Brien M. Posey: Hello and welcome. I'm Brien
Posey. And today I'm going to be talking about
hybrid it done right when colocation is better
than the cloud. So for those who don't know, me,
my name is Brien Posey, and I'm a freelance
technology author and speaker. I'm also a 20 time
Microsoft MVP, and a commercial astronaut
candidate. Before I went freelance, I served as
CIO for a national chain of hospitals and
healthcare facilities. I was also the lead network
engineer for the United States Department of
Defense at Fort Knox. And I've worked as a network
administrator for some of the largest insurance
companies in America. So that's just a little bit
about my background, let's go ahead and get
started. Over the last 10 years or so we've seen
the public cloud become extremely popular. As a
matter of fact, it's become so popular that most
larger organizations have adopted a cloud first
approach to IT operations. As a matter of fact,
the cloud has become so popular that conventional
wisdom has begun to dictate that there are three
basic ways of conducting IT operations. You can do
IT in the cloud, you can do it on premises, or you
can create a hybrid cloud. But there's actually a
fourth option, too, that is less frequently talked
about, called colocation, and in many cases,
colocation is just as good if not better than
using the cloud. So that's what I want to talk
about in this presentation. So what is colocation?
Well, in order to answer that question, let's talk
a little bit about the public cloud. The public
cloud is often described as a consumption based
model. In other words, there are compute resources
within the public cloud. And those resources are
shared by a number of different subscribers or
tenants, as they're often described. And each
tenant only pays for the resources that they
consume. These resources include things like
storage, compute resources, and network bandwidth.
Well, colocation is also a consumption model, but
it's a different type of consumption model.
Because rather than leasing compute resources,
you're leasing space within a shared data center.
This might be Rackspace, it might be cabinet or
cage space, or you might even lease an entire
room. Now, one of the most important things to
understand about leasing space within a colocation
facility is that you're doing just that leasing
space. It's up to each tenant to provide their own
datacenter equipment to put inside of that space.
But having said that, there are some additional
things that you get besides just physical floor
space, or Rackspace. Now, what you get varies
widely depending on which colocation facility you
sign a lease with. But some of the things that are
often included include physical security. In other
words, not just anyone can walk into the building,
there is some physical security in place to
protect your equipment. You might also expect to
get guaranteed reliability. Colocation facilities
often provide an SLA that guarantees a certain
amount of power availability, and internet
connectivity. Likewise, you might expect to
receive cross connectivity. Cross connectivity
describes the ability to connect to another
network, you might connect to partner networks for
vendors who are also set up in the same colocation
facility. Or you might have a direct connection to
a cloud provider or some other provider. Likewise,
you might expect to have redundant internet
connectivity and redundant power. And that plays
into that SLA that I described a moment ago.
Colocation centers are also typically designed
with regulatory compliance in mind, because the
providers know that many of their would be
subscribers are subject to various regulatory
burdens. So they'd sign the facility, especially
to comply with those regulations. So that that
way, it makes things just a little bit easier on
their tenants. Another thing that you might expect
to receive is technical support. And that's
something that can vary widely, and that we'll be
talking a little bit more about later on. So now
that I've talked a little bit about what a
colocation facility is, and what you might expect
to receive when you sign a lease with a colocation
facility, let's talk about some of the advantages
associated with using a colocation facility. The
primary advantage, and the one that seems to get
the most attention is that it's less expensive to
lease space in a colocation facility than to
construct a new data center or to expand an
existing data center. So conventional wisdom is
that if your data center is running low on space,
and you need to expand, then a less expensive
option for doing that is to simply sign a lease
with a colocation facility, rather than trying to
expand your own data center.
As I previously mentioned, when you sign a lease
with a colocation facility, you're expected to
provide your own data center hardware to place
inside of that facility. And this is in stark
contrast to the cloud way of doing things. Because
in the public cloud, the cloud provider provides
the hardware. And this is one of the big
advantages that's often marketed with the cloud is
The cloud provider buys the hardware and you
simply leased space and time on that hardware,
thereby freeing you from having to make a large
upfront investment in hardware. And that's often
considered to be an advantage. But there was also
advantages associated with having your own
hardware and placing that hardware in a colocation
facility. One such advantage is that by having
your own hardware, you're allowed to use the
hardware that makes the most sense for your
business and your own unique needs. Because cloud
providers use very standardized hardware, you
don't have the freedom of picking and choosing
what type of hardware you want to use. But in a
colocation facility, you can use anything that you
want. Another thing that you have to think about
is that a colocation facility gives you the
ability to configure your hardware in a way that
makes the most sense for you. In a cloud
environment, multiple tenants share the same
hardware. And so the cloud provider has to
aggressively secure that hardware in order to keep
any of the tenants from being able to compromise
the underlying operating system, or any of the
associated infrastructure. In a colocation
facility, things are completely different. Because
you're using your own hardware, you're not sharing
that hardware with anyone else. And that means
that you have full access to the low level
configuration, which you wouldn't have in a cloud
environment. And it also means that you can
configure that hardware any way that you want.
