Tips

Tips

• A cloud admin's guide to OpenStack Neutron networking

  As Neutron evolves, it could shape the advancement of Network as a Service, allowing cloud admins to build clouds without the aid of networking pros.  Continue Reading

• Microsoft continues to improve Windows Azure autoscaling features

  After coming late to the autoscaling game this year, Microsoft continues to add features that appeal to both CFOs and busy DevOps teams.  Continue Reading

• A CIO's checklist for moving to the cloud

  Determining whether to shut down on-premises apps and hardware is never easy. Here are strategies to help ensure a successful cloud transition.  Continue Reading

• Seeing platform software through the cloud computing lens

  Selecting the right cloud platform software simplifies migration to a private or hybrid cloud, but the choice is not always black and white.  Continue Reading

• Maximize cloud benefits with five keys to private cloud automation

  Public cloud-wary companies often turn to private cloud, but added overhead could outweigh its benefits without key automation tools and processes.  Continue Reading

• Cut cloud Opex to boost savings and improve cash flow

  In this tip, contributor Tom Nolle explains how reducing cloud Opex, or operating expense, saves money and streamlines cash flow management.  Continue Reading

• How four providers ranked in head-to-head cloud performance benchmarks

  Don't partner with a cloud service provider until you have clear evidence of performance metrics. Here's how four providers stacked up.  Continue Reading

• If IT had a hammer: Choosing among IaaS, PaaS and SaaS

  Enterprises tend to use the latest technology to solve all of its IT problems. But if your apps are nails, is IaaS, PaaS or SaaS really the hammer?  Continue Reading

• Improve IT oversight with cloud management services

  Cloud management services, such as RightScale and Enstratius, have stepped in to fill a need for management oversight in the cloud.  Continue Reading

• Unlock Windows Azure development in Visual Studio 2013 Preview

  Microsoft released the Visual Studio 2013 Preview on June 26, but developers couldn't take full advantage of the preview's new cloud features, such as push notifications, until recently.  Continue Reading

• Ideal cloud apps balance existing costs vs. potential cloud savings

  Determining which applications are good cloud candidates means calculating the cost to run the app versus the potential savings cloud could bring.  Continue Reading

• Choosing among IaaS, PaaS and Database as a Service for a cloud database

  Regardless of which cloud database you choose, multiple factors must come into play, ranging from costs and availability to feature support.  Continue Reading

• Public or private? Picking your hybrid cloud strategy's starting point

  A hybrid cloud strategy begins at one of two starting points: public or private cloud. Your pick could be key to an efficient, economical IT model.  Continue Reading

• Three things that could derail cloud computing success

  Cloud adoption has shown encouraging stats, but industry pros are developing practices that could stand in the way of cloud's success.  Continue Reading

• Cloud email migration: 10 tips for evaluating service providers

  In this tip by Executive Editor Jan Stafford, Mimecast CEO Peter Bauer explains how to evaluate vendors that provide cloud email migration services.  Continue Reading

• Securing data with Authentication as a Service in the cloud, mobile era

  Authentication as a Service is enabled by standard security protocols, but other service features can be the keys to deciding on a provider.  Continue Reading

• Staging the battle plan for a graceful retreat from a cloud project

  Many enterprises find a cloud migration is more difficult than imagined. And sometimes that means backing out of a cloud project and starting over.  Continue Reading

• When IaaS won't cut it: Planning a transition to PaaS cloud

  Many IT pros find PaaS meets their needs more than IaaS does. How can you ensure success? Transitioning to PaaS isn't as easy as you think.  Continue Reading

• Best practices for comparing and deploying cloud servers

  Before you can compare performance benchmark reports on cloud servers, know the facts on what to look for when it comes to price and performance.  Continue Reading

• Establish effective cloud APM to reap biggest cloud benefits

  In this tip, contributor Tom Nolle offers practical advice on using cloud APM to reap the greatest gains from cloud computing.  Continue Reading

• Matching cloud SLA promises to your uptime requirements

  Cloud outages and uptime should translate into dollars and cents when evaluating service-level agreements. Match cloud SLA wants to business needs.  Continue Reading

• Prevent BYOA headaches with clear communication and careful monitoring

  As contributor Christine Parizon notes, BYOA management requires clear communication about and careful monitoring of employees' personal apps.  Continue Reading

• BYOA: Challenges and caveats for controlling the flood of personal apps

  Senior site editor Anne Stuart shares three cloud professionals' tips on managing the growing list of personal apps that employees bring to work.  Continue Reading

