The GoGrid newsletter went out today. Unfortunately, if you are not already a GoGrid customer, you didn’t receive it…until now! There are a lot of exciting items covered here (a few of which you already know if you subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed including the Edit, Delete and Restore function of MyGSIs). If you aren’t already a GoGrid user, I recommend that you sign up (and here is a quick hint, if you want a $100 GoGrid credit on new account, contact a GoGrid Sales Rep and they can consult with you on your best options for the Cloud).

Below is the entire GoGrid Newsletter (October 2009):

Hello Michael,

In this edition of the GoGrid newsletter I cover recent feature releases, planned features for the next release, and the end-of-life (EoL) of Server Images with preinstalled applications.  Here are the specific topics:

1. MyGSI Enhancements: Edit, Delete, and Restore
2. Revamped Billing Summary Widget
3. Cloud Storage: Data Import via Postal Service
4. Sneak Preview: Planned features for the next two releases slated for early and mid November: (more…)

Yesterday an update to GoGrid was released with the following enhancements:

• Edit, Delete & Restore MyGSI Images
• Updated Billing Widget
• Updated GoGrid API

On August 11, 2009, we announced the availability of GoGrid 2.0 which included the new personal server images (MyGSI) functionality. Details on that important release are found here. Using MyGSI to manage your server repository or inventory is a great way to not only speed up your workflow in terms of deploying copies of servers quickly and easily, but also save money in the process (by storing your personal server images in GoGrid Cloud Storage for just a few dollars a month).

Edit, Delete & Restore MyGSI Images

As our customers were demanding this feature (MyGSIs), we got it out to market as quickly as possible. This new release now provides you with the ability to Edit, Delete and Restore MyGSIs that are located within the Server Images tab.

DELETE

Hopefully many of you are already enjoying the MyGSI feature. Here are a few things you should know about the newly pushed functionality. Within the Server Images tab, you should now see a new icon to the far right hand side of the server images that looks like a trash can:

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You know about Cloud Computing right? And you know that GoGrid is probably one of the easiest onramps to hosting within the Cloud with our award-winning web-based portal, private server images called MyGSI, point-and-click deployments of Windows & Linux cloud servers, f5 load balancers and Cloud Storage. So, how can we further lower the barrier to entry to the Cloud? How about by providing a service that lets you ship us physical media like hard drives crammed full of data that you want in your GoGrid cloud? Let us load it for you to our Cloud Storage solution!

GoGrid Cloud Storage

First, you might be asking, what is GoGrid’s Cloud Storage anyway? It’s pretty simple actually. It’s an instantly scalable and reliable file-level backup and storage service for Windows and Linux cloud servers running in the GoGrid cloud. You basically mount GoGrid’s Cloud Storage, which uses a secure private network, using common transfer protocols like SCP, FTP, SAMBA/CIFS and RSYNC to move your data in and out of Cloud Storage. Your storage scales dynamically, on-the-fly, and you only pay for what you use.

Another nice thing, we give you an initial 10 GB of space for FREE! Each additional GB is $0.15/GB per month. More info can be found on the GoGrid product page as well as on this (older) blog post.

The New Data Transfer Service

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Drum roll please! We are excited to announce the availability of GoGrid version 2.0, released today to all users. This is an important release from a product standpoint as it positions GoGrid firmly as the easiest to use hosting provider within the Cloud Computing Infrastructure marketplace.

What is new with GoGrid in the 2.0 release?

• MyGSI – GoGrid Server Images
• Improved Server Deployment Times
• IP Addresses in Passwords Tab

The 10,000 Foot View

Before I get into the 100 foot view, it is probably important to talk about what MyGSIs mean to you from a higher level.

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Web Applications like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, SugarCRM and others are all the rage and have been for quite a while. The huge availability of Open Source applications, typically based on Linux, Apache, mySQL and PHP (LAMP stacks) that you can find in SourceForge or other repositories, makes the implementation of powerful web-based solutions a snap. Once you find the web application of your dreams, the next step is finding a hosting provider. There are many VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting providers that offer shared hosting at pennies on the dollar. But with those VPS solutions, you are left with exactly that, a “shared” environment. So, if someone else on your shared server is running bad scripts or code that sucks up resources on your server, you are affected with little or no recourse to resolve other than to complain, moan or move to a different provider.

So, as you grow (or as your service deteriorates due to the resource-sucking of others on your shared box), you are left with a decision of what to do next. Many people choose the most obvious upgrade path of leasing a dedicated server (e.g., at ServePath, we offer dedicated, managed hosting) or colocating (where you bring your own hardware and a hosting provider like Coloserve leases space, power, cooling, security and bandwidth). But now, you have another option that truly fits the model of delivering scalable web hosting…put in in the Cloud, with GoGrid, for example.

