The document outlines the advantages and challenges of cloud computing, specifically focusing on Microsoft's Windows Azure platform. It includes case studies of companies like Chronorace, illustrating how cloud solutions can drive innovation and improve efficiency in handling operational demands. The presentation emphasizes the need for businesses to adapt to cloud technology for scalability and cost-effectiveness while managing complexities in deployment and resource allocation.

2. Cloud Computing & Windows AzureLessius Hogeschool, MechelenMaarten Balliauw – RealDolmenE-mail: maarten.balliauw@realdolmen.comBlog: http://blog.maartenballiauw.beTwitter: @maartenballiauw

3. Who am I?Maarten BalliauwAntwerp, Belgiumwww.realdolmen.comTechnology Specialist Windows AzureCo-founder of AZUGFocus on webASP.NET, ASP.NET MVC, PHP, Azure, …MVP ASP.NEThttp://blog.maartenballiauw.be@maartenballiauw

4. AgendaCloud ComputingMicrosoft Cloud & Windows AzureSome examplesA Payroll CompanyChronoraceConclusion

5. Cloud ComputingWhat is cloud computing?

6. Inefficiencies in traditional IT…Allocated IT-capacitiesLoad Forecast“Under-supply“ of capacities“Waste“ of capacitiesFixed cost of IT-capacitiesIT CAPACITYBarrier forinnovationsActualLoadTIME

7. However, in a Cloud ViewLoad ForecastAllocated IT capacitiesNo “under-supply“IT CAPACITYReduction of “over-supply“Possible reduction of IT-capacities in case of reduced loadReduction of initial investmentsActualLoadTime

8. three types of cloudsOff PremisesOn PremisesLocationHomogeneousHeterogeneousInfrastructureChoicesChoicesCapEx (invest)OpEx (cost)Business modelOwnLease/RentOwnershipSelfThird PartyManagementSelfThird PartyResponsibilitiesCustomizedStandardizedStandardizationPrivate Dedicated / Shared SharedPrivate Dedicated / Shared Shared

9. IT as a Service – Types of servicesScalabilityCustomisationManagement and responsibilities by vendorIn-house management, responsibilities, ...

10. “Growing Fast“ “On and Off “ InactivityPeriod Compute Compute Average UsageUsageAverageTime Time On & off workloads (e.g. batch job)

11. Over provisioned capacity is wasted

12. Time to market can be cumbersome

13. Successful services needs to grow/scale

14. Keeping up w/ growth is big IT challenge

15. Complex lead time for deployment“Unpredictable Bursting“ “Predictable Bursting“ Compute Compute Average Usage Average Usage Time Time Unexpected/unplanned peak in demand

16. Sudden spike impacts performance

17. Can’t over provision for extreme cases

18. Services with micro seasonality trends

19. Peaks due to periodic increased demand

20. IT complexity and wasted capacity Typical workload patterns that benefitfrom a cloud model

21. And of course one more...

22. Horseless Carriage SyndromeEarly 20th century: “car”Long standing paradigm: “horse and carriage”Initial failure to comprehend the new paradigm“The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty“High cost and shortage of capable driversEngineers kept designing the whip holderFirst cars looked alikeHowever... Technology evolvedFaster time to “market” (horses get tired)Reduction in complexity and costNo need to care for a horse

23. Mindswitches – Business perspectiveInvestments become costsCapEx vs. OpExDifficult to work with fixed budgets*Cloud is cheap in many casesYou rent capacity, not serversManagement is automatedIT staff will have other work to doMore innovationIT department can be bypassed for quick PoCsLow entry costs = lower barrier for innovationNew ways of generating revenue

24. Mindswitches – IT staffYour job will look different (a little)No more server re-imaging*Less server managementMonitoring of applications, not serversArchitecture of IT becomes far more interestingOn-premises servers and machinesVirtual machines somewhere in the cloud but also domain joinedSecurityLAN/WAN capacity / interconnectivityProvisioning

25. Mindswitches – DevelopersArchitecture becomes far more interesingStorage can be different depending on your needsDatabases can be different depending on your needsLoosely coupled applicationsThink bigIt’s a Windows worldProof of conceptsWhy not bypass IT for PoCs if you can just fire up a new subscription?

