Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
Article | October 3, 2023
What Is IT Infrastructure Security?
If you are reading this blog, we would like to assume that you are either an aspiring cybersecurity professional or a business owner looking for ways to improve their network security. A business IT infrastructure includes networks, software, hardware, equipment, and other facilities that make up an IT network. These networks are applied to establish, monitor, test, manage, deliver, and support IT services.
So, IT infrastructure security describes the process of safeguarding the core networking infrastructure, and it is typically applied to enterprise IT environments. You can improve IT infrastructure security by installing protective solutions to block unauthorized access, theft, deletion, and data modification.
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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, Windows Systems and Network
Article | July 11, 2023
The rollout of 5G networks coupled with edge compute introduces new security concerns for both the network and the enterprise. Security at the edge presents a unique set of security challenges that differ from those faced by traditional data centers. Today new concerns emerge from the combination of distributed architectures and a disaggregated network, creating new challenges for service providers.
Many mission critical applications enabled by 5G connectivity, such as smart factories, are better off hosted at the edge because it's more economical and delivers better Quality of Service (QoS). However, applications must also be secured; communication service providers need to ensure that applications operate in an environment that is both safe and provides isolation. This means that secure designs and protocols are in place to pre-empt threats, avoid incidents and minimize response time when incidents do occur.
As enterprises adopt private 5G networks to drive their Industry 4.0 strategies, these new enterprise 5G trends demand a new approach to security. Companies must find ways to reduce their exposure to cyberattacks that could potentially disrupt mission critical services, compromise industrial assets and threaten the safety of their workforce. Cybersecurity readiness is essential to ensure private network investments are not devalued.
The 5G network architecture, particularly at the edge, introduces new levels of service decomposition now evolving beyond the virtual machine and into the space of orchestrated containers. Such disaggregation requires the operation of a layered technology stack, from the physical infrastructure to resource abstraction, container enablement and orchestration, all of which present attack surfaces which require addressing from a security perspective. So how can CSPs protect their network and services from complex and rapidly growing threats?
Addressing vulnerability points of the network layer by layer
As networks grow and the number of connected nodes at the edge multiply, so do the vulnerability points. The distributed nature of the 5G edge increases vulnerability threats, just by having network infrastructure scattered across tens of thousands of sites. The arrival of the Internet of Things (IoT) further complicates the picture: with a greater number of connected and mobile devices, potentially creating new network bridging connection points, questions around network security have become more relevant.
As the integrity of the physical site cannot be guaranteed in the same way as a supervised data center, additional security measures need to be taken to protect the infrastructure. Transport and application control layers also need to be secured, to enable forms of "isolation" preventing a breach from propagating to other layers and components. Each layer requires specific security measures to ensure overall network security: use of Trusted Platform Modules (TPM) chipsets on motherboards, UEFI Secure OS boot process, secure connections in the control plane and more. These measures all contribute to and are integral part of an end-to-end network security design and strategy.
Open RAN for a more secure solution
The latest developments in open RAN and the collaborative standards-setting process related to open interfaces and supply chain diversification are enhancing the security of 5G networks. This is happening for two reasons. First, traditional networks are built using vendor proprietary technology – a limited number of vendors dominate the telco equipment market and create vendor lock-in for service providers that forces them to also rely on vendors' proprietary security solutions. This in turn prevents the adoption of "best-of-breed" solutions and slows innovation and speed of response, potentially amplifying the impact of a security breach.
Second, open RAN standardization initiatives employ a set of open-source standards-based components. This has a positive effect on security as the design embedded in components is openly visible and understood; vendors can then contribute to such open-source projects where tighter security requirements need to be addressed.
Aside from the inherent security of the open-source components, open RAN defines a number of open interfaces which can be individually assessed in their security aspects. The openness intrinsically present in open RAN means that service components can be seamlessly upgraded or swapped to facilitate the introduction of more stringent security characteristics, or they can simultaneously swiftly address identified vulnerabilities.
