The Enterprise Cloud
This blog covers the latest developments and major players in cloud technology. Get practical advice on evaluating providers of cloud applications and services, as well as tips and best practices.
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Getting to know GoGrid IaaS
In an increasingly crowded IaaS market, GoGrid competes with cloud behemoths like Amazon, Rackspace, and HP. Here's an overview of sign-up, VM creation, and features.
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When it doesn't make sense to go to the cloud
Even cloud advocates understand that not every situation is a good candidate for a cloud solution. Here are some use cases in which the cloud would not provide any particular benefits.
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First steps with a brand new Ubuntu virtual machine
Here is a quick how-to on setting up a brand new Ubuntu VM and adding a web server. Ubuntu is the most popular open source OS for cloud deployments.
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Try SafeGDocs to encrypt your stored Google documents
For those storing lots of documents in the Google cloud, a little extra protection is available with add-ons that encrypt and decrypt docs.
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Microsoft TechEd NA 2013: New products and staking claim to the enterprise cloud
The keynote from TechEd 2013 in New Orleans was full of new products, features, and pricing -- as well as a claim to be the enterprise's "best cloud partner" on the strength of Windows Azure.
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Inside an IaaS data center: Providing the brawn for your company's brain
What goes into an enterprise-class IaaS provider? Take a look inside a brand new data center.
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Infographic: It's a SaaS world
Get a quick look at the history of SaaS, how it's growing, and what makes it different from other software delivery methods.
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The curse of cloudwashing lives on
Dressing up products with the latest buzzwords isn't unusual in the tech industry, but consumers shouldn't be misled about what makes for a true cloud service.
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Integrating asset management as a hosted application: Is it feasible?
Asset management presents some challenges as a solution that can be implemented on the SaaS model. Here are the issues to consider.
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Windows Server 2012 Essentials: Easy small business Internet and cloud
Windows Server 2012 Essentials gives small businesses many options, including built-in hooks to cloud-hosted Office 365-based email and more economical backup and disaster preparedness.
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Quick tip: Navigate AWS EC2 with file, cat, and sudo yum update
To take advantage of Amazon's best pricing on EC2 machines, you must learn the basics of the Linux command line. Here are a few more commands and tips to help you on your way.
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Major cloud providers transforming enterprise software market
Every area of enterprise software, from CRM to ERP, is ripe for increased competition from the big players in cloud infrastructure services.
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Hyper-V Recovery Manager on Windows Azure: Game changer in DR architecture
HVRM is a hybrid service that leverages the Azure public cloud and allows you to manage the replication of your primary data center to your disaster recovery (DR) site.
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The evolution of the CMS: From SGML to the cloud
Take a trip down memory lane with Nick Hardiman, who looks at how far the Content Management System has come over the years.
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What makes up a true hybrid cloud infrastructure?
Extending the benefits of the public cloud into the private infrastructure is an appealing option for companies who still have reservations about the public cloud.
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Configure a time server for Active Directory domain controllers
Windows Server admins should establish one authoritative time source for their organization. Rick Vanover explains how to configure the authoritative time source.
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The pros and cons of tower, rack, and blade servers
Scott Lowe goes back to basics with this overview of tower, rack, and blade servers to help you make an educated decision about the best option for your data center.
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Backing up and restoring snapshots on Amazon EC2 machines
Nick Hardiman describes several methods of backups of your Amazon EC2 machines. He also details the steps for restoring snapshot backups.
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A closer look at Windows Server 2008's Active Directory Users and Computers
When administering Windows Server 2008, one of the tools you'll use most often is Active Directory Users And Computers. Here's a quick guided tour of the tool and some of the changes that have occurred since Windows Server 2003.
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Connect to Amazon EC2 with a private key using PuTTY and Pageant
Nick Hardiman shows you how to set up a secure connection to an Amazon EC2 machine using PuTTY and Pageant to handle your private key.
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How to import an Excel file into SQL Server 2005 using Integration Services
Integration Services, which replaces Data Transformation Services (DTS) in SQL Server 2005, is a wonderful tool for extracting, transforming, and loading data. This article describes how you can use the new features of Integration Services to load an Excel file into your database.
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Use Resource Monitor to monitor storage performance
The Windows Resource Monitor tool provides very good at-a-glance information about some important disk-based performance metrics. Scott Lowe gives an overview of the tool's graphics and metrics.
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Use Resource Monitor to monitor network performance
Scott Lowe drills down on the network-related metrics you can see in the Microsoft Windows Resource Monitor tool.
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Manage DNS suffix configuration through Group Policy
Configuration issues are frequently identified to DNS settings. Rick Vanover shows how to centrally manage DNS suffix configuration with Group Policy.
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11 cloud IaaS providers compared
Thoran Rodrigues does a thorough comparison of 11 IaaS cloud providers based on the same group of criteria. See how the major players fared in his scoring comparison.
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What does a DBA do all day?
Data integrity is a DBA's number one responsibility, but do you know what else they do all day? Bob Watkins outlines some of the basic duties of a DBA.