OSDC 2015 - In Defense of Data Centers

Modern operations practices and Devops-style methodologies don’t have to require the adoption of public cloud services. For some environments, making a modern data center the core of your operations is the most flexible and appropriate choice if you ensure the implementation of some of the same constraints as the public cloud.
In this talk we’ll sketch out how automated modern operations practices can transform your operational efficiency in data centers without necessarily requiring the use of public cloud, private cloud, or even virtualization.

Transcript

1. In Defense of Data Centers OSDC - April 2015. Nigel Kersten @nigelkersten CIO, Puppet Labs
2. Who am I? • Not here as a vendor • Not selling you anything • I’m a user too
3. Audience Poll Who are you all?
4. The Cloud is fine
5. The Cloud is Fine Undeniable advantages
6. The Cloud is Fine Undeniable advantages The cloud is just other people’s servers
7. I’m not a cloud skeptic
8. “Global SaaS software revenues are forecasted to reach $106B in 2016, increasing 21% over projected 2015 spending levels” — Forrester “By 2018, 59% of the total cloud workloads will be Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) workloads, up from 41% in 2013” — Cisco Global Cloud Index “42% of IT decision makers are planning to increase spending on cloud computing in 2015, with the greatest growth in enterprises with over 1,000 employees (52%)” — Computerworld 2015 Forecast
9. More than hype — people aren’t that stupid
10. Traditional arguments against Cloud Lack of control Vendor lock-in Performance Cost Security
12. The choice isn’t binary
13. Diversity is Good Innovation and monocultures
14. The features are convenient On-Demand Self-Service Elastic Consumption-based pricing
15. Constraints Force Changes in Behavior
16. Behavior changes enable innovation
17. So much Innovation
18. Design is about reducing choice (on behalf of the user)
19. on behalf of the user
20. Under-engineered constraints Unreliable Lack of control Worse performance Isolated from on-premise
21. Unreliable
22. The cloud doesn’t care
23. Lack of control
24. “Insecure”
25. Affordances <—> Flexibility
26. Forced changes in operations Developers don’t need your approval They have APIs and tools Infrastructure is programmable API-driven rather than CLI/GUI-driven Architect for resilience
27. What is a data center these days? It’s not just about racking and stacking — more than raw infrastructure
28. You don’t have to be huge for it to make sense
29. Public Cloud Interconnects
30. Move to where your users are
31. Software Defined Data Center More than just another annoying buzzword Infrastructure vendors are changing Automation is key
32. Lots of exciting open-source software out there
33. It’s not just about automation tools Our operations processes and atttitudes need to change
34. It’s not just about automation tools Our operations processes and atttitudes need to change Call it “Devops” if you want
35. It’s not just about automation tools Our operations processes and atttitudes need to change Call it “Devops” if you want or “Agile”
36. It’s not just about automation tools Our operations processes and atttitudes need to change Call it “Devops” if you want or “Agile” or “how we’ve always done it”
37. But automation is still key Demand it from all your vendors
38. Relinquish control, not responsibility Enable your users Design self-service infrastructure
41. Design for resilience Servers — Cattle, not Pets Expect failure It’s all disaster recovery
42. Small Components
43. Lots of exciting open-source software out there
44. Thanks — Questions?