Whatiscloudcomputing?

Reducing costs, accelerating processes and simplifying management are all vital to the success of an effective IT infrastructure. Companies are increasingly turning to more flexible IT environments to help them realise these goals. Cloud computing enables tasks to be assigned to a combination of software and services over a network. This network of servers is the cloud. Cloud computing can help businesses transform their existing server infrastructures into dynamic environments, expanding and reducing server capacity depending on their requirements.

Why cloud computing?

Adopting a cloud computing strategy can help businesses conduct their core business activities with less hassle and greater efficiency. Companies can maximise the use of their existing hardware to plan for and serve specific peaks in usage. Thousands of virtual machines and applications can be managed more easily using a cloud-like environment. Businesses can also save on power costs as they reduce the number of servers required. And with IT staff spending less time managing and monitoring the data centre, IT teams are well placed to further streamline their operations as staff complete more work on fewer machines.

Canonical and cloud computing

Canonical, which provides commercial services for companies using Ubuntu, aims to provide businesses with the tools they need to adopt a cloud computing strategy, along with a path for migration between clouds. We are committed to helping businesses deploy, test and experiment with cloud computing offerings both inside and outside the firewall. That's why we are supporting a suite of cloud computing solutions to meet different companies' requirements.

Ubuntu cloud computing solutions

Ubuntu cloud computing solutions can help businesses to experience the benefits of the cloud in different ways. The emphasis is placed firmly on providing companies with choice and control. Ubuntu Server Edition enables businesses to choose between Ubuntu Server on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud environments. Ubuntu Server on Amazon EC2 gives businesses the power of Ubuntu combined with the flexibility of Amazon's cloud computing service. Ubuntu's modularity, range of applications and optimised performance make it the perfect solution for businesses deploying applications on Amazon EC2 - a web service that provides resizable computing in the cloud. This solution enables companies to deploy everything from web servers to mail servers on a secure, external cloud. Furthermore, organisations can build and manage Ubuntu Server Edition on Amazon EC2 using a wide range of popular tools such as CohesiveFT, Landscape and RightScale.

Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud brings Amazon EC2-like infrastructure capabilities inside the firewall. Part of the Ubuntu Server Edition product, the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud is powered by Eucalyptus, an open source implementation for the emerging de-facto standard of EC2. This solution is designed to simplify the process of building and managing an internal cloud for businesses of any size, thereby enabling companies to create their own self-service infrastructure. Set-up

Users can install Ubuntu Server Edition and enable partner repositories. Ubuntu Server Edition offers easy package deployment and configuration. Users can configure multiple clusters into a single cloud.

Cloud

Interface compatibility with EC2 reduces the cost of learning a new interface when moving from a private to a public cloud. It enables users to adopt popular management tools for private cloud computing and to develop skills using the same techniques that they would deploy on Amazon's popular public cloud. An extensive range of popular development services including an elastic block storage (EBS)-equivalent and an S3-compatible storage manager eases integration. Support for elastic IP assignment enables users to assign static public IPs to any virtual instance. SOAP with WS-security ensures secure internal communication. Support for instance control operations enables users to reboot virtual machines. This helps users troubleshoot more effectively. KVM hypervisor provides users with best-of-breed virtualization technology.

Management

Ubuntu Server Edition comes with basic 'Cloud Administrator' tools for system management and a web-based interface for cloud configuration. Ubuntu Server Edition is compatible with with popular cloud management tools. Recommended minimum specification of a dual-core 2.2 GHz Intel processor with VT-X, 4GB RAM and 100 GB hard drive.

Technical Specifications

Canonical makes it easy

Whether businesses choose to outsource their cloud computing activities or run them inhouse, Canonical provides a range of options to meet their needs. We also offer a full range of professional services including assessment, consultancy, deployment and general support. Companies can work with Canonical's dedicated premium service managers who will advise them on the best solutions for their specific requirements. Businesses can also choose to receive Canonical training so that IT staff are confident and comfortable with

managing an Ubuntu-based cloud infrastructure.

Find out more

To learn more about Ubuntu Cloud Computing, please visit: www.ubuntu.com/cloud or contact us at http://www.canonical.com/contact/cloud To learn more about Ubuntu, please visit: www.ubuntu.com To learn more about Canonical, please visit: www.canonical.com