Cloud Management Platforms

5th Oct 2016

The job of a cloud management platform is to essentially oversee virtually all aspects of a cloud network; ensuring its capabilities, functionality and development. A cloud management platform is an essential tool for individuals like IT managers or those lucky enough to actually own a private cloud. (Individuals or groups that use bundled services from a cloud provider do not have to concern themselves with actually managing their network, obviously). If an individual or company is simply leasing access to a cloud provider's hardware, then they will be able to take advantage of the myriad options available from the various cloud management platforms out there as well. If however, a CMP (cloud management platform) is integrated with other hosted services (as we will look at later) there may be more or fewer options available to enterprises.

What does a cloud management platform specifically oversee/manage? Design elements, server architecture(s), deployments, application usage, and even websites that are based in a cloud network are just a few of the things that a cloud management platform deals with. Think of it as a 'dashboard' interface that controls the finer / critical elements of a cloud network.

On the low end of the spectrum, a cloud management platform might simply continuously monitor the activities going on inside the cloud. Upper level functions of a cloud management platform might involve creating adaptable environments / conditions for different types of system integration. Performance and availability are also key factors as to how efficiently a cloud network is behaving; these issues are usually dealt with by the cloud management platform as well. Security is also an area that is touched upon by cloud management platforms; through them, it is possible to isolate users so that any other type of application program interface they connect with will be unable to compromise their individual security.

Cloud management platforms are also able to ensure complete security of an entire network by means of creating images of the system architecture and structure; this may be done as often as desired. The job of the CMP is to act in an administrative capacity, not actually running systems or processes that are inherently necessary. They can however manage individual applications and help ensure that the right types of decisions are being made on a continuous basis so that the functionality of a network is not jeopardized (by individual or groups of applications).

One of the great benefits of a standardized cloud management platform is its ability to transfer data and processes from one system to another. In effect, entire clouds can be copied and pasted by CMP's, from one hardware stack to another. When you couple this with the ability of cloud management platforms to automatically scale to the network and storage capabilities that are present on-site, you have an extremely powerful set of tools at your disposal.

Because CMP's are so incredibly customizable, they are unique to every individual cloud network. One of the emerging dissonances between traditional grid based computing and cloud computing is the number of options that are offered to cloud network managers; grid networks are often assembled from 'off the shelf' software and hardware and tweaked according to the conditions where they reside (and the needs of those on the network). In fact, (grid networking is most unlike cloud networking in that) hardware and software are usually intended to be used/bundled together in grid networking and cloud networking (which is driven via software/code) can take advantage of any type of additional hardware. Software is what drives cloud computing, cloud management platforms are essentially a streamlined way of enabling software and hardware to work more efficiently with one another.

Some companies are even beginning to offer a type of self-service cloud management platform / solution that essentially gives users and businesses the option to control every aspect of the hosted cloud service. This includes everything from the CMP end to their individual service options. These types of hosting / service providers are essentially trying to integrate the core functionality found in many top end cloud management platforms with various levels of additional cloud services. For users / IT mangers that are familiar with the ins and outs of cloud computing / networking this type of arrangement would be an excellent solution and give them everything they need to jump start their cloud network and keep it operating smoothly.

It is unclear how organizations that offer cloud management platforms will further partner and/or integrate with the emerging cloud-based software/application models. Cloud computing is a very software intensive field; yet the true depth of what can be accomplished (within a software environment) has yet to be fully explored or implemented into the types of cloud environments that are currently in operation. The truth it seems is that cloud computing offers us a dizzying range of possibilities and we've yet to fully explore them. Cloud management platforms essentially provide the glue that allows several cloud elements (cloud applications / software, networks, hardware, cloud providers, cloud developers) to function properly.

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