Recently I helped map out the implementation of a secure, redundant, load-balanced web application in the Cloud using GoGrid.

Original Setup

A client originally set up the following implementation of a WordPress blog on GoGrid:

• One Web/Application Server (more…)

Raditha Dissanayake posted a blog entry comparing Amazon EC2 and GoGrid performance. Unfortunately, we think Raditha did not use the most rigorous methodology possible for doing his comparison. It would be inappropriate for GoGrid to performance test Amazon’s EC2. In fact, their Customer Agreement may actually make such activity questionable, but IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer).

Let’s take a more rigorous look at GoGrid disk subsystem performance.

Framing the Issue

As a start the entire issue is a LOT more complex than can potentially be covered here. Today’s disks, hard drive controllers, and operating systems have many different kinds of caching mechanisms. In addition, virtualization systems like Xen can impact results in unexpected ways. For example, did you know that Xen can be deployed in two major manners?

Either ‘paravirtualized’ or ‘hardware virtualized’. The two different models almost certainly impact any testing methodology. And yes, you guessed it, Amazon and GoGrid don’t configure Xen in the same way. Amazon uses paravirtualization and GoGrid uses hardware virtualization. Beyond this public information neither Amazon nor GoGrid provide significant details about their infrastructure considering it, rightfully so, proprietary intellectual property.

Without a deep understanding of all of the issues it’s difficult to do a test much less a proper comparison.

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By now, many in the Cloud Computing space have heard about (or even read) the University of California Electrical Engineering & Computer Science’s (EECS) study on Cloud Computing titled: “Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing.” Published on February 10th, 2009, the EECS’s paper provides a seemingly academic study of the Cloud Computing movement, attempts to explain what Cloud Computing is all about, and identifies potential opportunities as well as challenges present within the market.

The 20+ page study is authored by Michael Armbrust, Armando Fox, Rean Griffith, Anthony D. Joseph, Randy H. Katz, Andrew Konwinski, Gunho Lee, David A. Patterson, Ariel Rabkin, Ion Stoica and Matei Zaharia who all work in RAD Lab. (Interestingly, several of the companies mentioned within the study are also Founding Sponsors and/or affiliate members: Sun, Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, etc.).

There has already been plenty of discussion and analysis of this study (by James Urquhart, Krishna Sankar and has even appeared on Slashdot.org). Needless to say, I felt compelled to get my two cents in, especially from the perspective of a Cloud Computing Infrastructure vendor.

From an academic standpoint, this document definitely has some legs. It is complete with carefully thought out scenarios, examples and even formulae, as well as graphs and tables. Some of the points that are brought up even got me scratching my head (e.g., using flash memory to help by “adding another relatively fast layer to the classic memory hierarchy”). Even the case analysis of a DDoS attack from a cost perspective of those initiating an attack to those warding off an attack on a Cloud was interesting to ponder. I commend these group of authors on undertaking such a grand task of not only writing by committee but also overlaying a very business school vs. mathematics and computer sciences approach to the writing and analysis.

Unfortunately, however, as I read through the document, I started scrawling madly in the margins with commentary that is somewhat contrary to what was written within the study.

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Last week, we quietly released some new larger GoGrid Cloud server instances. Today we are making that announcement a bit louder. What does this mean to you? Well, your GoGrid cloudcenter just got a bit broader and more powerful. For a year now, we have been offering 0.5, 1 and 2 Gigabyte RAM options in both Windows and Linux, now we have 4 and 8 GB RAM instances available. These larger instances, available on all 64-bit operating systems, allow for new types of higher-end environments to be spun up using all of the characteristics of Cloud Computing.

The lower size RAM instances (0.5, 1 & 2 GB) are perfect for a web front-end, where either Apache or IIS are running. For extremely high-performance and high I/O instances, we have been offering Cloud Connect as a way to create a dedicated hybrid infrastructure where Cloud Web Servers running on GoGrid can be linked via private dedicated network connections to dedicated and managed servers within the ServePath network.

With the new 4 and 8 GB RAM options, you can now set up a infrastructure with a robust set of high-performance application servers within the Cloud. These types of high RAM instances are perfect for users who want to take advantage of the increased RAM, CPU cores and persistent storage, especially when used in conjunction with specific applications (e.g., Microsoft SQL server or other Enterprise applications) that require more larger amounts of resources like RAM or CPU.

The 4 GB RAM server images can be deployed via the GoGrid web portal and API. The 8 GB RAM server images currently may only be deployed via the GoGrid API. I recommend reading the API section of the GoGrid wiki in order to fully understand how to deploy 8 GB RAM instances.

