AWS vs Azure vs Google Cloud Platform – Compute

 by Jess Panni

In this series, we’re comparing cloud services from AWS, Azure and Google Cloud Platform. A full breakdown and comparison of cloud providers and their services are available in this handy poster.

We have assessed services across three typical migration strategies:
Lift and shift – the cloud service can support running legacy systems with minimal change
Consume PaaS services – the cloud offering is a managed service that can be consumed by existing solutions with minimal architectural change
Re-architect for cloud – the cloud technology is typically used in solution architectures that have been optimised for cloud

And have grouped services into 10 categories:
Compute
Storage & Content Delivery
Database
Analytics & Big Data
Internet of Things
Mobile Services
Networking
Security & Identity
Management & Monitoring
Hybrid

In this post we are looking at…
Compute

This category covers all services that can be used to run applications in the cloud.
AWS

Amazon is often been seen as the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) market leader with their Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). AWS lets you choose from a range of 40 virtual server instance sizes from low cost ‘nano’ instances to high end memory, storage or GPU optimised products, offering up to 128 ‘vCPU’s and a whopping 2TB of memory (be warned this doesn’t come cheap!). The lower end T2 instances offer baseline performance with the ability to ‘burst’ above the baseline for short periods. EC2 comes with images for Linux and Windows Server. A free tier is available for 1 year (equivalent of running one low end instance) although this is unlikely to be a major decision factor for most organisations. On-demand instances are billed per-hour, and discounted prices are available on instances that are paid up-front, or reserved on a recurring schedule, and there is even a spot pricing option on excess capacity. Auto-scaling these instances is supported, with the ability to scale in response to a range of run-time thresholds reported by CloudWatch.

AWS offers persistent disk options through Elastic Block Store and comes with a variety of SSD and HDD flavours. Disk storage is backed by Elastic Block Store and is automatically replicated across multiple servers within an availability zone (a specific location with an AWS region). Replication across regions is supported by shipping snapshots.

AWS Container Service is Amazon’s solution for running and managing docker containers. It relies on ECS to provide the underlying container instances. Standard images are available or you are free to choose your own. EC2 Container Registryallows developers to publish their docker container images to a private managed repository which is important to support development and devops workflows.

Amazon also offers a good range of PaaS services. Elastic Beanstalk is a PaaS compute solution for running web applications written in Python, PHP, JavaScript, .NET, Ruby, Java and Go. It can scale on request or based on certain run-time thresholds such as CPU usage. Elastic Beanstalk also allows developers to run applications as docker images.

For running discrete compute tasks AWS has Lambda which executes code in response to various triggers, such as application or storage events. Lambda automatically scales to meet demand and supports JavaScript, Python and Java.

AWS has a large number of centers spread spread over 13 geographically dispersed regions, so there are good options for organisations with strict data sovereignty rules.
Azure

Azure has been rapidly closing the gap to Amazon in recent years with Virtual Machines. Coincidentally (perhaps) Azure also offers 40 instance sizes offering up to 20 cores and 140GB of memory. It is good to see Microsoft fully embracing Linux on Azure, so organisations with large Linux estates need not worry about choosing that platform. Red Hat and Windows images are available ‘out of the box’ with other distributions available from the Azure Marketplace. Virtual machines are billed per-minute (and discounts across all Azure services are available on 12 month pre-paid subscriptions or as part of an Enterprise Agreement).

Local (temporary) and persistent disk are supported, with VHDs being stored in Storage page blobs. SSDs are available as Premium Storage options. Azure will automatically replicate data to a neighbouring region (Standard Storage only) as well as locally across fault domains (physically isolated infrastructure). Cross region replication of Premium Storage disks is possible through snapshots.

Azure supports virtual machine auto scaling which can scale VMS in response to metrics reported through the Azure diagnostic extension.

Azure supports running docker containers with Container Service. Container Service supports both Docker Swarm and Mesosphere DC/OS orchestration engines and is backed by Virtual Machines running Linux container instances. Azure doesn’t offer a managed Docker registry, however it is possible to host your own on blob storage.

Microsoft has been traditionally strong with it’s PaaS offerings and they are not about to give up their crown just yet. App Service platform provides a fully managed environment for running .NET, Java, PHP and Node.JS applications. App Service includes Web Jobs for running background worker processes. It also comes with support for running APIs (as opposed to front-end web applications) and Logic Apps, Microsoft’s integration and workflow solution. The latest addition to the App Server family is Azure Functions, Azure’s answer to AWS Lambda.

