Cloud Host Digital Ocean Reverses Imprudent Scrubbing Policy
January 31, 2014
Sometimes a company can grow too fast for its own good. Take the case of DigitalOcean, which eWeek describes in its piece, “Scrubbing Data a Concern in the Digital Ocean Cloud.” It was recently discovered that the cloud hosting firm was not automatically scrubbing user data after every deletion of a virtual machine (VM) instance—not good for security. Apparently, the young company once scrubbed after each VM destroy request, but changed that policy as their growth ballooned.
Writer Sean Michael Kerner tells us:
“As Digital Ocean’s utilization went up, the company found that the scrubbing activity was degrading performance and decided to make it an option that API users needed to manually activate. [DigitalOcean CEO Moisey] Uretsky told eWEEK that even though the data scrubbing has an impact, it is now a cost that his company will bear.
Digital Ocean grew very quickly in 2013, to at least 7,000 Web-facing servers in June 2013, up from only 100 in December 2012, according to Netcraft. One of the reasons for the rapid rise has been Digital Ocean’s aggressive pricing, which starts at $5 for a server with 512MB of memory and a 20GB solid-state drive for a month of cloud service.”
At least the company is taking responsibility for, and learning from, the mistake. Not only is DigitalOcean now faithfully scrubbing every deleted VM instance in sight, Uretsky also specified that his company is hastening to make other changes based on customer feedback. They also, he noted, pledge not to reveal customer data to third parties. The imprudent scrub-optional policy only affected certain DigitalOcean API users, and it does not appear from the article that any programmers were harmed. Headquartered in New York City, DigitalOcean graduated from the TechStars startup accelerator program in 2012.
Cynthia Murrell, January 31, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Calculating How Much Amazon Costs
January 30, 2014
Amazon Web Services are a good way to store code and other data, but it can get a little pricey. Before you upload your stuff to the Amazon cloud, check out Heap’s article, “How We Estimated Our AWS Costs Before Shipping Any Code.” Heap is an iOS and Web analytics tool that captures every user interaction. The Heap team decided to build it, because there was not a product that offered ad-hoc analysis or analyzed an entire user’s activity. Before they started working on the project, the team needed to estimate their AWS costs to decide if the idea was a sustainable business model.
They needed to figure how much data was generated by a single user interaction, but then they had to find out where the data was stored and what to store it on. The calculations showed that for the business model to work a single visit would have to yield an average one-third of a cent to be worthwhile for clients.
CPU cores, compression, and reserve instances reduced costs, but there are some unexpected factors that inflated costs:
1. “AWS Bundling. By design, no single instance type on AWS strictly dominates another. For example, if you decide to optimize for cost of memory, you may initially choose cr1.8xlarge instances (with 244GB of RAM). But you’ll soon find yourself outstripping its paltry storage (240 GB of SSD), in which case you’ll need to switch to hs1.8xlarge instances, which offer more disk space but at a less favorable cost/memory ratio. This makes it difficult to squeeze savings out of our AWS setup.
2. Data Redundancy. This is a necessary feature of any fault-tolerant, highly available cluster. Each live data point needs to be duplicated, which increases costs across the board by 2x.”
Heap’s formula is an easy and intuitive way to calculate pricing for Amazon Cloud Services. Can it be applied to other cloud services?
Whitney Grace, January 30, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Preparing for SharePoint in the Cloud
January 30, 2014
SharePoint Online is getting good reviews, and it is a tempting move for many organizations. However, it is not as simple as just changing platforms. In order to have a successful transition, a little pre-planning is essential. Read more in the ITWeb article, “Are you Ready for SharePoint in the Cloud?”
The article begins:
“We’ve all heard lately how migrating a business system, application or solution to the cloud is going to make our lives so much easier and save us money, but is this in fact the case? In principle, cloud might already make sense to you, but let’s explore some practical considerations that need to be taken into account if you’re not sure whether you should be moving to SharePoint in the cloud.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime search expert, and a follower of the ups and downs of SharePoint. He shares the latest news and trends through ArnoldIT.com. His SharePoint coverage shows that customers are eager to adopt the Cloud, and the hype is plentiful, but a better-planned switchover will ultimately be the key to an organization’s success.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 30, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Huddle Offers iOS Alternative to SharePoint
January 3, 2014
With the changes in mobile computing and cloud computing, the weaknesses in SharePoint are being exposed. Add to that the fact that SharePoint does not function on a Mac platform and many organizations are looking for alternative solutions. CMS Wire looks at one option, Huddle, in their article, “Will Huddle Note App Hammer Another Nail in SharePoint’s Coffin?”
