Introduction
While I’m on the Marketing team here at DNN, I spent several years (in past jobs) on the IT team, assembling and managing web infrastructure for organizations. I recall long days (and nights) at data centers in New York City. I’d enter our “cage,” which had a number of empty racks.
Managing Web Infrastructure: TheN
Photo credit: Flickr user billrdio via photopin cc
I ordered a set of high performance hardware to fill the racks: web servers, database servers, Ethernet switches, load balancers and firewalls. I’d unbox the hardware, mount them in the racks, power them all up and spend the night configuring them.
Completing the hardware set-up was only half the job. I’d install a console, along with a “KVM switch,” which allowed me to administer each server. From there, I’d install the suite of software needed to power our website: the database server, the application server and the Content Management System (CMS).
I’d load a disc into the server’s CD-ROM drive, enter the license key printed on the CD sleeve and complete the software’s basic configuration settings. I’d call up my DBA (database administrator) and she’d help me do some “advanced configuration” on the database, in order to achieve optimized performance.
There was a bakery across the street from the data center, so after all of that, I’d be sure to pay them a visit to pick up my favorite item: a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie. The cookie was my reward for setting up (and maintaining) my organization’s web infrastructure.
Managing Web Infrastructure: Now
While I’m no longer in IT, I can imagine what life would be like today. I could sign up for a cloud solution. I wouldn’t concern myself with a physical cage in New York City. I’d spin down all those servers, switches and firewalls. I’d reclaim the licenses I installed for my CMS and database server. All of this goodness would then be delivered via the cloud.
OUR Cloud Offering
DNN’s Evoq in the Cloud can make this all happen. No more cages, racks, servers, switches, firewalls, database software or CMS software. All of that would be delivered via our fully managed offering, which integrates the cloud delivery with our CMS solution. It’s a form of Software as a Service (SaaS) that I like to call “DNN as a Service.”
Note: read colleague Joe Brinkman's four-part piece on delivering DNN as a Service.
How We’re Like Salesforce
Image via Salesforce.
In some ways, Evoq in the Cloud is like Salesforce.com. Customers of Salesforce login each day. They make use of the “service” and never think for a second about “software.” Similarly, our cloud customers are able to focus on website content and never think about “software” or “infrastructure.” In fact, Evoq in the Cloud customers never even handle an installer file or a license key. In a true SaaS model, those details are left to the service provider (us!).
How We’re Unlike Salesforce
The Salesforce cloud is “multi-tenant,” which means that a single instance of the Salesforce software is used (and shared) by all of their customers. When Salesforce upgrades their underlying software, all of their customers see that at once.
Evoq in the Cloud is single-tenant, which means that each customer receives a private, dedicated instance in our cloud. This means that one customer’s instance is completely isolated from all others. One customer may run version 7.0.1 of our software, while another may be on version 7.1. One customer can take their database offline and that won’t affect any other customer.
Not Convinced? Try Us Out
Because our solutions are delivered as a service (via the Cloud), we can provision free trials in a snap. So you can try out our solutions. And while you do so, you can experience how our solutions are delivered via the cloud. Visit our sign-up page and get started!
Conclusion
If I was still responsible for managing web infrastructure today, I’d move up the value chain, so to speak. I’d probably spend more of my time on workflow and analytics and virtually no time on infrastructure. In short, I’d be able to focus on strategic considerations that have more of a direct impact to the business. I could study web analytics to provide Sales, Marketing, Finance (and others) with reports that help inform business decisions.
The only time I’d think about infrastructure is making sure I scaled my resources to match my site visitors. That’s a lot less work than visiting the data center, but I’d still reward myself with a fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie.
Join My Webinar
Join my related webinar later this month, “6 Benefits for Hosting Your Website in the Cloud.”