• Login
• Become a member
• RSS
• Part of the TechTarget network

by Matt Debarros and Mike Pontacoloni

Our new Cloud Data Architecture Quick Guide provides the tips, expert advice, news, and trends you need to get the most from your data in the cloud.

Contents
Distributed

data grids improve data accessibility in the cloud
Cloud Data Architecture tips and expert advice
Cloud Data Architecture news and trends
 

  Distributed data grids improve data accessibility in the cloud
 

While Datacenters were once required to be housed and maintained by the enterprise, cloud services such as Amazon EC2 and Microsoft Azure offer enterprises the ability to store data remotely on rented hardware. Of course a datacenter is a datacenter, and connecting to one through longer wires doesn't do much to change the way the data in it is accessed and analyzed. The technology of distributed data grids, though, can take data stored on the cloud and present it in new and useful ways.

A distributed data grid, also called a distributed data cache, is a layer of storage that sits between the database and the in-memory of an application. They are used to hold frequently used and changing data so that it can be quickly accessed by one or several programs.

One use case of data grids is to speed data retrieval. "[Distributed data caches] host data so that it can be accessed very quickly, much more quickly than if it were kept just in the database server," said William Bain, founder and CEO of ScaleOut Software, in a recent SearchSOA.com podcast.

Distributed data caches can also make applications more reliable. In a recent Q&A, David Chappell explains how distributing memory in a data grid allows business logic to operate against the data more effectively and reliably. Chappell said that he has been seeing organizations dramatically decrease their load and strain on back-end systems by leveraging a data grid as a distributed caching environment. "It's something that can be deployed in a public cloud environment. It allows you to have more flexibility and scalability within the platform you're using," he said.

Another useful feature of data grids in a cloud computing environment is that they can present data in a single package regardless of where that data is being stored. "Data grids offer a cloud-like data model that can work well in multiple data centers," said IBM Distinguished Engineer Billy Newport. He said that databases are not designed to work with data distributed across multiple data centers. Newport and his colleagues recently added support for OData, a Microsoft-backed protocol for querying data in multiple languages, to the WebSphere eXtreme Scale data grid tool.
Back to the top

  Cloud Data Architecture tips and expert advice
 

Distributed data caches speed cloud applications
William Bain, founder and CEO of ScaleOut Software, Inc. accesses the challenges of storing data in the cloud. "What users primarily need is a very simple, easy to use software architecture that lets them access their data quickly," said Bain. Read more of Bain's thoughts and listen to the podcast.

David Chappell: Build scalable applications with data grid technology
David Chappell took some time to do a Q&A with SearchSOA.com and talk about the next generation of cloud architecture. Chappell focuses on architectural patterns that take advantage of grid in SOA environments. Read the full Q&A here.

Cloud computing architecture: Relational memories are made of this?
Curt Monash, a leading analyst of and strategic advisor to the software industry for almost three decades said that there won't be much difference between the ways enterprises structure data in and out of public cloud.

Book Excerpt: Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise
David Linthicum, author of, Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in your Enterprise, shared his thoughts with SearchSOA about the architecture of cloud computing. Linthicum explained that the cloud should not be looked at as a new architecture, but instead as another option for storing and running services within a SOA, similar to buying a new server or data center. Read an excerpt from Linthicum's book here.

Choosing an application architecture for the cloud
Bernard Golden, the CEO of HyperStratus, a consulting firm that helps its clients define and implement cloud strategy and systems, takes a look at the three architectural choices for cloud environments and suggests what application would best suit them. Golden says the first step when building your cloud is to determine which applications and data sources used by the application will run in the cloud.

Can a service repository be kept on the cloud?
SOA expert Todd Biske answers the question: If an architect has created a useful services repository, can that be easily uploaded, maintained and protected in a public cloud computing scenario? Biske says that you need to ask these key questions before uploading important data into the cloud: "You need to look at the hosting model from the provider and ask detailed questions on how that data is protected.
Back to the top

  Cloud Data Architecture news and trends
 

Distributed data grids: Foundation for future cloud computing?
The prospect of cloud computing is changing the way people in IT think. But some viewers say the potential of the cloud may be limited without the application of a crucial enabling technology -- distributed data grids.

Year in Review, 2009: Cloud computing struggles with data schemes
In 2009 we saw the "rise of the cloud." One major issue in cloud computing in 2009 was getting data out of the data center and onto the cloud in a reliable way. Read more about the strides made in 2009 to improve cloud computing, and discover what you can except for advancements in the cloud for 2010.

Early Azure adopter sees financial benefits of cloud computing
Advanced Telemetry, a rapidly growing energy consumption monitoring and management provider, has seen an immediate impact since switching from their on-site infrastructure to the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform. Ultimately Advanced Telemetry chose Microsofts Azure, over Google BigTable, because Azure better fits its needs. Find out why in this case study.

Early Azure adopters porting over .NET apps for more scalability
Now that Microsoft Azure is commercially available, early enterprise adopters have already begun porting over applications. Microsoft has already garnered a handful of large corporations that are building inside the Azure cloud. These included such companies as 3M, the Associated Press, Kelley Blue Book Co. Inc., and Domino's Pizza, Inc. Early adopters seemed impressed with how straight forward Azure actually is. Rob Sanfilippo, an analyst with Directions on Microsoft, says Azure users happy with how easy it has been to move pre-existing applications and data into the cloud.

Azure cloud on horizon: The devil is in the data architecture details
Take a look at what Microsoft Azure looked like in its infancy-- The data architecture changes from a backdrop to questions about what kind of changes developers might -- or might not -- have to make in order to build successful cloud applications.

Google App Engine developer discusses distributed architecture challenges
Fred Sauer, App Engine developer advocate at Google, talks about the biggest challenges facing developers moving to the cloud. Sauer said learning how to develop under a distributed model is not necessarily more difficult, as much as it is a matter of relearning how to store and call data. Learn more about storing data in the cloud using Google's App Engine.
Back to the top

Join the conversationComment

All Rights Reserved,Copyright 2001 - 2013, TechTarget