The article begins:
“Huddle has just announced the general release of Huddle Note, a new iOS application that enables users to create content in the cloud, share it inside or outside the firewall and collaborate with other workers on documents — all from a mobile device. Taking all Huddle’s functionality into account, the company’s management claims it provides a viable alternative to SharePoint.”
Stephen E. Arnold is a longtime leader in search and the brains behind ArnoldIT.com. He gives a lot of attention to SharePoint and SharePoint alternatives. Most organizations will need some piece of enterprise software, and SharePoint is the most common. Stay tuned for the latest SharePoint news and ways to improve your enterprise infrastructure.
Emily Rae Aldridge, January 3, 2014
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Finally Some Cloudy News on Metadata
December 26, 2013
For Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, his team broke down data silos and moved all the data to a cloud repository. The team built Narwhal, a shared data store interface for all of the campaigns’ application. Narwhal was dubbed “Obama’s White Whale,” because it is almost a mythical technology that federal agencies have been trying to develop for years. While Obama may be hanging out with Queequag and Ishmael, there is a more viable solution for the cloud says GCN’s article, “Big Metadata: 7 Ways To Leverage Your Data In the Cloud.”
Data silo migration may appear to be a daunting task, but it is not impossible to do. The article states:
“Fortunately, migrating agency data to the cloud offers IT managers another opportunity to break down those silos, integrate their data and develop a unified data layer for all applications. In this article, I want to examine how to design metadata in the cloud to enable the description, discovery and reuse of data assets in the cloud. Here are the basic metadata description methods (what I like to think of as the “Magnificent Seven” of metadata!) and how to apply them to data in the cloud.”
The list runs down seven considerations when moving to the cloud: identification, static and dynamic measurement, degree scales, categorization, relationships, and commentary. The only thing that stands in trashing data silos is security and privacy. While this list is useful it is pretty basic textbook information that is applied to metadata in any situation. What makes it so special for the cloud?
Whitney Grace, December 26, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
DataStax and Google Create a Dream Team for Running Cassandra in the Cloud
December 17, 2013
The article titled DataStax Tests Enterprise-Grade Cassandra Database on Google Compute Engine on Yahoo Finance discusses the recent collaboration between Google and Datastax engineers. The results of the test were positive, with expected response times, operational constancy and strong disk I/O functioning under load.
The article explains the tests of Datastax Enterprise with Google Compute Engine:
“which recently became generally available to all developers. The combination of DataStax Enterprise and Google Compute Engine allows companies to deploy their critical applications on the Google Cloud Platform and grow their data to incredible levels while making sure they remain online at all times. DataStax and Google engineers collaborated to test and validate the scalability, reliability and performance of mission-critical online applications that are built on DataStax Enterprise with Google Compute Engine.”
Datastax boasts over 300 customers for its work powering big data apps. These include Adobe, eBay and Netflix. This collaboration with Google is planned to ease the use of Datastax in the cloud. Senior vice-president David Kloc of Datastax voiced his confidence in the new relationship, calling the platform “more reliable than ever before.” He has no reason to be humble, the NoSQL database that Datastax sells works securely with Apache Cassandra, enterprise search and visual management.
Chelsea Kerwin, December 17, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Digital Reasoning Unleashes Human Analysis to the Cloud
December 8, 2013
Digital Reasoning has built its reputation by providing products that automate the understanding of human communication. One could say they put the humanity in technology. Digital Reasoning has taken its technology to a “higher” level says Broadway World, “Digital Reasoning Debuts Cloud Version Of Its Machine Learning Platform That Analyzes Human Language, Set Sights On Data Scientists.” The Synthesys Machine Learning Platform will be released on the AWS Marketplace and will be available as Synthesys Cloud.
Digital Reasoning hopes that by putting the Synthesys Cloud on AWS Marketplace will allow its clients to process and analyze larger amounts of unstructured data faster and more efficiently. It will also offer a large number of benefits to data scientists:
- “Rather than spending time on IT tasks such as installing and configuring various hardware and software components, users are able to launch a Synthesys cluster with just a few clicks allowing them to focus on uploading, analyzing and exploring data.