• Portable cloud apps require standards, vendor research

  Contributor Christine Parizo describes how to improve portable cloud apps by setting standards and researching cloud providers and app vendors.  Continue Reading

• Negating network latency's effects without bending law of physics

  Moving apps to the cloud for flexibility sounds great in theory, but latency creates its own problems unless you know how to counter its effects.  Continue Reading

• Try these tips for effective cloud APM

  In this expert tip, contributor Tom Nolle offers practical advice for successful cloud application performance management in cloud migrations.  Continue Reading

• Cloud data security: Share the responsibility, minimize the risks

  This tip, third in a series on cloud data security, discusses how service providers and customers can protect public cloud environments.  Continue Reading

• Cloud data security: Customers and providers share responsibility

  This tip, the first in a series, describes how Infrastructure as a Service providers and customers should collaborate to ensure cloud data security.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing market innovation cannibalized by large IT providers

  While the cloud computing market is in no immediate danger of saturation, the lack of innovation among the big cloud players is troubling.  Continue Reading

• Cloud data security: Use a third party or do the job yourself?

  This tip, the second in a series on cloud data security, offers advice on choosing the right approach to protecting applications in the public cloud.  Continue Reading

• Effective cloud SLAs should cover QA, uptime, availability and more

  Good cloud service level agreements (SLAs) protect customers' core business functions. Follow these tips to negotiate SLAs with SaaS providers.  Continue Reading

• What cloud bursting and disaster recovery mean for hybrid cloud

  Cloud bursting and disaster recovery are major cloud selling points. But a hybrid cloud app that can accomplish both may be the best approach of all.  Continue Reading

• Windows Azure Media Services gives YouTube junkies a new outlet

  Enterprises need only look to YouTube's stats to see the value of video. Windows Azure Media Services has the benefits of video with more control.  Continue Reading

• Do you need to reevaluate your BYOD policy?

  BYOD is the No. 1 enterprise security threat, but it also keeps employees productive and happy. A new policy could help you balance the extremes.  Continue Reading

• Three tests pinpoint top applications for successful cloud migrations

  In the first of two parts, Tom Nolle discusses business considerations for identifying which applications will most benefit from cloud migrations.  Continue Reading

• For effective cloud migrations, address key technology questions

  Data communications expert Tom Nolle discusses technical considerations for identifying which applications will most benefit from cloud migrations.  Continue Reading

• Limiting the effects of cloud computing outages

  After making the case for cloud based on high availability, IT pros are upset by cloud outages. With planning, there are ways to craft a strategy.  Continue Reading

• How to proof your application against cloud failure

  To protect against cloud failure, focus on designing your cloud applications so they can manage availability as well as any IT deployment can.  Continue Reading

• Applying cloud stack features to a private cloud

  As cloud software matures, enterprise customers are frustrated that new features show promise, yet aren't associated with the enterprise buyer.  Continue Reading

• Buyer strategies for cloud price cuts

  When cloud providers slash prices, it makes it tough for cloud buyers to find the real value. Here are some coping strategies for handling price cuts.  Continue Reading

• Will Google IaaS offering add fuel to cloud's price war fire?

  With Google IaaS entering the fray, cloud vendors may need to cut prices further to compete. Is this price war good for the consumer?  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing continues to drive IT growth, shapes industry

  IDC claims third platform technologies will drive 90% of growth in IT. Are enterprises choosing to ignore this shift sure to stagnate?  Continue Reading

• Windows Azure competes with AWS, pushes more frequent, granular updates

  Microsoft released a steady stream of Azure updates, keeping pace with AWS. Could this mean Azure IaaS is finally ready for the enterprise ring?  Continue Reading

• Entry-level big data analysis with Google BigQuery

  For enterprises intimidated by Hadoop, Google BigQuery offers an entry-level approach to big data analysis, but it may trade accuracy for speed.  Continue Reading

• VMware vCloud Suite takes a centralized approach to cloud computing

  The OpenStack community cloud model isn't for every enterprise. VMware vCloud Suite's centralized approach to cloud appeals to some IT pros.  Continue Reading

• Are your cloud applications performing as they should?