26. Microsoft CloudOverview of all platform components

27. Birds-eye overviewOnlineSaaSPaaSIaaSCustomerRelationManagementxRM...E-mail Social networkingBloggingPhotosOffice onlineSkyDriveLive Mesh...ReportingConnectivityAccess controlComputeStorageManagementContent Delivery NetworkRelational DatabaseReportingSynchronizationConnectivityService busAuthenticationFederationRelational dataManagementComputeStorageFlexible APIsFlexible APIsManagementInformation MarketplaceInformation MarketplaceReporting & BIConnectBilling & PaymentsData Sync

28. Technology support on Windows AzureSupported by Microsoft:.NET stackPHPJavaRubyNot supported yet working smoothly:MySQLMemcachedJetty (alternative JAVA server)…

29. North America Region Asia Pacific RegionEurope RegionN. Europe Sub-region N. Central – US Sub-region E. AsiaSub-region W. Europe Sub-region S. Central - US Sub-regionS.E. AsiaSub-region

36. EXAMPLE CASESSome example cases

37. A PayRoll CompanyAn example...

38. A Payroll CompanyDelivering payroll services to other companiesGeneral payroll services, staffing, tax, legal, ...Many processes not automatedContinuously on the look to automate processes and interaction with clients and their employees

39. Their project: Compensations à la CarteAllow customers to use their softwareAllow customers to plug in different servicesAllow employees of customers to select their compensations

40. What’s in the cloud?The problem…Compensations à la Carte

41. Some issues...Will it work?What will it cost with 1 customer and 50 employees?What will it cost with 100 customers and 1000 employees?What if all customers sign up and we have 100.000 employees?And what about the interaction with other services?Uncertainty!Development costs will be fixedInfrastructure costs... Maybe low, maybe high?

42. Cloud allows innovation!Development costs will be thereInfrastructure costs will increase when revenue increasesCloud is a perfect fit to drive innovation!

43. ChronoRaceAn example...FirstWindows Azure implementation in Belgium!

44. ChronoRaceDelivering infrastructure for timing sports eventsRunning, biking, triathlon, mountainbike, …Founded 10 years ago, Malmédy, 4 personsTiming of every participantVideo footage of every participantPDF certificates for every participantAround 340 events per year!Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Germany, Netherlands, …Small eventsLarge eventsDwars door Brugge 8.000 participantsAntwerp 10 Miles 17.000 participants20km of Brussels 30.000 participants

45. ChronoRace – Revenue Revenue generated from“Timing-as-a-Service”Video advertising

46. What’s in the cloud?The problem…Big events are fun, but also

47. Google Analytics fromAntwerp 10 Miles 2010

48. Big event…20km through Brussels> 30.000 participantsDownloading their certificate 30.000 hits processing a PDFWatching results online 30.000 hits*Having a video online 30.000 x +/- 10MB (= 292 GB)Watching their video 30.000 video views?And showing off to family and friends… 30.000 x 10MB x 10 views (avg.) = 2,92 TB bandwidth in 1 dayAbout 35 MbpsOver a 10 Mbps line…

50. What’s in the cloud?Possible solutionsWhat are the options?

51. Possible solutionsCurrent solution: traffic spreadOther optionsInvest in infrastructureMigrate to a cloud model

52. Invest in infrastructureCurrent infrastructureLeased hardware at a hoster10 Mbps Internet connection1 web server (XEON, 2 GB RAM), IIS61 database server (XEON, 2 GB RAM), SQL Server 2005“What-if” infrastructureLeased hardware at a hoster10 Mbps Internet connection5 web server (XEON, 2 GB RAM), IIS61 database server (XEON, 2 GB RAM), SQL Server 2005

53. Migrate to a cloud model“What-if” cloud modelWindows Azure StorageWindows Azure compute (1 instance ~ 15 days)Windows Azure compute (5 instances ~ 15 days)SQL Azure Business EditionEquivalent of 10 Mbps bandwidth

54. Economics

55. Other indicatorsWorkloadVariable workload, predictableBusinessAvailability has direct impact on revenueOffering as a serviceNo system engineers: developer currently maintaininginfrastructureDataLarge amount of data storage for short periods