Securing network components with AI
Monitoring the status of myriad network components, particularly spotting a security attack taking place among a multitude of cooperating application functions, requires resources that transcend the capabilities of a finite team of human operators. This is where advances in AI technology can help to augment the abilities of operations teams. AI massively scales the ability to monitor any number of KPIs, learn their characteristic behavior and identify anomalies – this makes it the ideal companion in the secure operation of the 5G edge. The self-learning aspect of AI supports not just the identification of known incident patterns but also the ability to learn about new, unknown and unanticipated threats.
Security by design
Security needs to be integral to the design of the network architecture and its services. The adoption of open standards caters to the definition of security best practices in both the design and operation of the new 5G network edge. The analytics capabilities embedded in edge hyperconverged infrastructure components provide the platform on which to build an effective monitoring and troubleshooting toolkit, ensuring the secure operation of the intelligent edge.
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Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, IT Systems Management
Article | September 14, 2023
Driving excellence in HCI: Unveil the crucial role of managed service providers in deploying and managing Hyper-Converged Infrastructure for optimal performance and efficiency for smooth functioning.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Role of MSPs in Deployment of HCI
3. Role of MSPs in HCI’s Management
4. Key Areas Where MSPs Help Drive Efficient HCI
4.1. Expert Deployment and Configuration
4.2. Proactive Monitoring and Management
4.3. Performance Optimization
4.4. Security and Compliance
4.5. Patch Management and Upgrades
4.6. Scalability and Flexibility
4.7. Cost Optimization
4.8. 24/7 Support and Incident Management
5. Takeaway
1. Introduction
Fundamentally, a hyper-converged infrastructure comprises virtual computing, virtual hyperconverged network, and virtual SAB. However, deploying this infrastructure is a complex procedure that requires skill and attention. A managed service provider (MSP) can assist a business in implementing hyper-converged infrastructure. These are service providers that specialize in managing and maintaining hyper-converged infrastructure environments on behalf of businesses. They offer proactive monitoring, maintenance, and troubleshooting services to ensure optimal performance & availability and management excellence in HCI.
2. Role of MSPs in Deployment of HCI
Managed service providers play a crucial role in the successful deployment of Hyperconverged Infrastructure. With their expertise and experience, MSPs assist businesses in planning and designing the optimal HCI solution tailored to their needs. They manage the integration of hardware and software components, ensuring compatibility and seamless integration into the existing IT infrastructure. MSPs handle data migration and transition, minimizing downtime and data loss. They also optimize performance by fine-tuning configurations and resource allocations to achieve optimal HCI operation. MSPs prioritize security and compliance, implementing robust measures to protect sensitive data and ensure regulatory compliance. They provide ongoing management and support, monitoring system health, performing maintenance, and addressing issues promptly. MSPs enable scalability and future-proofing, helping businesses scale their HCI environment as needed and ensuring flexibility for future technology advancements and changes in business requirements. Broadly, MSPs bring their specialized knowledge and services to navigate the complexities of HCI deployment, enabling businesses to maximize the benefits of this transformative HCI technology.
3. Role of MSPs in HCI’s Management
Managed service providers play a crucial role in the effective management of HCI. MSPs offer a range of services to ensure the optimal performance and security of HCI environments. They proactively monitor and maintain the HCI infrastructure, identifying and addressing issues before they impact operations. MSPs specialize in performance optimization, fine-tuning configurations, and implementing load balancing techniques to maximize efficiency. They prioritize security and compliance by implementing robust measures and assisting with data backup and disaster recovery strategies. MSPs also assist with capacity planning and scalability, ensuring resources are efficiently allocated and businesses can adapt to changing demands. They provide 24/7 support, troubleshooting services, and comprehensive reporting and analytics for HCI management excellence. Additionally, MSPs handle vendor management, simplifying interactions with hardware and software providers. Overall,
MSPs enable businesses to effectively manage their HCI environments, ensuring smooth operations, optimal performance, and security.
4. Key Areas Where MSPs Help Drive Efficient HCI
Managed Service Providersplay a crucial role in driving deployment and management excellence in Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) environments. HCI combines storage, compute, and networking into a single, software-defined platform, simplifying data center operations. Here's how MSPs contribute to HCI excellence:
1. Expert Deployment and Configuration
MSPs possess deep expertise in HCI deployments. They understand the complexities of hardware, software, and networking integration required for optimal HCI implementation. MSPs ensure proper configuration, capacity planning, and performance tuning to maximize HCI efficiency and meet specific business needs.