- Synthesys simplifies the parsing of human language data such as Web content, documents, emails and other electronic communications into semantically rich structures (i.e. entities, facts and relationships) so that data scientists do not have to be subject matter experts in Natural Language Processing (NLP).
- Synthesys Cloud offers initial support for 3rd party query tools such as Apache Hive, which gives users power and flexibility to explore and visualize Synthesys output.
- Synthesys Cloud on the AWS Marketplace makes it easy and affordable for any budget to pay-as-they-go by taking advantage of low hourly billing rates and the ability to combine Synthesys with other AWS offerings.”
This company stresses how Synthesys Cloud is an amazing, new tool for data scientists. However, it offers separate reasons as to why it is beneficial for other clients as well. Is the company thinking that business professionals will approach the software differently than data scientists?
Whitney Grace, December 08, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
Watson Loses to Amazon Look Ahead for Work at Healthcare.gov or Homeland Security
December 5, 2013
The article titled IBM Introduces Watson to the Public Sector Cloud on GCN explores the potential for Watson now that IBM has opened it up to developers. IBM Watson Solutions recently won the 2013 North America New Product Innovation award for its combination of communication skills and evaluation abilities. Even more recently, IBM gave up on its competition with Amazon Web Services for a CIA contract for 10 years and $600M. But the loss has not rained out the parade, as the article explains:
“The initial target market for IBM Watson Developers Cloud is the private sector, with IBM touting third-party applications in such areas as retail and health care. But analysts say the offering will impact big data problems in the public sector, too. McCarthy sees potential for Watson-powered apps in such areas as fraud analysis, which the White House is ramping up due to worries about scammers taking advantage of consumers signing up for its new health care plans. “
Sounds like there is a job for Watson at Healthcare.gov, what with the massive potential for fraud issues. Another possibility is putting Watson to work on entity analytics for Homeland Security, looking for patterns in data. Entity analytics is mainly about comparing huge amounts of data and who could be better at that than IBM’s supercomputer?
Chelsea Kerwin, December 05, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
$450M Cloud Contract Stalled Due to DOD Concerns Over Demand
November 28, 2013
The article titled DOD Says “No Mas” On Commercial Cloud, Puts Brakes on $450M Contract on Ars Technica has some concerned that the government is rethinking its commitment to the cloud. Scott Stewart, contracting officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) explained the decision was caused by a lack of demand from the Defense Department.
The article explains:
“The contract, for which the DISA began drafting a request for proposals this summer, would have picked up to 10 cloud providers to supply Internet-accessible file storage, database hosting, Web hosting, and virtual servers—allowing the military to offload public, non-sensitive systems from its own infrastructure. As it turns out, the various military services and other DOD agencies that the DISA serves aren’t terribly interested in doing that. The federal government… has been trying to reduce the number of public-facing websites it maintains.”
It is yet to be determined whether the contract is being adjusted to meet the more modest requirements or scrapped entirely. As mentioned in the quote, this is not the only instance of concerns of overspending. In 2011 the White House froze all creation of new websites. In the meantime, the military has been dealing with security issues that have caused them to rely on DISA’s data centers.
Chelsea Kerwin, November 28, 2013
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
SharePoint Online Capitalizes on Consumer File Sharing
November 21, 2013
Security concerns plague the enterprise when employees turn to unsanctioned cloud-based file sharing. But for years, the convenience of services like Dropbox could not be matched by sanctioned enterprise services. SharePoint Online hopes to change that by offering convenient and safe cloud storage options for employees. CMS Wire covers the story in their article, “What Consumerization of IT Means for SharePoint Online, SkyDrive Pro.”
The article begins:
“BYOD has taken over the enterprise, whether the enterprise likes it or not. But it’s not just BYOD. Employees are turning to consumer versions of file sharing cloud solutions like DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive (not to be confused with SkyDrive Pro) and others to access their documents no matter where they are. IT needs to resolve this problem, and it won’t be done by banning the use of these devices and apps. There’s a smarter way.”
ArnoldIT.com, a service run by longtime search expert Steven E. Arnold, is skeptical of SharePoint’s continued relevance in the changing enterprise environment. Arnold often argues that SharePoint is not capable of its main function, search, and has diluted its mission by focusing on add-ons. Regardless, SharePoint is still a large portion of the market and is worth following.
Emily Rae Aldridge, November 21, 2013
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
