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Cloud & Smarter Infrastructure Professional Certification Program

Study Guide Series

Exam C2010-280 - IBM Cloud Computing Infrastructure Architect V1


PURPOSE OF EXAM OBJECTIVES .................................................... 3

HIGH-LEVEL EXAM OBJECTIVES ...................................................... 4

DETAILED EXAM OBJECTIVES .......................................................... 7

SECTION 1 - CLOUD COMPUTING DESIGN PRINCIPLES .................................................. 7

SECTION 2 - PLANNING FOR A CLOUD ENVIRONMENT ................................................. 15

SECTION 3 - ARCHITECTING A CLOUD ENVIRONMENT ................................................. 23

SECTION 4 - MANAGEMENT OF A CLOUD ENVIRONMENT ............................................. 30

NEXT STEPS ........................................................................................ 35


Purpose of Exam Objectives When an exam is being developed, the Subject Matter Experts work together to define the role the certified individual will fill. They define all of the tasks and knowledge that an individual would need to have in order to successfully imple-ment the product. This creates the foundation for the objectives and measure-ment criteria, which are the basis for the certification exam. The Tivoli Certification item writers use these objectives to develop the questions that they write and which will appear on the exam. It is recommended that you review these objectives. Do you know how to com-plete the task in the objective? Do you know why that task needs to be done? Do you know what will happen if you do it incorrectly? If you are not familiar with a task, then go through the objective and perform that task in your own environ-ment. Read more information on the task. If there is an objective on a task there is about a 95% chance that you WILL see a question about it on the actual exam. After you have reviewed the objectives and completed your own research, then take the assessment exam. While the assessment exam will not tell you which question you answered incorrectly, it will tell you how you did by section. This will give you a good indication as to whether you are ready to take the actual ex-am or if you need to further review the materials. Note: This is the high-level list of objectives. As you review these objectives, click for a more detailed level of how to perform the task.


High-level Exam Objectives

Section 1 - Cloud Computing Design Principles

1.1 Given an audience familiar with the cloud computing, define the cloud com-puting paradigm and cloud deployment models so that various types of cloud

1.2 Given the attributes of Cloud computing, explain how the service delivery model of cloud computing differentiates from standard IT service delivery models, so that the new cloud service model and it’s attributes have been defined.

1.3 Given the knowledge of the IBM Common Cloud Computing Management Platform Reference Architecture (CCMP-RA), explain the three segments represented to delivery common, reusable assets, so that the building blocks of a cloud computing solution have been defined.

1.4 Given the knowledge of the IBM’s Cloud strategy, explain IBM’s business strategy around Cloud computing and the core differentiators, so that IBM's solution strategy for supporting cloud environment has been defined.

1.5 Given an understanding of cloud computing, explain the different types of cloud services, so that their definition and differences are clearly unders-tood.

1.6 Given an audience familiar with the cloud deployment model, outline the challenges of integration in a cloud environment so as to understand how IBM solutions can be used to address traditional hurdles in cloud integra-tion.

1.7 Given a set of infrastructure considerations when setting up a cloud envi-ronment, describe the importance of security, automation, network, storage management, and virtualization in a cloud environment, so that the infra-structure considerations of cloud computing have defined

1.8 Given a set of service delivery considerations when setting up a cloud envi-ronment, describe the importance of security, automation, network, storage management, and virtualization in a cloud environment, so that the service delivery infrastructure considerations of cloud computing have de-fined.

1.9 Given a list of cloud characteristics, define their impact on service delivery models and how they differ from traditional the IT model so that a clear mapping of the characteristics to service delivery model has been pro-duced.

Section 2 - Planning for a Cloud Environment

2.1 Given a list of common infrastructure and environmental components, iden-tify their use in cloud environments, so as to understand how to evaluate a customer’s current infrastructure and environment in order to facilitate the adoption of cloud.


2.2 Given a clients desire to move their environment to a cloud computing model, review the client’s current IT operational model, so that an under-standing of the required functional changes are clearly identified.

2.3 Given the understanding of cloud capabilities, define the workloads charac-teristics of public and private cloud implementations.

2.4 Given a user interested in setting up a cloud environment, describe key re-quirements and considerations so as to produce a comprehensive plan for setting up a cloud environment.

2.5 Given the objective of architecting a cloud computing solution, identify the network requirements to support the infrastructure, applications, and ser-vices.

2.6 Given an understanding of cloud computing, explain the considerations for software migration, so that the software migration strategy is clearly un-derstood.

Section 3 - Architecting a Cloud Environment

3.1 Given knowledge of a cloud environment, define the IBM Virtualization Management solutions available for a cloud environment, so that virtualiza-tion capabilities within a cloud environment have been defined and re-sources are easily allocated depending on the workload demands to realize the operational cost benefits.

3.2 Given knowledge about cloud computing and virtualization, describe the supported IBM hypervisors in the context of the IBM Virtualization Man-agement solutions, so that you are able to recommend the appropriate hypervisor for a cloud computing solution.

3.3 Given a private cloud environment and an audience knowledgeable of WebSphere solutions, identify pertinent WebSphere solutions so as to un-derstand their use in creating, building, and operating a private cloud envi-ronment.

3.4 Given the understanding of cloud environments, describe what IBM solu-tions for monitoring and alerts.

3.5 Given an understanding of cloud computing, explain the different IBM pro-visioning solutions, so that the IBM provisioning strategy for a cloud envi-ronment is clearly understood.

3.6 Given the objective of architecting a cloud computing solution, identify the security requirements to protect unauthorized access to infrastructure, ap-plications, and services.