56. Issues identifiedTechnicalApplication written in VS2005Third-party component is 32bit onlyAmount of traffic =~ 3 TB on 1 dayDeploymentNon-technicalThird-party component licensing per-serverAll employees busy on event  no time for intervention

57. ConclusionLarge economic benefitLess costs, more capacity ~ more revenueClear indicators for cloud modelSome minor issues detectedAn almost perfect cloud fit

58. What’s in the cloud?Implementing the SolutionLet’s go Windows Azure!

59. Step 1: Migrate toolsVS2005 Web Site projectMigrate to VS2010Migration took some timeAdd namespacesRestructure classesThrow out stuff that was no longer usedMigration allowed us to get a cleaner application

60. Step 2: DatabaseCurrent database size: around 2,5 GBSqueeze stuff into 1 GB?Data retentionRestructure database?Use multiple databases?**future proved this would probably be better

61. Step 2: DatabaseDecided to go for 10 GB versionMigrationUsing open source: SQL Azure Migration Wizardhttp://sqlazuremw.codeplex.comWorked surprisingly good!2 stored procedures could not be migrated

62. Step 2: Database1 week after project startCurrent website at www.chronorace.be with SQL Azure backendAs easy as changing the connection string!Cloud is not all-or-nothing

63. Step 3: StreamingCurrently a Flash playerDownloads chunks of +/- 1 MBShould work on blob storage!Cheap storageCheap trafficCDN supportAPI supports downloading chunks

64. Step 3: StreamingGetting a specific chunck was variable in response timeDecided to cache the video to compute web rolesDuring the advert that is shownNext view of the video is instant!Option for the future: Silverlight & IIS Smooth Streaming

65. Step 4: DeploymentSite is +/- 300 MB, deploy this every time?Deployment through portal seems to take foreverUploading 300 MB for a very small change is crazyWe decided to move images and static content to blob storage and serve it fromthereCode and dynamic content are on Windows Azure. Making it a 3,5 MB application.

66. Step 5: ScalingDone by doing this:Would be awesome to have this:Not possible!“When” should it scale?“How” should it scale?“Who” / “What” is responsible for scaling?<Instancescount="2" /><InstancesminInstances="3" maxInstances="10" />

67. Step 5: Auto ScalingAuto scaling would be a big benefitDuring events all 4 people are busyIt is the cloud after all? The scale-up/down thing?Application should be able to monitor itselfRealDolmen auto scaling component

68. Auto Scaling – Scaling logicScaling logic provider uses sensor data to suggest an action (up/fast-up/down/stable)To implement per applicationJust a suggestion!Scaling logic provider uses sensor data to suggest an action (up/fast-up/down/stable)To implement per applicationJust a suggestion!

69. Step 5: Auto Scaling in ChronoRaceSensor based on concurrent video streamsScales between 2 and 20 instances automaticallyHard to verify! The Windows Azure portal is not willing to disclose the number of instances during scale.MMC Snap-In does give useful info!http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsazuremmc

70. Step 5: Auto Scaling in ChronoRace20km through Brussels7 instances on average, 18 in peak

71. What’s in the cloud?ConclusionWas it a good move?

72. EconomicsPrice is high

73. Would have crashed

74. Ad revenue impact 

75. Price is moderate

76. All requests served

77. Ad revenue impact Economics – Migration costsHave a guess…Total work for migration: 9 days (FTE)Migration of VS2005 to VS2010: 4 daysMigration of database and application: 5 days (FTE)

78. ChronoRace summaryPitfalls were identified during Windows Azure AssessmentMost hours spent with VS2005 - VS2010 migration20km through Brussels event survivedRealDolmen auto scaling componentLeverage the platformBenefit from Scale vs. Economics

79. TakeawaysWhat to remember?

80. What to remember?Cloud is not all-or-nothingWindows Azure isOperating system (computing & storage)SQL AzureAppFabric (= integration)Cloud is notall-or-nothingQuick winsOn and OffScale fast, fail fastPeak scenarios

81. AZUG.BE – Azure User Group BelgiumFocus on the Azure Services PlatformCommunity drivenFocus on architectureAnd developmentAnd the business value of Azure

82. Thankyou …… foryourattention !… for the invitation !Maarten Balliauwhttp://blog.maartenballiauw.be