Start-ups & the Cloud! Adil Mohammed Co-founder

Factors crucial for a startup infrastructure

Advantages of the cloud for Startups (as compared to traditional systems) Rapid deployment and configuration Cost efficiency Low upfront capital expenditure Use it as you need it Ease of scalability Scalability & elasticity is key to cloud computing Many tools available Spending less time on infrastructure Higher degree of reliability

Rapid deployment and configuration

Cost efficiency

Low upfront capital expenditure

Use it as you need it

Ease of scalability

Scalability & elasticity is key to cloud computing

Many tools available

Spending less time on infrastructure

Higher degree of reliability

Startups are ‘built to grow’, therefore require agile and scalable systems Its all about delivery! Startups have everything to lose in case of failed delivery The internet has allowed small startups to ‘act big’ (a user doesn’t know how small or large a service is by just looking at the startup itself) – however this is only possible through having the supporting infrastructure to act big Time to worry about the product Startups are often a small group of people. Money and time are scarce. Not having to worry about speed of deployment (setup speed) and scalability is a great (competitive) advantage Its what you been waiting for!

Its all about delivery!

Startups have everything to lose in case of failed delivery

The internet has allowed small startups to ‘act big’ (a user doesn’t know how small or large a service is by just looking at the startup itself) – however this is only possible through having the supporting infrastructure to act big

Time to worry about the product

Startups are often a small group of people. Money and time are scarce. Not having to worry about speed of deployment (setup speed) and scalability is a great (competitive) advantage

Its what you been waiting for!

Scaling is a good dream as well as an absolute nightmare!

Animoto scaled from 25,000 to 250,000 users in 3 days Animoto is an online video mixing utility Run on Amazon Web Services Make use of Queues to manage load to their render servers 25,000 to 250,000 users in 3 days At peak, 20,000 new users per hour 50 to 4000 instances (servers) in 5 days At peak, 40 new instances (servers) per hour Info: RightScale Blog, AWS Blog

Animoto is an online video mixing utility

Run on Amazon Web Services

Make use of Queues to manage load to their render servers

25,000 to 250,000 users in 3 days

At peak, 20,000 new users per hour

50 to 4000 instances (servers) in 5 days

At peak, 40 new instances (servers) per hour

Animoto scaled from 25,000 to 250,000 users in 3 days Info: RightScale Blog, AWS Blog

Startups using the cloud

EnTrip is an online travel utility (currently pre-launch) aimed at streamlining the online travel experience Started 6 months ago, running RoR, moved from single dedicated server to AWS in May 2008 Complex trip model demands high server side processing power & complex database searches put huge load on the DB Server We use advanced caching strategies, but realise the need for hardware in order to scale Noticed huge performance improvement after switching to computing cloud. Ready to scale within our chosen architecture Using AWS, we are doing what we otherwise could not have done easily or without large CapEx

EnTrip is an online travel utility (currently pre-launch) aimed at streamlining the online travel experience

Started 6 months ago, running RoR, moved from single dedicated server to AWS in May 2008

Complex trip model demands high server side processing power & complex database searches put huge load on the DB Server

We use advanced caching strategies, but realise the need for hardware in order to scale

Noticed huge performance improvement after switching to computing cloud.

Ready to scale within our chosen architecture

Using AWS, we are doing what we otherwise could not have done easily or without large CapEx

Architecture Application MySQL Cluster App Server (EC2 Instance) App Server (EC2 Instance) MySQL Master (EC2 Instance) MySQL Slave (EC2 Instance) S3 (Data Storage, Backups, Images) App Server (EC2 Instance) Load Balancer (Nginx) App Server (EC2 Instance) App Server (EC2 Instance) App Server (EC2 Instance) MySQL Slave (EC2 Instance) Email Relay

Other services have entered the cloud computing ecosystem to help manage your systems

Other services have entered the cloud computing ecosystem to help manage your systems Scalr is open source Its a redundant self-curing and self-scaling environment It works with AWS but the principle is relevant to cloud computing in general Scalr is not the only software, there are others

Scalr is open source

Its a redundant self-curing and self-scaling environment

It works with AWS but the principle is relevant to cloud computing in general

Scalr is not the only software, there are others

How load is handled dynamically Yes Yes Control node keeps track of instances and their roles load level higher? Max no of instance Start new instance and configure farm load level Lower? Terminate one instance and configure farm Min instance running?

and for the app developers...

and for the app developers... Specialised platforms – RoR, Python Most of them aimed at app developers Aimed at instant deployment They take care of the infrastructure

Specialised platforms – RoR, Python

Most of them aimed at app developers

Aimed at instant deployment

They take care of the infrastructure

Cloud computing has hugely contributed towards levelling the playing field between startups and Established online players

Thank You! Adil Mohammed [email_address]