Cloud computing and Citrix C3
Last update 28 July 2009
Feedback welcome
-- Michael
IT in the Clouds
Dr Michael Harries
Citrix Labs

The term cloud computing has
been much hyped in recent
past.
Just hot air?

Indeed everyone seems to
mean something different when
they talk cloud.

For one, cloud has long been
the graphic used for „any
network‟ connecting two
computers.

Computer scientists would see it as
the culmination of a long line of
contributing technologies.
5

Others, like Nicholas Carr,
have a „utopian‟, user oriented
view of cloud computing.
Cheap, utility-supplied
computing will ultimately
change society as profoundly
as cheap electricity did

Some vendors, like
SalesForce, argue that cloud is
the whole future of IT.
Cloud is web based SaaS
+
web based, hosted dev platform

Others, like Google, define
cloud as just – what they do.
Google IS the cloud

For the end user, cloud is
synonymous with „nice web
Cloud is ease of use application‟
It‟s every cool web page
It‟s Google mail
It‟s SaaS
It‟s EASY

For Enterprise IT, cloud promises
to make IT „easy‟
Cloud is flexibility of resources, available on demand
Cloud is dynamically scalable
Cloud is automated
Cloud is IT nirvana!

But it‟s just not that simple
Cloud is insecure
Loss of IT control
Limited SLAs
A Threat

So why so many disparate
views?
Cloud computing is an idea
„made to stick‟
1. Simple
2. Unexpected
3. Concrete
4. Credible
5. Emotional
6. Stories

One of the reasons „cloud‟ is so
popular is that enterprise IT sees these
numbers from cloud providers as
extremely attractive.
Storage Servers Network Apps
1 image x 1M users
$0.15/GB/mo 1 admin/20,000 $10/megabit x 4 upgrades/yr
vs. vs. vs. vs.
230 apps x 5 versions
$3.75/GB/mo 1 admin/100 $500/megabit x many upgrades

But they are misleading for the
enterprise as they result from
massive standardization at the
core of each vendor‟s business
model.
Standardisation

Here are some commonly
agreed cloud categories.
Only IaaS requires System
Virtualization.
Cloud
Software as a Infrastructure
Service as a Service
Platform as a
Service

Let‟s start by talking about
Infrastructure as a Service or
IaaS.
IaaS
Infrastructure as a Service

Amazon has been a pioneer of
IaaS with their Elastic Compute
Cloud and Simple Storage
Service.
The Amazon cloud has enabled a
new wave of innovation.
Elastic Compute Cloud
• from $0.10 per VM hour
Simple Storage Service
• $0.15 per gig stored
• $0.17 per gig transfered

For example, SmugMug have been
able to scale tremendously without
any of their own infrastructure
through using Amazon Servers and
“30 employees. More than Storage.
300,000 paying customers.
288,000,000 photos.”
NO INFRASTRUCTURE

And burst computing by the
New York Times in converting
historical images for use on a
„retrospective‟ web site.
• New York Times
• 4TB of TIFFs
• To 1.5TB of PDFs
• 100 EC2 Xen VMs

These capabilities are enabled by
system virtualization and, in most
cases, by the Xen Hypervisor which is
at the heart of Citrix XenServer as
well as at the heart of most public
“
clouds.
Xen
Citrix, Intel, AMD, IBM, HP, Fujitsu,
”
Unisys, SGI, Samsung, Sun, VA
Systems, Red Hat, Novell, VA
Linux, DoD, NSA (42 orgs)
+ XenServer + 100% compatible
with Hyper-V

Sounds good so far? IaaS is
more complex than it may
appear. IaaS cloud vendors
mean many different things by
„cloud‟.

Some emphasize base level
virtualization – virtual servers,
virtual storage, and virtual
networks.

Others emphasize resource
management, multi-tenancy (in
all its forms), usage monitoring,
and optimizing across the farm.

Still others are mainly about
application management,
which components work where,
and how they need to interact.

And some are mainly about
providing access and
automation in the cloud.

The key promise of IaaS is to bring
improved operational efficiency from
virtual server agility.
While much of the rhetoric focuses on off-
premise cloud, on-premise (or private)
cloud offers immediate benefits to
enterprise IT.
Operational efficiency
Off-premise
On-Premise

What else?

Software as a Service or SaaS
also brings important “cloud”
ideas for the enterprise.
SaaS
Software as a Service

Citrix is the fifth largest
external SaaS vendor
globally with the Citrix
Software as a Service
offerings.

