Cloud - Chapter 8

CHAPTER 9CHAPTER 9

CLOUD AND SOA

Shreenath Acharya,SJEC,Mangalore

8.1 INTRODUCTION: It is very difficult to deal with infrastructure complexity, including

hardware, software and applications across disparate environments(stakeholders, partners and customers).

Well-planned assessments are needed to understand where to start andhow to start progress in a staged way.

Service management is one of the similarities between cloudinfrastructure and SOA approaches.infrastructure and SOA approaches.

Developing an integrated service management approach for both theapplication services and infrastructure services together will driveefficiency in IT operations by improving resource utilization andimproving service levels.

This environment will enable business agility by better aligning ITwith the business.


9.1.1 Enterprise Infrastructure and SOA: SOA introduces requirements for availability, service continuity,

monitoring, scalability and geographic dispersion that aredifferent than those of past architectures.

SOA makes IT applications into composite applications.

Instead of traditional monolithic applications, compositeapplications are created, composed of many services oftendeveloped and deployed independently by separate developmentdeveloped and deployed independently by separate developmentteams on different schedules.

By adhering to common standards and interfaces, development ofnew composite applications and extension of existingapplications are made easier through the reuse of existingservices and the rapid integration of new services.


Cloud infrastructure service components include physicalinfrastructure (such as processors, memory, storage andI/O networks), system software(firmware, OSs) andmanagement software(monitoring, provisioning, workloadmanagement).

Cloud infrastructure is particularly suited to support SOAapplications, Service Oriented Infrastructure (SOI) is alsowell suited to legacy application support.

The service components of cloud infrastructure areindependent of application architecture and are capable ofproviding flexible support to any application.

Cloud infrastructure strongly leverages virtualizationtechnologies which enables rapid deployment andredeployment of service components.


8.2 SOA JOURNEY TO INFRASTRUCTURE: Multiple islands of disparate infrastructures in todays environment

need to be consolidated to gain control, reduce costs and becomeoperationally efficient.

Next step is to introduce virtualized infrastructure to improveutilization levels and allow dynamic flexibility to move resourcesand capacity to meet fluctuating workload demands.

It is important to know how service orientation can be achieved by It is important to know how service orientation can be achieved bybuilding capabilities on top of virtualized and automatedinfrastructure.

Service orientation is a state where infrastructure is provided andutilized as a service, rather than in piecemeal.

Latest innovations in cloud help to further expand the service-orientedparadigm, to meet the scaling demands of future state of businesses.


8.3 SOA AND CLOUD: SOA binds how we will both deliver and leverage cloud-based services.

Cloud computing relies on service orchestration (i.e., virtualization atthe application layer) to loosely couple applications to the underlyinginfrastructure model for using Web services service requestors,service registry, service providers.

Cloud uses Web services to compose complex, customizable,distributed applications and encapsulates legacy applications.

It helps organize stove-piped applications into collective integratedservices for interoperability and extensibility.

SOA serves as the foundation for the move into cloud computing and itowns the characteristics of a cloud including a shared infrastructure,self-service capabilities and the fact that it will be virtualized (Figurenext page).


Cloud computing is an infrastructure management andservices deployment method with virtualized resources and itis managed as a single large resource.

Clouds share and leverage characteristics of SOA withflexibility and agility.

Applications and services reused in new and dynamic waysand rapid deployment happens in SOAbased cloudimplementation.

SOA is an application framework for building betterapplications.

SOA helps break an application framework into discreteservice components (i.e., mini-applications) so they can bereused as common services between different applications.


A well-designed SOA infrastructure is a mix of current and SOAinfrastructure technologies.

Clouds enable deployment of cloud services and SOA is the mostsophisticated architectural approach for the building and delivery ofservices.

SOA design pattern is composed of loosely coupled, discoverable,reusable, interoperable platform-neutral services.

Each of the above services follow a well-defined standard, and can be Each of the above services follow a well-defined standard, and can bebound or unbound at any time as needed.

SOA is the way an enterprise builds, maintains, governs andorchestrates the services delivered, cloud is an instance of SOA.

SOA focuses on software designed as a service (SaaS is software hostedas a service) and is a design model in which there is no restriction onthe consumer.


Private clouds can be seen as simply SOAs with the addition ofvirtualization and self-provisioning.

