Tag: cloud computing

CLOUDCONF 2018: DON’T MISS THE CLOUD COMPUTING EVENT OF THE YEAR

Post author By 8quip
Post date 9 April 2018

CLOUDCONF 2018: DON’T MISS THE CLOUD COMPUTING EVENT OF THE YEAR

Thursday, 12th of April – Centro congressi Lingotto, Turin

CloudConf, the long-awaited event of the year about Cloud computing will take place in Turin on Thursday 12th of April at Centro Congressi Lingotto in Turin, via Nizza 208. A whole day dedicated to the news about Cloud computing for every passionate, professional and company of the field. There will be more than 500 attendees and 18 international speakers from high-level firms including Amazon Web Services, Google Compute Cloud, Elastic, IBM, InfluxDB, Clever Cloud e RedHat.
Topics which will be discussed are different, from Machine Learning to Serverless technology and Container solutions.

It is a perfect opportunity to keep update on Cloud trends of the year and develop new collaborations. Indeed, the several coffe braks among the speeches will facilitate the exchange of views and opinions with other attendees and you could also visit the sponsors stand. The conference will start at 9.00 in the morning with a welcome coffee and will end at 5 in the afternoon with a final happy hour, ideal for networking and discussions about the topics seen during the day.

This year too we will be main sponsor of CloudConf: come by our booth and find out the special offers dedicated to the event attendees. We will see you on Thursday, don’t miss it!

Do not have the tickets yet? Buy them now and visit the official CloudConf 2018 site for any further information.

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Tags cloud computing

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8 TOP CLOUD TRENDS FOR 2018

Post author By 8quip
Post date 5 January 2018

8 TOP CLOUD TRENDS FOR 2018

What should we expect about Cloud computing for the coming year?

The adoption of Cloud solutions by companies is now a standard, but this doesn’t mean that the Cloud world is static, actually it is not at all. This IT field is constantly growing and changing. In 2018 there will be different emerging tendencies: according to the experts, here’s the 8 top cloud computing trends for 2018.

1. Multicloud and open-source
In 2018 multicloud solutions will be increasingly used. The choice of using more providers and environments can have different reasons. Sometimes is simply for questions of procurement policy, because a few companies can’t afford to rely on a unique provider.

Other times solutions, costs and quality of the services offered are better from other vendors. To benefit of these and other advantages, open-source tools become crucial. Indeed, with a multicloud technology the open source is the only solution to avoid vendor lock-in to a specific Cloud environment.

2. From Cloud adoption to Cloud optimization
If first the question was using or not Cloud for my business, now is how I can optimize my Cloud infrastructure. The optimization involves many aspects: from architecture, to data, to security. In particular, the experts expect that just data optimization will be a matter of primary importance in the coming year.

3. Growth of hybrid Cloud
The infrastructures will expand to hybrid Cloud models. Different components, like availability and proximity of applications and services, will request hybrid Cloud environments. Corporate data and applications are increasingly divided on in-house platforms, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, IoT. In other words, Hybrid Cloud model will become a fact of life.

4. Containers, orchestration and microservices
The experts say that containers, microservices and orchestration will go mainstream soon. Containers and the trends related are hot topic still now. So we expect a great adoption of these kind of solution next year. In addition, orchestration tools as Kubernetes (read the previous article!) are very useful in hybrid environments, because they allow you moving easily containers and applications between the different environments.

5. AI and Cloud security
The Artificial Intelligence can be used for security purposes in many different ways, both in the Cloud or out of the Cloud. For IT infrastructures, security is a crucial component. The AI helps to make Cloud environments safer, by preventing and fighting cyber attacks which threat infrastructures and by giving a quick and reactive response compared to the traditional security systems.

6. Blockchain
Blockchain is a technology built to support bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies and it can store large amounts of data using a network of computers instead of a single located server. Blockchain offers different features to support security, as data immutability and transparency and autonomy. Theoretically, this technology works with all online transactions of money, properties and goods and it has a great potential to support financial online transitions, from tax collection to money transfer, where banking can be difficult.

