Microsoft Defines the Components Needed for Public Cloud Hosting. (2nd post in a series of 4 posts)

Bottom Line:  Once Microsoft has the software in place to manage Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) in the public cloud, they will change their licensing to make a hosted VDI a reasonable option for organizations.

Throughout the last few years I have heard many complaints that Microsoft has made it impractical for organizations to have their desktops hosted at an offsite service.  Presently, Microsoft’s licensing makes hosted VDI solutions unreasonable because prospective tenants may only run their virtual desktops on physical servers that they own.  This requirement makes VDI less attractive to organizations because it restricts the efficiencies gained though sharing resources between multiple tenants.  The sharing of resources is one of four attributes, listed below, that Microsoft intends to provide in a cloud solution:

·         Shared Services

·         Scalable and Elastic Services

·         Self-Service

·         Usage-based Chargeback

The premise of these four blog posts is to show that Microsoft does not have the software in place to provide these four attributes at this time, but once they do, they will change their licensing to allow VDI in the public cloud.  I predict that these capabilities will be in place in the next six to ten months and Microsoft will be changing their licensing in concert with the release of the toolset.  The following will further explain the above four attributes and the benefits that they provide through a hosted facility.

Shared Services – This is one of the primary attributes that makes VDI at a hosted facility more economical than companies hosting VDI at their own facility.  The sharing of the following three assets with other tenants reduces the start-up and ongoing costs compared to a non-shared solution:

·         hardware

·         software

·         human resources

 Much like the process of server operating systems virtualization allowing reduced hardware costs, cloud VDI provides a platform for shared equipment between multiple tenants allowing a similar reduction in hardware costs.  Without the ability to share equipment between tenants, each tenant would be required to run their own hardware at a lower capacity, increasing the costs of each individual tenant.  The sharing of software provides the opportunity to reduce the tenants’ costs by avoiding the direct upfront purchase of software.  For example, a tenant could avoid the need to purchase desktop management software by appointing the hosting facility to manage the desktops on their behalf.  Another benefit of placing VDI in the cloud can be realized by sharing the human resources required to implement and maintain a VDI solution.  The implementation and ongoing maintenance of a VDI solution requires a specialized skill set that would be better suited in an environment where that talent could be shared across multiple tenants rather than each tenant employing their own set of employees.  

Scalable and Elastic Service – One of the risks to self-hosting a VDI solution is the shifting demands on an infrastructure while an organization increases the number of desktops.  The infrastructure required for each phase of a VDI implementation could be different than the network configuration of the previous phase.  As an example, a company could complete a successful VDI proof of concept and receive permission to proceed with the VDI solution.  Once they implement additional virtual desktops they may find that the infrastructure used to provide a successful proof of concept will not sustain a slightly larger audience.  The need to replace the existing infrastructure to support the additional users of a VDI solution could require an unplanned request for capital.  This same scenario could occur multiple times when the VDI implementation hits another infrastructure threshold.  For an organization that is unaware of these dynamics, the repeated request for more money could create the appearance that a project is out of control.  The entity could elect to avoid the repeated request for capital by initially building the final infrastructure needed for a fully implemented VDI solution, but this approach would require a large initial capital expenditure.  Though this all-or-nothing approach removes the inefficiencies of both repeated infrastructure rebuilds and requests for capital, it provides a greater exposure to risk in the event that the implementation is unsuccessful.   A hosting facility, on the other hand, already has the infrastructure in place to provide a virtually unlimited number of new desktops to a tenant at a consistent cost per desktop.  Thus, a hosted VDI solution avoids both issues related to a self-hosted VDI solution because the costs depend on number of implemented desktops and resources used, providing predictable cost throughout the addition of virtual desktops. 

Self-Service – Having the unlimited desktop capacity available that off-site Microsoft servers could provide is more beneficial to a tenant if routine requests can be both made directly by the business unit and also fulfilled quickly.  Microsoft’s vision is to provide software capable of executing routine tasks for the tenant, such as allocating a desktop, without the delays to which they have become accustom.  For instance, a Marketing Department may request that a desktop be set up with the tools required for a given person.  Rather than making a request for a physical desktop and waiting for days or weeks to receive the requested desktop, the Marketing Department would submit a request for a new virtual desktop and receive it with the underlying infrastructure configured immediately.  This would provide the end user with the capability of requesting and receiving desktops as they are needed.