Most experts agree that without SOA, a move to the clouds will betough to justify financially, because it will cost too much to re-engineer legacy systems that are not built to be exposed outsideof the usual user community.

The best scenario for moving services to the cloud is whenapplications, processes and data are more loosely coupled andless dependent on each other.

Companies who are not practicing SOA will be tightly coupled totheir databases and to their infrastructure making it very hardfor them to move, or shift or change things around.

When a cloud user initiates a service, it calls a mechanism toexpose legacy functionality as service on the cloud which mayrequire integration across firewalls and across technologyboundaries.


With SOA, an enterprise can look at their entire offering anddecide to move certain pieces into cloud, and not otherpieces.

A service communications backbone is needed to runbetween the different clouds being used, which will allowusers to utilize remote services from any cloud withouthaving to deal with connectivity and interoperabilityissues.

service communications backbone is a simple concept, butwithout it, cloud-to-cloud interoperability issues may limit thegrowth of cloud computing.

It requires the state of the science SOA, with the ability toaccess thousands of services that could be hosted anywhereand to abstract from the interoperability issues.


8.3.1 Infrastructure Technologies: Cloud infrastructure is based on virtualization which are dynamic

systems that enable the definition and delivery of resources ondemand.

Current server technology can deliver hundreds of virtual servers onsmall cluster of physical servers, enabling flexibility and highavailability.

In a virtual environment, workloads can be moved dynamically betweencomponents, allowing minimal unplanned downtime and no plannedcomponents, allowing minimal unplanned downtime and no planneddowntime.

Each server contains a pool of processor, memory and I/O resources thatcan be dynamically assigned and reassigned to meet needs.

Surplus capacity can be pre-provisioned at no cost until activated.


8.4 SOA DEFINED: SOA is an approach to architecture that is intended to promote

flexibility through encapsulation and loose coupling.

SOA functions are defined and exposed as services andthere is only one instance of each service implementation,either at each service and is remotely invoked by anythingthat needs to use it.

Deployment time is less as each service is built once, but re- Deployment time is less as each service is built once, but re-deployed to be invoked semi-locally wherever it is needed.

SOA facilitates agility for the business continuity byproviding faster solutions to changing business prioritiesand leveraging competitive effectiveness of business changerequirements.


SOA is defined by what a service is. Services are defined by the following characteristics:

1. Explicit, implementation-independent interfaces.2. Loosely bound.3. Invoked through communication protocols.4. Stress location transparency and interoperability.5. Encapsulate reusable business function.

SOA is very flexible. Therefore, it facilitates the differentelements of business.elements of business.

The most important characteristic of SOA is the flexibility totreat elements of business like:

Business processes. Underlying IT infrastructure. Secure standardized components (services). Changing business priorities.


The three aspects to be looked at while looking at the SOA vision are:1. The business view of a service what is needed to support thebusiness process.

2. The architecture view of a service how do we define and designthese services.

3. The implementation view of a service - how do we implement theservice through component deployed on the technical infrastructure?


In order to run the business in a smoother way, we will have to bundlethe business requirements in a simplistic way and it should bestandardized.

This creates the service offerings and helps to get the rightinformation from the right source, particularly information aboutwhen it is needed.

8.4.1 SOA Lifecycle: SOA lifecycle resembles traditional application lifecycles, but also

introduces new terminology.

SOA lifecycle starts in the SOA Model phase where organizationsgather business requirements and information about designing theirbusiness processes.

Once the business processes are optimized, implementation is done bycombining new and existing services.

The assets are deployed into a secure and integrated environment forintegrating people, processes and information.


integrating people, processes and information.

Once deployed, customers manage and monitor from both an IT and abusiness perspective.

Information gathered during the Manage phase is fed back into thelifecycle for continuous process improvement.

Governance provides guidance and oversight for the SOA project.

8.4.2 Service-Oriented Computing: Service Orientation is a design paradigm comprising a specific set of

design principles.

It relies on separation of concerns design philosophy. i.e., based on thefact that a problem becomes easier to approach if it is divided up andhandled separately.

Service is not only limited to the software or Information Technology, itis culture of the organization and how it performs its entire operationson a day-to-day basis.on a day-to-day basis.