  As enterprises put mission-critical apps into cloud, performance takes a front seat. Performance monitoring tools are useful but not the only answer.  Continue Reading

• Fitting together hybrid cloud's public and private cloud pieces

  Cloud market maturity means options for IT. To create an efficient hybrid cloud, IT pros must mix and match the best public and private cloud choices.  Continue Reading

• Reducing cloud storage costs from BI, real data analysis

  BI and data analytics are promising cloud apps, but data storage costs halt enterprise adoption. Data abstraction and other processes can cut costs.  Continue Reading

• Three ways to achieve mobile SaaS apps agility

  Learn how to make mobile SaaS apps Agile, including scrutinizing SaaS providers' SLAs, customizing a SaaS service for mobile or developing a SaaS app.  Continue Reading

• How SaaS app portability planning can ease pricing, stability woes

  SaaS app portability planning can help users deal with pricing and business stability issues for SaaS providers. Tom Nolle explains.  Continue Reading

• Enterprise productivity increases with cloud apps

  Learn how cloud applications can increase small to medium-sized enterprise productivity.  Continue Reading

• Is cloud-based storage the right option for you?

  Cloud-based storage has become a viable, cost-effective alternative to onsite data backup. But it's not right for every company.  Continue Reading

• Why are people so hung up on Apache Hadoop?

  Despite being described as a 'perfect' cloud application framework, many enterprises still don't know how to deploy Hadoop or recognize its pitfalls.  Continue Reading

• Building a hybrid cloud environment with Agile and DevOps

  Learn how best to build a hybrid cloud environment while combining Agile and DevOps.  Continue Reading

• The rising tide of open source cloud platforms

  As enterprises embrace the cloud, certain open source cloud platforms are gaining steam.  Continue Reading

• HDInsight Service Preview for Azure debunks Hadoop's big data analytics angle

  An upgrade to Microsoft's HDInsight Service Preview for Azure reverses Hadoop's adage and enables using blog storage clusters for big data analytics.  Continue Reading

• Prepping data center infrastructure for a cloud migration

  Cloud migration projects affect existing infrastructure and your teams. Prep work should start with one question: 'Is it wise to move to cloud?'  Continue Reading

• How a cloud migration affects existing data center infrastructure

  When preparing for a cloud migration, don't overlook configuration management, network implications or storage, or the move may not be worth the cost.  Continue Reading

• Open management in a multivendor cloud

  Multi-cloud environments and the relationship between apps and resources in the cloud have led IT pros to open management tools for a better QoE.  Continue Reading

• Five things to consider before moving legacy development efforts to PaaS

  Managing your own development infrastructure takes time away from designing and coding. A move to PaaS can be helpful, even for a legacy development.  Continue Reading

• Platform as a Service vendors help cloud market evolution

  Platform as a Service vendors continue to evolve offerings to keep up with customer needs. Which provider is the right fit for your organization?  Continue Reading

• Application portability in PaaS: Problems and solutions

  Even in the early stage of cloud adoption, users of PaaS services are already questioning the portability of the applications.  Continue Reading

• Cloud management tools a letdown for enterprise IT workloads

  Cloud management tools have emerged, though many lack the capabilities of traditional management stacks that enterprise IT has come to rely on.  Continue Reading

• SaaS providers: Is it really a buyer's market?

  Don't assume you'll save money with Software as a Service. Learn more tips for evaluating SaaS providers' evolving pricing models.  Continue Reading

• What makes OpenStack public cloud tick?

  OpenStack may have lots of buzz, but it's not all hype. OpenStack APIs, including Quantum, could make it the biggest AWS competitor down the road.  Continue Reading

• Are hybrid clouds a solution to PaaS and SaaS integration issues?

  SaaS and PaaS services create more application integration problems than either IaaS or even private IT. Hybrid clouds can help.  Continue Reading

• Java vs. Ruby: A cloud software engineer weighs in

  A cloud software engineer shares tips on Java versus Ruby, app security and deployment.  Continue Reading

• Managing the hybrid cloud model

  Management tactics shouldn't change just because you have a hybrid cloud. Here are five points every hybrid cloud manager should follow.  Continue Reading

• Reusable cloud tools gap fuels app security quest

  Learn the security issues that enterprise and cloud app developers face and ways to handle them with new cloud tools.  Continue Reading

• MEAP can help or hinder mobile app development

  For developers looking to reuse their applications across devices, a MEAP can provide benefits if done properly.  Continue Reading

• Coordinating cloud management between providers and the enterprise

  Cloud management is most effective when an enterprise has a window into a cloud provider's platform. Some last-ditch efforts may uphold performance.  Continue Reading

• API development communities requires online and offline presence

  Learn how API development communities are expanding beyond the company setting.  Continue Reading

• Cloud tools that boost remote app development managers' productivity

  Learn about the cloud tools that are helpful for remote development managers and programmers.  Continue Reading

• How cloud management tools improve remote worker productivity

  Explore how cloud management tools have increased remote application developers' and IT managers' productivity and value.  Continue Reading

• How do you know your provider is following through on its cloud SLA?

