We don’t do cloud!

I have been in front of many companies that quickly sideline a Nutanix conversation simply because they are uninterested in the cloud. Or, they are not ready to move to the cloud.

Now, there are a few approaches to a response that I could take. 

• Nutanix is not a public cloud; it is a private cloud.
• What do you mean, you aren’t interested in the cloud? Everybody is going to the cloud. 
• I understand your concerns with the public cloud. Let’s talk about Nutanix as a cloud alternative. 

Ok. Those are approaches but, in my opinion, not the correct approach. What I have learned is that a more in-depth discussion on what defines the cloud makes more sense and results in better communication between myself and the customer.

Let’s break this down. What is the cloud, or better yet, what defines the cloud? I ask that question because it is vital to understand how the cloud is perceived. If I am honest, there was a time where I did not think of classifying SaaS, like Microsoft O365 or Salesforce, for example, cloud computing. But let’s think about it. 

“Software-as-a-Service is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and centrally hosted.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service 

Cloud computing is “the on-demand availability of computer system resources, especially data storage and computing power, without direct active management by the user. The term is generally used to describe data centers available to many users over the Internet.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

By definition, SaaS is the cloud. I think we would all agree on that based on the above description. So, the statement “we just don’t do cloud” isn’t that the customer does not do cloud; instead, they do not have the initiative to move their on-prem workloads outside of their data center. Now, this makes complete sense. We can not move all of our applications to the Public Cloud. I do not think that anyone managing a data center would question this. There are cloud-native applications built to run in the public cloud. And then, there are our everyday applications developed before the cloud era. Also, it is a common concern that when you move apps to the public cloud, you lose some control, possibly introduce additional security concerns, and have to learn how to manage something new. 

So, what now? Why Nutanix? Why this blog?

Maybe somebody stepped into your office and implied that Nutanix is an Enterprise Cloud Platform. But, never explained what exactly that means. Or, perhaps they did but did not do a very great job. It is also possible you are considering different solutions, and what came across in a meeting did not provide the actual value of the technology Nutanix is positioning.

Nutanix 101

There is no controversy over if the data center has become more sophisticated over the past several years. There are servers, storage, networking, virtualization, micro-segmentation, backup, disaster recovery, databases, applications, remote access, etc. This complexity creates a time-consuming problem that makes it challenging to manage, scale, upgrade, etc. Also, consider the multiple points of failure. The process is lengthy. It is complicated. And it leaves people, you, little time to focus on your primary function. In some cases, and I see this often, customers require specialist teams to keep the lights on.

Now, if you are scratching your head and thinking, I may be somewhat correct. And, if you are considering Public Cloud as a way out of managing the current nightmare of legacy IT. How do you plan to get there? We know you have SaaS. But, how will you migrate your workloads to the Public Cloud? Even more important, how will you manage both your on-prem datacenter while running applications in the Public Cloud. Oh, and don’t forget, you have those remote sites that have an infrastructure that you must support in parallel.

Determining the right next step is not simple. But, let’s consider how that contrasts with what happens behind closed doors at some of the big names in cloud computing. Indeed, they have similar issues. But how did they address them?

We know that resiliency, scalability, and performance were key considerations when they planned their data center strategy. And it was apparent that the status quo and managing so many different pieces would not solve the issue. And for this reason, the big names out there modernized their data centers. How did they do this? Integrated compute, storage, virtualization, network, and security, otherwise known as HCI, or hyper-convergence. 

The building blocks of the modern Cloud is HCI. If you desire to simplify your data center and focus more on the applications and end-users, you must go this direction.

How does Nutanix do it?

Nutanix starts with resiliency, or “the ability of a server, network, storage system, or an entire data center, to recover quickly and continue operating even when there has been an equipment failure, power outage or other disruption.” That is an excellent place to start!

Now, there are many competing HCI platforms on the market today. So, as I share with you how we do it, I will focus on key differentiators that will solve the problems you face in your data center today. Because, ultimately, that is part of your efforts moving forward.

In early 2000, many companies, like yourself, were experiencing the same struggles you face today. As a result, Google responded with the design of the Google File System (GFS) in 2003. GFS focuses on fault tolerance and high performance while running on inexpensive commodity hardware. Now, introducing Nutanix! In 2009, our founders, who were a part of the team that produced GFS, decided to take the same concept of hyper-convergence and introduced the Nutanix Distributed File System. NDFS provides a highly distributed shared-nothing software solution that aggregates local storage to deliver a high performance linear scale-out architecture.

Later in this blog series, we will dive deeper into the technology, including a whiteboard session. Still, right now, I want you to consider the resiliency features of NDFS. 

• Not constrained by traditional RAID
• Rebuild performance is not limited to a single hot spare (a single hot spare slows down restoration and resiliency)
• Rebuilds are driven by all controller VMs (CVM) in a cluster, in parallel
• Read and write from all drives to all drives

Now, let’s also take time to appreciate the enterprise storage features; snapshots, data tiering, compression, deduplication, erasure coding, RF2/RF3, near sync replication, sync replication, metro availability, etc. 

In addition to all of this goodness, I should mention the advanced security features; encryption, full-stack security development lifecycle, client authentication, cluster lockdown, and STIG with automated validation and self-healing.

Is Nutanix Cloud?

We first need to identify that cloud has multiple deployment models, Private and Public, to be more descriptive. “A private cloud is a cloud infrastructure operated solely for a single organization. A Public Cloud provides service over a network that is open for public use. Technically there may be little or no difference between public and private cloud architecture.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing

So, the most straightforward answer to this question, “Is Nutanix cloud?” Yes. Nutanix is one platform that allows seamless hybrid cloud operations across a Private Cloud and Public Cloud.

We will break all of this down later using the Nutanix Bible, https://nutanixbible.com, in a series of blogs.

For now, we can agree that you can “do cloud!” The question is Public or Private Cloud or both. Nutanix can deliver both. As previously mentioned, Nutanix provides a seamless hybrid cloud operation. “Hybrid cloud is a composition of a public cloud and a private environment, such as a private cloud or on-premise resources that remain distinct entities but are bound together, offering the benefits of multiple deployment models.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing#Hybrid_cloud

Now, I will boldly state that Nutanix is not the only platform that can offer a hybrid solution. But, I will say with high confidence that Nutanix is the single platform with roots in the cloud where the vision from the beginning was to build a platform that would blur the lines between the Public Cloud and Private Cloud. We do this without legacy complexities.

Let’s modernize your infrastructure! Coming up in this blog series, I will whiteboard Nutanix architecture and walk through the Nutanix feature portfolio.

Stay tun[ed]