Containers are on the rise, with VMware integrating them into the vSphere platform. What started seemingly as a competitor to virtual machines has proved to be just another tool in the virtualization box available to administrators beyond software testing and development, as enterprises and mid-market companies of all sizes begin to implement containers alongside (and inside) their VMs.
Once you read a bit about the benefits of containerization, you may be curious about trying some out in your environment. But before you start spinning up containers left and right, make sure you’re using the right tool for the job. Containers certainly have their advantages, but there are many applications where a virtual machine will be more effective. Here’s how to decide.
Your business probably has faster internet than your home. If you’re with an enterprise, you almost certainly have some quality broadband. Plugging into the cloud can be a relatively painless process, albeit one that requires careful planning, but without considering your network design and connection speeds, even a simple cloud migration can become time-consuming, expensive, and difficult to manage.
The overall trend for cloud computing has been widespread adoption, although the rate varies. As more companies, small and large, look towards moving their IT infrastructure into the cloud, they have to overcome a number of challenges in the actual migration, securing the environment, and training their employees.
Previously, security was seen as the biggest obstacle to cloud adoption, but the recent surveys show that lack of resources/expertise is now the number one cloud challenge (Rightscale 2016).
Green House Data wanted to see how IT professionals perceive their own team’s expertise and abilities in light of these trends. We surveyed 944 IT professionals, with 64% at the executive level, to discover what the biggest challenges are in their daily work.
If you work in IT, the idea of a data breach is probably a lot spookier than some ghost invading the data center. October is Cybersecurity Month in the United States, and organizations like the FBI, the National Cyber Security Alliance, Sophos, and others are promoting secure digital practices for home users and businesses. It’s the perfect time to reevaluate your approach to cybersecurity and make sure you’re cultivating a culture of cybersecurity.
With ransomware continuing to spread at an ever more rapid clip and the cost of IT system downtime hitting over $1 million for the average enterprise, you can’t afford to lose productivity to viruses, malware, or stolen intellectual property. Here are some quick tips to help foster secure digital practices in your workplace.
Cloud computing has largely hit the mainstream. Your mom knows about it (at least vaguely — she’s probably asking you to help her put her pictures in the cloud). But IT progress continues to march on, and a new model of information processing is beginning to take shape: fog computing.
So where does fog take over from cloud? When an army of connected devices require constant processing power and connectivity. The Internet of Things is coming fast. According to IDC, the IoT will expand by 2020 to include 4 billion people online, 25 million or more apps, 25 billion embedded and intelligent systems, and 50 trillion gigabytes of data.
Fog computing is a way to manage some of those bandwidth and processing power demands by splitting the duties between the local device and remote data centers. It should sound familiar if you know the hybrid cloud model, which balances onsite virtualization with hosted cloud from cloud providers.
