Nitin Gaur

What is a cloud computing platform? Is it simply automated provisioning systems coupled with a resource virtualization, where the workload is policy driven, and resources over committed and any resource contention handled by policy driven resolution? As it turns out technologies that provide provisioning, virtualization and policy enforcement form the building blocks of a true cloud computing platform, but not any one technology is a cloud offering in and of it self. IBM’s CloudBurst family attempts to provide a single cloud solution with an appliance form factor. This paper will discuss, and draw differences between IBM CloudBurst and WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance (WCA). So why an appliance? An appliance is generally considered a computing device with specific function and limited configuration capability. An appliance delivers the hardware and all the requisite ... (more)

Scalable HTTP Session Management with WebSphere Extreme Scale (WXS)

HTTP session management is a function offered by Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) application servers. It allows JEE applications to store state information about a given user across many HTTP requests. The JEE specification provides an API to store and retrieve information specific to the given user. WebSphere application servers and other competing products, provide session replication functionality. This is normally done either by writing to a database or through memory-to-memory replication technology.  These approaches while extensively used today, have operational challenges ... (more)

WebSphere eXtreme Scale Design and Performance Considerations

Fundamentals: How does WXS solve the Scalability problem? Understanding Scalability In understanding the scalability challenge addressed by WebSphere eXtreme Scale, let us first define and understand scalability. Wikipedia defines scalability as a "desirable property of a system, a network, or a process, which indicates its ability to either handle growing amounts of work in a graceful manner, or to be readily enlarged. For example, it can refer to the capability of a system to increase total throughput under an increased load when resources (typically hardware) are added." Scalabil... (more)

How Does In Memory Data Grid IMDG Solve the Scalability Problem?

Understanding Scalability In understanding the scalability challenge addressed by WebSphere eXtreme Scale, let us first define and understand scalability. Wikipedia defines scalability as a "desirable property of a system, a network, or a process, which indicates its ability to either handle growing amounts of work in a graceful manner, or to be readily enlarged. For example, it can refer to the capability of a system to increase total throughput under an increased load when resources (typically hardware) are added." Scalability in a system is about the ability to do more, whether ... (more)

Is Cloud Computing Just Virtualization and Automation? No!!

Day and day out, we see every technology vendor attempting to position themselves in the cloud realm and struggling to find a niche in this 'cloudy' topic. I think: 1. Virtualization and Automation are the building blocks of the cloud computing platform. They alone will not solve any problems. 2. Cloud computing is based on the premise that it is a new model that accommodates a new services delivery and consumption model. Now the term 'service' is very elusive, and I think this is what it is exploited by every vendor trying to find that 'fit'. 3. Without a vision and a set expe... (more)