Usage-based Chargeback – This final attribute provides the hosting facility the capability to charge their shared equipment tenants based on the resources that each tenant utilizes.  Without having the capability of reporting on each tenant’s resource usage, the hosting facility cannot bill their individual tenants and would not be able to provide a shared environment.

What is next - Until recently, Microsoft has been focused on improving their virtualization offering.  Recently, they have turned their focus to providing the functionality within their products that will provide the capabilities listed above.  The next, third, posting will cover the progress made related to Microsoft’s increased virtualization capabilities and the related licensing changes.  The fourth posting of this series will discuss the offerings that will provide the capabilities needed to enable a cloud based VDI service and why I feel that Microsoft will change the licensing to make hosted VDI practical.

Was OnLive just a precursor to Microsoft providing DaaS? (1st post in a series of 4 posts)

Earlier this year there was a buzz in the industry that for little or no fee, OnLive, a hosting facility, would provide access to a virtual Windows Desktop.  I first learned about the service in February as I overheard a hallway conversation where an executive asked our network group to open a port to our firewall to allow access to the service.  I was not sure whether or not a port in our firewall needed to be opened, but I did know that the offer seemed a little extraordinary given the restrictions Microsoft has that prohibits hosting facilities from providing Windows desktops on shared servers.  I immediately asked if I could be involved and explained that I was concerned that while OnLive was the entity providing this service, we could be the ones in violation of Microsoft’s licensing rules.

My first action was to contact OnLive’s customer service and ask them if they had a special agreement with Microsoft.  After several attempts at getting an answer to my question and getting a complete runaround, I decided to contact Microsoft to see if they could confirm that OnLive was properly licensed.  The answer was no, they could not confirm that OnLive was properly licensed.  Given that I was going to need to tell an executive that we would not be able to complete his request and that I wanted to stay in the good graces of my employer, I asked that Microsoft put their response in writing.  The representative was not willing to provide their response in writing, which started to make me nervous.  At that point I did what I always do when I have a tough decision to make— I research more.  Hoping that I would find some clue that would make the OnLive service seem legal, I looked at the leaders of OnLive.  This did not help my cause any and to further confuse the issue OnLive’s leaderships’ biographies read like the who’s who of technology.  After continued research and fretting, I finally just gave in and provided my write-up stating that I did not feel comfortable that we would be in compliance with Microsoft’s licensing if we allowed this service.  Fortunately, a few weeks after I wrote my statement, Joe Matz, Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Licensing and Pricing for Microsoft issued a statement that Microsoft was working with OnLive to ensure license compliance.  The media immediately questioned how OnLive could ever make such a mistake without checking the licensing first.

Ever since this incident, I have been puzzled by the actions of OnLive.  It seems to me that these guys running OnLive must be far too smart to simply forget about the licensing of third party software.  I just do not buy it.  In the meantime, Microsoft has continued to open up virtualization rights to their products that are covered by Software Assurance, which started to get me thinking, “Maybe Microsoft is about ready to put Windows desktops in the Cloud and change their licensing to make it more feasible.”  I have worked in the direct marketing business which has an industry term, “dry test”, which is done to gauge the market demand before the product is ready to be put on the market.  What if the whole OnLive event earlier this year was a dry test for Windows Desktop as a Service?  Do I have proof?  No, but it would help to explain a pretty bizarre event.  Actually, this scenario may be a complete fabrication of my mind but I do feel that Microsoft is approaching the time when they will be providing DaaS.  Over the next few blog posts I will be examining why I believe Microsoft is about ready to make DaaS a viable solution.  The postings will provide:

·         A background of what Microsoft needs to put into place before they can allow DaaS

·         Changes that have already occurred to Microsoft’s products and licensing that could make virtualization and cloud processing a reality 

·         Finally, I will examine the upcoming product changes that will allow Microsoft the ability to change their licensing to make DaaS a possibility

During this effort I encourage feedback, in the event that I am missing some key pieces of information.

Virtualization/ License Mobilization Rights for SQL Server

Bottom Line

Two weeks ago I explored Microsoft’s expansion of some mobilization/virtualization rights to the SQL Server Standard edition.  Some have expressed some confusion over the specific rights extended across each of the SQL Server editions.  Thus, this week I have provided a quick reference guide that can save  time in understanding the mobilization/virtualization rights provided to each edition of SQL Server for versions 2012 and 2008 R2.

