Ruby Video
RailsConf 2013

Flattening The Cloud Learning Curve Using Rails

Flattening The Cloud Learning Curve Using Rails

by Michael Murphy

The video titled "Flattening The Cloud Learning Curve Using Rails" features Michael Murphy, a sales engineer at Hewlett-Packard (HP), presenting at Rails Conf 2013. The session focuses on how HP's cloud offering can enhance Ruby on Rails (ROR) development by making the process of developing, testing, and deploying applications easier and faster, particularly in the context of HP's public cloud based on OpenStack technology.

Key Points Discussed:

  • Introduction to HP Cloud and OpenStack:

    • Murphy emphasizes HP's commitment to the Ruby community and OpenStack, which is a scalable open-source infrastructure service initiated by NASA and Rackspace.
    • HP is one of the top contributors to OpenStack, with extensive infrastructure designed for high availability.

  • Features of HP Cloud:

    • HP Cloud provides RESTful APIs and a robust services portfolio that includes Nova (compute), Swift (object storage), Cinder (block storage), and Quantum (networking).
    • The infrastructure supports multi-region data storage for improved data protection against disasters, achieving a 99.119% data protection rate and 99.995% uptime availability.

  • HP Cloud Offerings for Ruby Developers:

    • HP Cloud Compute: Users can easily provision and manage their own servers, providing a higher level of control compared to services like Heroku.
    • Block Storage: Elastic block storage options allow users to create storage volumes that can be associated with any server in their account.

  • Development Tools and CLI Access:

    • Murphy showcases the HP Cloud RubyGem Unix CLI tool, which allows developers to provision and manage servers from the command line easily, emphasizing automation and efficiency.
    • Scripts written in Ruby can authenticate and perform various actions, simplifying server management.

  • Platform as a Service (PaaS):

    • Murphy introduces HP's PaaS offering, which is similar to Heroku, allowing developers to push applications to the cloud without dealing with low-level server management, facilitating a focus on application development.
    • He demonstrates how a simple command line input can push applications directly to the cloud, showcasing the speed and ease of deployment.

  • Integration and Support:

    • HP Cloud offers 24x7 support for its services and is developing integration with a wide array of partners to enhance functionality.
    • The presentation concludes with an invitation to the audience to visit HP's booth for more information and potential partnerships.

Conclusions:

  • HP Cloud aims to empower Ruby developers by simplifying cloud interactions and providing robust infrastructure and support while ensuring high availability, making it easier to deploy and manage applications in the cloud.
  • Murphy encourages Ruby developers to explore HP Cloud offerings and the supportive resources available, highlighting a commitment to making cloud technology accessible and effective for all.
00:00:12.259 Thank you.
00:00:15.780 I'm a sales engineer with Hewlett-Packard, and I've been with the company for the last seven months, working on our OpenStack offering.
00:00:20.820 Today, I want to talk to you about how HP Cloud fits into the Ruby ecosystem.
00:00:25.260 Ruby is a significant part of the market we're trying to capture.
00:00:30.720 Let's dive right in. HP Cloud is new to the OpenStack market, and we operate one of the largest public clouds based on OpenStack.
00:00:34.340 I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with OpenStack, but it's an open-source KVM-based hypervisor that provides infrastructure as a service. It was initially created by NASA and Rackspace, based on the idea of moving away from proprietary markets.
00:00:41.520 Open-source made a lot of sense from that angle because it allows for community involvement and development. We are currently one of the leading OpenStack contributors, with the fourth-largest amount of lines of code contributed and the second-largest number of OpenStack employees.
00:01:05.519 OpenStack's massively scalable community offers REST and programmatic interfaces,
00:01:07.619 allowing developers to interact with its services easily.
00:01:09.119 You can provision DNS, monitor services, or spin up a relational database all from within your code, thanks to the access provided by our RESTful API. Our service portfolio is continuously expanding; currently, the key components of OpenStack include Nova, Swift, Cinder, and Quantum, which cover compute, storage, and networking services.
00:01:52.799 Every day, we build something new. As OpenStack contributes as a service model, there are still areas like DNS as a service and monitoring as a service where HP adds value on top of the existing architecture. For example, our DNS as a service is immediately available, while we keep an eye on OpenStack's developments in that area.
00:02:11.220 One important factor I want to emphasize is how we differentiate ourselves from other OpenStack providers in the market. The first differentiator is our support, and the second is how we build out our infrastructure.
00:02:49.579 Many existing OpenStack or Cloud provisioning systems operate on a single region scenario. For instance, if you upload one item into object storage, it creates three duplicates within the same data center. However, with HP, we have three availability zones that are physically separated, providing superior protection against disasters.
00:03:10.739 Each of these zones operates on independent networks and power supplies, ensuring that if a fire or earthquake affects one facility, your data remains safe in another. Our object storage offers a 99.119% data protection rate, which is higher than any industry competitor. Additionally, our service uptime boasts a leading 99.995%, instilling confidence for enterprise businesses looking to host applications in the cloud.
00:03:50.760 In this presentation, I will cover two main products that are significant for Ruby developers: HP Cloud Compute and HP Cloud Block Storage. HP Cloud Compute allows you to provision servers and gain control, while Block Storage offers elastic capabilities to create floating storage linked to any server in your account.
00:04:02.400 Using our Cloud Compute service, developers gain more control over configurations than with platforms like Heroku. You can change MySQL directives and Apache settings, or even install Nginx. With our elastic Block Storage, you can operate between one gigabyte and two terabytes, allowing for highly performance-based storage within your applications.
00:04:48.780 Now, let’s showcase some of our tools. We're particularly proud of our HP Cloud Ruby gem and Unix CLI tool, which grants you command-line access to your account's provisioning tools. I have created a simple alias in my CLI to provision a default server, which I've named railsconf2. With this alias, I can create or delete servers quickly and easily.
00:05:28.139 I will also run another script, written in Ruby, which authenticates your account and executes predefined actions, such as deleting servers created throughout the day. If I want to create a new Ruby server, I have an original source server stacked with the necessary tools. This setup enables me to automate the creation of a server, assign a floating IP, and link a gigabyte of block storage.
00:06:41.880 This floating IP ensures redundancy by pointing DNS to an independent source IP, allowing for seamless transitions to backup servers if an instance goes down, resulting in little to no downtime.
00:07:17.760 As the script runs, it will create the server and wait for it to reach the active state before assigning the floating IP and block storage.
00:07:48.060 Now that the server provisioning is complete, we can connect to our Ruby stack, which has the HP Cloud Unix CLI and the interactive Ruby environment installed. Additionally, we offer Ruby bindings compatible with our HP Ruby Fog gems, simplifying server creation and management.
00:08:02.400 This simplifies the process of creating, provisioning, and managing your servers while maintaining your infrastructure.
00:08:43.920 Next, I want to discuss our PaaS offering, which is currently in private beta. It’s designed similarly to Heroku. You can focus on your application and then simply push it using a YAML configuration file, specifying the engine and framework to use.
00:09:12.660 This setup can deploy applications without any need for server management or manual configuration. You can easily integrate existing build packs from Heroku into our system.
00:10:15.720 As we provision applications, the process is straightforward, resulting in minimal downtime while the system deploys your workloads. Once the application is running, you receive a URL to access the services.
00:11:10.440 Since our offering is Staccato-based, it allows for easy integration with existing Heroku code. This means developers can carry code over, ensuring portability and performance across environments.
00:11:55.440 In closing, our HP Cloud application provide flexible options for developers, including RESTful APIs, web consoles for managing infrastructure, and multi-language support. We currently have a robust suite of data storage options and compute resources that are highly customizable.
00:12:50.760 We also offer 24/7 support to our users, linking you with our dedicated support team for any assistance needed.
00:13:50.400 We encourage all developers to sign up for a free trial at hpcloud.com, which provides access to numerous features. Join our private beta for PaaS offerings, and read the linked documentation for auto-reconfiguration with Cloud Foundry.
00:15:14.160 I appreciate your participation today. If you have any questions or want to discuss the content further, please reach out to us at Booth 113. Thank you all for coming.
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