Thoughts and Images of vCloud Express
October 24th, 2009 | 
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When vCloud Express was announced along with the vCloud API at VMworld 2009 in September I decided to sign up and try building VMware virtual machines (VMs) in the Cloud for myself. Being able to provision infrastructure as a service (Iaas) virtually with only a credit card has a certain useful appeal to me, and I wanted to see firsthand exactly what can be done and how much it costs.
This post summarizes my experience and touches on Terremark’s various options for building VMware Cloud VMs. I also quickly describe/illustrate the difference in charges for Linux versus Windows Cloud servers. This post contains a lot of screen shots, and at the end I’ll offer some opinions on the usefulness of vCloud Express and where this service might make sense for IT shops.
Getting started
Creating an account is simple. Just go to http://vcloudexpress.terremark.com/ and register for an account.
Walk through the Sign Up screens and wait for the email with instructions to continue.
Creating an account involves entering your billing address and credit card information.
The web administration interface
When you are all set up and the account is verified you are ready to log in. The web interface pictured next is my account activity after almost 2 months of usage. A new account will have zero resource usage on the Resources tab.
The Servers tab is where you build new VMs and manage existing ones. Options to power cycle servers, manage ip addresses, and connect to the Console of the server are available from here.
Creating an account allowed me 62 ip addresses to use by default and a single external ip address.
On the Network tab you can manage and assign internal and external ip address, create firewall rules, and purchases services like http/https access from the Internet.
I never explored purchasing additional internal and external ip addresses, but I imagine that would be possible as needed.
Building Linux and Windows VMs
As mentioned earlier, the Server tab is where you build new servers. You do so in an a-la-carte, pay for what you need style.
You start by choosing on the operating system (OS), number of CPUs and amount of RAM.
Obviously there is more cost associated with a licensed Windows OS versus an open source Linux OS.
Price per hour for number of VPUs, amount of RAM, and size of system disk selected from a list of exhaustive choices.
Complete the server information window in order to deploy the VM.
You can copy (clone) existing servers as well.
The copy wizard asks you for a new server name, ip address, and then the other information needed for the new server to be unique
Accessing your Cloud servers
vCloud Express provides administrative access to your environment via a Cisco SSL VPN connection. Terremark officially supports Internet Explorer initiated connections only, but instructions can be found to use Firefox in the community forums.
Once the SSL VPN connection is established there is a web based Remote Console client available from the vCloud Express Servers tab, but more reliable connections were established for me using standard administrative tools such as putty, VNC, and remote desktop.
Internet availability
Just like building servers is pay as you go, establishing http/https connections to the assigned public ip address must be enabled for a fee. There is a separate charge for each server and protocol configured.
I was able to install Apache from the console of my Ubuntu 9.04 server and configure http access from the Internet.
September 2009 Charges
Although I really did not do very much with my cloud VMs, I did leave the Ubuntu server with Apache up and running at all times just to get an idea of minimum charges. From this over simplified and idle environment I would recommend others expect a minimum monthly charge of at least $30 per month for Linux and $65 per month for Windows per server.
General Thoughts and Observations about Terremark vCloud Express
Terremark is one of many hosting providers offering vCloud Express. I did not compare provider pricing or features when I decided to sign up for Terremark’s service. They were featured at VMworld and therefore got my business. I have not researched the other providers since then either. I suggest anyone interested in working with Cloud servers for any extended period of time put in due diligence in selecting a provider. Comparisons between vCloud Express and other Cloud solutions should also be investigated.
Personally, I was a little disappointed in the overall dependence on an administrator working from a Windows desktop while using Internet Explorer as a web browser. I’ll even go as far as saying my most consistent and a productive experience with the vCloud Express web interface was from a Windows XP session. I had various setbacks from both Vista and Windows 7. Although Firefox can be configured to work if Java VM is installed, the IE Active X plug in seems to be the focus of the development so far.
I did not see OVF import/export capability from Terremark’s vCloud Express. I realize this is a first generation offering, but from what I understand about the Cloud vision the vApp in OVF standard will be the basis for moving between the private data center and the hosted Cloud. I expected the basic ability to manually upload VMs to my vCloud Express environment and/or the option to download Cloud created VMs when desired. To the best of my knowledge this does not exist yet with Terremark.
vCloud Express generally speaking seems to be a great option for Test/Dev applications and servers that can operate independently from the rest of the infrastructure. That is, if the multi tiered application doesn’t need your DNS or Active Directory and can stand on it’s own. It also seems like a cost effective choice for the short term project. For example, the operational expense of paying $300 a month for 3 Cloud servers instead of the purchase or lease of three physical servers that will only be used for a 3 to 6 month project. IT shops also do not have to “rack and stack” Cloud VMs or procure their own licensing thus reducing the total cost even further.
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