7. Data Virtualization
Data virtualization is a method of data management which allows applications to recover and manipulate data without knowing the technical details of them (as localization or format). It provides data in real time from many sources to multiple users. It is a model easy to understand, create and maintain. The main aim of data virtualization is to get the access from different sources through a single point, enabling users to access their applications easily. Recently, it has been integrated to the Cloud and it will be used more and more in 2018.

8. Enhanced internet quality and the rise of 5G
Just as the quantity of data generated and stored all over the world constantly grows, consumers expected better and faster internet connections. Many teams are working to increase the internet quality and soon we will be able to use the 5G network. A better network will bring higher expectations also for applications and services, which have to be increasingly responsive and fast.

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Tags cloud computing, multicloud

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WHAT IS KUBERNETES AND WHY YOU SHOULD USE IT

Post author By 8quip
Post date 21 December 2017

WHAT IS KUBERNETES AND WHY YOU SHOULD USE IT

Kubernetes and containers

The last time we saw what is Docker and how it works. Today we are dedicated to Kubernetes. These tools are strictly connected and both belong to the container technology. Let’s see together what we are talking about.

Kubernetes is an open source tool to orchestrate and manage containers. It has been developed by the Google team and is one of the most used instrument for this purpose. Kubernetes allows you removing many of the manual processes involved in the deployment and scalability of containered applications and manage easily and efficiently clusters of hosts on which containers are executed.

Imagine using Docker and creating an infrastructure composed by several containers; once you reach a certain degree of complexity, Docker struggles to activate and deactivate the containers and to carry out all the other management operations, and is here that Kubernetes comes in. Indeed, this tool was born just to simplify the containers management and orchestrate quickly and efficiently the entire infrastructure. However, the use of Kubernetes is not only related to the amount of containers, but especially to the level of availability requested for the service. Kubernetes is ideal for any business which needs a High Availability solution and it ensures the service continuity with SLA close to 100%.

How it works?

First of all, let’s introduce some basic terms to understand the Kubernetes architecture.

Master: the machine which controls Kubernetes nodes. It’s the origin point of all processes.

Nodes: machines that execute the requested activities, controlled by the Kubernetes master.

Pod: a group composed by one or more containers distributed on a single node. All containers of a pod share some resources. Pods abstract networking and storage from the underlying container, allowing to move easily containers on clusters.

Kubernetes offers the possibility of deploying containers in a scalable way with the aim of manage workloads at best. It enables to create applications and services on more containers, program them and manage their scalability and integrity in the long term. The complexity of management deriving from a high amount of conainers is simplified by grouping containers in “pods”, which help to programme workloads and provide requested services, including storage and networking to containers. Kubernetes is also able to automatically balance the loads into the pods, facilitating a lot the whole infrastructure management. In addition, Kubernetes standard infrastructure is fully redundant and this reduces drastically the risk of downtime, while with the use of simpler container management tool like Docker, the availability is not ensured at so high leveles.

Thanks to the development of new technologies and to the progress made with the namespaces, in 2008 was born the project LinuX Container (LXC): the most complete solution of containers management in those years. Among the crucial components of the project there is the development of cgroups, created by Google in 2006, which allow controlling and confining the amount of resources used for a process or for a group of processes.

Resuming: why you should use Kubernetes?
1. If you want to manage your containered applications easily, quickly and efficiently
2. If you need a HA solution and you can’t suffer downtime in any case
3. if you have a complex infrastructured, composed by several containers
4. If you want to take advantage of many other benefits of Kubernetes that we’ll show you in the next post 🙂

Do you want to use Kubernetes but you don’t know how to start? Request a free consulting with our experts!