Background

Presently, Microsoft provides the following three types of rights that enhance virtualization:

·         License Mobility Within Server Farms

·         License Mobility through Software Assurance

·         Unlimited Virtualization

The following is an explanation of each of the three types of virtualization benefits followed by the chart that explains which rights are presently extended to the 2012 and 2008 R2 editions of each the SQL Servers.

License Mobility within Server Farms

Customers have the right to move SQL Server licenses from server to server as needed within a Server Farm without any waiting period between moves.  A Server Farm consists of (one or) two data centers within four times zones of each other or within the European Union (EU) and/or European Free Trade Association (EFTA).  (Refer  to blog post April 29, 2012 for the background leading up to this right.)

License Mobility through Software Assurance

This provides the owner the right to move specified on-premise server licenses that are covered by Software Assurance (SA) to the Microsoft Azure cloud service or a virtual machine at a Microsoft-qualified third party hosting facility.  In order to qualify for this right, the customer must maintain SA on the license and not move the license away from the third party sooner than 90 days from assignment of the license to the third party.  The owner may use on-premise Client Access Licenses (CAL) to access the off-premise server as long as the CALs are also covered by SA.  (Refer to blog post April 29, 2012 for the background leading up to this right.)

Unlimited Virtualization

With the Unlimited Virtualization right, if a customer has all of the physical processors (or have fully licensed the cores) on a server licensed and covered by SA, the customer may run the server software in an unlimited number of operating system environments on that server.

Microsoft introduces System Center Advisor as a Software Assurance Benefit

Bottom Line

Microsoft is continuing to tie additional capabilities and services to the benefits of a Software Assurance subscription.  A large number of changes in Software Assurance (and Microsoft’s licensing as a whole) will continue to be made in the upcoming months as a result of their efforts to realign their licensing to deal with major shifts in the IT world such as virtualization, cloud computing, and the “consumerization of IT”.   Additionally, this trend will be fueled throughout this year and into next year as Microsoft continues to release many new product versions and services.  Customers who remain vigilant to Microsoft (and Microsoft Miner) during the upcoming changes could see many benefits.  One such example of this change, and the subject of the following blog, is the recent introduction of Microsoft’s System Center Advisor, as a Software Assurance benefit on designated server products.

Background

Last week’s blog was an example of a Microsoft trend that is tying virtualization to Software Assurance (SA) by including some of those rights as an SA benefit.   This blog provides an example of Microsoft’s movement toward adding cloud services to their existing SA benefits.    As an example, recently Microsoft introduced an SA benefit called System Center Advisor.  System Center Advisor is a cloud based service that alerts corporate server administrators of patching or configuration issues that may exist within their server farm.   At this time, the System Center Advisor benefit is being extended to the Windows Server, SQL Server, Exchange Server, and Sharepoint Servers products that are covered by SA.  Though System Center Advisor was introduced as an SA benefit in October of 2011, it was not until January of 2012 that the first products, Windows Server and SQL Server editions, actually became available as part of this benefit.  In April, the Exchange Server and Sharepoint Server editions were added to the list of products covered by this benefit.

How does System Center Advisor Work?

System Center Advisor works by connecting the customer’s Microsoft supported servers to the Microsoft Support Center Database.  The service automates the Microsoft Customer Support problem resolution scripts and proactively provides their customers with solutions before an issue results in system downtime.   An example of the types of alerts a customer proactively receives would be a notification of applicable Hotfixes or Service packs that need installed.  These types of issues are typically not resolved, much less looked for, until a customer’s system has a failure.  It is only after a system failure that the person responsible for the server will start looking for issues such as these.  This service should not be considered a replacement for a live system monitoring solution, for example, the Microsoft System Center Solution.  Rather, this is service that is able to work in concert with the System Center Operations Manager.

The advantages of System Center Advisor as an SA benefit 

By providing cloud services as an SA benefit, Microsoft is introducing their customers to the advantages of their cloud service while further enticing the customer to not only continue to use the underlying SA-covered product, but also the SA subscription itself.  Microsoft is also opening the door to potentially provide upgraded products or service offerings to the customer in the future.  From an operational standpoint, the customer benefits from this service by eliminating errors before they result in system degradation or downtime.  Microsoft on the other hand benefits because they are reducing the number of incoming service calls to their support center.  Given the mutual benefit experience by both Microsoft and their customers, I would expect Microsoft to continue to add other server products which are covered by this SA benefit.