Service Orientation is based on the integration of all the businessprocesses as related processes to get the achievable outcomes intendedfrom the business.

The technology associated with SOA visualizes the architectural aspects ofthe service orientation to make the process simple and gives the option ofcomposite application, which ties the running process and businessrequirements in a way to achieve business goals.


8.5 SOA AND IAAS:The analysts recommend an IT Infrastructure that is: Shared across customers, business units and applications. Dynamically driven by business policies and service level requirements.

The two major elements as viewed by analysts in realizing IaaS are:IT Virtualization and IT Automation

IT Virtualization is viewed as a technological aspect of cloud infrastructurein order to create a pool of infrastructure resources, such as computingpower and data storage, in order to mask the physical nature of thepower and data storage, in order to mask the physical nature of theboundaries from the users (Figure next page).

IT Automation is viewed as a way to better govern the utility modelinfrastructure services, enabling policy-based, service-oriented, dynamicmanagement of underlying virtualized resources.

The recommended implementation approach towards SOA looks towards astrategic return on investment, rather than a quick fix, tactical return.


8.5.1 Architecture:The 4 domains of service division are:1. Application Services2. Information Service3. Common IT Services4. Infrastructure Services

i)Application Services: These provide the applicationframeworks to enhance the execution of business servicesframeworks to enhance the execution of business servicesthrough software engineering.

Adapting new technologies and techniques can accelerate thedelivery of new services through the use of consistent,repeatable service-oriented architectures.


ii) Information Services: These provide a common, repeatablemethod for cataloguing, accessing and managing information.

Innovative technologies can streamline information access and datamanagement, making it easier to integrate packages and newacquisitions.

iii) Common IT Services: These create enterprise pools of commonlyused IT services.

Simplifying the environment can enhance management and cost andincrease responsiveness.increase responsiveness.

iv) Infrastructure Services: These provide pools of processing andnetworking resources for applications and business functions.

These resources may be isolated into business silos, but withvirtualization, they can evolve into virtual pools that aredynamically allocated based on business need.


The business values offered by SOA in implementation and design of the infrastructure are:

1. Business Agility: This helps in deciding the right time to launch orrapidly scale the deployment efforts needed to implement the newsolutions.

2. Lower Cost of Operations: This helps in utilizing the virtual poolsefficiently which decreases the chance of procuring the newsystems.

It also helps in increasing the overall effectiveness when we workin an automated environment.in an automated environment.

3. Improved Service Levels: SOA based infrastructure helps toadhere to the SLAs efficiently and helps in orchestrating theresource as per the rules and policies.

Business analytics helps to decide different predictive, proactive,alterative approaches when we follow SOA.


4.Efficient Information Management: The efficientcentralized environment enables:

i). Information dissemination.

ii). Data replication.

iii). Business continuity protection.

iv). Regulatory compliance.

v). Maximizing resource utilization.

vi). Rapid deployment of new applications.

vii). More timely response to changing business conditions.


5. Regulatory Compliance: We need monitoring to track theperformance of the services to confirm that they comply with theregulatory compliances.

It is important to adhere with energy emission regulations andefficiencies to adopt Greener solutions.

If we have centralized data storage it will help the audit process.Centralized data storage facilities and accelerate audits.

6. Energy Efficiency: SOA based cloud infrastructure substantiallyimproves:ComputingStorageNetwork UtilizationDatacenter energy efficiency.


8.6 SOA-BASED CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE STEPS:1. Analysis and Strategy: It is recommended to have an

incremental, phased approach for adopting SOA and cloudinfrastructure.

A good starting point is to conduct a Business InnovationAssessment to identify business needs and key areas forimpacts and use them to develop business value cases for SOAadoption.

It is also recommended to conduct an Enterprise IT It is also recommended to conduct an Enterprise ITArchitecture Assessment to determine the IT readinessincluding the application and integration capabilities tosupport the business needs and the current gaps.

An IT infrastructure Assessment should be conducted todetermine capabilities and entry points for Service-OrientedInfrastructure.


2. Planning: Once the business needs and IT gaps are identified, astrategic and tactical planning effort can be launched todevelop an IT Value Case and Roadmap for incremental ITtransformation to enable business innovation/agilityleveraging SOA.