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Tags cloud computing, container

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CONTAINERS VS VIRTUAL MACHINES

Post author By 8quip
Post date 14 December 2017

CONTAINER VS VIRTUAL MACHINE

What are the differences between containers and virtual machines?

In these days we talked about containers, the new technology of virtualization which is really taking off in the IT field, especially in the Cloud computing industry.

Many are wondering which are the differences between containers and virtual machines, the method of virtualization most widely used until now, or if they are really different and maybe containers are a “simple virtualization”. Today we’ll see the main differences between containers and virtual machines and we’ll clear up any confusion.

Containers can be considered as a subsidiary of virtualization, a sort of “new generation” which introduces significant innovations to the traditional technique. First of all, the containers approach not involves the hypervisor but there is a system that package the applications in containers. This system creates a level of abstraction between the containers and the host operating system and manages the activation and deactivation of containers. Another big difference is that virtualization enables to run simultaneously several operating systems in a single architecture, while containers share the same operating system kernel and isolate the application processes from the rest of the infrastructure.

Here’s the main differences between containers and virtual machines:

– Simplified deployment: the technology of containers makes it possible to simplify the deployment of any application because it is packaged in a single component distributable and configurable with a unique command line, without worrying about the configuration of the runtime environment

– Fast availability: by virtualizing the only operating system and the components needed to run the application, instead of the entire machine, startup times are drastically reduced compared to virtual machines ones

– Wide portability: containers can be easily and rapidly created and replicated in any environment. This is a great benefit for the lifecycle software perspective, because containers can be copied very quickly to create development, test and live environments and do not require the usual configuration.

– Granular control: containers can package an entire application or just a single component. In this way they allows developers to further divide computing resources in micro-services, ensuring a higher control on the application running and an increase of the whole infrastructure performance.

– Agility: a great strength of containers is that they are “lighter” than virtual machines because they don’t need starting their own operating system. Consequently, containers are faster to be activated or deactivated and they are the ideal solution for environments with a processing load which varies widely and in an unforeseeable way.

But as for everything there are strengths and weaknesses, also containers have their vulnerabilities. One of them is represented by management difficulties when there is a high number of containers. On the contrary, virtual machines are simpler to use especially because rarely they reach large quantities, as occurs easily using containers. Another weakness is just the sharing of the operating system kernel. In theory, one of the containers could compromise the stability of the kernel, by affecting badly the other ones.

In conclusion, we can say that they are not opposed solutions. According to the purpose, virtualization or container technology may be more suitable. For instance, the agility of containers clashes with the impossibility of having more operating systems in the same infrastructure. In the same way, with limited resources and capacity, a “light” solution like containers is more suitable and performing compared to an infrastructure composed by virtual machines.

Do you want to use containers but you don’t know how to start? Request a free consulting with our experts!

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Tags cloud computing, container

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BENEFITS OF CONTAINERS

Post author By 8quip
Post date 12 December 2017

BENEFITS OF CONTAINERS

Why use containers?

In the last articles we have explained what containers are and we have seen a short history of this technology. Today we will focus on one of the most interesting aspect, seeing which are the advantages of using containers for companies.

In particular, we have identified 6 benefits of containers which make the infrastructure more flexible and efficient.

1. Isolation
A great benefit of containers technology is the isolation of resources: RAM, processes, devices and networking are virtualized at the Operating System level, and the applications are isolated from each other.

This means that you don’t have to worry about conflicts of dependencies or shared resources, because each application has defined limitations in the use of resources. In addition, thanks to isolation, the protection level is higher.

2. Increase of productivity
One of containers benefits, maybe the most obvious, is the chance to host a large amount of containers also on PC or laptop, having always a deployment and testing environment available for any application, operation that would be more complex with virtual machines. In particular, this kind of technology resulting in an increase of developers productivity, thanks to the removal of dependencies and conflicts among different services. Each container can host an application or a single part of it and, as we saw above, is isolated from other containers. In this way developers can forget about synchronization and dependencies for any service, as well as they are free to run the updates without worrying about possible problems among the components.

