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Webinar's Q&A: Enterprise-Grade Cloud Platform with XAP and GoGrid- 14.10.2009

  • Q: How two IaaS capabilities (GigaSpaces plus GoGrid) make this PaaS? To me PaaS involves important development capabilities on top of robust platform capabilities
  • A: GoGrid is an IaaS. GigaSpaces XAP is a SaaS/Cloud Enabled Application Platform. Running the GigaSpaces XAP on top of GoGrid creates a platform, which supports the full cycle of application delivery. This solution is targeted to enterprise applications and complies with the known JEE and .NET standards.
  • Q: Deploying more infra is typically a "scale out" response. I’m trying to see if the GigaSpaces capability can harness the cloud/GoGrid infra in the same manner it can with the enterprise; giving the illusion of a larger machine.
  • A: The whole idea behind Virtualized Middleware, which provides data management, events and parallel processing, is that the same known middleware semantics are preserved, but at the same time are being provided by a cloud middleware service that is infinitely scalable. For example, you can define a data grid service with minimum capacity of 20gb and maximum of 200gb, and the rest is up to the GigaSpaces/GoGrid integration.
  • Q: How does your solution compare to Hadoop over EC2 or similar solutions over Oracle Coherence?

  • A: Hadoop is focused mainly on batch execution of very large files. GigaSpaces XAP is an in-memory based solution designed to support various range of application scenarios, including web and transactional systems. One component of GigaSpaces XAP is the IMDG (In-Memory Data Grid), which is in the same space of Oracle Coherence. However, GigaSpaces XAP is a complete platform that is designed to support more usage scenarios and is built from the grounds up to run in a cloud environment.

  • Q: Do we need to modify the application to work on your [joint] platform?

  • A: In most cases, there is no need for code modifications. As performance and scalability requirements become more demanding, there is at times a need to change some of the data-access APIs to enable the application to access the GigaSpaces IMDG, instead of a relational database. But rest assure-- you can take it slowly, and with the GigaSpaces platform you have the runway for a complete cloud solution. It’s completely up to you to decide when to change and what.

  • Q: Will the GigaSpaces cloud tools work on GoGrid same as other cloud vendors?

  • A: Yes.

  • Q: How would GigaSpaces/ Go Grid interact with Spring Dynamic Modules Server?

  • A: There are two main scenarios for integration with Spring DmServer:

    1. Use GigaSpaces XAP IMDG as a backend for in memory, highly available state storage for Spring information. For example, HTTP Session.

    2. Host Spring Dm Server as a server that is being distributed and managed across cluster of machines. This would be similar integration to what exists within the product with the Jetty web container, and Mule ESB.

  • Q: Load balancing implies scale out capability; how are scale-up needs accomplished?

  • A: In terms of the GoGrid infrastructure, you can scale up by simply deploying more infrastructure through the GUI or the API (self service). If you need auto-scaling GoGrid have partners that provide auto scaling.

  • Q: Does your joint solution allow automatic scaling up and down of instances based on load? If so based on what does it do it?

  • A: Yes. GigaSpaces XAP exposes metrics through the Admin API, which can be taken into account when i scaling up and down. These metrics, such as CPU, memory, web requests, transactions and many more, can be the basis for simple and complex decisions. Future releases will also contain out-of-the-box scaling policies.

  • Q: Would it be possible to deploy Enterprise Search on this joint platform (FAST)?

  • A: Yes.

  • Q: Would I be able to create my own images? I'm referring to images available for the creation of sandbox images with Windows 2008 and related products.

  • A: If your image is available as a base image it is also available to use as a sandbox image. There are indeed windows 2008 images available, however GoGrid is stripping many images down to just the base system. SQL server is still available though.

  • Q: How does GigaSpaces interact with systems such as SharePoint?

  • A: GigaSpaces provides a fully featured .NET API that can be easily accessed from SharePoint servers.

  • Q: I thought that you [GoGrid] had stopped offering sandbox images with SQL Server and other Microsoft products?
  • A: We've cleaned up the number of base images that are available for use. However you can still launch images with SQL server and other Microsoft products. See the complete list of available images here: http://www.gogrid.com/how-it-works/cloud-server-images.php
  • Q: It doesn't look like I can create a sandbox image with Windows 2008 and SQL Server, ASP.NET, or other components. Can this replace my need for that?

  • A: Think of this as a platform for delivery rather than a replacement for software. You can launch a sandbox image with Windows 2008 and SQL server, but there are separate charges for SQL server.

  • Q: What API support does GigaSpaces provide for cloud standards?

  • A: GigaSpaces APIs are following industry standards. GigaSpaces is also an active contributor to the various cloud API standards out there and is planning to add those into its offering once these standards emerge.

  • Q: In the demo: Is it correct that when the machine was shut down and the Processing Units (Pus) were relocated to other machines, no new JVMs were started? Is it also true that the he PUs were relocated to the existing GSCs?

  • A: That’s correct. This behavior can be configured in the application deployment SLA (service level agreement).

  • Q: Can I manage GigaSpaces from a Mac?

  • A: The Linux based images can be fully controlled from Mac using ssh and X-windows.