3.7 Given the objective of architecting a cloud computing solution, identify the requirements and considerations to provide storage capacity, and data pro-tection and recovery to support the infrastructure, applications, and servic-es.

Section 4 - Management of a Cloud Environment


4.1 Given the objective of architecting a cloud computing solution, describe and discuss the design of IBM Service Management as per the IBM Common Cloud Management Platform Reference Architecture (CCMP-RA).

4.2 Given the understanding of cloud environments, describe what IBM solu-tions provide reporting and analytics capabilities for a cloud environment, so that the IBM Cloud Computing reporting tools available from IBM have been explained.

4.3 Given an understanding of cloud computing, describe TUAM capabilities, so that IBM accounting and billing strategy for a cloud environment is clear-ly understood.


Detailed Exam Objectives

Section 1 - Cloud Computing Design Principles

1.1. Given an audience familiar with the cloud computing, define the cloud computing paradigm and cloud deployment models so that various types of cloud deployment models have been explained.

SUBTASK(S): 1.1.1 Cloud computing is a new paradigm for both service delivery and con-

sumption. This paradigm is characterized by rapid service provisioning, service elasticity, usage-based billing, and ubiquitous service access.

1.1.2 A private cloud is owned by an enterprise and operates within the corpo-rate firewall. Services on the private cloud can only be accessed by ap-proved users. 1.1.2.1. Private Cloud

1.1.2.1.1. Premise: Client (Implemented by Service Provider) 1.1.2.1.2. Managed: Client 1.1.2.1.3. Infrastructure: Dedicated 1.1.2.1.4. Access: Internal Enterprise Network 1.1.2.1.5. Payment: Traditional

1.1.2.2. Private Managed Cloud 1.1.2.2.1. Premise: Client (Implemented by Service Provider) 1.1.2.2.2. Managed: Service Provider 1.1.2.2.3. Infrastructure: Dedicated 1.1.2.2.4. Access: Internal Enterprise Network 1.1.2.2.5. Payment: Traditional

1.1.2.3. Private Hosted Cloud 1.1.2.3.1. Premise: Service Provider 1.1.2.3.2. Managed: Service Provider 1.1.2.3.3. Infrastructure: Dedicated 1.1.2.3.4. Access: VPN Network, Public Internet 1.1.2.3.5. Payment: Hybrid – Traditional and/or Pay-as-you-Go

1.1.3 A public cloud is owned and operated by a service provider. Services on the public cloud are made available to users over a network, usually the internet. 1.1.3.1. Public Cloud

1.1.3.1.1. Premise: IBM 1.1.3.1.2. Managed: IBM 1.1.3.1.3. Infrastructure: Shared 1.1.3.1.4. Access: Public Internet 1.1.3.1.5. Payment: Pay-as-you-Go

1.1.4 A hybrid cloud consists of both private and public cloud components. Some services in a hybrid cloud are owned and operated by the enter-prise, while others are provide over a network by a service provider. 1.1.4.1. Shared-Private Hosted Cloud

1.1.4.1.1. Premise: Service Provider 1.1.4.1.2. Managed: Service Provider


1.1.4.1.3. Infrastructure: Shared (by “member” clients) 1.1.4.1.4. Access: VPN Network, Public Internet 1.1.4.1.5. Payment: Pay-as-you-Go

1.1.5 Private, public, and hybrid clouds have key differences. 1.1.5.1. Private clouds provide enterprises with a greater degree of con-

trol in the construction and delivery of cloud services at the cost of owning and operating the infrastructure.

1.1.5.2. Public clouds allow enterprises to consume services without owning and operating infrastructure, while sacrificing some con-trol over the construction and delivery of services.

1.1.5.3. Hybrid clouds use a connectivity backbone to allow enterprises to consume both public and private cloud services according to their needs.

1.2. Given the attributes of Cloud computing, explain how the service deli-

very model of cloud computing differentiates from standard IT service delivery models, so that the new cloud service model and it’s attributes have been defined.

SUBTASK(S): 1.2.1 Standardized, consumable, Web-based deliverable services

1.2.1.1. A cloud computing platform combines the modular components of a service-oriented architecture and an Internet protocol-based convergence of networks and devices within a high-performance pool of virtualized computer hardware and soft-ware resources.

1.2.2 Elastic scaling 1.2.2.1. (Elasticity and Scalability) Capabilities can be rapidly and elasti-

cally provisioned to quickly scale up and rapidly released to quickly scale down. To the consumer, the capabilities available for rent often appear to be infinite and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.

1.2.3 Flexible pricing 1.2.3.1. Capabilities are charged by using a metered, fee-for-service, or

advertising based billing model to promote optimization of re-source use. Examples are measuring the storage, bandwidth, and computing resources consumed and charging for the num-ber of active user accounts per month. Clouds within an organi-zation accrue cost between business units and may or may not use actual currency.

1.2.4 Metering and billing capability 1.2.4.1. Delivered at a granular level of billing and metering, this work-

load standardization can help measure, monitor and lower the cost of your services while easing complexity of your IT infra-structure.

1.3. Given the knowledge of the IBM Common Cloud Computing Manage-

ment Platform Reference Architecture (CCMP-RA), explain the three


segments represented to delivery common, reusable assets, so that the building blocks of a cloud computing solution have been defined.

SUBTASK(S): 1.3.1 What is the IBM Common Cloud Management Platform Reference Archi-

tecture (CCMP-RA)? 1.3.1.1. It is a cross-IBM effort for an RA enabling cloud economics by

optimizing resource and labor utilization, and delivering the foundational cloud management infrastructure for both private and public clouds.