3. Easy deployment and shorter start-up times
Each container includes not only the application but also all the package useful to run it, by simplifying any deployment operation and facilitating the distribution on different operating systems with no further effort of configuration. Besides, virtualizing only the operating system, start-up times become much shorter.

4. Coherent environment
Thanks to the standardization approach, containers enable the portability of resources, by reducing issues about the displacement of applications through the cycle of development, testing and production. Containers can be deployed in an easy and secure way independently form the environment. It’ s not necessary to configure servers manually and new features can be released more easily.

5. Operating efficiency
With containers you can run more applications on the same instance and specify the right amount of resources which should be used, by ensuring their optimization. Containers are lighter than VM and make the system more agile, by increasing the operating efficiency, the development and the management of applications.

6. Version control
Container technology enables to manage the versions of application code and its dependencies. You can keep track of the container versions, analyzing the difference among them and eventually come back to the previous version.

Containers have multiple benefits: they are an advanced technological solution able to improve the application management and make the architectural system lighter and more performing. Many talk of them as an option to the more popular virtual machines, but what are the difference between VM and containers? We’ll find it out in the next post!

Do you want to use containers but you don’t know how to start? Request a free consulting with our experts!

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Tags cloud computing, container

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CONTAINERS: FROM THE ORIGINS TO DOCKER

Post author By 8quip
Post date 5 December 2017

CONTAINERS: FROM THE ORIGINS TO DOCKER

How was the technology of containers born?

In the last post we talked about containers, a technology increasingly used in the IT and Cloud computing field, the origin of which is not so recent as you might think. Let’s see together a short history of containers: from the idea on which the technology is based to the latest solutions (Docker and similar systems).

The basic concept of containers was born back in the 1979 with chroot UNIX, a system able to provide isolated spaces for the processes in the storage in use. For this particular characteristic, Chroot can be considered as a sort of forerunner of the actual containers.

Only after twenty years comes the closest solution to the containers used nowadays: it is FreeBSD Jail, introduced in 2000. FreeBSD Jail allowed to distribute the system in more isolated sub-systems called jail. Compared to chroot, the additional feature of these environments was the possibility of isolate also file system, users and networking, making them more secure. But this solution have some weaknesses in terms of implementation and it was replaced soon by more efficient methods.

The following year, in 2001, was developed a solution similar to FreeBSD Jail called Linux VServer, capable to partition the computer resources in the so-called “security contexts”, into which there was a VPS system (Virtual Private Server). The VServer project, launched by Jacques Gèlinas, lays the foundations to the creation of several controlled user spaces in Linux and, during the years, with additional technologies and components, it will lead to the development of the current Linux containers.

2013 is the turning point: it comes Docker, the Linux container system most used in the IT field. Docker is an open source project developed by the company Dotcloud (afterwards renamed Docker) on the basis of LXC, which through several advances becomes what is Docker technology now. Since 2014 Docker doesn’t use LXC as default execution environment anymore, replaced by its own Libcontainer library, based on the programming language GO. Docker is a complex but very intuitive ecosystem for the deployment and the management of containers, rich in functionalities including image system, local and global registries for containers and a command line interface.

We talked specifically about Docker because is the main used technology in the world, but obviously is not the only one container management system: there are different technological solutions which have the same function like Kubernetes, Google Container Engine and many more.

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Tags cloud computing, container

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CONTAINERS: THE FUTURE OF CLOUD

Post author By 8quip
Post date 22 November 2017

CONTAINERS: THE FUTURE OF CLOUD

What they are and how they work?

Today we talk about containers, one of the hottest topics in the Cloud computing field. They are an emerging technology which enables to execute an application and its dependencies in processes isolated by resources.

Imagine being able to virtualize just a small part of the machine instead of the whole system: the result is containers. This innovative method of virtualization promise a streamlined, easy-to-deploy and secure method of implementing specific infrastructure requirements, representing a valid alternative to Virtual machines.

