How to a Explain a Standardized Cloud Architecture to Your Spouse

My lovely wife has gone unscathed from blog posts for quite some time, but I think it’s time to bring her up to speed on some new technology. Over the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to work on some interesting projects at IBM that have yielded some good potential topics. In this instance, I wanted to explain the importance of having a standard cloud architecture.

Like many cloud service providers, IBM has realized that while every client would like a 100% customized solution, it’s not cost effective to do so. Instead we have taken a standardized approach to guide our clients into common deployment patterns, and then provide some customization on top of those base configurations to meet the specific needs that will of course vary.

To help illustrate this concept of a standardized cloud architecture, my analogy of choice is again, a car.

In many respects, designing and building an enterprise-class cloud is like designing and building a new vehicle. While car manufacturers could create every vehicle by hand and customize it to uniquely meet every driver’s request, that would introduce several problems. Let’s explore several of them and how they relate to developing a best-in-class cloud architecture.

1. Complete customization would be completely cost prohibitive. By standardizing on a common frame, body style, drivetrain, engine, etc., manufacturers are able to build cars much quicker and much more cost efficiently since they can implement standardized tooling, assembly lines, and scalable training to produce a large volume of vehicles. Similarly, developing a custom cloud solution would incur far more costs and likely would result in a costly situation where it wouldn’t make financial sense for clients to move workloads to the cloud.

2. Safety (i.e.: security) and reliability would go down dramatically. Would you feel comfortable driving a car 75 mph that had never been tested? I sure wouldn’t! Drawing a parallel conclusion, clients want to know that the cloud they choose to run their workloads is going to be secure and reliable enough to run their critical business workloads. When you hit the gas to cross an intersection, you know your car will accelerate. When clients spin up additional instances to handle a peak workload, they too want to know that the cloud will be there for them.

3. It makes sense to have several base offerings. Vehicle manufacturers have different models to address different needs. There are good reasons that everyone does not drive a minivan. A recent grad living in the heart of the city has no need for 7 seats and a power lift gate. A sports car won’t fit the needs of many 3 kid families. Similarly, cloud providers have different base offerings to address the differing needs of their customers. Some clients need the full control and performance offered by bare metal servers. Others want the flexibility and agility of a container service. Still others want to consume the capabilities that they need as a managed service. These major offerings allow both types of providers to focus their innovation on few focused items, so that they can actually make an impact.

4. It’s ok to tweak those base offerings to some degree. Manufacturers offer different trims within a model and the ability to make some modifications within a given. That dad driving the minivan to soccer might want the V6 Turbo-charged package, or he might not. He might pay extra for a DVD system with premium sound system, or he might not. Those smaller feature sets build on top of the base and help match a particular set of requirements within the constraints of an offering. Similarly, cloud providers allow some customization of their base offerings within a given set of approved constraints. Just as you could not buy a minivan with a V12, there are a fixed set of customizations you can make to your cloud environment. Standardized cloud architectures help define what options are tested and permitted to meet specific client needs.

As you can see, while cars and clouds have many differences, the principles that go into designing and architecting them have many similarities.

Do you have another way to explain common cloud architectures? Let me know @TalkToErik.

Michigan Vacation, Part 2: So You’re Going to Be My Interesting Patient

Given that I’m writing this a bit after the fact, I couldn’t tell you, nor would you likely care what went on every single day while at the cabin. That being said, I do remember getting a great night’s sleep after the long car ride and busy weekend (Part 1).

I’ll also start this out by saying if you are faint of heart, you may want to move on and catch the next post instead (Part 3).

The weather up in the UP was beautiful most of that first day, and for the first time in my life, I was finally up there with a nice boat (Thanks Dad!). Unfortunately, by the time we were ready to go out on the boat, a storm started brewing. I was able to make a quick run down the shore on the tube, but then the adults in the boat decided it was best to go back in. That’s ok, there will be plenty other days, or so I thought.