A careful portfolio analysis and change management processwill help to align & adjust the current IT efforts to select thetactical/focused projects based on the strategy and roadmap.

At the same time, organizational impacts should be analyzedand a SOA governance model, standards and guidingprinciples should be developed to accelerate and manage thepace of the transformation.


3. Implementation: An excellent idea is to establish an enterprise-levelSOA as well as the development and run-time environment standardsbefore the first set of SOA projects are launched.

It is best to couple the virtualization projects with SOA so that the benefitsof the virtualization can be realized at the lower level (service-level versusserver-level).

SOA and cloud infrastructure governance should be incorporated intoexisting IT governance bodies & performance and SLAs impacts shouldbe monitored and managed under the same set of business rules.be monitored and managed under the same set of business rules.

4. Value-Driven: The purposes of SOA and cloud infrastructure are toimprove the business performance, flexibility and agility so that IT cansupport business at the business speed.

All SOA projects should be driven based on business value rather thantechnical merits alone.

Technical merits can only be realized when they match the business needs.Shreenath Acharya,SJEC,Mangalore

8.6.1 SOA and Cloud Infrastructure: SOA is an approach to decompose business processes and

applications into loosely coupled components of serviceproviders and consumers and then connects them throughenterprise service bus.

It enables enterprises to reuse existing business and ITcomponents quickly to develop new capabilities and softwaresolutions.

SOA provides an enabling foundation for enhancing business andIT flexibility and agility.

The SOA approach is gaining significant momentum, not only indesigning new solutions, but also transforming monolithicallydefined legacy applications.


SOA based cloud computing model builds on the IT and Internetmodels.

It is based on service-oriented architecture providing us with a set ofmodular components to be defined and manipulated(Webservices) and a set of XML-based standards for doing so.

It enables a much more flexible and real-time way ofimplementing business policies than was possible with morestructured computing models.

It is about helping a company to reach new levels of maturity It is about helping a company to reach new levels of maturitywhile continuing to deliver the best in class services withproductivity which are necessary to improve the bottom line.

Integration of the processes with SOA environment gives an optionto the enterprise to deal with any type of situation and answerany type of customer demand with the help of partners,suppliers and customers.


SOA means a company finds a pragmatic balance betweentechnical rigor and time-to-market.

When SOA is adopted, ROI is required to gauge the return oninvestment to understand the value of the investment model.Simplistic approach will be to calculate the cost of change andsee that it should not be more than the actual cost ofimplementation and highlights to adopt the changed approach.

Diversity in the portfolio gives the alternative to face the Diversity in the portfolio gives the alternative to face therisks, it is better to work for a different set of application and noton the single application.

Thus, it is recommended to give space to larger range of futureprospects and create value to improve the business.


Automation in the process delivery should be valued as itincreases the transparency in the system and reduces themanual intervention thereby leading to better control of thebusiness functions across all the units of business with the helpof partners and customers.

The 2 main levers for the progress of the business are Competitive advantage and system-based performance

SOA helps to balance between the types of levers.

It helps to consider the risks and overcome with spikes in standards and product deployments.

IT ensures security and companies can leverage the power of software application in a more efficient way.


8.7 SOA BUSINESS AND IT SERVICES Different tools are required for comprehensive integration of SOA

to leverage the benefits of infrastructure services.

Business analyst analyzing business process requirements needmodeling tools to chart and simulate business processes.

Software architects need tool perspectives to model data,functional flows, system interactions etc.

Programmers need tools to develop new business logic with littleconcern for the underlying platform.concern for the underlying platform.

When SOA implementation is followed, the persons in theorganization will use the systems based on their roles.

The activities like, using the tools such as version control andproject management tools are provided in the SOA frameworkunder the banner of unified development platform.


SOA services incorporate functions to generate the metrics tocontrol the system and processes.

The capabilities are delivered through a set of comprehensiveservices that collect and display IT and process-level data sothat business dashboards, administrative dashboards and other ITlevel displays can manage system resources and businessprocesses.

These tools make it possible for LOB and IT personnel to These tools make it possible for LOB and IT personnel todetermine business process paths that may be inefficientproblems in specific processes or the relationship of systemperformance to business process performance so that ITpersonnel and assets are tied more directly to the businesssuccess of the enterprise.


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Cloud - Chapter 8