Comments on: The End of Over-Provisioning http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/ All the Bzz on Cloud Computing Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:11:00 -0800 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Computemeghadoot http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-168 Computemeghadoot Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:26:43 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-168 The issue is no different than in a corporate environment but with cloud instances the 'server utilization' issue becomes larger - for an end user - not for the cloud provider as much. Earlier you would buy a server so it is paid for whether you use 15% of its resources or less depends on your corporate efficiency. But with a cloud instance, where you pay 100% for all resources - be it CPU, network or memory - but actually utilize less (for a typical application) than what you paid for in terms of server resources - that too by the hour.<br><br>There are technologies which can help improve server utilization without impacting any running applications - be it physical, virtual or cloud instance server. Take a look at <a href="http://silverline.librato.com" rel="nofollow">http://silverline.librato.com</a>. The issue is no different than in a corporate environment but with cloud instances the 'server utilization' issue becomes larger – for an end user – not for the cloud provider as much. Earlier you would buy a server so it is paid for whether you use 15% of its resources or less depends on your corporate efficiency. But with a cloud instance, where you pay 100% for all resources – be it CPU, network or memory – but actually utilize less (for a typical application) than what you paid for in terms of server resources – that too by the hour.

There are technologies which can help improve server utilization without impacting any running applications – be it physical, virtual or cloud instance server. Take a look at http://silverline.librato.com.

]]> By: John Treadway http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-167 John Treadway Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:30:13 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-167 Would this network bandwidth constraint issue be any different in a corporate environment? Also, some "enterprise" cloud providers are using higher-grade networking gear and topologies with 10gigE SLAs on the network. That may have an impact. Would this network bandwidth constraint issue be any different in a corporate environment? Also, some “enterprise” cloud providers are using higher-grade networking gear and topologies with 10gigE SLAs on the network. That may have an impact.

]]> By: Old habits die hard. « Cool Cloud Clues http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-165 Old habits die hard. « Cool Cloud Clues Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:00:00 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-165 [...] with rational minds and logical thoughts would most likely be leaning towards the thoughts on  ‘the end of over provisioning’ via cloud computing paradigm.  As an ever enthusiastic technocrat, computemeghadoot too had, and [...] [...] with rational minds and logical thoughts would most likely be leaning towards the thoughts on  ‘the end of over provisioning’ via cloud computing paradigm.  As an ever enthusiastic technocrat, computemeghadoot too had, and [...]

]]> By: Computemeghadoot http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-163 Computemeghadoot Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:52:26 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-163 Oops missed the link in earlier comment - here is the specweb2005 benchmark paper for Amazon instances - <a href="http://bit.ly/d15DFw" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/d15DFw</a> Oops missed the link in earlier comment – here is the specweb2005 benchmark paper for Amazon instances – http://bit.ly/d15DFw

]]> By: Computemeghadoot http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-164 Computemeghadoot Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:49:54 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-164 John, For cloudonomics - Is it enough to build applications to scale out? Old habits die hard and so do server utilization rates. Assuming you run the application on a cloud instance, I believe there is going to be similar trend for a typical cloud server instance - in terms of utilization. Refer to this study by accenture - where they benchmark web server running on amazon using SPECWeb2005. The focus of apps such as web server is holding on to the incoming traffic - so their peak requirement is not CPU but bounded by network traffic capacity of an amazon instance. Typical CPU utilization for such an instance is barely 20%. So now I think we are into an era where people pay by the hour assuming they are paying for 100% of resources in cloud whereas they are actually utilizing only 20% CPU (full network capacity and memory may be). Thoughts? John, For cloudonomics – Is it enough to build applications to scale out? Old habits die hard and so do server utilization rates. Assuming you run the application on a cloud instance, I believe there is going to be similar trend for a typical cloud server instance – in terms of utilization. Refer to this study by accenture – where they benchmark web server running on amazon using SPECWeb2005. The focus of apps such as web server is holding on to the incoming traffic – so their peak requirement is not CPU but bounded by network traffic capacity of an amazon instance. Typical CPU utilization for such an instance is barely 20%. So now I think we are into an era where people pay by the hour assuming they are paying for 100% of resources in cloud whereas they are actually utilizing only 20% CPU (full network capacity and memory may be). Thoughts?