The Cloud world is gradually revolutionizing thanks to containers, meaning virtualization and isolation of a part of the system and not of the entire machine. The outstanding feature is that containers create an isolation boundary at the application level rather than at the server level. This isolation means that if anything goes wrong in that single container it only affects that individual container and not the whole VM or server.This abstraction level brings several benefits that we will see in the coming posts.

In addition, containers are smaller than virtual machines and they request less computing power. They don’t need the hypervisor as the VM and they respond to the need of flexibility and saving necessary to use the Cloud resources. Containers are an advanced technology unique for its modularity and compatibility, which determines its largest business advantage.

What are the particular benefits of containers? What are the main differences with the more popular virtual machines? How was container technology born? We will talk about it next weeks, by going deeper in the analysis of containers technology.

Do you want to know more? Request a free consulting on container technology to our specialists!

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Tags cloud computing, container

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5 TOP CLOUD COMPUTING MISTAKES TO AVOID

Post author By 8quip
Post date 4 October 2017

5 TOP CLOUD COMPUTING MISTAKES TO AVOID

The migration to Cloud helps to reduce significantly expense and optimize costs for your business.

An increasing number of firms is moving to Cloud-based technologies, but during this migration is necessary to be careful about some elements that, if underrated, could damage the company. There are many benefits deriving from the use of the Cloud, but there are also some very common mistakes that enterprises often do, by compromising their businesses.

What are the main mistakes to avoid in the Cloud?

1. Not establish a role-base access
Limit the access to sensitive information only to authorized personnel is crucial. As not everybody has the access to financial data whithin a office, not everybody working in the Cloud should access to all the information contained in it. It is good to improve the security measures, for instance by adding more step in the authentication phase which can block the access to unauthorized people.

2. Assuming that data in the Cloud are automatically protected
It’s the typical mistake companies make, thinking that security solutions to protect data are automatically provided by the vendor. The service provider has to be compliant with some standard of security, but that you aren’t responsible for securing your own data, indeed you have to do it at your own time and expense. The good news is that secure your data enables to get saving in time end money, because it prevents the loss of important information.

3. Not ensuring a reliable service
The idea of cut costs choosing a low-cost service provider can be tempting. But putting data at risk in order to save a bit of money at the end will cost more, both at financial level and in all of the trouble of losing your information. Always ensure you have the proper network requirements to run your Cloud technologies.

4. Getting lock-in by your vendor
You could find difficult migrating from a provider to another one for many different reasons, despite of your desire to do it. To avoid these kind of situations, it is necessary to check and ask questions prior to any agreement being made.

5. Not having a backup plan
Knowing the way to recover your data is essential. Once data are secured through specific backup solutions, peace of mind is ensured even in case of a disaster.

Do you want to migrate to Cloud? Discover all the benefits and ask for a free consulting with our experts!

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Tags cloud computing

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CLOUDCONF 2017: THE CLOUD COMPUTING EVENT OF THE YEAR

Post author By 8quip
Post date 15 March 2017

CLOUDCONF 2017: THE CLOUD COMPUTING EVENT OF THE YEAR

Thursday, 16th of March – Centro congressi Lingotto, Turin

Thursday 16th of March will take place the long-awaited event CloudConf 2017, the highlight of the year about cloud computing for developers, start-ups and IT companies.

The location of the event is the Centro congressi Lingotto in Turin, via Nizza 208, and there will be a lot of sponsor and attendees. The main targets of the conference are developers, start-ups and IT professionals and among the sponsors there are the biggest names of the cloud computing scenario at the international level.

The CloudConf has annual frequency and brings together all the IT professionals and interested in the subject, an event you cannot lose to keep updated with the latest technology and developments of the ICT industry.