2. Proactive Monitoring and Management
MSPs provide proactive monitoring and management services, continuously monitoring the HCI environment to detect issues and resolve them before they impact performance or availability. They leverage advanced monitoring tools and technologies to monitor resource utilization, network connectivity, and storage performance, ensuring optimal HCI operation.
3. Performance Optimization
MSPs specialize in fine-tuning HCI performance. They analyze workloads, assess resource requirements, and optimize configurations to ensure optimal performance and scalability. Through proactive capacity planning and performance optimization techniques, MSPs help businesses extract the maximum value from their HCI investment.
4. Security and Compliance
MSPs prioritize security and compliance in HCI environments. They implement robust security measures, such as encryption, access controls, and threat detection systems, to protect critical data and ensure compliance with industry regulations. MSPs also assist businesses in implementing data backup and disaster recovery strategies to safeguard against potential data loss or system failures.
5. Patch Management and Upgrades
MSPs handle patch management and upgrades in HCI environments. They ensure that the HCI platform stays up to date with the latest security patches and software updates, minimizing vulnerabilities and ensuring hyperconverged system stability. MSPs coordinate and execute seamless upgrades, minimizing disruptions and maintaining optimal HCI performance.
6. Scalability and Flexibility
MSPs help businesses scale and adapt their HCI environments to meet changing demands. They assess growth requirements, optimize resource allocation, and implement expansion strategies to accommodate evolving business needs. MSPs enable businesses to scale their HCI infrastructure seamlessly without compromising performance or availability.
7. Cost Optimization
MSPs assist in optimizing costs associated with HCI deployments. They evaluate resource utilization, identify inefficiencies, and implement cost-saving measures, such as workload consolidation and resource allocation optimization. MSPs help businesses achieve maximum return on investment by aligning HCI infrastructure with specific business objectives.
8. 24/7 Support and Incident Management
MSPs offer round-the-clock support and incident management for HCI environments. They provide timely resolution of issues, minimizing downtime and ensuring continuous operation. MSPs also offer help desk services, ticket management, and proactive troubleshooting to address any challenges that arise in the HCI environment.
5. Takeaway
The future of managed service providers is promising and dynamic. MSPs will continue to enhance their specialized expertise in HCI, offering comprehensive support for businesses' HCI environments. They will expand their services to include end-to-end managed hyperconverged solutions, covering deployment, ongoing management, performance optimization, and security. Automation and orchestration will play a significant role as MSPs leverage these technologies to streamline operations and improve efficiency. MSPs will also focus on strengthening security and compliance measures, integrating HCI with cloud services, and continuously innovating to stay ahead in the HCI landscape. Broadly, MSPs will be vital partners for businesses seeking to maximize the benefits of HCI while ensuring smooth operations and staying competitive in the digital era.
MSPs in HCI offer specialized expertise, managed services, automation, AI-driven analytics, enhanced security and compliance, integration with hyper converged cloud services, and continuous innovation. Their services will cover the entire lifecycle of HCI, from deployment to ongoing management and optimization. MSPs will leverage automation and AI technologies to streamline operations, enhance security, and provide proactive monitoring and maintenance. They will assist businesses in integrating HCI with cloud services, ensuring scalability and flexibility. MSPs will continuously innovate to adapt to emerging technologies and industry trends, supporting businesses in harnessing the full potential of HCI and achieving their digital transformation goals.
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DevOps
Article | May 5, 2023
Adopting DevOps and CD in IaaS environments is a strategic imperative for organizations seeking to achieve agility, competitiveness, and customer satisfaction in their software delivery processes.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. What is IaaS Virtualization?
