2 . The user accesses a self-service portal and fills out a basic request, selecting the
type of VM or application and the cloud in which to create it based on IT’s
allocations and quotas.
3 . The private cloud infrastructure takes the request and automatically provisions the
VM, which could include workflows to request authorization from management if
required. The user can see the details of this new VM in the self-service portal and
can even get an automated email providing details.
4 . The user is happy. If the user had a red button that said “That was easy,” they
would be pressing it.The number one fear of many IT departments I talk to about the private cloud is that
enabling users and business units to help themselves to virtual machines via this self-
service will result in millions of virtual machines being created for no good reason,
plunging the IT infrastructure into a dark age of VM sprawl beyond any previously
envisioned nightmare scenario. But that is simply not the case.
Remember what you are doing. First, you are creating clouds of resources. You are
defining what these clouds can access in terms of particular virtualization hosts and,
on those virtualization hosts, the amount of memory, virtual CPU, and disk IOPS that
can be consumed. You are setting which tiers of storage that cloud can access and the
amount of space. You are setting which networks that cloud can connect to. You are
setting which VM templates can be used by the users to create the virtual machines.
For each user or group of users, you set the quotas indicating the number of virtual
machines they can create or the amount of memory and virtual CPUs they can use in
each cloud. You can even set what the virtual machines can look like in terms of CPU
and memory allocations. With a private cloud solution, you can set charge-back and
show-back capabilities, so if a business unit creates a large amount of virtual resource,
it gets charged accordingly, so the solution is fully accountable. You can set expiry of
virtual machines so that they are automatically deleted after a period of time. Users
can create only on the resources that you have defined and within the limits you have
configured. If they have a limit of five virtual machines and want to create a sixth,
they would either have to delete a virtual machine, export a virtual machine to a
library that you have granted them, or request an extension of their quota and go
through an approval process.
I think you will find that this is more controlled and enforceable than any manual
process you may have today. Users request a VM today, and you give it to them; it just
takes you weeks, which may discourage business units from asking for virtual
resources unless they really need them. That’s a terrible way to control resources—by
making it painful. Business users might go elsewhere for their services, such as
setting up their own infrastructures or using public cloud services, which I’ve seen
happen at a lot of organizations. It’s far better to put good processes in place and
enable the business so that users can function in the most optimal way and use
internal services where it makes sense. Remember, with the private cloud, you can
configure costs for virtual resources and charge the business, so if more virtual