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CloudSystem Matrix makes work faster (and my life simpler)

msemadeni| May 5, 2011 - last edited May 4, 2011
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hosted for Marc Nozell

Solutions Architect, Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN)

 

One of my tasks at HP is to provide software partners with access to systems in our PTAC lab. This involves deploying various operating systems on blade servers of different CPU types, memory, network and disk requirements as defined by partners. Fortunately we use HP CloudSystem Matrix to provision the infrastructure and it makes it so much simpler, repeatable and faster.

 

Previously I had to have meeting with our network ops, SAN folks and the server team to have the appropriate resources allocated to my projects. A slow and tedious process!

 

What I do now is use a web-based GUI to drag and drop the various servers into an infrastructure template, click-drag-release to connect servers to the right type and size SAN storage and to be on the right networks. Once it is published to the Service Catalog, I press the 'Create Service' button in the user portal and appropriate hardware is pulled from the resource pools and operating systems get deployed.

 

Another handy feature is the ability to create workflows that hook into various steps of the servers deployment so I can automate additional steps. For example, registering with update services like Red Hat Network, adding additional RPM packages from particular software channels and anything else to get a set of server ready for use.

 

In fact, that is what HP and Red Hat did for the Red Hat Cloud Foundation: HP Edition proof of concept whitepaper. In order to speed the deployment of the infrastructure servers needed for a private cloud, we created sample infrastructure templates with suitable minimum server requirements and developed a workflow that does the necessary initial steps to turn a group of Red Hat Enterprise Linux servers running server blades into one that has everything needed for it to be a KVM hypervisor – additional RPM packages, shared SAN storage, etc.  Now you can build up your own private cloud using Red Hat Cloud Foundation on a solid hardware infrastructure.

 

hosted for Marc Nozell

Solutions Architect, Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking (ESSN)

 

Tags: BladeSystem| Cloud Advisors| Cloud Maps| Cloud Service Automation| Cloud Service Automation (CSA)| View All (34)
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About the Author
  • I am part of ISS Product Marketing, currently managing couple of dual processor ProLiant servers.
  • I work within EMEA ISS Central team and a launch manager for new products and general communications manager for EMEA ISS specific information.
  • Hello! I am a social media manager for servers, so my posts will be geared towards HP server-related news & info.
  • HP Editor-Enterprise Group: ISS, BCS, Converged Infrastructure (CI), Converged Cloud, Converged App Systems (CAS), and ExpertOne
  • WW responsibility for development of ROI and TCO tools for the entire ISS portfolio. Technical expertise with a financial spin to help IT show the business value of their projects.
  • Global Marketing Manager with 15 years experience in the high-tech industry.
  • I’m the Worldwide Product Marketing Manager for HP Serviceguard Solutions for Linux in BCS. I’ll be blogging about the latest news and enhancements as it relates to this product.
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