Cloud Optimization for Business-Critical Applications

General-purpose SLAs are insufficient for meeting the service-level requirements of deployments of Microsoft Dynamics ERP or CRM applications, or of Oracle PeopleSoft ERP applications, for example. IT requires cloud infrastructure optimized for the unique demands of enterprise applications. Clouds are becoming more specialized, and IT needs the ability to leverage optimized enterprise applications to meet its needs for:

• Availability
• Performance
• Redundancy
• Reliability
• Security

Clouds can be optimized for enterprise applications, but this requires expertise in application-specific requirements. For example, the server operating system should be configured differently for PeopleSoft applications than for Microsoft Dynamics deployments, and virtual machines should be customized to optimize performance for each application.

For an Oracle PeopleSoft Enterprise three-tiered application, an optimized application may require deploying an N+1 redundant hardware-based Real Application Cluster (RAC) for the Oracle database and virtualized servers for the application server and web server tiers. By selecting cloud infrastructure that is already optimized for Oracle deployments, the assessment, optimization, testing and validation stages required to migrate to cloud computing can be made much more efficient. Specialized cloud service providers can leverage advanced technologies tuned for specific applications – such as RAC clusters, SANs, blade servers, operating systems and server processers optimized for virtualization – to streamline service delivery.

Sophisticated enterprise applications require complex, specialized infrastructure and a high level of expertise in determining how the various elements of the application interact with the server, storage and network infrastructure. By deploying enterprise applications on off-the-shelf server configurations, cloud vendors lack the ability to optimize the business-critical applications for enterprise customers. IT shouldn’t settle for one-size-fits-all deployments when it comes to business-critical applications, and should opt for specialized cloud infrastructure optimized to support their business-critical applications.

This requires that cloud vendors build internal expertise in enterprise applications so they can offer best practices for deploying, maintaining and upgrading enterprise applications throughout their application lifecycles. The cloud vendors need to invest in building the expertise and measuring and monitoring deployments over time so they can continuously optimize deployments for enterprise customers.

Application Expertise as a Resource
IT should not only demand that cloud engineers obtain the highest levels of application certification from the enterprise software vendor, but they should also insist that the cloud providers are seasoned in deploying specific business-critical applications and have a proven methodology for optimizing the applications for enterprise deployments. The enterprise should be able to rely on application experts with deeper application expertise than most companies can afford to hire internally. Application-specific expertise is needed to help the enterprise leverage optimal application configurations that increase performance, improve reliability and lower the total cost of ownership for enterprise applications. Access to this application expertise allows the enterprise to benefit from:

• Improved performance and security via continuously patching, updating and upgrading software modules to their most current releases according to best practices methodologies
• The ability to utilize optimized software configurations to improve on default settings
• Enhancing security and resource optimization by removing any unneeded software settings and services
• Application-specific management tools and processes that allow efficient application management and maintenance, as well as compliance with security and regulatory requirements

Optimizing the Entire Technology Stack
When selecting cloud vendors for enterprise applications, IT needs to evaluate not only what it takes to optimize application performance but also the needed expertise to support the entire technology stack from the physical hardware to the service delivery architecture to the application. The cloud provider not only needs to optimize the operating system and the virtualization platform, it also needs to optimize the database and application layers to meet the needs of each enterprise application. This is where generalized cloud computing solutions offer limited support for business-critical applications. Their DBAs typically have limited knowledge about enterprise applications. Instead, they focus on general housekeeping tasks to ensure compliance with high-level, generalized SLAs.

But business-critical applications must be continuously tuned to meet business objectives and satisfy end users. Long-running queries need to be identified and optimized, which requires application expertise. General-purpose clouds do not enable application experts who have the tools and expertise to delve into the application stack and middleware to address and resolve difficult performance problems.

In contrast, specialized cloud infrastructure optimized for application-specific deployments can leverage tools designed to continuously tweak the performance of enterprise applications. Application experts can not only analyze the middleware layer to investigate the cause of performance problems, but they can also analyze maintenance upgrades to determine whether vendor upgrades have contributed to performance degradation.

Specialized cloud infrastructure providers can also answer questions about the enterprise applications, helping IT not only optimize existing deployments but also to plan for new or extended implementations. For example, if a company has a PeopleSoft deployment and needs to set up a new business unit, a cloud vendor with PeopleSoft expertise would be equipped to provide application experts to guide IT through the deployment.

Cloud optimization for business-critical applications provides IT with maximum flexibility for controlling the deployment and ongoing maintenance of crucial enterprise applications that are backed by SLAs tailored to the requirements of each application so IT can be assured of application service level guarantees. General-purpose SLAs are usually written with far-reaching caveats that exempt the service provider from application-specific issues, preventing the enterprise from truly optimizing the use of the application. Instead, organizations need application-specific SLAs that include:

• Response and resolution commitments for each application
• Application availability commitments
• Performance guarantees for each application
• Change management procedures that are documented, with full roll-back capabilities, if necessary
• Disaster recovery spanning multiple data centers and guarantees of the maximum amounts of data that can be lost in the event of a catastrophic failure

Securing Business-Critical Applications
Cloud optimization for business-critical applications also requires optimizing security, so IT should ensure that the applications are hosted on cloud-enabled SSAE 16 (formerly SAS 70) compliant data centers that employ a complete array of physical and data security measures, including:

• 24/7/365 on-site security personnel and video surveillance
• Offices and common areas isolated from the data center
• Biometric palm scanners at entrances
• Card access control at all interior and exterior doors
• Deployment of firewalls; Intrusion Detection Systems and Intrusion Prevention Systems

One Call, One Source for Optimizing Business-Critical Applications
Optimizing business-critical applications means not only optimizing the operating system, servers, virtual machines and security; it also means optimizing enterprise IT resources and organizational efficiency in managing applications throughout their lifecycles. As clouds become more specialized, the ability to rely on a single source for optimizing critical applications is key to making optimal use of scarce IT resources. Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate how efficiently the cloud services provider can support your applications over time. This includes:

1. On-boarding your application and migrating it to a cloud environment
2. Application management, including full operational and functional support
3. Lifecycle management services, including deploying vendor-released patches, service packs and application upgrades

Ask detailed questions about each of these areas, and ask for references for all three categories. And make sure you analyze flexible, cloud-friendly licensing options that leverage usage-based pricing so your company pays only for the computing resources that it uses. Ensure that cloud-based solutions are architected to minimize your exposure to vendor software licensing complexities, and make sure that software upgrades and retrofits during patching are included.

General-purpose cloud infrastructure is insufficient for business-critical application services because it forces IT to rely on vanilla solutions for critical applications. Cloud optimization for business-critical applications allows IT to deliver superior service and meet changing business needs while lowering costs and minimizing risk throughout the application lifecycle.