That brings me to the next day — the one that will stick out in my mind for a long, long time. With the new boat, Dad had to put a few sections of pier out near the bulrushes to make sure there was enough water to float the boat. And while it was almost all the way in the opening, there were some stragglers that were behind the boat that could potentially get caught in the motor.

So like we’ve done many times before, we took out the scythe — you know the kind that the grim reaper carries around — out to cut the bulrushes. Dad started, but then I piped in saying that I hadn’t done it in awhile, and I’d knock some down. I got the worst of them directly behind the boat and was about to head in when my dad pointed out a few that were farther out. Not thinking anything about it, I went out there to where I could barely reach, and then out a bit farther where I needed to swim a bit. All bulrushes removed, no issues.

Then I started to come back in so that I could put it away; however, as I was swimming I thought to myself, “You know, it’s probably a bad idea to have this big two foot knife behind me. I should move it to the other side to be safe.” Great thought, terrible execution.

The piece I didn’t think about was that as you are swimming, you are typically kicking your legs. And when you turn a scythe around, the long blade rotates towards the surface bringing the sharp edge closer to your foot. So close in fact that if you are kicking at the wrong time, you will connect with the blade. I say this and still cringe, now having first hand experience doing so.

Honestly, it didn’t hurt. I wasn’t even sure how bad it was, but I was guessing it was not good because I could feel something extra flapping around when I was swimming. Up to the dock I swam to survey the damage, and indeed, it was not good. There was a pretty deep cut nearly an inch long. I’ve never seen the fatty tissue under the skin until that point. (Trust me, it’s there.) Fortunately, I’m not easily queasy, but I did quickly recognize that I likely needed some additional attention.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the UP, it’s beautiful, pristine, and isolated — all really great things most of the time, but not so good when you need medical attention. Given that I wasn’t in tremendous pain and had controlled the bleeding, I took a few minutes to figure out what to do next before rushing into anything.

I called the closest health care facility, and they said that didn’t do stiches, and I would need to go to their Emergency Room. Given that I’m on a high deductible plan,  I said, “No thanks!” and tried #2. The receptionist answered the phone, and I asked her the same thing — “Do you put in stitches?” In perfectly suited UP fashion, she said, “I’m not sure, let me see who’s here today.”

“Great.” I thought.

Fortunately the PA working there today was feeling brave (or at least that’s what I imagined), and said she would.

So Mom drives me to the clinic attached to the hospital, and despite the receptionist saying there would be a long wait, I’m taken back to an exam room right within five minutes. Vital check with a nurse, and shortly after, in comes the PA. And that’s when I hear it, “So you’re going to be my interesting patient today.” She examines the damage, re-wraps it, and says that she’ll be back in a bit.

15 minutes goes by. 30 minutes. 45 minutes. All I can think to myself is that she must be out there watching YouTube videos on how to put in stitches, but not long after that in she comes, in full surgical gear and ready to go.

8 stiches later and a goodie bag with the leftover surgical tools, and I was on my way, at least mostly put back together. If there was one positive that came out of the visit, they told me on the way out, that they take the stitches out for free. “We put them in, we take them out.” On a high deductible plan, that’s definitely a nice change for once.

I think of all the little things that could have prevented this from happening and it still ticks me off. However, in the grand scheme of things, I suppose things could have been worse. I could have cut off a toe, or sliced a tendon, or cut myself more seriously. I really stunk that it happened that early in out trip, but I guess at least I got an interesting story about it.

What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you on vacation? Let me know @TalkToErik

Michigan Vacation, Part 1: Getting There is a Trip Itself

What sane person would take their two kids (4 and 2) on a cross country plane trip only to then later cover over 600 more miles with them by car? Hopefully this one. You tell me when you finish reading our story.