Additionally, because each tenant owns their own
hardware, the hardware isn't being shared across
multiple tenants, this helps with security,
because you don't have to worry about another
tenant doing something that's going to compromise
the security of your hardware. And it also helps
with performance, because you don't have to worry
about the noisy neighbor syndrome, in which
another tenant causes an extreme amount of
activity, and that diminishes the performance of
your own workloads. So none of these types of
things are a factor in a colocation facility,
because you are using dedicated hardware. Now, in
all fairness, some cloud providers do give you the
option of leasing dedicated hardware within the
cloud. But even in those types of situations, the
cloud provider itself still controls the low level
configuration of that hardware. Another advantage
that you sometimes get through colocation is
scalability. Now, scalability is one of those
things that's most often discussed with relation
to the public cloud. The public cloud is known for
its scalability. Because the public cloud
providers, at least the larger ones, have a nearly
unlimited amount of hardware resources available.
So if you've got a workload that needs to be
scaled up, then all you have to do is acquire some
additional hardware resources from the cloud
provider. And then that workload can scale on an
as needed basis. If demand subsides later on, you
can just as easily scale down the workload and
release those hardware resources, meaning that
you're no longer being charged for them. Now, this
type of scalability isn't available in a
colocation environment, because remember, you're
using your own hardware, you're not leasing
hardware from a cloud provider. Having said that,
though, there is still a type of scalability that
is available. And that scalability has to do with
leasing additional space. Because very often,
additional space is available within a colocation
facility whenever it's required. So if you find
that you're going to need some additional hardware
resources, is typically going to be very easy to
lease some additional space within the colocation
facility that you're already using. And then
simply purchase hardware to put in that newly
leased space. Now, obviously, this type of scaling
isn't quite as carefree as what you get in the
public cloud, because you do have to sign a lease
and you do have to purchase hardware. But it is
much simpler than achieving scalability in your
own data center. Because think what's involved in
scaling a data center that you already own, you
would typically have to engage in a large scale
construction project in order to expand that data
center if you don't already have the space
available. And there's going to be significant
cost available with that. You may not necessarily
have the physical space available to expand the
data center. And it's also going to be a very time
consuming process. Conversely, in a colocation
environment, you can scale almost instantly
because that space is already there and available
for your use.
Another advantage that's commonly associated with
the use of a colocation facility, is that
colocation facilities typically have top notch
physical security. In order to get to your data
center hardware, for example, you're usually going
to have to pass through multiple security
checkpoints. Even within the colocation facility,
tenants resources are physically separated from
one another. They might be in separate rooms, or
more commonly, they may be separated by fences
with locking gates, meaning that you only have the
ability to access your own hardware. Another
advantage that's often associated with colocation
facilities is that these facilities almost always
provide some level of on site technical support.
Now, the degree of support that's available is
going to vary from One colocation provider to the
next, just as cloud providers offer varying
degrees of technical support. Some providers offer
only basic support, whereas others offer advanced
support. Likewise, remote hand support might be
offered or it might be required. I'll be talking
more about remote hands in just a moment. Some
facilities also offer an extra level of support
called smart hands. I'll be talking about that in
a moment as well. So let's talk a little bit about
remote hands. The idea behind remote hands is that
someone working for the colocation facility
handles various service and maintenance tasks for
you so that you don't have to, essentially, their
hands are performing a task remotely so that you
don't have to go into the colocation facility to
do it. So what types of tasks? Well, the tasks
that are available through a remote hands program
vary from one colocation provider to the next. But
some of the things that may be included include
things like moving or securing network cables,
network router and switch configuration tasks,
server refreshes, server reboots, hardware and
software replacement or installation, power
cycling, inventory management, labeling, hardware
devices, handling, shipping and receiving request,
reporting on equipment performance, and performing
audits. So those are just a few of the things that
might be included in a remote hands program. Now,
having said that, it's very important to
understand that some colocation facilities offer
remote hands program. Some other facilities
require a remote hands program. I mentioned a
moment ago that colocation facilities pride
themselves on having top notch physical security,
and some facilities take that security to the
point that they don't even allow tenants to set
foot in the facility. Instead, all service and
maintenance is handled through a remote hands
program, so that tenants never have to come on
site. Members of the colocation facility staff
handle everything on the tenants behalf through
their remote hands program. Another support option
that colocation providers sometimes offer is
something called smart hands. Now, not every
colocation provider has a smart hands program in
place, and the ones that do generally offer it as
a premium. For example, if remote hands is
included in your basic colocation lease, at no
additional cost, then the provider will typically
offer smart hands for an hourly rate, although
they may build that in increments of half an hour
or even 15 minutes. If on the other hand, the
provider does charge for remote hands, then
they'll typically charge at a higher rate for
smart hands. So what's the difference between the
two? Well, remote hands generally involves
performing very basic tasks such as cycling power
on a server, or something like that. Smart Hands,
on the other hand, might include things like
receiving and installing new equipment, or
replacing failed hardware components, things like
hard drives, or power supply units or things like
that. Now, you'll notice that there's a little bit
of overlap here. I mentioned receiving and
installing new equipments as a part of a smart
hands program. But I also mentioned that with
regard to remote hands, and the reason for that
discrepancy, is that some providers do include
receiving and installing equipment as a part of
the remote hands program, especially if the
provider requires remote hands, and doesn't allow
tenants to enter the data center, because
otherwise, how would they install equipment. But
for providers that do allow physical access to
their data centers, they typically include things
like receiving and installing new equipment as a
part of their smart hands program, because the
tenant does have the option of doing that
themselves. But they can opt instead to pay a fee
and have the provider do that for them instead.
