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Explore IBM Cloud Orchestrator at InterConnect

To meet a wide range of business requirements, many companies build a complex multi-cloud environment. Managing multiple clouds used to be difficult. In 2017, is that still the case?
It shouldn’t be. IBM offers a complete cloud management platform that simplifies management of multi-cloud environments. Developers can use the platform to build and run applications on variety of clouds. IT can use the platform to help manage, deliver and govern services across the entire company.
With IBM Cloud Orchestrator, you can better manage your cloud applications and services from a single pane of glass. By leveraging hybrid cloud environments, you can reduce costs, get more value from existing investments and speed time-to-market.
IBM Cloud Orchestrator at InterConnect
This year, IBM InterConnect will offer a broad range of topics for IT operations executives and developers who want better control over their complex multi-cloud environments. You can discover the latest hybrid cloud management solutions. And you can learn from industry experts and peers on how to accelerate, optimize and scale across hybrid cloud environments.
The roster of speakers features real clients addressing real challenges across many different industries. Session leaders and panel groups will discuss the implications of multispeed IT and dealing with legacy, cloud-enabled and cloud-ready workloads. You can join a discussion about how open standards can facilitate optimal workload deployments to private and public clouds.
Automation is at the heart of managing hybrid cloud environments. We will discuss how IBM Cloud Orchestrator allows you to automate and standardize many manual IT processes. You can provide self-service opportunities to clients, as well as speed and consistency in service delivery.
Can’t-miss IBM Cloud Orchestrator sessions
As you’re planning your InterConnect schedule, check out a few of the many sessions and educational opportunities around hybrid cloud and IBM Cloud Orchestrator. Click the following links for a few highlighted session details:

Session #1391:Swiss Re&8217;s approach to content lifecycle management in a DevOps world
Session #6009: Benefits of IBM Cloud Orchestrator Customization: Ativas&8217; datacenter case study
Session #3071: Implementing a hybrid cloud environment in the financial sector at JN Data
Session #3340: How IBM Cloud Orchestrator allowed Poste Italiane to integrate legacy services with cloud services
Session #3190: From MSP to CSP: A hybrid journey in a transformed industry

I hope we’ll see you in Las Vegas this March. Explore about InterConnect 2017, and register to attend today.
The post Explore IBM Cloud Orchestrator at InterConnect appeared first on #Cloud computing news.
Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud

Universal access: An early prototype for graphical VNC console in Ironic

The post Universal access: An early prototype for graphical VNC console in Ironic appeared first on Mirantis | Pure Play Open Cloud.
Ideally, users should be able to have a universal experience when it comes to accessing their nova instances, but when integrated as part of OpenStack deployment, nova instances deployed on Ironic baremetal nodes have certain limitations compared to standard virtual machines created by nova. In particular, it is not currently possible to access the graphical VNC console of these instances via the Horizon Dashboard.
To fix this problem, the ironic community has started to work on introducing a framework for graphical console access for baremetal nodes. Because each hardware vendor implements a different way of providing graphical console access, the framework is planned to be quite generic, leaving details of the actual graphical console configuration and enablement to a proposed GraphicalConsole interface of an ironic driver.
One interesting type of hardware to consider in this regard is Dell servers supporting iDRACv7 or newer (PDF). The iDRAC firmware on such servers supports native access to the server’s graphical console over the OpenVNC-compatible protocol directly, without the need for proprietary VNC proxies or clients. An administrator who has appropriate access to the iDRAC configuration can enable this built-in VNC server and set the password, connection timeout and SSL encryption options.
In order to test the VNC capabilities of such hardware, I have implemented a prototype of a graphical console interface for the DRAC driver. It uses the WS-MAN HTTP API (as do the rest of the DRAC-specific driver interfaces) to toggle the VNC server feature on and off and set its properties. I have also created a prototype of get_vnc_console method for the Ironic virt-driver in Nova. As a result, I was able to get access to the graphical console in the Horizon Dashboard for the nova instance deployed on top of a Dell R630 server managed by Ironic.

Of course, no prototype is complete without any bugs/problems discovered during testing. Here is what I’ve been hitting my head against and hacking around while making this to work:

This prototype was done prior to the generic graphical console framework implementation done in ironic. Thus the prototype implementation is, for now, overriding the existing serial console interface in an Ironic driver that was specifically created for this purpose. That means that currently it is not possible to have both a serial console and graphical console.
Conveniently though, the proposed base GraphicalConsole interface will have the same API as the current Console (SerialConsole in the future) interface. This means that once the generic framework for the graphical console interfaces is implemented in Ironic, this prototype can be plugged in as graphical console interface basically as-is.
The interface implementation is using the low-level WS-MAN Python client calls for now, because support for managing the iDracCardService is yet lacking from python-dracclient. The work to enable this functionality is already ongoing in the community, though.
The ironic virt-driver changes are rather specific for this particular case are meant exclusively to let me quickly test this functionality. After the generic graphical console is implemented in Ironic and the required complementary functionality is available in python-ironicclient, this will change.
The OpenVNC implementation in iDRAC does not seem to be complete, as noVNC can not properly connect to it. The result is an apparently connected console with no graphical output (issue##712). Resolving this problem involves disabling a single passed encoding parameter in the noVNC code. For now, I have had to patch noVNC, but I have not yet determined the implications of these changes on access to a standard VM graphical console.
In order for noVNC to connect, you must set the password on the VNC server, because noVNC cannot accept an empty password in its password prompt, and setting the password for the iDRAC VNC server to None/empty string still results in the VNC server requesting a password on connection. I am not sure if this should be considered a bug in the iDRAC VNC server or in noVNC.
I have not tested yet how the iDRAC VNC server works with noVNC when SSL is enabled in iDRAC VNC Server.
The iDRAC VNC server is limited to a single VNC session at a time, so it is not really suitable for a multi-user setup. On the other hand, this still might suffice for undercloud-like use cases such as TripleO.
Note that in the current prototype, all nodes running the nova-novncproxy service (or the single one specified as “vncserver_proxyclient_address” in the config for nova-compute with the Ironic virt-driver) must effectively have access to the BMC network, as the built-in iDRAC VNC server is serving from its own BMC IP address. Take care to set up such proxying securely in a clustered nova deployment.

As you can see, there’s still a ways to go before this functionality is available in a production capacity. Nevertheless, this seems like an interesting and promising development in the hardware market. I consider it as yet another small step on the way forward to close the gap between baremetal and virtual servers in OpenStack, and to enable a unified user experience for the compute service.
The post Universal access: An early prototype for graphical VNC console in Ironic appeared first on Mirantis | Pure Play Open Cloud.
Quelle: Mirantis

The cloud stories you can’t miss at InterConnect

Should you stay home from an event where more than 20,000 representatives from potential customers and partners gathered in one place Of course not. That’s why you absolutely must join me and my colleagues for IBM InterConnect.
There are far too many benefits to name, but if you still need convincing that InterConnect is a must for your business, take a look at my top four cloud sessions.
1. Session 7354: A discussion with Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani
Does your business have a mission bigger than its next quarter? As technology leaders, we have a responsibility to do more than innovate. We should help solve the pressing social issues of our day. As part of the all-new Innovation Talks, IBM will welcome Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code.
Saujani will advocate a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure, promoting mentorship and boldly charting your own course. How  can your organization change the world?
2. Session 6186: American Airlines: Booking automation using IBM ODM
If you’re striving to transform your business processes or build a seamless automated experience, this session might be the answer.  Hear how one of the world’s largest airlines, American Airlines, harnessed the power of IBM Operational Decision Maker (ODM) to transform internal processes and automate bookings.
3. Session 3069: Using cognitive to shift from reactive to proactive IT operations: A client panel
Do you ever feel like your business is constantly rushing to solve the latest problem? Do you wish you could address problems before they became urgent? Join an expert panel of IBM clients to learn how to unleash the power of cognitive computing to extract deep insights from IT systems. It’s time to stop putting out fires and start being more proactive.
4. Session 7286A: Trends in microservices architectures for deploying cloud apps
As your business needs increase, you may struggle to succeed unless you continue to innovate. This session will help empower your organization to bring faster and more flexible responses to market dynamics. Microservices can be a key strategic software architecture pattern to successfully expand customer engagement and increase the realization of wider cloud application adoption. Join IBM experts to learn how to transition to a microservices-based architecture.
These are just a few highlights of the many exciting sessions at the conference. Don’t miss this world-class opportunity. If you’re still not signed up for InterConnect 2017, be sure to register today.
The post The cloud stories you can’t miss at InterConnect appeared first on #Cloud computing news.
Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud

Why you shouldn’t choose between agile and DevOps approaches

You may hear your IT department talking about implementing agile or DevOps development. Both promise better and faster software development through collaboration. How are they different, and which is better for your business?
Agile software development principles enable developers to deliver new functionality quickly while responding to changing business requirements. Development teams deliver incremental features frequently, perhaps every couple of weeks. Traditional approaches often take months or even years to deliver new systems. In the meantime, business needs have changed and the systems are no longer a good fit. The agile approach helps address this problem.
DevOps addresses a different part of the software development lifecycle. It focuses on reducing handoffs between developers and the operations team running and supporting the systems. It aims to reduce the time to test and deploy code to users as well as reduce errors and downtime of the operational system.
Though agile and DevOps focus on different areas, they are related. The principles in the Agile Manifesto, published in 2001, refer to continuous delivery of working software. Continuous deployment is an aim of DevOps. Years later, the term DevOps was coined to describe using an agile approach in the operational context rather than development context of IT systems.
Many organizations are adopting agile and DevOps practices together. This combination enables businesses to manage a complete process from initial planning and requirements through to development, deployment and operation. This faster, leaner approach is often built around small teams with the skills to execute each of those tasks.
The prevalence of the agile-plus-DevOps approach is reflected in the results of IBM’s global study exploring adoption, usage patterns and impact of DevOps. , which interviewed participants already using DevOps. The survey found that more than 75 percent use—or will soon use—an agile-plus-DevOps approach to:

Create single, unified teams responsible for the full application lifecycle
Apply agile and lean principles across their company.

Study participants reported many benefits and synergies of this combined approach, including:

Improvements in application quality and reduction of defects
Reduced application downtime and associated costs
Higher customer satisfaction
Faster time-to-market

Adopting agile-plus-DevOps is not without its challenges, however. Both approaches require companies to embrace technical as well as cultural changes. Making these changes is more challenging if your business has governance or regulatory requirements. And businesses may need to adjust processes and organizational structure.
The journey to become an organization that values collaboration, learning and experimentation takes time and a consistent strategy, but the payoffs can be considerable. IBM CIO Jeff Smith shares his top tips for building an agile enterprise:

For further Information on agile and DevOps approaches, check out our DevOps Application Performance Management for Dummies ebook.
Want to dig deeper into agile and DevOps?  Attend  for sessions, labs, and educational opportunities, including this session on agile and DevOps.
The post Why you shouldn’t choose between agile and DevOps approaches appeared first on #Cloud computing news.
Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud

3 key ways streaming video helps with delivering tough corporate news

Whether it’s a lower-than-expected earnings period or layoffs, every company has to find a way to announce bad news.
Historically, the news was delivered with a memo or in an in-person meeting, but these no longer suffice as workforces become increasingly distributed. Fortunately, the introduction of streaming video technology has upended how businesses communicate changes to large numbers of workers for the better.
“It’s efficient, you can reach a wide audience at a low cost, and the products available for this are extremely affordable” says Dan Rayburn, a streaming media analyst for Frost & Sullivan and executive vice president of streamingmedia.com. Rayburn adds that major companies, including Goldman Sachs and Coca-Cola, are already taking advantage.
Most importantly, streaming video enables three critical elements necessary in delivering tough news to employees:
Transparency
According to research from McKinsey & Company about company transformations, employees are eight times more likely to report a success when their bosses communicate directly. Streaming video not only enables company-wide, simultaneous communication, but also allows sometimes inaccessible C-level executives to communicate directly and clearly with all employees.
What&8217;s more, streaming video facilitates an open conversation between employees and senior management. As an executive communicates a message to the employees, an HR manager can sift through pertinent questions submitted by employees on the platform in real-time. Executives can then address these questions to help employees understand what&8217;s going on.
Personalization
With streaming video, a single message can not only be delivered across a large company, but also tailored to that company&8217;s different locations. Following an initial announcement, companies can integrate additional messages that pertain specifically to varying regions or departments. This is particularly useful for globally distributed companies where employees may be impacted differently depending on their location.
Video streaming enables both a uniform message and smaller video conversations that provide details on, for example, each person&8217;s severance package. According to Valerie Frederickson, CEO of the HR consultancy Frederickson Pribula Li, even if a company is confined to a relatively small geographic region in a single time zone, any company with more than 75 employees should consider itself a candidate for streaming video services.
Consistency
Streaming video can be tailored to meet individual needs, interests and circumstances, but it can also prevent variation in messages from the leadership team to employees.
“How can the company give the message all around the world, how can they convey that it&8217;s under control?&8221; asks Frederickson. “What you want to have in streaming video is an executive at the top or near the top who is disciplined and can stay on point.&8221;
Video streaming controls for anomalies that may appear if the job of delivering the news were given entirely to local managers. This is essential for preventing an internal misalignment that might lead to conflicts.
Consistency also implies communication is ongoing. Whole-company change is 12 percent more likely to be successful with continual communication from senior management. A video platform enables companies to help employees with their next steps after the company&8217;s change by offering webinars, and it helps HR keep track of who&8217;s actually attending them to ensure that employees are taking the right steps in the transition.
“The advantage of using video is that it keeps human element,&8221; says Frederickson. “If you have a well-planned message and deliver it with technology in a flawless and seamless way, it gives employees access to go get information they need.&8221;
Learn more about IBM Cloud Video solutions.
The post 3 key ways streaming video helps with delivering tough corporate news appeared first on #Cloud computing news.
Quelle: Thoughts on Cloud