3. Virtualization Techniques for DevOps and Continuous Delivery
4. Integration of IaaS with CI/CD Pipelines
5. Considerations in IaaS Virtualized Environments
5.1. CPU Swap Wait
5.2. CPU System/Wait Time for VKernel:
5.3. Memory Balloon
5.4.Memory Swap Rate:
5.5. Memory Usage:
5.6. Disk/Network Latency:
6. Industry tips for IaaS Virtualization Implementation
6.1. Infrastructure Testing
6.2. ApplicationTesting
6.3. Security Monitoring
6.4. Performance Monitoring
6.5. Cost Optimization
7. Conclusion
1. Introduction
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) virtualization presents significant advantages for organizations seeking to enhance their agility, flexibility, and speed to market within the DevOps and continuous delivery frameworks. Addressing the associated risks and challenges is crucial and can be achieved by employing the appropriate monitoring and testing techniques, enlisted further, in this blog.
IaaS virtualization allows organizations to provision and de-provision resources as needed, eliminating the need for long-term investments in hardware and data centers. Furthermore, IaaS virtualization offers the ability to operate with multiple operating systems, databases, and programming languages, empowering teams to select the tools and technologies that best suit their requirements.
However, organizations must implement comprehensive testing and monitoring strategies, ensure proper security and compliance controls, and adopt the best resource optimization and management practices to leverage the full potential of virtualized IaaS. To achieve high availability and fault tolerance along with advanced networking, enabling complex application architectures in IaaS virtualization, the blog mentions five industry tips.
2. What is IaaS Virtualization?
IaaS virtualization involves simultaneously running multiple operating systems with different configurations. To run virtual machines on a system, a software layer known as the virtual machine monitor (VMM) or hypervisor is required.
Virtualization in IaaS handles website hosting, application development and testing, disaster recovery, and data storage and backup. Startups and small businesses with limited IT resources and budgets can benefit greatly from virtualized IaaS, enabling them to provide the necessary infrastructure resources quickly and without significant capital expenditures.
Virtualized IaaS is a potent tool for businesses and organizations of all sizes, enabling greater infrastructure resource flexibility, scalability, and efficiency.
3. Virtualization Techniques for DevOps and Continuous Delivery
Virtualization is a vital part of the DevOps software stack. Virtualization in DevOps process allows teams to create, test, and implement code in simulated environments without wasting valuable computing resources. DevOps teams can use the virtual services for thorough testing, preventing bottlenecks that could slow down release time. It heavily relies on virtualization for building intricate cloud, API, and SOA systems. In addition, virtual machines benefit test-driven development (TDD) teams that prefer to begin their troubleshooting at the API level.
4. Integration of IaaS with CI/CD Pipelines
Continuous integration is a coding practice that frequently implements small code changes and checks them into a version control repository. This process not only packages software and database components but also automatically executes unit tests and other tests to provide developers with vital feedback on any potential breakages caused by code changes.
Continuous testing integrates automated tests into the CI/CD pipeline. For example, unit and functionality tests identify issues during continuous integration, while performance and security tests are executed after a build is delivered in continuous delivery. Continuous delivery is the process of automating the deployment of applications to one or more delivery environments.
IaaS provides access to computing resources through a virtual server instance, which replicates the capabilities of an on-premise data center. It also offers various services, including server space, security, load balancing, and additional bandwidth. In modern software development and deployment, it's common to integrate IaaS with CI/CD pipelines. This helps automate the creation and management of infrastructure using infrastructure-as-code (IAC) tools. Templates can be created to provision resources on the IaaS platform, ensuring consistency and meeting software requirements. Additionally, containerization technologies like Docker and Kubernetes can deploy applications on IaaS platforms.
5. Considerations in IaaS Virtualized Environments
5.1. CPU Swap Wait
The CPU swap wait is when the virtual system waits while the hypervisor swaps parts of the VM memory back in from the disk. This happens when the hypervisor needs to swap, which can be due to a lack of balloon drivers or a memory shortage. This can affect the application's response time. One can install the balloon driver and/or reduce the number of VMs on the physical machine to resolve this issue.
5.2. CPU System/Wait Time for VKernel
Virtualization systems often report CPU or wait time for the virtualization kernel used by each virtual machine to measure CPU resource overhead. While this metric can't be directly linked to response time, it can impact both ready and swap times if it increases significantly. If this occurs, it could indicate that the system is either misconfigured or overloaded, and reducing the number of VMs on the machine may be necessary.