]]> By: John http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-161 John Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:17:29 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-161 Note that this post was from the user/customer perspective, not the cloud provider.<br><br>Cloud providers do have the challenge of managing the fixed asset investment and optimizing the 24x7 usage as you say. This is why Amazon has added spot pricing. Surprisingly many web sites from European companies are running in Amazon in the US (to take advantage of the big market). So, latency is not an issue for all. <br><br>In any event, I would expect over time that more clouds will provide incentives for off-hours processing in order to increase their asset utilization rates, which will drive down usage fees overall. Power companies do the same, and for the same reason. Rates are higher during the day than at night, particularly for commercial customers. Note that this post was from the user/customer perspective, not the cloud provider.

Cloud providers do have the challenge of managing the fixed asset investment and optimizing the 24×7 usage as you say. This is why Amazon has added spot pricing. Surprisingly many web sites from European companies are running in Amazon in the US (to take advantage of the big market). So, latency is not an issue for all.

In any event, I would expect over time that more clouds will provide incentives for off-hours processing in order to increase their asset utilization rates, which will drive down usage fees overall. Power companies do the same, and for the same reason. Rates are higher during the day than at night, particularly for commercial customers.

]]> By: Kawaijen http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-159 Kawaijen Wed, 09 Jun 2010 06:43:15 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-159 Is it realistic to expect that time zone differences can be used to smooth the cloud providers daily usage curve?<br>IMHO no because if I am in Europe, I do not want my VMs to be hosted in the US or Asia for latency reasons. So, most of Europe being on the same timezone +/- 1h, all the european datacenters will reproduce the curve you show. So the cloud providers will not be able to pass the economic advantage to their customers.<br>More realistic is equalization within a timezone between business hours (pros) and leisure hours (individuals).<br>Are there customers willing to buy cheap compute time nightly or during the week end ? Big question in HW has to be amortized 24x7? Is it realistic to expect that time zone differences can be used to smooth the cloud providers daily usage curve?
IMHO no because if I am in Europe, I do not want my VMs to be hosted in the US or Asia for latency reasons. So, most of Europe being on the same timezone +/- 1h, all the european datacenters will reproduce the curve you show. So the cloud providers will not be able to pass the economic advantage to their customers.
More realistic is equalization within a timezone between business hours (pros) and leisure hours (individuals).
Are there customers willing to buy cheap compute time nightly or during the week end ? Big question in HW has to be amortized 24×7?

]]> By: John http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-158 John Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:26:43 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-158 Well, I suppose that could be a concern in a hypothetical case. But in the reality is that a real over-provisioning situation is very common and costs companies millions in unnecessary expense. Well, I suppose that could be a concern in a hypothetical case. But in the reality is that a real over-provisioning situation is very common and costs companies millions in unnecessary expense.

]]> By: John http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-157 John Wed, 09 Jun 2010 01:15:52 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-157 You make a good point, but if all of your applications used autoscaling then they would not be over-provisioned. If you rely on people to manage the size of your cloud footprint, there's no way to manage it closely enough. You make a good point, but if all of your applications used autoscaling then they would not be over-provisioned. If you rely on people to manage the size of your cloud footprint, there's no way to manage it closely enough.

]]> By: Tweets that mention The End of Over-Provisioning | CloudBzz -- Topsy.com http://www.cloudbzz.com/the-end-of-over-provisioning-2/comment-page-1/#comment-154 Tweets that mention The End of Over-Provisioning | CloudBzz -- Topsy.com Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:19:26 +0000 http://www.cloudbzz.com/?p=475#comment-154 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JohnTreadwayCloudBzz, Cloud Networking. Cloud Networking said: Interesting post by @cloudbzz The End of Over-Provisioning > http://ruv.net/a/4g [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JohnTreadwayCloudBzz, Cloud Networking. Cloud Networking said: Interesting post by @cloudbzz The End of Over-Provisioning > http://ruv.net/a/4g [...]

]]>