The 4 and 8 GB RAM images, available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1, CentOS 5.1, and Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 64-bit operating systems bring a new level of performance to the GoGrid line. 4 GB Cloud Servers have 3 CPU Cores and 8 GB have 6 CPU Cores, ensuring dedicated CPU allocations and high performance.

All GoGrid Cloud Servers come with persistent storage. The new larger RAM allocations announced today, are delivered with increased persistent storage: 4 GB Cloud Servers have 240 GB of hard drive space and 8 GB have 480 GB of storage allocated at boot time. Additional storage can be added using GoGrid’s dynamically scalable Cloud Storage offering which includes a 10 GB free allotment to start with. Each 1 GB thereafter costs $0.15/GB/month.

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Last week, Randy Bias, VP of Technology Strategy and I participated in a podcast on Cloud Computing called “Overcast: Conversations on Cloud Computing“, hosted by James Urquhart and Geva Perry. The Overcast podcast series discusses various aspects of the Cloud Computing Industry and related technologies. Previous guests included Lew Tucker (Sun Microsystems), Greg Ness (Infoblox) and John Willis (a leading cloud computing blogger), among others. The podcast, “Overcast Show#6: Feb 5, 2009 – with Randy Bias and Michael Sheehan, GoGrid” is a little less than an hour in length and covers many of the following topics:

• Distinction and clarifications around the terms “Cloudcenter” and “Infrastructure Web Services” as they existing within the Cloud Infrastructure layer. (More reading on cloudcenters can be found here and here.)
• Understanding GoGrid’s approach to standards and interoperability, especially as they relate to datacenter and infrastructure standards
• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) providers such as Google App Engine and how Cloud Infrastructure (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) and GoGrid fits in
• Discussion around how we recently put our GoGrid API under a Creative Commons license as well as our efforts to involve other cloud providers and vendors, such as Flexiscale, RightScale and Eucalyptus, in building open standards from the ground up (more info here)
• How GoGrid is working with Puppet and Chef technologies to automate system administration and configuration management
• Using GoGrid’s Cloud Connect offering to “cloudburst” and create hybrid infrastructure topologies using the dynamic scalability of Cloud Web Servers and the robust, high I/O throughput of dedicated backend servers
• …and much more…

We encourage you to listen to this podcast to gain some insight on our thought leadership, concepts and ideas around Cloud Computing, GoGrid and the hosting industry in general. This (and all) podcasts are available in a variety of formats:

• Download Overcast Podcast #6 as an MP3 File
• Subscribe to Overcast in iTunes (Note: this link will attempt to launch iTunes.)
• Play from this site (click on the graphic below)

  Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

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Today, Sarah Perez of ReadWriteWeb posted the question, “Do you trust the cloud?” to FriendFeed and wrote about her findings in the article “In Cloud We Trust?” The problem is, I believe the question itself was too vague. But this “finger to the air to test the wind direction” did spark quite a bit of discussion and further made me realize that the public in general doesn’t fully yet understand the full spectrum of Cloud Computing (and this was even within a social media/tech-savvy audience).

As is evident from the 90+ comments that popped up within 18 hours of posting the question, people have a lot to say about the subject. The important thing to consider here is the lack of granularity of the question and the range of responses. To really ask and analyze the question better, one must fine-tune it more to the detailed components of what makes up Cloud Computing, namely: Cloud Applications, Cloud Platforms, Cloud Aggregators, Cloud Extenders and Cloud Infrastructure. My guess is, most people responding to the question don’t truly understand the differences between these layers in the Cloud. Perhaps better, more focused questions would have been:

• “Do you trust Cloud Applications like Flickr, Facebook and Gmail?”
• “Do you trust Google or others with your critical data?”
• “Do you see yourself using the Cloud as your primary or ancillary IT strategy?”

It seemed to me that the common thread within the FriendFeed responses was that of FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. The question itself is phrased with an inherent FUD factor which can quickly skew the resulting answers. However, I do think that this question is important from a consumer standpoint, that of the everyday user of Gmail or Evernote or DropBox, for example. The biggest commonality that I saw from reading through all of the comments was that of “backups.” My read is that people are concerned that their data will be lost in some way, either by a company pulling the plug or a hard-drive crashing or just not being able to physically “touch” it.

From a consumer standpoint, this article is appropriate. As the amount of data that consumers produce in the form of emails or photos for example, continues to grow almost exponentially, they are realizing that storing this un-replaceable data in a single location is risky. Many back up this priceless data on external hard-drives or CDs/DVDs. Some seem to be venturing to the “Cloud” as a secondary redundancy, by using Cloud Storage to solve this.

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