1.3.2 Which three segments make up the IBM Common Cloud Management Platform Reference Architecture (CCMP-RA)? 1.3.2.1. The CCMP-RA is structured into three segments, Cloud service

consumer, Cloud service provider, and Cloud service developer, all designed to deliver common, reusable assets.

1.3.3 What are the two components of the IBM Common Cloud Management Platform Reference Architecture (CCMP-RA)? 1.3.3.1. Business Support Services (BSS): Business-level functionality

for management of Cloud Services 1.3.3.1.1. Service offering catalog 1.3.3.1.2. Usage metering and accounting

1.3.3.2. Operational Support Services (OSS): Operational-level functio-nality for management of Cloud Services

1.3.3.2.1. Service request management 1.3.3.2.2. Provisioning 1.3.3.2.3. Monitoring and event management 1.3.3.2.4. Image life-cycle management

1.4. Given the knowledge of the IBM’s Cloud strategy, explain IBM’s busi-

ness strategy around Cloud computing and the core differentiators, so that IBM's solution strategy for supporting cloud environment has been defined.

SUBTASK(S): 1.4.1. IBM solution strategy for Cloud computing is to actively participate in

three major addressable market segments: 1.4.1.1. Components Supply

1.4.1.1.1. Virtualized servers and storage 1.4.1.1.2. Cloud software products (Tivoli, Lotus, Rational, etc)

1.4.1.2. Infrastructure Services: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS)

1.4.1.2.1. Computing on Demand 1.4.1.2.2. Smart Business Services

1.4.1.3. Business Services: Software as a Service (SaaS) and Business Process as a Service (BPaaS)

1.4.1.3.1. LotusLive, Information Protection Services, Expense reporting

1.4.2. IBM core differentiators for Cloud are: (NOTE: define on a technical level)


1.4.2.1. Workload optimization 1.4.2.2. Deployment choices 1.4.2.3. Integrated Service Management

1.4.3. IBM’s key workloads for Cloud 1.4.3.1. Analytics 1.4.3.2. Collaboration 1.4.3.3. Development and Test 1.4.3.4. Desktop and Devices 1.4.3.5. Infrastructure Compute 1.4.3.6. Infrastructure Storage 1.4.3.7. Business Services

1.4.4. IBM’s Cloud portfolio includes the phases across the cloud life-cycle. 1.4.4.1. Plan – Develop cloud strategies. 1.4.4.2. Build – Build cloud delivery capabilities. 1.4.4.3. Deliver – Provide cloud services.

1.4.4.3.1. From the IBM Cloud. 1.4.4.3.2. Define and deliver a cloud computing proof of concept

or pilot for a specific workload. 1.5. Given an understanding of cloud computing, explain the different

types of cloud services, so that their definition and differences are clearly understood.

SUBTASK(S): 1.5.1. Define SaaS.

1.5.1.1. SaaS is a type of cloud service where the service provider sup-plies all the infrastructure along with the software product. Users interact with the service by using a Web-based front-end. This eliminates the need to install and run the application on the cus-tomer’s own computers. Examples of SaaS include IBM’s Lo-tusLive, Google Docs, Gmail, etc.

1.5.2. Define PaaS. 1.5.2.1. PaaS is a type of cloud service that supplies the software and

product development tools hosted by the provider on their hardware infrastructure. Users can create applications by using this platform and the APIs provided or with a graphical user in-terface for development. Examples of PaaS include Force.com from Salesforce.com, Google App Engine, Microsoft Windows Azure, etc.

1.5.3. Define IaaS. 1.5.3.1. IaaS is a type of cloud service that provides access to basic

building blocks as services. These building blocks can be com-bined or layered to build the infrastructure needed for running the applications. Examples of IaaS include IBM Business De-velopment and Test Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Rackspace.

1.5.4. Define BPaaS.


1.5.4.1. BPaas is a type of cloud service that provides business services via Web-centric interfaces on multi-tenant and shared infrastruc-tures without the need to manage or control the underlying re-sources. Examples of BPaaS include payroll processing, HR, etc.

1.6. Given an audience familiar with the cloud deployment model, outline

the challenges of integration in a cloud environment so as to under-stand how IBM solutions can be used to address traditional hurdles in cloud integration.

SUBTASK(S): 1.6.1 Consistent access management policies in an integrated cloud environ-

ment are critical to reducing costs and avoiding security flaws. IBM Tivoli Access Management solutions allow you to enforce consistent access management policies across cloud environments to reduce both risks and costs.

1.6.2 Connecting applications across cloud environments can require exten-sive custom coding and present security challenges to the enterprise. Cast Iron solutions from IBM WebSphere enable users to connect appli-cations and their data in integrated cloud environments in a highly secure manner without requiring custom user coding.

1.6.3 In an integrated cloud environment, creating secure access mechanisms between enterprise endpoints and public cloud endpoints is important to maintain flexibility without sacrificing security. The Secure Cloud Connec-tor found in certain WebSphere DataPower Appliance models provides for identity verification of public cloud endpoints, and it securely transmits encrypted data between enterprise endpoints and public cloud endpoints in an integrated cloud environment.

1.7. Given a set of infrastructure considerations when setting up a cloud

environment, describe the importance of security, automation, net-work, storage management, and virtualization in a cloud environment, so that the infrastructure considerations of cloud computing have de-fined.

SUBTASK(S): 1.7.1 Security:

1.7.1.1. Assess the risks associated with data integrity and security in the cloud environment.

1.7.1.2. Regulatory compliance through audits and data location consid-erations in terms of privacy laws and jurisdictions.