  You may be happy with the cloud SLA you've signed, but that's only Step 1. Pick a management system to check up on your cloud provider.  Continue Reading

• Tools that determine your cloud ROI

  Companies adopt cloud under the promise of cost savings, but is that a reality? Providers aim to prove cost benefits with cloud ROI tools.  Continue Reading

• Security considerations for IaaS cloud

  Learn about the necessary security considerations for IaaS cloud environments.  Continue Reading

• You're charging me for what?! Deconstructing your AWS cloud bill

  With the array of AWS cloud services offered, your bill can get confusing. Learn how to decipher your cloud bill so you don't get sticker shock.  Continue Reading

• Fundamentals of the hybrid cloud computing model

  If enterprises simply follow the NIST definition of hybrid cloud, they may be missing three key pieces -- security, connectivity and portability.  Continue Reading

• Security concerns in a SaaS environment: Delineating responsibilities

  Learn why there are greater security concerns in a SaaS environment than in IaaS.  Continue Reading

• Cloud stack comparison shopping for your private cloud build

  Will it be OpenStack, CloudStack, Eucalyptus or another option? Save yourself from costly mistakes by choosing the right cloud software up front.  Continue Reading

• Top 5 factors for IT team security

  Five factors are proven to help increase IT team security. Do attitude and executive ownership ring a bell? Find out what they all are.  Continue Reading

• Mobile app development trends to watch

  Learn about the changes in mobile app development and what this means for software application architecture.  Continue Reading

• Beyond the basics of SOA applications in the cloud

  The value proposition for combining SOA applications and cloud computing outweighs any individual benefits, particularly in failure protection.  Continue Reading

• Exposing the business intelligence value of cloud data analytics

  Business intelligence gained from mining big data sources and cloud data analytics can present huge gains for companies that know what they're doing.  Continue Reading

• Building mobile cloud applications for the BYOD workforce

  As BYOD becomes a primary concern for enterprise IT, creating mobile cloud applications that support the evolving workforce is paramount.  Continue Reading

• Building redundancy into your cloud outage strategy

  Any effective cloud computing strategy should include measures to protect against outages. The best defense you can have is to plan for redundancy.  Continue Reading

• Bringing Analytics as a Service to the enterprise

  A data analytics project often includes a high price tag and a long implementation cycle. Adopting Analytics as a Service can help with both.  Continue Reading

• Use HTML5 to make developing mobile applications less costly, complex

  Doing mobile application development with HTML5 isn't the most common path, but it can be less costly and complex.  Continue Reading

• Build mobile device-agnostic cloud apps with Visual Studio LightSwitch

  Building cloud apps amid BYOD chaos? Microsoft's Visual Studio LightSwitch is a tool for quickly building public cloud-based, device-agnostic apps.  Continue Reading

• Clearing networking and security hurdles of private cloud adoption

  Network configurations and security fears continue to keep enterprises from private cloud adoption. Fight these issues with the right staff and tools.  Continue Reading

• How IT pros can control their private cloud computing destiny

  Once enterprises understand private cloud computing benefits and best practices, they can begin to move forward on the path to hybrid cloud.  Continue Reading

• Confusion still prevails on private cloud benefits

  IT pros considering private clouds are still foggy on benefits such as automation, as well as how to capitalize on the secure cloud model.  Continue Reading

• Paving the way to cloud security certification is a two-way street

  Enterprise IT should make every effort to meet cloud regulations, but cloud providers also need to pony up with valid cloud security certifications.  Continue Reading

• Using a MEAP to develop mobile applications

  Expert contributor Bill Claybrook offers tips and best practices for building mobile apps using mobile enterprise application platforms.  Continue Reading

• How cloud computing, tablets will reshape the desktop

  The cloud and tablets both have sizable benefits for enterprises. Aligning the two can change the way you think about desktops.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing feeds competitiveness among consumers and vendors

  Move over, cost savings. Competitive advantage steals top slot for reasons why enterprises will adopt cloud services in 2013, shows IDC survey.  Continue Reading

• Using DevOps tools to support the cloud of the future

  DevOps continues to change with advancements in IT. With the help of cloud computing, IT pros are using DevOps tools to deploy more efficient apps.  Continue Reading

• The role of software-defined networks in cloud computing

  Software-defined networking can be difficult to define. Understanding SDN models is key for enterprises trying to properly position cloud services.  Continue Reading

• Big data tools give enterprises more data analytics options

  Big data means big business when teamed with cloud. Using a big data appliance is convenient but could get costly for the average enterprise.  Continue Reading