How Can I Improve Our Cloud Performance?

Latency. More than any other factor, latency has hindered the full corporate acceptance of cloud computing. Many work environments simply can’t tolerate latency issues, but there are some ways to improve cloud performance to reduce latency while also improving reliability and even security. Here is your guide to improving cloud performance.

Plan the Architecture Wisely

Designing an architecture to deal with latency issues keeps the problem from biting you later on. Latency is typically caused when the applications, data, and the native machine or user are widely spread out, sometimes across the country or even on different continents. There are several methods for dealing with latency issues, including the use of buffers or cache. Another option is using moving components, which continually communicate closer together in the physical sense.

Minimize the Amount of Info Transferred Among Components

Another design consideration is to limit the amount of information that has to move among the core components of the applications located in the cloud. Latency isn’t generally an issue when moving information within the cloud, but does become a problem when the information is transferred among different cloud providers or between the cloud and your native machines. This step can include consolidating your cloud computing into a single provider.

Find a Provider Offering Dedicated Network Connections

An increasing number of cloud service providers are offering private, direct, dedicated connections between your in-house infrastructure and the PoP (point of presence) where the cloud provider is housing your data and applications. Essentially, dedicated network connections make the provider’s network function as an extension of your in-house infrastructure. The bandwidth you use isn’t shared with other customers, and is easily scaled to meet your demands. You’ll see the predictability of the cloud improve, and security is better because the information isn’t passed over the Internet.

Convert to a Full Metal Cloud

If you want all of the power and privacy afforded by a bare metal cloud, with all of the flexibility cloud computing has to offer, a full metal cloud is your solution. The full metal cloud offers as much as 500 percent performance improvement over typical virtualized public clouds. You can get full metal cloud services from BigStep, which is the ideal platform for working with big data.

Test, Test, Test

Most cloud providers will offer a trial subscription, and it pays to take advantage of these. Test as many as it takes to find the performance you need. Usually, a cloud service provider with latency issues has engineered the causes of the latency into the platform, meaning it doesn’t matter what architecture you use—you’ll always have latency problems with that provider. Test for performance and reliability using real world data, and don’t select a provider until you’re confident their platform can meet your needs.

Bigstep is the brand of cloud hosting provider that offers the highest-performance public cloud in the world.

Sources:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/2615188/cloud-computing/3-ways-to-improve-cloud-performance.html

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dn343778.aspx

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/dedicated-network-connections-improve-hybrid-cloud-performance-and-security/