1.7.1.3. Protect sensitive data through access control and encryption to separate data in a multi-tenant environment.

1.7.1.4. Backup and recovery of data in the cloud environment. 1.7.2 Automation:

1.7.2.1. Provides standardization in deployment and management of IT services.


1.7.2.2. Provides the ability to maintain or improve quality and cost of IT services.

1.7.2.3. Provides a management stack that is easier to handle and pro-vides for smoother workload migration.

1.7.2.4. Provides the ability to reduce costly manual interventions and skill requirements, and reduces errors caused by them.

1.7.3 Network and storage management: 1.7.3.1. Network hardware supporting various networks used in the

cloud environment. 1.7.3.2. Network management components used to administer the net-

work. 1.7.3.3. Components for monitoring the health of the network. 1.7.3.4. Management and access to storage on the cloud.

1.7.4 Virtualization: 1.7.4.1. Computing resources (application servers. physical servers, da-

tabases, storages, services) are dynamically and automatically provisioned as demand varies.

1.7.4.2. Underutilized physical servers are consolidated into a smaller number of more fully utilized physical servers.

1.7.4.3. Sharing, manageability and isolation of computing resources. 1.7.4.4. Significant cost savings via server consolidations and optimal

resource utilizations. 1.7.4.5. Advanced virtualization - Virtualization with standardization and

automation are necessary to provide increased flexibility while lowering costs.

1.7.4.6. Rapid provisioning of resources - With easy access to an easy-to-use service request catalog that hides the complexity of the underlying infrastructure, the end user is able to select and access standardized, pre-configured and pretested solutions, services and resources reducing the time and IT resources ne-cessary to deliver.

1.7.5 How do you design for failure? 1.7.5.1. Cloud computing is fully enabled by virtualization technology

(hypervisors) and virtual appliances. A virtual appliance is an application that is bundled with all the components that it is re-quired to run, along with a streamlined operating system. In a cloud computing environment, a virtual appliance can be in-stantly provisioned and decommissioned as needed, without complex configuration of the operating environment.

1.7.5.2. This flexibility is the key advantage to cloud computing, and what distinguishes it from other forms of grid or utility computing and SaaS. The ability to launch new instances of an application with minimal labor and expense allows application providers to:

1.7.5.2.1. Scale up and down rapidly. 1.7.5.2.2. Recover from a failure. 1.7.5.2.3. Bring up development or test instances. 1.7.5.2.4. Roll out new versions to the customer base. 1.7.5.2.5. Efficiently load test an application.


1.8. Given a set of service delivery considerations when setting up a cloud

environment, describe the importance of security, automation, net-work, storage management, and virtualization in a cloud environment, so that the service delivery infrastructure considerations of cloud computing have defined.

SUBTASK(S): 1.8.1 Service Delivery - OSS component of cloud infrastructure planning and

architecture per the IBM Common Cloud Management Platform Refer-ence Architecture (CCMP-RA)

1.8.2 Platform, Operating system and workload image provisioning 1.8.3 Monitoring and event management for SLAs within a cloud, including in-

strumented and monitored functions 1.8.4 IT asset and license management relationship to capacity and perfor-

mance management for cloud architecture 1.8.5 Virtualization planning, design, architecture and management for service

level attainment and maintenance 1.8.5.1. Core components of Service Managed Virtualization and Clouds

1.8.5.1.1. Locating and Requesting Services: Secure user centric self-service portal / Automation engine / and Service catalog

1.8.5.1.2. Deploying Cloud Services: Automated provisioning / and Image management

1.8.5.1.3. Managed Cloud Services: Monitoring / Security and Metering

1.8.6 Cloud specific security architecture, planning, industry security frame-works and operational support characteristics, including data handling

1.8.7 Cloud specific storage and network architecture, planning, industry frameworks and operational support characteristics

1.9. Given a list of cloud characteristics, define their impact on service de-

livery models and how they differ from traditional the IT model so that a clear mapping of the characteristics to service delivery model has been produced.

SUBTASK(S): 1.9.1 Rapid service delivery:

1.9.1.1. Services can be accessed nearly instantly allowing businesses to more quickly build, test, and deploy solutions. Rapid service delivery can drastically shorten their lead time for delivering new solutions, thereby decreasing solution development costs and increasing revenue potential.

1.9.2 Resource consolidation: 1.9.2.1. The virtualization of resources like servers and storage enables

users to increase asset utilization by driving higher density. In turn, this decreases resource requirements, decreases man-agement costs, and decreases overall operating costs.


1.9.3 Elastic scaling: 1.9.3.1. Elastic scaling means that businesses can scale up and scale

down IT services based on current demand and business goals. As opposed to designing systems for peak load which results in unused resources, elastic scaling means businesses use what they are required to meet their business goals and no more. Considerations for Scaleable Architecture, which include not just the provisioning of resources on a platform basis to meet the service needs and agreements but also the cross platform mi-gration of applications or workloads to maintain and/or enhance the profitability of running client workloads on a cloud.

1.9.4 Self-service: 1.9.4.1. Self-service access to IT services removes traditional obstacles

associated with service acquisition. The decrease in service ac-quisition time can decrease the overall delivery time for a prod-uct or solution.

1.9.5 Usage-based billing: 1.9.5.1. Cloud consumers pay only for the services that they actually

use. This means consumers can more closely align IT expendi-tures with business goals, and consumers do not pay for re-sources that they are not actively using.