In between App Services and Virtual Machines lives Cloud Services, the original PaaS solution offered on Azure. Cloud Services brings many of the benefits of PaaS while providing additional control over the underlying OS. This is a useful option for solutions that require the installation of third party components.

For batch workloads Azure has Batch allowing organisations to burst compute over hundreds of thousands of cores.

Microsoft is the first of the three providers to offer a fully fledged cloud microservice platform in Service Fabric. Service Fabric allows developers to write highly resilient and scalable solutions and offers full support for life-cycle management, provisioning, deploying, monitoring and upgrading services.

Azure is available in 24 regions, the most of all three providers. There are also specific Azure cloud instances for various special interests, such as the US Government and China.
Google Cloud Platform

Google’s Compute Engine provides a range virtual machine options. A number of pre-defined virtual server instances are available as well as a novel ‘build your own’ option which lets you choose between 1 and 32 ‘vCPU’/cores and up to 6.5GB of RAM per vCPU. Google’s ‘Predictable’ pricing is based on the number of cores and GB of memory. OS support comes with Linux and Windows, either pre-installed or bring your own. Compute Engine also offers a per-minute billing model and offers discounts for prolonged usage. Temporary and permanent HDD and SSD storage options are available with local redundancy built-in by default and comes with the ability to snapshot disks.

Auto scaling is fully supported with integration into Slackdriver, Google’s cloud monitoring and logging solution.

For batch workloads Google has Preemptible Vms, these are cost effective Compute Engine instances that take advantage of excess Compute Engine capacity. Google may terminate instances based on system events and will always stop instances running after 24 hours.

Google Container Engine can be used to run docker containers and is based on Kubernetes. Container Engine comes with a managed master instance, all other nodes are Compute Engine instances. This is reflected in the pricing which has a flat hourly fee (free for clusters with less than 6 nodes) plus the Compute Engine instance costs. Google offer a private container repository with Container Registry.

Google bundles its managed application services under the App Engine product. It offers a complete platform of running managed application written in Java, PHP, Node.js and Ruby. Where AWS and Azure have chosen to split out their services in to different products, App Engine comes with a no-sql store, memcache, search and traffic management (compared later in this series). This approach offers a cohesive set of related services that are easy to understand and consume.

Google offers their services across 5 geographically dispersed regions.
Conclusion

There is very little to choose between the 3 providers when it comes to virtual servers. Amazon has some impressive high end kit, on the face of it this sound like it would make AWS a clear winner. However, if your only option is to choose the biggest box available you will need to make sure you have very deep pockets, and perhaps your money may be better spent re-architecting your apps for horizontal scale.

Azure’s remains very strong in the PaaS space and now has a IaaS that can genuinely compete with AWS. Looking at the full migration journey, from lift and shift to fully cloud engineered solutions, Azure arguably has the best coverage of the three providers. It’s great to see Microsoft coming out with innovative new services such as Service Fabric, however, if your applications are written in Ruby then your options are limited to virtual machines or Docker containers.

Google offers a simple and very capable set of services that are easy to understand. However, with availability in only 5 regions it does not have the coverage of the other players.

Talking of regions, be aware that not all services are offered in every region. This applies to all three providers, so be sure to check if you have strict requirements on where your data resides.

Next up we will be looking at Storage and Content Delivery.




About the author


Jess has over 18 years’ experience helping companies succeed through the smart use of technology. He has spent most of his career working for leading Microsoft partners across the UK and Australia and is now Principal at endjin, working with clients to envision and execute disciplined innovation programmes. You can follow Jess on twitter.

Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X Series unveiled for data centers

By tech2 News Staff /  20 Mar 2017 , 11:27

Intel has unveiled a fast and responsive solid state drive for data centers. The Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X Series is designed to boost scale per server and accelerate applications.

The solid state drive provides industry leading capabilities such as high throughput, low latency, high endurance and a high quality of service. The Optane series of Solid State Drives by Intel offers good performance at low queue depth.

The drives remain responsive even under heavy load, and consistently delivers highly predictable and fast service. The drives will allow data center operators to increase the capacity of the same data centers. The Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X expands the reach of cloud computing solutions, and is designed to be used for emerging applications such as artificial intelligence, electronic trading, machine learning and medical scans.

The Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X with Intel Memory Drive Technology increases the size of memory pools, or allows a portion of the DRAM to be displaced. The drive is designed to seamlessly integrate into the memory subsystems and presents itself as DRAM to the operating system.

The drives are available immediately to Intel customers in the early ship program. More variants, in terms of capacity and form factors are expected to be available from the second half of 2017.

Deep dive into ZenFone 3 Max 5.2

  06 Dec 2016 , 15:58

The ZenFone 3 Max (ZC520TL) is part of the new ZenFone 3 series and the model with an incredibly-long-lasting, high-capacity 4100mAh battery that provides up to

• 30 days of standby time
• 20 hours of VoIP talk time on 3G
• 87 hours of music playback
• 15 hours of video playback

The ZenFone 3 Max’s high capacity battery gives owners freedom to use it for extended lengths without the need to charge it and even the ability to act as a fast charging power bank that can charge other devices with a current of up to 1.5A.

This latest addition to the ZenFone 3 series also sports a new full-metal, aluminum alloy body that houses its high-definition 5.2in IPS display. The display is surrounded by a slim, 2.25mm bezel that gives it a high 75% screen to body ratio – meaning that the bezel takes up only a quarter of its front facing surface area, giving users as large a screen for as compact a phone size as possible.

Although ZenFone 3 Max has such a high capacity battery, it weighs only 148 grams and is only 8.5mm thick, making it one of the lightest and most compact smartphones with a battery above 4000 mAh in capacity.

It also has a LTE Category 4 radio for fast mobile-download speeds up to 150Mbps.

Achievements

• The ZenFone 3 series model with the highest capacity battery
• At only 148 grams and is only 8.5mm thick, it is one of the lightest and smallest smartphones with a battery that is 4000mAh and above
• Its 75% screen-to-body ratio is also one of the highest among smartphones with a battery that is 4000mAh and above

Specifications

Premium Metal Design

The ZenFone 3 Max features a beautiful new aluminum alloy construction with design elements that add to its good looks and makes it more comfortable to hold.

Aluminum Alloy Body – The ZenFone 3 Max has an aluminum alloy body that is finished with a finely sandblasted matt surface and features gently rounded corners and edges. This premium material not only makes the phone look sophisticated, it is also makes it more durable.

Display glass with 2.5D contoured edges – The ZenFone 3 Max’s display glass has what is known as a “2.5D” contoured edges. Thus every smoothly rounded edges are a result of a highly precise manufacturing technique.The 2.5D contoured edges make the phone look even better, help the display glass fuse seamlessly into the diamond cut metallic chamfered edge, and adds to the comfort of holding the phone.

Diamond-cut Metallic Chamfered Edges – Surrounding the 2.5D contoured display glass edges of the ZenFone 3 Max is a special chamfered edge that was made using a diamond tipped cutting tool, and anodized to give it an attractive, shiny metallic finish. This chamfered edge not only makes the

Dell EMC announces range of big data, cloud, storage and security products

Dell logos are seen at its headquarters in Cyberjaya, outside Kuala Lumpur in this September 4, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad/Files

14 Nov 2016 , 17:38

To help customers scale technology availability with IT demand, Dell EMC on Monday announced a range of products, solutions and consumption models that address cloud, big data analytics, converged infrastructure, storage, data protection and security. “Today’s organisations must embark on a digital transformation. To truly realise their digital future, we believe the vast majority of organisations will transform their IT through a hybrid cloud strategy,” David Goulden, president, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell EMC, said in a statement.

Dell EMC announced the expansion of its leading converged infrastructure portfolio through integration with PowerEdge servers into VxRail Appliances and VxRack System 1000 hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI). The company also announced the new Analytic Insights Module delivering all of the software, hardware and services necessary to stand up an environment for both big data analytics and cloud native application development in days rather than weeks.

Dell unveiled its Endpoint Data Security and Management portfolio encompassing technologies from Dell, Mozy by Dell, RSA and VMware AirWatch, offering data protection, backup and recovery, identity assurance, threat prevention and advanced response, and endpoint device and application management capabilities. The company rolled out updates to the Dell EMC Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS) platform, with new support for Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers.

IANS

Storage management software: The smart person's guide

By Evan Koblentz | October 3, 2016, 1:43 PM PST

Storage management software is complicated. Read this guide in which we attempt to explain it simply.

Storage management software is more important than ever, thanks to the increasing big-ness of big data, the rise of cloud computing, and the coming wave of Internet of Things information. This guide is an entry-level summary of software management software.