As I have nearly ever other summer of my life, this is the time of year to escape to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (UP for short). It’s great to be able to get away from the hustle of suburban life, the Austin heat, the craziness of work, and to spend some quality time as a family. The only problem is that escaping to the UP takes quite a bit of effort from Austin.

This time around we debated on where to fly to quite a bit. The closest we could get on a direct flight was Chicago, but that’s still a long drive away. Flying closer is an option, but by the time you factor in the extra time involved with a second short flight and the added expense, it’s not really worth it. So call it escalation of commitment, but we thought, “We’re already going to have a long drive, why not make it just a little longer and fly to Pittsburgh instead.” That way we could see my parents and my sister and her family — almost like two trips for the price of one.

So off we went to the airport to catch Allegiant’s direct flight to Pittsburgh. Since we were going to be gone so long, we convinced Kaitlyn to haul us all to the airport instead of parking the car for two weeks — which worked out great. This was an added bonus because we flew out of Austin’s new South terminal which is completely separate from the main terminal. That being said, I must say that I was pretty impressed with it. The are only a few flights there, so security was short (though Pre Check was limited), but once you got through, you’re in a nice waiting area. There was even a food truck that had “free beer” for tips. My guess is it had something to do with TABC, but I wasn’t about to complain about a cold Lone Star. The pulled pork sandwich we shared was pretty good too.

The flight itself was uneventful, which is exactly what you want it to be when you’re traveling with young kids. Some people might complain about the super-discount airlines, but as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into, I think they work out great. It’s not glorious, and they do charge extra for everything, but if you pack reasonably, it can be a really cost effective way to travel.

The nice thing about flying into Pittsburgh was that we got to hang out with Melissa, Jason, and Annabel. It was horse trading days in Zelie so we went up there to look at the things going on after breakfast in one of my parents’ favorite places. The kids loved running around, and we even went on a horse drawn carriage ride.

Carlyn, Crosby, and Annabel just had a blast hanging out. I stopped and got some toys to take up to Michigan including a monster frisbee and a Velcro catch set. Crosby especially was loving playing with them… that is until he got hit by the ball which I must admit was surprisingly hard. We wrapped up the evening with burgers and beers back at the house, followed up with a game of Codenames with Melissa and Jason. Good times!

Sunday was Pirate day, so after a leisurely morning, we all piled down to go to the baseball game. This was my first time to PNC Park and I must admit it is really neatly situated downtown next to the river. The game itself was pretty good with a walk-off victory, but the real fun was all the popcorn refills, peanuts, and DD drinks my parents managed to figure out. Crosby also had a blast “waving the Jolly Roger.” We hung out again that evening, but didn’t stay up as late because we were going to have an early day the next day.

Our original plan was to take two days to drive up to the cabin, but when we looked on Google Maps, it showed “only” 9 hours, so we figured we’d just play it by ear. Our first planned stop (Chick-fil-a for free breakfast from the game) was only 10 minutes down the road, so we didn’t quite get a huge start on the drive. It did have a playscape though, so as it turned out, it was a good thing because not far down the road after that, both kids ended up falling asleep… total surprise, but also totally welcome.

This allowed us to get several hours under our belt with no fuss whatsoever. We made a few more stops along the way, like finding a park to eat lunch at, for example. But the best find along the way had to be stopping at the Azure Acres Blueberry farm. They had just started the picking season and the bushes were loaded with berries.

When we got there, I of course used the obligatory joke with Crosby that they had to weigh him first so that they’d know how much he ate. And being young and innocent, he starts walking around to look for the scale. Both kids did great picking though. We ended up with about 7 pounds of berries in about 30 minutes. I was amazed how many berries Crosby ended up with, and even Carlyn had a decent showing.

The last major stop was for dinner in Gaylord and there too we found a place for the kids to run around and expel some energy, even if it was just a small yard next to a closed down gas station. All in all, the kids did amazing, so we managed to do the whole trip in a day. And honestly, it didn’t even seem all that bad!

Next up, things we did in Michigan…