1.9.6 Ubiquity: 1.9.6.1. By delivering services through the Internet and other networks,

consumers can more easily gain access to cloud services. Businesses can use the cloud delivery platform to increase their delivery channels both internally and externally. This increase can increase revenue opportunity and decrease internal operat-ing costs.


Section 2 - Planning for a Cloud Environment 2.1 Given a list of common infrastructure and environmental components,

identify their use in cloud environments, so as to understand how to evaluate a customer’s current infrastructure and environment in order to facilitate the adoption of cloud.

SUBTASK(S): 2.1.1 Servers:

2.1.1.1 Depending on the cloud model being adopted (i.e. public vs. private), customer-owned servers may no longer be required or they may be repurposed for the cloud. Users considering adopt-ing public cloud services will not use their own servers as part of their cloud. Customers considering building a private cloud may use existing servers, along with virtualization technology, to build up the cloud infrastructure.

2.1.2 Storage: 2.1.2.1 As with servers, consumer-owned storage infrastructure is not a

requirement when using the public cloud. For the private cloud, users will contribute storage to the overall solution and can choose from a number of different types based on their need.

2.1.2.2 Storage types like NFS, NAS, SAN, and more may be part of the user’s cloud infrastructure.

2.1.2.3 Storage virtualization may be used in the cloud infrastructure. 2.1.3 Network:

2.1.3.1 Regardless of whether a user is pursing a public or private cloud, their networking infrastructure could be part of the solu-tion. Many public clouds allow for the creation of virtual private networks that securely communicate with the user-owned net-work. For users building private clouds, their networking infra-structure provides the connectivity backbone for the solution.

2.1.4 Applications: 2.1.4.1 Applications must be closely analyzed prior to moving to a

cloud-based environment. 2.1.4.2 For many cloud environments, applications must be able to run

in virtualized containers. 2.1.4.3 Applications should be loosely-coupled so that their compo-

nents can independently scale in elastic cloud environments. 2.1.5 Data:

2.1.5.1 Data migration, connectivity, and storage strategies must be considered when moving to the cloud.

2.1.5.2 When moving to a cloud, some data may be migrated to the new environment. If moving data to a public cloud, all regulatory and legal concerns should be examined prior to migration.

2.1.5.3 Data connectivity patterns may require changes. For instance, if applications run in a public cloud but data is stored privately (cloud or otherwise), secure access channels are required to be established between the application and data.


2.1.5.4 Many new data storage options have become popular in the cloud. This includes key-value stores, non-relational object stores, distributed memory-based stores, and more. Accord-ing to data structure and data access patterns, new cloud-based storage options may be more appropriate and efficient.

2.1.6 Automation: 2.1.6.1 Automation plays a critical role in realizing the full value of cloud

computing. Customer’s existing automation systems should be examined to determine if it is possible to use them in conjunc-tion with the new cloud computing environment.

2.1.7 Standardization: 2.1.7.1 Migrating to cloud computing necessitates a certain degree of

standardization for the services a customer uses to deliver via the cloud. Existing standardization practices should be ex-amined to determine if they are sufficient, or if additional stan-dardization techniques are required for the move to cloud com-puting.

2.1.8 Virtualization: 2.1.8.1 Virtualization plays a key role in many cloud computing envi-

ronments. Existing virtualization technologies used by the cus-tomer should be identified and evaluated to determine if they will integrate with the new cloud computing environment. If the cloud migration means new virtualization technologies will be used, existing infrastructure and applications should be tested with this technology.

2.2 Given a clients desire to move their environment to a cloud computing

model, review the client’s current IT operational model, so that an un-derstanding of the required functional changes are clearly identified.

SUBTASK(S): 2.2.1 Understand the client’s IT Operational model as it exists today and their

approach to design, build and run and how it is required to transform to a cloud operational model.

2.2.2 Identify if the client understands and has implemented shared services in their current IT Operational model, and leverage this capability for the transformation to a cloud operational model.

2.2.3 Understand client’s level of convergence and/or separation between server, network and storage components in order to evaluate their readi-ness for Cloud transformation.

2.2.4 Hardware Layer: Understand the infrastructure component level mean time between failures (MTBF) metrics as they pertain to and are ma-naged for a cloud operational model.

2.2.5 OS Layer: Understand OS level image rationalization and standardization etc.

2.2.6 Application Stack Layer: Understand application image standardization and application deployment methods, align workload related infrastruc-


ture requirements such as latency, collocation, data structures, transac-tion timing/security and version control; stateless vs. stateful.

2.2.7 Interconnection Layer: Understand the data structure, data sharing, and network multipoint implementation (latency, security, transaction etc.) SLA.

2.2.8 Availability/Redundancy/Continuity Layer: Re-architect for workload deli-very, moving the architecture from individual server availability.

2.3 Given the understanding of cloud capabilities, define the workloads

characteristics of public and private cloud implementations. SUBTASK(S): 2.3.1 Why define workload characteristics?

2.3.1.1 Workload characteristics drive the rate and degree of standardi-zation. Complex transaction and information management processes will likely present challenges and risks of migration to standardized services.

2.3.1.2 Understanding the workload is critical to help determine which workload and services make sense to move first and to which type of cloud, public, private or hybrid.