From 9.00 in the morning are taking place speechs of significant figures of the field, among which professionals from leading enterprises like AWS, Google, Microsoft, DigitalOcean, IBM and more. They will face current issues and they will talk about the new approaches of cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, new technologies and future perspectives. Besides, during the various breaks will be possible to have networking moments to share comments and opinions with other attendees, companies and speakers.

This year Criticalcase is proud to take part as a main sponsor of the CloudConf 2017: you can visit our stand and know us better, our staff will be available for any information needed.

We will see you tomorrow, don’t miss it!

Do not have yet the tickets? Buy them now and visit the official CloudConf 2017 site for any further information .

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Tags cloud computing

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5 BENEFITS OF CLOUD COMPUTING FOR BUSINESS

Post author By 8quip
Post date 8 February 2017

5 BENEFITS OF CLOUD COMPUTING FOR BUSINESS

The future of business is in the clouds: why companies are moving to cloud computing?

The term “cloud” is on everyone’s lips and the majority of businesses are moving to cloud computing technology. But do you know what are the real benefits of cloud? Why it is necessary moving to this new technology to keep updated?

Today’s article has the aim of highlighting the 5 main benefits of cloud computing for companies, independently from the business size or field.

1. Scalability
First of all, cloud application are highly scalable. That means you can add or remove resources or services according to your business requirements, in any moment. You don’t need to predict picks of user or client requests anymore, because you can just change the capabilities and the number of functions real time, right when you need it.

2. Optimization
Cloud computing simplifies a lot the business processes, guaranteeing more rapid operations and the optimization of procedures in general. Indeed, the cloud infrastructure is well-known for being more agile and performing compared to the traditional model: the benefit is given by the possibility of sharing data and application through the cloud, thus increasing the business productivity.

3. Flexibility
Another cloud computing’s benefit is the chance to offer highly flexible and tailored solutions, based on each client’s needs. Thanks to the variety of cloud services (IaaS, SaaS, PaaS etc.), companies can choose the perfect solution for their business requirements.

4. Focus on development and innovation
Cloud computing allows to waste less time and energy on IT management and to focus on business and innovative solutions development. Indeed, who manage the IT department need cloud application which work together in a uniform way, so that they can concentrate on what is more important: creating a competitive benefit for their companies.

5. Reduction of cost
In closing, the cloud enables to cut the IT infrastructure cost, especially for what refers to its maintenance and its management, and consequently cloud computing allows to reduce the expense related to the maintaining of IT specialists. It follows that with cloud you can get a more agile and performing infrastructure at a competitive price.

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Tags business, cloud computing

CLOUDCONF 2018: DON’T MISS THE CLOUD COMPUTING EVENT OF THE YEAR

Thursday, 12th of April – Centro congressi Lingotto, Turin

Contact Us

8 TOP CLOUD TRENDS FOR 2018

What should we expect about Cloud computing for the coming year?

Contact us

WHAT IS KUBERNETES AND WHY YOU SHOULD USE IT

Kubernetes and containers

How it works?

Contact us

CONTAINER VS VIRTUAL MACHINE

What are the differences between containers and virtual machines?

Here’s the main differences between containers and virtual machines:

Contact us

BENEFITS OF CONTAINERS

Why use containers?

Contact us

CONTAINERS: FROM THE ORIGINS TO DOCKER

How was the technology of containers born?

Contact us

CONTAINERS: THE FUTURE OF CLOUD

What they are and how they work?

Contact us

5 TOP CLOUD COMPUTING MISTAKES TO AVOID

The migration to Cloud helps to reduce significantly expense and optimize costs for your business.

What are the main mistakes to avoid in the Cloud?

Contact us

CLOUDCONF 2017: THE CLOUD COMPUTING EVENT OF THE YEAR

Thursday, 16th of March – Centro congressi Lingotto, Turin

Contact us

5 BENEFITS OF CLOUD COMPUTING FOR BUSINESS

The future of business is in the clouds: why companies are moving to cloud computing?

Contact us

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