SEE: Check out all of TechRepublic's smart person's guides

To help explain which way is up, we sought advice from Evaluator Group analyst Randy Kerns, who's been in the storage field since its days of punched cards and data hieroglyphics. We also received input from Mark Peters of Enterprise Strategy Group.

Executive summary

What is it? The more data you have, the more tender loving care it requires—that comes in the form of storage management software. The software keeps your data safe, ensures the right bits are stored in the right place, coordinates with your applications, and continuously reports on the data's health.

Why does it matter? Other than people, your company's data is its most valuable asset.

Who does this affect? Traditionally, the answer is just storage management professionals; Kerns explained how that is changing. Cloud-centric businesses may have

How to deploy a Ceph storage cluster

By Jack Wallen | October 2, 2016, 4:51 PM PST

Deploying a storage cluster doesn't have to wreck your sanity. See how simple it can be to deploy an object or block storage-capable Ceph cluster.

If you're looking to deploy a local Amazon Simple Storage Solution (Amazon S3) or Elastic Block Store (EBS) system, you probably believe it's almost impossible to pull off—it's not. Actually, it can be done with the help of Ceph.

A Ceph cluster can provide object or block storage across a network, which will give you that Amazon-like system. To make this happen we'll use a Ubuntu 16.04 virtual machine and three clones. Our cluster will be comprised of two storage nodes and one monitoring node. The first virtual machine will be used to initially deploy the cluster. This setup

Huawei Mate 9 images leak with two cameras, up to 256 GB of storage

By Tim Schiesser on September 29, 2016, 8:15 AM



Images of Huawei's upcoming large-screened flagship, the Mate 9, have leaked on Chinese social network Weibo. The images show a large six-inch screen with bezels as slim as the Mate 8, with a new dual-camera system boasting Leica branding.

A slide advertising the Mate 9 has also revealed the pricing tiers and color options for the device. The most expensive model will deliver a ludicrous 6 GB of RAM along with 256 GB of storage for 4,700 yuan ($705), while the middle model provides 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage for 3,900 yuan ($585). The cheapest Mate 9 will set you back 3,200 yuan ($480) and pack 4 GB of RAM plus 64 GB of storage.

Color options also appear to vary by tier, with the top-specced model coming in six colors, filtering down to three colors for the cheapest variant. The phone itself seems to use a metal body, so the colors are appropriate for a high-end metal design.



The dual camera system on the rear is expected to use the same dual-12-megapixel sensor setup as on the Huawei P9, although the leaked images show an increase in aperture from f/2.2 to f/2.0. Internally, benchmarks have suggested the Mate 9 will include an all new Kirin 960 chipset featuring ARM's latest high performance CPU cores, the Cortex-A73.

The Mate 8 launched in November last year, so it's only a matter of time before Huawei decides to official unveil the Mate 9. The phone is set to launch with Android 7.0 on board and a new version of the company's EMUI skin, making this the first major Huawei phone to launch with Noguat pre-installed.

5 Reasons to Install macOS Sierra Right Now & How to Upgrade

It’s been a few years since we’ve seen a release that featured any truly new features, and Sierra doesn’t do a whole lot to buck the trend. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t upgrade. You definitely should if you use iOS or have an Apple Watch (CA, UK).

So here’s why you should upgrade, how to upgrade, and how to save the installer for use on any other Macs.

At Last: Siri on the Mac

It seems odd that Apple has waited so long to bring their smart assistant to desktop users, but that’s exactly what macOS Sierra does. Apple users have long had a degree of voice control for their Macs, including dictation features, but Siri is a real step forward. The voice-powered assistant will do just about anything the iOS counterpart can, with the exception of interacting with third-party apps.

After you’ve installed Sierra you’ll get an option to enable Siri, after which you’ll be able to trigger the feature by clicking the icon in the dock, or in your Mac menu bar. By default, you can also activate Siri by holding down Command + Space, a keyboard shortcut you can reconfigure under Settings > Siri.

Use Siri as you would Spotlight — for finding files, for converting currency or performing simple sums, for checking the weather, and more. Siri can find you images on the web, or find images you have taken yourself. You can even pin certain results to Notification Center by clicking the plus + logo that appears in the result window.

Share Your iOS & macOS Clipboard

One of the best features for iPhone and iPad users running iOS 10 is the new Universal Clipboard feature. Make sure you’re logged in to the same iCloud account on any iOS devices and your Mac, and have Handoff enabled on both devices. It uses Continuity so relies on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to do the heavy lifting, and nothing is sent to Apple’s servers (transfers take place locally).