2.3.2 Items to review with moving workloads to a cloud environment: 2.3.2.1 Regulatory requirements or constraints 2.3.2.2 Criticality or SLAs 2.3.2.3 Security concerns 2.3.2.4 Highly customized applications 2.3.2.5 Software that is not yet virtualized (third-party software) 2.3.2.6 Licensing issues 2.3.2.7 Complex processes and transactions 2.3.2.8 Interoperability between systems 2.3.2.9 Portability of components 2.3.2.10 Integration of components

2.3.3 Workload or application characteristics for consideration: 2.3.3.1 Loosely-coupled

2.3.3.1.1 Computation and data are separate. 2.3.3.2 Model scales well, but requires new failure and consistency ap-

proaches. 2.3.3.3 Tightly-coupled

2.3.3.3.1 May not be able to separate application from HW components.

2.3.3.4 Decoupled 2.3.3.4.1 Private cloud computing, public cloud computing, or

both, security must become adaptive to support a model where workloads are decoupled from the physi-cal hardware underneath and dynamically allocated to a fabric of computing resources.

2.3.3.4.2 The decoupling and abstraction of the entire IT stack and movement to private and public cloud-computing models means that workloads and information will no


longer be tied to specific devices, fixed IP or MAC ad-dresses, breaking static security policies based on physical attributes. To enable faster and more-accurate assessments of whether a given action should be allowed or denied, more real-time context information must also be incorporated at the time a security decision is made.

2.3.3.5 Transactional DB 2.3.3.5.1 Data driven + small computation on small data

2.3.3.6 Require support for massive multi-tenancy. 2.3.3.7 Content-Centric

2.3.3.7.1 Computation is required to be close to data + large computation on large data.

2.3.3.8 Data and Storage Integration 2.3.3.8.1 Evolution of distributed file systems

2.3.3.9 Enabled through evolution of distributed file systems 2.3.3.10 Java Application Servers

2.3.3.10.1 Extending to highly distributed environ-ments

2.3.3.11 What are asynchronous systems architectures? 2.3.3.11.1 To tolerate failure, applications must op-

erate as a part of a group, while not being too tightly-coupled to their peers. Each piece of the application should be able to continue to execute despite the loss of other functions. Asynchronous interfaces are an ideal mechanism to help application components tole-rate failures or momentary unavailability of other com-ponents.

2.3.4 Workloads that can take advantage of public clouds: 2.3.4.1 Test systems and environments 2.3.4.2 Single virtual appliance workloads 2.3.4.3 Pre-production systems and environments 2.3.4.4 Mature packaged offerings, like e-mail and collaboration 2.3.4.5 Software development environments 2.3.4.6 Batch processing jobs with limited security requirements 2.3.4.7 Isolated workloads where latency between components is not

an issue 2.3.4.8 Storage solutions (including storage as a service) 2.3.4.9 Backup solutions (including backup and restore as a service) 2.3.4.10 Data-intensive workloads if the provider has a cloud storage of-

fering linked to the cloud compute offering 2.3.5 Workloads more appropriate for private clouds:

2.3.5.1 Employee information or other sensitive data typically restricted to the enterprise

2.3.5.2 Workloads composed of multiple, co-dependent services 2.3.5.3 High throughput online transaction processing 2.3.5.4 Workloads based on third-party software that does not have a

virtualization or cloud-aware licensing strategy


2.3.5.5 Workloads requiring customization

2.4 Given a user interested in setting up a cloud environment, describe key requirements and considerations so as to produce a comprehensive plan for setting up a cloud environment.

SUBTASK(S): 2.4.1 Identify the required hardware and operating system components for the

cloud. 2.4.1.1 Select hardware componentry and operating systems based on

price point, performance levels, and virtualization technology in-tegration.

2.4.2 Procure server virtualization technologies that will be used as the founda-tion for the cloud environment. 2.4.2.1 Select server virtualization technology based on several factors,

including compatibility with existing hardware, costs, perfor-mance, and capabilities.

2.4.3 Based on user needs in terms of performance, volume, and access pat-terns, install the appropriate storage infrastructure. 2.4.3.1 The storage infrastructure used must be compatible with the

server virtualization technology in use. 2.4.3.2 Apply storage virtualization techniques where appropriate to in-

crease density and decrease costs. 2.4.4 Configure the network infrastructure to support the services that will be

delivered in the cloud environment. 2.4.4.1 The network infrastructure must be compatible with the server

virtualization technology in use. 2.4.4.2 Utilize network virtualization techniques such as Virtual Local

Area Networks (VLANs) and virtual switches to decrease the overall costs of the network infrastructure.

2.4.4.3 Analyze the concurrent number of active endpoints to deter-mine if techniques such as Network Address Translation (NAT), network masquerading, and private IP addresses are appropri-ate.

2.4.5 Put in place a service management tool to manage the various elements of the cloud. 2.4.5.1 Service management tooling should provide an inventory of the

elements (server, storage, network, virtual machines, etc.) of the cloud.

2.4.5.2 Service management tooling should enable provisioning and de-provisioning services to the cloud.

2.4.5.3 Service management tooling should include service request management capabilities.

2.4.5.4 Service management tooling should enable the definition and enforcement of SLAs.

2.4.5.5 Service management tooling should provide insight into cloud resource utilization.


2.4.6 Carefully analyze customer applications and workloads targeted for the cloud. 2.4.6.1 Map the interaction points between applications and the cloud

infrastructure to understand dependencies and communication patterns.

2.4.6.2 Assess the application or workload and its affinity for a cloud environment by considering the application’s characteristics such as its degree of loose coupling and dependencies on ex-ternal components.

2.5 Given the objective of architecting a cloud computing solution, identify

the network requirements to support the infrastructure, applications, and services.

