Just some observations over time about the difference between applications in the Cloud and apps which run on Virtual Infrastructure. There seems to be some understanding gaps between the two.

Cloud Apps:

  • Load Balancers a must
  • Segmented application data a must via persistent object store for pure storage and CDN for distribution
  • Green field data
  • Agile development cycle
  • Continuous/Push Button Deployment with small incremental changes

Virtual Infrastructure Apps:

  • Waterfall development lifecycle (Off the shelf or behemoth internal app)
  • Maintenance windows with long downtime
  • Move to Virt Consolidation/savings driven
  • Brown field data
  • Large changes in releases, resulting in My-Mom-Cleaned-My-Room syndrome also found in Cloud/SaaS

Both:

  • 100% Uptime expected
  • Unknown architecture is First Blamed when there is a performance / availability issue. Most TTD is spent on ruling out the unknown  components when the problem’s usually within the application.

There are breakdowns when organizations attempt to run Cloud Apps on VI,  or worse…when organizations attempt to run VI apps on Cloud without the proper considerations.