Text works instantly: copy something on your iPad and paste it on your Mac. Images take a little more work, as you can’t simply “paste” an image into Finder. Instead you’ll need to paste into an app like Preview via the File > New from Clipboard menu bar option.

To disable the feature, you’ll need to disable Handoff entirely, which allows you to quickly fetch active tabs, unfinished email, third party features like notes in Evernote on other devices. Head to Settings > General > Handoff on iOS, or System Preferences > General > Allow Handoff to disable the feature entirely.

Better Search & Photo Organization

Just like iOS 10, macOS Sierra’s Photos app is smarter and can identify objects, faces, scenes, and sort images by location. When you first launch Photos after upgrading to Sierra, it will begin to scan your library to identify and sort your images. This process can take some time (it took over 12 hours on my iPhone 6).

Once Photos has completed its initial scan, your photos are far more searchable than they had been before. A new album for People will appear, and you can assign each face to a contact for better organization. You can search for places like “beach,” objects like “coffee,” animals like “cat” and anything else you’re looking for.

More Storage Management Options

If you’ve got a MacBook with a small SSD, you’ll be delighted with the new Storage Managementinterface which provides a few options for making the most of the space you’ve got. There’s an option to put all your files and photos in iCloud, and only keep your recently opened files and optimized photos locally on your Mac.

Another option called Optimize Storage allows you to automatically remove iTunes films and TV shows from your Mac after watching them. You can also automatically empty the trash every 30-days, and an option to Reduce Clutter helps you find large files that you rarely access and clean them up.

The Storage Management app also tells you how much space applications like GarageBand and Mail are using. Anecdotally, I noticed that macOS Sierra left me with around an additional 30 GB of free disk space after the install, which doesn’t include the 5 GB occupied by the installer.

Unlock With Apple Watch

Head to System Preferences > Security and Privacy and click on the padlock, then input your password. You can now check the option to allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac automatically. Whenever you’re within range and you wake your Mac up, it will unlock automatically from now on.

Just like Universal Clipboard, Apple Watch relies on Continuity so you’ll have to have Handoff enabled under Settings > General > Handoff for it to work.

And the Rest

There are of course a bunch of other improvements, including:

• A better Apple Music experience, though technically this is part of the latest iTunes update (but it’s out now, so knock yourselves out).
• Messages can now display all of the new iOS 10 iMessage tricks, like full screen decorations and bubble effects. You can’t send these effects, but you’ll get new emoji that’s three times bigger than it was previously.
• You can now pay for purchases on support websites with Apple Pay. Simply flash your phone when prompted, as you would any other purchase.
• New wallpapers — and who doesn’t love Apple’s wallpapers?
• Sierra also includes the usual security updates and under-the-hood tweaks, which is good news for everyone.

Installing macOS Sierra

I can’t stress this enough: back up your Mac before you install! Operating system upgrades can fail, putting you in a position where you need to reinstall the operating system entirely. Connect a spare USB drive and run Time Machine or use a third-party backup solution if you want.5 Local Mac Backup Solutions That Aren't Time Machine 5 Local Mac Backup Solutions That Aren't Time MachineThere are lots of Mac backup options out there, and many of them have features that Apple's default backup app just can't compete with.READ MORE

You’ll also want to make sure you have enough free space to install the upgrade. Apple recommends 8 GB of free space, but you could push this a little further for peace of mind. If you have any essential third-party apps then you might want to check they work with Sierra before you upgrade by visiting the developer’s website. Last of all, consider making a bootable USB installation just in case things go very wrong.

Next download macOS Sierra using the Mac App Store. It’s currently found on the Featured tab, or you can simply search for it. The download size is around 4.7 GB, and the install procedure will take around 30 minutes to an hour.

Note: If you have multiple Mac computers, you can save the installer so that you don’t have to download it more than once. Simply copy the “Install macOS Sierra” application from your Applications folder to a removable drive. You can’t save the file after you’ve upgraded, as the installer deletes this file on completion.

To begin the installation procedure, launch the Install macOS Sierra application and follow the instructions. When you restart into Sierra you’ll have to enter your iCloud password, and complete the setup. Your computer may be a bit slow until it has been optimized for use with the new software, and you may encounter a few problems with existing apps until they are updated.