Maybe we’ll get to go head-to-head with other hosting providers the next time, if they’re up to the challenge.

PEER 1's Mercedes race car at 24 Hours of Lemons

View our pictures from the 24 Hours of Lemons on our PEER 1 Flickr here: http://tinyurl.com/lbzet5

View all of the pictures (over 7000!) that we took at the event here: http://tinyurl.com/mk2bud

Charnell Pugsley
PEER 1 Community Evangelist

We’ve partnered with Lisa Sabin-Wilson, celebrity blogger and author of “WordPress for Dummies”, to offer free premium blog templates, valued at $1,200 each, designed exclusively for PEER 1 and ServerBeach.

With an estimated 133 million blogs worldwide and growing, social networking and blogging has become the fourth most popular activity on the Internet, surpassing even e-mail.* For those looking to join the fast-growing blogging community, or just wanting to spice up current blogs, PEER 1 is offering five free custom-designed WordPress themes as a download to anyone who visits the PEER 1 or ServerBeach Web site.

The templates won’t be around for long, available for download only until June 30. To view the different designs and download a favorite, visit the PEER 1 Web site http://www.peer1.com/resources/wordpress_themes.php or the ServerBeach Web site http://www.serverbeach.com/resources/wordpress_themes.php.

To view the full press release, please visit http://www.peer1.com/aboutus/news.php?id=118

“With the launch of SmartMonitoring, we are offering the best monitoring services available, while continuing to provide the advanced hosting services that are in greatest demand by our customers,” said Tim Varma, director of product management for PEER 1. “SmartMonitoring will help our customers increase efficiency and maximize IT resources, which is especially vital in today’s economy. With our fully scalable hosting solutions and services, PEER 1 adjusts to customers’ needs and helps them be more cost effective, to keep their businesses running smoothly.”

With SmartMonitoring, PEER 1 customers can choose the services and features, from basic to highly complex, that are most vital to their business success. These services are available through SmartMonitoring’s on-demand platform interface, which provides anyone in the organization, from CEO to system engineer, understandable, information on how application and system components are working together. This real-time data gives insight into potential issues so they can be proactively addressed in the most efficient and timely way.

For more information and full press release, please see http://www.peer1.com/aboutus/news.php?id=117