Infrastructure blueprints are an important part of any service providers’ technology stack.
First, to ensure we are on the same page, I am referring to infrastructure blueprints in much the same way that blueprints are used in the construction industry. They contain all the key information and ‘bill of materials’ to successfully build and deploy applications in the cloud including server, software, storage, network, images and firewall details and how they relate together.
So why is it an essential part of your solution? Here are our five reasons you need infrastructure blueprints:
Service Provider – Offer Customers a Variety of Pre-Configured Application Stacks.
Pain: I am a cloud service provider and my customers are expecting more than just infrastructure. They want pre-configured applications, just like the app store, that can help them configure and install application stacks instantly. At the moment, I am doing this manually which takes time, money and resource. It also means that I cannot easily scale it up so I can lose customers due to downtime.
Solution: Infrastructure blueprints help you deliver pre-configured applications so you can deploy a complete set of application configurations for your customers to consume quickly and easily. These could range from content management systems, email platforms or wikis.
IT administrator – Do Once, Deploy Often
Pain: As an IT administrator, I have to start from scratch every time an end user wants to start an application. This takes too much time to carry out repeated processes. Taking the repetition out of these tasks would mean that I am more productive and can help customers with more challenging issues.
Solution: Infrastructure blueprints mean you can configure applications once and then roll them out across your customer base when they are required. This means the efficiency of the IT administrator is greatly improved and the end user is happy with the speed and reliability.
ISV – Offer Standard Pre-configured Software to Different Customers & Allow Customization.
Pain: As an ISV, I need a scalable approach to selling my software to my market, in the cloud. Customers do not always have the technical know how to download and install my software themselves so I am spending a lot of time on installation processes and hand holding which is time consuming and expensive.
Solution: ISVs can offer standard pre-configured editions of their software to different customers to provision based on their technical ability or knowledge. They can customize and provision simple tasks such as setting up emails and deploying themselves and allowing them control.
Quality Assurance Engineer – Deploy Virtual Infrastructure in One Step
Pain: As a QA engineer with a complex infrastructure, when building complex applications, I need to configure many pieces of the puzzle manually which substantially extends the time required to move the project forward. It also makes it difficult to make sure my environment is always set up in the same way.
Solution: Using infrastructure blueprints, you can build complex templates based on standard images or software stacks. It removes all the unnecessary and duplicative steps from the process which enables better QA as the environments for testing are standardized.
Dev Ops Engineer – Dynamic Configuration
Pain: I use configuration management tools to configure software on my servers as I deploy them. As I build complex applications that might include networks, firewalls etc., I still have to configure all the pieces manually which substantially extends time and effort. This also makes it harder for me to make sure they are set up in exactly the same way.
Solution: Building complex templates with the right infrastructure blueprints complete with all the elements like networking, storage, firewall etc. can make this laborious task significantly simpler. With infrastructure blueprints, I can do this in one simple solution to easily build, re-build or reconfigure any software stack as I’m required in a matter of minutes.
How Do I Get Infrastructure Blueprints?
Getting started with infrastructure blueprints is easy if you select a cloud orchestration solution that includes this technology. When in use, your cloud management solution will significantly benefit the DevOps, QA, IT Administrator and more.
Flexiant Cloud Orchestrator is the cloud management solution needed to deliver infrastructure blueprints – the unique ability to create, store and share templates of application environments, which span across multiple servers and networks. Using the one-click deploy capability, all tasks are automated and repeatable with minimum effort.
Learn more by reading our paper ‘Discover How Infrastructure blueprints will Revolutionize and Transform your Cloud Business’. Download the paper now for insight into a solution to benefit you and your customers by offering additional value added services.