SUBTASK(S): 2.5.1 Private, Public, and Intra-Cloud networking

2.5.1.1 Balance of security with performance 2.5.1.1.1 Network hops (latency) between application and plat-

form servers, and client 2.5.1.1.2 Encryption overheads with VPNs (IPSec, SSL) 2.5.1.1.3 Non-encrypted connections

2.5.1.2 Connections to Public clouds 2.5.1.2.1 Network QOS with various ISPs 2.5.1.2.2 SLAs to ensure network availability and bandwidth

2.5.1.3 Intra-Cloud Connections 2.5.1.3.1 Bandwidth of trunk links between Data Centers 2.5.1.3.2 Architecting middleware and application location to

minimize data movement 2.5.2 Network Hardware

2.5.2.1 Physical ethernet and fibre channel networks 2.5.2.1.1 Bandwidth 2.5.2.1.2 Switches and routers 2.5.2.1.3 Port Groups and VLAN tagging

2.5.2.2 Firewall rules to allow or deny access to network devices and protocols

2.5.2.3 Virtual Hardware 2.5.2.3.1 Virtual network adapters and switches – fully utilize

HW and reduce costs. 2.5.3 Management Networks

2.5.3.1 Virtual server management networks: 2.5.3.1.1 Used to provision, configure, administer, monitor, mi-

grate, and delete the virtual servers. 2.5.3.2 Hardware management networks:

2.5.3.2.1 Used to manage the physical infrastructure (Blades, blade chassis, switches, storage, Power Distribution Units).

2.5.4 Customer Networks 2.5.4.1 Provides access to virtual servers and customer applications.


2.5.4.2 SANs: Provides access to centralized, shared storage. 2.5.4.3 VLANs: Used to secure server and data access via network

isolation. 2.5.4.4 Network Management/monitoring components: Used to admi-

nister the network and monitor the health of the network. 2.5.4.5 Server-side considerations 2.5.4.6 Outbound / Inbound requirements 2.5.4.7 TCP/IP configuration on various platforms, VIOS / XEN / VM-

ware / Linux / AIX / Windows etc. 2.6 Given an understanding of cloud computing, explain the considera-

tions for software migration, so that the software migration strategy is clearly understood.

SUBTASK(S): 2.6.1 Application Readiness: Migrating legacy applications based on old

technologies to a cloud-based infrastructure will not bring the right bene-fits. Some of the questions to be considered are -> Is the application web-based? Will it benefit from a multi-tenant architecture? Can it scale out? Does it really need elasticity?

2.6.2 Data Ownership and Access: The application, the hardware, the oper-ating system and everything else can potentially be owned by the cloud service provider. But the data is what the intellectual property is predi-cated upon and one should be able take ownership of the data as he/she sees fit. The cloud subscription gives access to the functionality of the application or function that one can use. If that access is removed, can one still access the data, so he/she can retain ownership?

2.6.3 Data Volumes: Cloud is great for off-site elastic computing, where extra resources can be applied in the form of more compute power or more storage. However as the storage capability grows, migrating terabytes of data across a WAN can be a problem.

2.6.4 Integration: Applications running in the Cloud will require integration with applications running on-premise and other applications in the Cloud. A robust integration platform is required to be available to facilitate this. SOA and BPM providers play a critical role in minimizing integration chal-lenges.

2.6.5 Management and Monitoring: The application architecture should have provisions to provide good control to administrators on various manage-ment aspects.

2.6.6 Compliance: Cloud computing services for applications and data which are subject to compliance require a high degree of transparency on the part of service providers. One is required to carefully review the contracts and service-level agreements to understand how the Cloud service meets specific compliance requirements.

2.6.7 Cost Analysis: The business case for Cloud application migration is re-quired to take the target Cloud platform into consideration. The migration and overhead costs vary widely based on the target Cloud platform and thus will skew the estimated cost savings. Cost analysis helps decide


whether to go ahead with moving a particular application to the Cloud or not from a TCO/ROI perspective. Cost should include capital expendi-ture, operational expenditure, and overhead costs involved in migration.

2.6.8 Migration: Defining a migration strategy involves understanding the dif-ferent migration options available, establishing business priorities, and evolving a strategy that offers a fine balance between costs and meeting business priorities. Basically, enterprises have two core options with a cloud infrastructure – private or public. Against these, they have the fol-lowing migration paths to consider – Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS) or Platform as a Service (PaaS). The choice is driven by priorities such as elasticity, business model, security, migration costs, etc. It is not uncommon for a large enterprise to leverage a hybrid approach in any of the migration options and paths.

2.6.9 Transition: Actual process of migration, helps service providers realize the target IaaS architecture as a detailed design, covering the network, server, SAN, tools, processes, and people required for an operational model. It is underpinned by existing core competencies in network, com-pute, storage, tools, and process improvement and expertise in deliver-ing advanced, virtualized data centers.


Section 3 - Architecting a Cloud Environment 3.1. Given knowledge of a cloud environment, define the IBM Virtualization

Management solutions available for a cloud environment, so that virtualization capabilities within a cloud environment have been defined and resources are easily allocated depending on the workload demands to realize the operational cost benefits.

SUBTASK(S): 3.1.1 Benchmark the client’s environment to understand the implementation of

their current virtualization and provisioning solutions and management capabilities.

3.1.2 Understand the unique infrastructure and virtualization complexities around cloud computing, including service provisioning, in order to attain more effective resource utilization parameters.

3.1.3 Describe the IT network and SAN changes, new requirements and func-tional convergence relating to cloud computing.

3.1.4 Understand the problem determination and isolation complexities relating to the virtualization, workload management and provisioning infrastruc-ture due to interdependencies, interrelationships and interactions. (PD/PSI)

3.1.5 Describe the differences and unique attributes of cloud computing as per-tains to workload over provisioning vs. over committing.