5.3. Memory Balloon
Memory ballooning is a memory management technique used in virtualized IaaS environments. It works by injecting a software balloon into the VM's memory space. The balloon is designed to consume memory within the VM, causing it to request more memory from the hypervisor. As a result, if the host system is experiencing low memory, it will take memory from its virtual infrastructures, thus negatively affecting the guest's performance, causing swapping, reduced file-system buffers, and smaller system caches.
5.4. Memory Swap Rate
Memory swap rate is a performance metric used in virtualized IaaS environments to measure the amount of memory being swapped to disk. When the swap rate is high, it leads to longer CPU swap times and negatively affects application performance. In addition, when a VM is running, it may require more memory than is physically available on the server. In such cases, the hypervisor may use disk space as a temporary storage area for excess memory. Therefore, to optimize, it is important to ensure that VMs have sufficient memory resources allocated.
5.5. Memory Usage
Memory usage refers to the amount of memory being used by a VM at any given time. Memory usage is assessed by analyzing the host level, VM level, and granted memory. When memory usage exceeds the available physical memory on the server, the hypervisor may use disk space as a temporary storage area for excess memory, leading to performance issues. The disparity between used and granted memory indicates the overcommitment rate, which can be adjusted through ballooning.
5.6. Disk/Network Latency
Some virtualization providers provide integrated utilities for assessing the latency of disks and network interfaces utilized by a virtual machine. Since latency directly affects response time, increased latency at the hypervisor level will also impact the application. An excessive amount of latency indicates the system is overloaded and requires reconfiguration. These metrics enable us to monitor and detect any negative impact a virtualized system might have on our application.
6. Industry tips for IaaS Virtualization Implementation
Testing, compliance management and security arecritical aspects of managing virtualized IaaS environments . By implementing a comprehensive strategy, organizations ensure their infrastructure and applications' reliability, security, and performance.
6.1. Infrastructure Testing
This involves testing the infrastructure components of the IaaS environment, such as the virtual machines, networks, and storage, aiming to ensure the infrastructure is functioning correctly and that there are no performance bottlenecks, security vulnerabilities, or configuration issues. Testing the virtualized environment, storage testing (testing data replication and backup and recovery processes), and network testing are some of the techniques to be performed.
6.2. Application Testing
Applications running on the IaaS virtual environment should be thoroughly tested to ensure they perform as expected. This includes functional testing to ensure that the application meets its requirements and performance testing to ensure that the application can handle anticipated user loads.
6.3. Security Monitoring
Security monitoring is critical in IaaS environments, owing to the increased risks and threats. This involves monitoring the infrastructure and applications for potential security threats, vulnerabilities, or breaches. In addition, regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing help identify and address potential security issues before they become significant problems.
6.4. Performance Monitoring
Performance monitoring is essential to ensuring that the underlying infrastructure meets performance expectations and has no performance bottlenecks. This comprises monitoring metrics such as CPU usage, memory usage, network traffic, and disk utilization. This information is used to identify performance issues and optimize resource usage.
6.5. Cost Optimization
Cost optimization is a critical aspect of a virtualized IaaS environment with optimized efficiency and resource allocation. Organizations reduce costs and optimize resource usage by identifying and monitoring usage patterns and optimizing elastic and scalable resources. It involves right-sizing resources, utilizing infrastructure automation, reserved instances, spot instances (unused compute capacity purchased at a discount), and optimizing storage usage.
7. Conclusion
IaaS virtualization has become a critical component of DevOps and continuous delivery practices. To rapidly develop, test, and deploy applications with greater agility and efficiency by providing on-demand access to scalable infrastructure resources to Devops teams, IaaS virtualization comes into picture. As DevOps teams continue to seek ways to streamline processes and improve efficiency, automation will play an increasingly important role. Automated deployment, testing, and monitoring processes will help reduce manual intervention and increase the speed and accuracy of development cycles. In addition, containers will offer a lightweight and flexible alternative to traditional virtualization, allowing DevOps teams to package applications and their dependencies into portable, self-contained units that can be easily moved between different environments. This can reduce the complexity of managing virtualized infrastructure environments and enable greater flexibility and scalability. By embracing these technologies and integrating them into their workflows, DevOps teams can achieve greater efficiency and accelerate their delivery of high-quality software products.
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