How VMware differs from Amazon Web Services in its approach to import virtual machines (feedburner)

This post is part of our ReadWriteCloud, channel dedicated to covering the cloud and virtualization computing. The canal is sponsored by Intel and VMware. Read the case study on how the city of Santiago, the Spain turned to virtualization.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) import VMware image is somewhat like the Hotel California. You can check but you can never leave.

This is the point of view of VMware on AWS import virtual machines VMware. Without any real export functions, AWS is locking in customers who want to extend its infrastructure virtualized environment public cloud.

Matthew Lodge is Director, principal of VMware cloud services. We took with him this week to talk about VMware approach and how it differs from AWS.

Referred to in Tom Bittman, an analyst at Gartner Research, who says Lodge as safety and performance are two of the top concerns on the outskirts of the cloud infrastructures.

In short, is a distinct manner that VMware differs from AWS.

Hybrid is that VMware sees his next thrust. Making the move to import virtual machines VMware AWS is grateful a significant market opportunity. It also demonstrates VMware dominant position on the market.

But George Reese for a saw some problems with the AWS methods both VMware. Reese is the founder of EnStratus, a service that helps businesses to expand its data centers in the cloud clouds management. He says that AWS import method is too low. He told us via Twitter would be like a running application on its own separate mother. This motherboard will then be carried from one server to another.

The best solution is to be portable to the application layer and run your application on any virtual machine on your target operating system.

Lodge says VMware offers its customers security and control movement of the cloud.

In a blog in August, he wrote:

"Another area important that heard talk us time and was once again security." Consequently, security is a key element of vCloud Datacenter services. There are three parts to this: the security of cloud infrastructure itself, applications running in the cloud and authentication for users of clouds within your organization and access rights.

You told us that it was not enough that the infrastructure and applications are protected; security teams and Auditors should be able to verify and document too. To provide this service for Datacenter vCloud infrastructure a meet a strict set of physical and logical security controls with all newspapers available for inspection by the third-party auditors. We have developed a set of controls derived from the ISO 27001 and consistent with the SAS70 type II to this end, including the implementation of our service provider partners.

We also took advantage of the new vShield Edge and vCloud Director "monitor" complete virtual security, which provides a firewall stateful (again, newspapers are available for the audit), layer 2 VLANs and complete isolation of network layer 2. As a result, security and the implementation strategy automatically follow the application, regardless of the where he physically lands. (It will be more to this topic in another ticket blog.)You also receive complete role-based access control, authenticated against your own directory business so that you have the type access and authorization security that you're used to. »

AWS Lodge contends, a virtual firewall that does not provide a high level of security. You see it if there is an attack.

"They do not logs you off the firewall", said the Lodge. "If they are attacked they cannot see the logs to see if they actually get attacked." "They cannot see what is happening."

AWS maintains its network is secure and there is much to show for that to be true. But the situation changes when you start moving of virtual machines.

We'll get more into that in a future post on virtual networks and emerging awareness that require networks. Lodge and a host of others have a lot of insights into the topic that is worth exploring.

The bottom line: VMware offers a much more sophisticated than AWS service but flexibility and price AWS service make for a compelling alternative to VMware approach.

There are many other players in this space too. EnStratus is a cloud of world-class management service. Rackspace brings his own brand, with the acquisition of Cloudkick.

The new year? Our bet is that the cloud will become much more transparent. The difference is that by the end of 2011, everything is much more familiar to businesses and perhaps much easier to implement, too.

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WikiLeaks line: why abandonment Amazon has ominous implications for democracy (guardian)

Homepage WikiLeaks 28 November 2010. Photography: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

One of the most interesting aspects of the WikiLeaks controversy is the light that he had made on cloud computing providers. One after another that they have fallen like dominoes when rough course. Firstly, some hosting providers WikiLeaks caved to the; then EveryDNS, the company has mapped its domain (e.g. wikileaks.org) addresses of the machine names dropped. and then Amazon, who had enough power to the computer and bandwidth to withstand even the most determined cyber-attacks, he took off his computers. then PayPal and MasterCard later, ducts online for gifts, cancelled his accounts. The legalistic these costumes were given for dropping WikiLeaks had a common theme, namely had violated the conditions under which the fine services had been provided.

Amazon is the most interesting case. It provides for so-called "cloud computing services" praising some thousands of computers used to run his online store. WikiLeaks to its site on the Amazon Cloud to ensure not be paralyzed by denial of service attacks which had introduced other providers of Internet services to its knees. But then, the company received a call from Senator Joseph Lieberman, the kind of politician that gives guns cowardly a bad name, who had been scum on WikiLeaks being "implacably hostile to our troops and our national security requirements. A few years after that terminated Amazon account WikiLeaks.

Lieberman said: "I will ask Amazon on the extent of his relationship with WikiLeaks and that he and other web services providers will in the future to ensure that their services are not used to distribute stolen classified information."

Amazon declined had given "a survey of Government", but said that he had beaten WikiLeaks out, because it was not adhering to the terms and conditions of the company - requiring that "you warrant that you own or otherwise control all rights to the content" and "that the use of the content you provide... will not harm any person or entity".

"It is clear," pontificated Amazon "WikiLeaks have or otherwise control all rights ranked content." In addition, it is not credible that the extraordinary volume of 250,000 classified documents publishes a WikiLeaks could have was carefully edited so as to ensure that they were not put innocent people in hazard. »

You think more about it, becomes more disturbing it. This gives a right to ask someone on "the extent of his relationship" U.S. Senator with WikiLeaks? His statement led Amy Richardson of New-yorkais ask "If Lieberman believes it, or that any Senator can call the business running presses print of New Yorker when we prepare a history which includes leak documents classified and he said to stop us".

And what of the Amazon assertion which WikiLeaks "have or otherwise control" all rights classified cable it published? As Markus Kuhn, a researcher in computer security in the laboratory of computer science at Cambridge, pointed me any work "prepared by an officer or an employee of the u.s. Government's official duties the person who" is not right to the protection of copyright under US law national. Thus, United States, at least, trailing cables are not protected by copyright and regardless of whether or not WikiLeaks owns the rights.

But in a way, it is less disturbing aspect of the behavior of the Amazon. More worrying is that its actions portend for democracy. Rebecca MacKinnon, a scholar who wrote incisive on the efforts of China to censor the net, has written a test that are thinking about this last week. "A substantial if the amount not critical of our discourse politics," she says, "moved into the digital domain." This Kingdom mainly consists of virtual spaces are created, owned and operated by the private sector. »

The law of contracts, Amazon can do what he likes. But this is not only in contracts more. "As Amazon was within its legal rights,"MacKinnon warns,"the company nevertheless sent a clear signal to its users: If you agree in speeches controversial as some members of the u.s. Government would like…." Amazon will discharge at the first sign of trouble. »

Yep. For years people have extolled cloud computing as the way of the future. The lesson of the last week is simple: be careful, that you want to.