So I've spent quite a bit of time talking about
what a colocation provider is and how colocation
providers operate. But how do colocation providers
compare with cloud providers? Well, there are
several distinct differences between the two. For
example, cloud providers supply the required
hardware, while colocation facilities require
customers to provide their own hardware. Now,
there are advantages and disadvantages to each. In
the case of a cloud provider supplying the
hardware, the advantage is that you as a tenant
don't have to go out and purchase that hardware.
But having said that, in a colocation environment
where you are required to supply your own
hardware, the advantage is that you can use
anything that you want. If you want to use
commodity hardware that comes at a low cost, you
can certainly do that. If on the other hand, you
want to use top of the line, high performance
hardware, you can do that as well. It's entirely
up to you what type of hardware you want to use in
a colocation environment. And you can configure
that hardware to meet your needs. Exactly. You're
not locked into the cloud providers approved
configuration. Another major difference between
cloud providers and colocation providers is that
cloud providers offer managed services For
workloads, they might offer databases as managed
services, for example, they also offer platforms
where you can host virtual machines, colocation
providers don't do this. Instead, a colocation
provider focuses on leasing data center space, and
it's up to you what you do with it. The advantage
to this is that you're not locked into the
services that the cloud provider offers, or the
cloud providers way of doing things. If you want
to run some piece of software, there's nothing
stopping you from doing that. Whereas in a cloud
environment, you may or may not be able to run
that particular software, or that particular
workload. Another major difference between cloud
providers and colocation providers is that cloud
providers charge you a fee each month based on the
resources that you use. This includes things like
computer charges, storage charges, even data
egress fees, colocation providers don't do this.
Because remember, you're using your own hardware.
So a colocation provider isn't going to charge you
a fee, just to use your own hardware. All you're
really paying for is the space within the
colocation facility that you use. Now, having said
that, there are some providers out there that will
charge you a fee for electricity. And for internet
connectivity, that's a fairly normal thing. But
you're never going to pay a fee for the CPU
resources that you consume on your own servers,
for example. So the reason why this is such an
advantage over the cloud way of doing things is
because it gives you much more predictable
pricing, you don't have to wonder what your fees
are going to be next month, because you've
generally signed a lease at a flat rate, and you
know, from one month to the next what that lease
is going to cost you. In a cloud provider, your
monthly usage fees are going to fluctuate based on
your workloads. So it's hard to predict with any
certainty what you're going to be paying each
month to use the resources within the public
cloud. Another major difference between colocation
providers and cloud providers is that cloud
providers don't allow you to have low level
infrastructure access. On the other hand,
colocation facilities require you to supply your
own hardware. And because you own that hardware,
you're able to configure anything that you want,
right down to the lowest level. One last concept
that I want to talk about is that of hybrid
clouds, because most organizations today operate
in a hybrid cloud environment, meaning that they
use public cloud resources, but they also use
private cloud resources within their own data
center. And those public and private clouds are
joined together to form a hybrid cloud. Now,
adopting a colocation facility doesn't force you
to give up the idea of creating a hybrid cloud.
Because remember, a colocation facility is really
just a multi tenant data center. What you put into
that data center is entirely up to you, as is how
you configure that equipment that you put in the
data center. So you can build a private cloud at a
colocation center, just as you could create a
private cloud in your own data center on premises.
Similarly, a hybrid cloud can consist of resources
in the public cloud and resources in a colocation
facility. And it's becoming increasingly common
for hybrid clouds to span multiple public clouds
on premises data centers and colocation
facilities. So you have resources located in a
variety of different locations, all working
together to deliver the hybrid cloud experience
that you need. So the bottom line is that both
public clouds and colocation facilities are off
site multi tenant environments. The difference
being that public clouds supply all of the
hardware and bill you for your hardware usage,
whereas a colocation facility bills you for the
space that you consume within the data center.
Neither one is necessarily superior to the other
both have their place. Having said that, you
shouldn't expect to use a public cloud in every
situation. There are certainly are situations in
which a colocation facility is the better choice.
This is particularly true if you're looking for
predictable costs each month, or if you need
absolute control over your hardware resources
because you're not going to get that in a public
cloud environment. So that's going to do it for
this presentation. I certainly hope that you found
it informative and enjoyable. I'm Brien Posey,
thanks for watching.