There are enormous benefits
from treating all enterprise
applications as SaaS – as Application Delivery
applications to be delivered to
end users on demand.
=
Enterprise SaaS
SSL 001000111010101 SSL 001000111010101 SSL 001000111010101 SSL 001000111010101 SSL 001000111010101
Abstract connection
High-fidelity experience
Common security model
etc
etc

Citrix has long been about turning
Where Does Citrix Fit? Enterprise applications into a
service. In a very real sense,
Citrix Delivery Center bringing delivery abstraction to
every application.
Delivering Enterprise IT as a Service
XenDesktop · XenApp · NetScaler · XenServer
Users Apps

From a TCO and ROI
perspective this approach
brings formidable
benefits.
IT operational HW & SW Worker IT staff
costs costs downtime productivity
29%
reduction
40%
reduction
88%
reduction
78%
increase
Source: Gartner, IDC, Citrix and Wyse Estimates

However the long term
effects are potentially more
important. Using an
application delivery
“mediator” between your Agile Infrastructure
enterprise architecture and
application architecture Creates a „change friendly‟ organization
makes the organization
“change friendly” by reducing
inertia.
Enterprise Application
Architecture Architecture

Citrix Cloud Center addresses
both SaaS and IaaS.
Citrix Cloud Center
C3
(SaaS + IaaS)

C3 is exactly the same technology
that Citrix sells for the Enterprise,
but with a pricing model that‟s more
appropriate for the cloud.
Citrix Delivery Center
[but for the cloud]

Here‟s a simple schematic
showing how it might deployed
for cloud use (inside or outside
the datacenter)
NetScaler Workflow Studio Repeater
XenApp XenDesktop
cloud bridge
XenServer
Users Datacenter

Recent additions to C3 include:
A virtual appliance version of
our celebrated NetScaler
appliance.

75% of Internet Users Each Day
The physical NetScaler appliance is
heavily used by internet companies
globally to optimize their web
applications to the extent that 75%
of all internet users touch the
technology daily.

Recent additions to C3 include:
A virtual switch (announced but
not yet released)
Company A Company C
Company B

Recent additions to C3 include:
XenApp and XenDesktop, as we‟re
recognized that application delivery
is an important cloud task. All of
these contribute to the broader
picture.
NetScaler Workflow Studio Repeater
XenApp XenDesktop
cloud bridge
XenServer
Users Datacenter

Here‟s one way to think about
C3 Reference Architecture IaaS cloud computing.
Customer / Consumer / VM Transactions
Application App Management
cloud bridge
Workload Distribution System (grid engine)
Web Application Delivery Fabric
Virtual Server Containers
Commodity Hardware Infrastructure
Distributed Virtual Switch

And here‟s how the Citrix Cloud
C3 Reference Architecture Center technologies fit into
such an architecture.
Customer Application / VM Management
NetScaler MPX cloud bridge
Workload Distribution System (grid engine)
Web Application Delivery Fabric
Repeater
XenApp XenDesktop
Virtual Server Containers
Dynamic Workload Provisioning
XenServer
Commodity Hardware Infrastructure
Distributed Virtual Switch

We‟ve also recently announced
Citrix Service Provider Program a Service Provider program.
Citrix newest partner program
Designed for service providers
Monthly “active subscriber” pricing &
licensing model
Route-to-market for customers inclined to
leverage hosted services

Enterprise Cloud is about new
operating models that leverage
the flexibility and agility of
SaaS and IaaS.
Enterprise
Cloud

Enterprise Cloud is about
Windows applications being
delivered as SaaS.
Windows Apps

“Cloud-burst”
Enterprise Cloud is about Cloud-bursting;
for example automatically load balancing
application delivery sessions to the cloud
when the physical XenApp farm is at it‟s
limit.

Enterprise Cloud is about the
capability to keep your data on
premise and your applications in
Bridge the cloud.
Apps in cloud; Data stays on premise

Citrix C3 Labs provides an easy
way to explore these ideas at
very low cost using Amazon EC2
Citrix C3
C3 Lab

C3 Labs blueprints
(recipes) are available
on the Citrix community
site.
Citrix C3 Lab Blueprints
• Common Scenarios
• Community Driven
• Architectural Overviews
• Deployment Guides
• Best Practices
http://community.citrix.com/C3Lab

Cloud is the future. Now is
the time for exploration.