3.1.6 Cloud systems are complex and integrated and require integrated man-agement facilities to deal with systematic impact to services, which differ greatly from legacy IT downtime and service outage issues.

3.1.7 Least common denominator issue in cloud computing, the smallest bro-ken component and/or downtime will bring the entire service down.

3.1.8 IBM Cloud management facilities are integrated to escalate service out-age issues which have a ripple effect on the entire system, furthermore the integration of management facilities simplifies the problem isolation and resolution processes.

3.2. Given knowledge about cloud computing and virtualization, describe

the supported IBM hypervisors in the context of the IBM Virtualization Management solutions, so that you are able to recommend the appropriate hypervisor for a cloud computing solution.

SUBTASK(S): 3.2.1 Understand characteristics of the workloads in the cloud infrastructure. 3.2.2 Understand the business goals that are trying to be achieved by going to

cloud. 3.2.3 Understand how systems and tools help deliver on those metrics. 3.2.4 Identify hypervisors that are supported in those environments. 3.3. Given a private cloud environment and an audience knowledgeable of

WebSphere solutions, identify pertinent WebSphere solutions so as to


understand their use in creating, building, and operating a private cloud environment.

SUBTASK(S): 3.3.1 IBM Hypervisor Edition products, such as the WebSphere Application

Server Hypervisor Edition, provide IBM middleware technologies in a vir-tualized package. 3.3.1.1. Packages a complete middleware software stack into a single

virtual image. 3.3.1.2. Optimized to run on hypervisor technology such as VMware,

PowerVM, and z/VM. 3.3.2 Explain how the IBM WebSphere CloudBurst Appliance allows you to

build, deploy, and manage middleware environments in a private cloud. 3.3.2.1. Integrates with hypervisor technology and network components

to create a shared virtualized infrastructure. 3.3.2.2. Use IBM Hypervisor Edition products to build middleware pat-

terns to be deployed to the private cloud. 3.3.2.3. Deploy middleware patterns to the private cloud in a resource-

aware manner. 3.3.2.4. Apply fixes and upgrades to environments deployed to the pri-

vate cloud. 3.3.2.5. Track user usage and cloud resource usage in the private cloud. 3.3.2.6. Track software license usage in the private cloud.

3.3.3 Explain how the WebSphere Virtual Enterprise delivers cloud capabilities for middleware applications. 3.3.3.1. Create application SLAs that define required qualities of service

for your applications. 3.3.3.2. Utilize dynamic application request routing to meet SLAs and

ensure that the most important applications get the most re-sources.

3.3.3.3. Create and enforce application health policies that proactively identify and address error conditions in your application runtime.

3.3.3.4. Dynamically and selectively update deployed applications with-out incurring downtime or degrading user experience.

3.4. Given the understanding of cloud environments, describe what IBM

solutions for monitoring and alerts. SUBTASK(S): 3.4.1. Benefits provided by Monitoring

3.4.1.1. Collecting historic data to assist with planning future data center resource needs and to optimize virtualized resource placement;

3.4.1.2. Capturing real-time data to quickly react to unexpected resource needs;

3.4.1.3. Measuring adherence to performance SLAs; 3.4.1.4. Proactively generating alerts and detail data to quickly detect

and solve application problems;


3.4.1.5. Reporting resource usage data by application, necessary for al-locating costs appropriately.

3.4.2. Components to Monitor 3.4.2.1. Applications and Database 3.4.2.2. Services and transactions

3.4.2.2.1. SLAs 3.4.2.2.1.1. Availability 3.4.2.2.1.2. End user response time

3.4.2.3. Server 3.4.2.3.1. CPU, memory, and storage 3.4.2.3.2. Virtualization, hypervisors

3.4.2.4. Storage 3.4.2.4.1. Capacity and performance

3.4.2.5. Network 3.4.2.5.1. Components

3.4.2.5.1.1. routers and switches, network traffic, SNMP, DNS, DHCP, LDAP

3.4.2.5.2. Performance issues and security 3.4.2.6. Data Center

3.4.2.6.1. Energy Management 3.4.3. Common Monitoring metrics

3.4.3.1. Throughput – How quickly the service responds. 3.4.3.2. Reliability – How often the service is available. 3.4.3.3. Load balancing – When elasticity kicks in. (New VMs are

booted or terminated, for example.) 3.4.3.4. Durability – How likely the data is to be lost. 3.4.3.5. Elasticity – The ability for a given resource to grow infinitely,

with limits (the maximum amount of storage or bandwidth, for example) clearly stated.

3.4.3.6. Linearity – How a system performs as the load increases. 3.4.3.7. Agility – How quickly the provider responds as the consumer's

resource load scales up and down. 3.4.3.8. Automation – What percentage of requests to the provider are

handled without any human interaction. 3.4.3.9. Customer service response times – How quickly the provider

responds to a service request. This refers to the human interac-tions required when something goes wrong with the on-demand, self-service aspects of the cloud.

3.4.4. What is the purpose of event management? 3.4.4.1. Report and automate the response to changes in the infrastruc-

ture from monitoring. 3.4.4.2. Report and automate the availability of the infrastructure.

3.4.5. Monitoring options 3.4.5.1. Monitoring tools and agents can be included in SW or HW solu-

tions for private clouds. 3.4.5.2. Integrated to existing monitoring tools. 3.4.5.3. Real-time service visibility, dashboards and intelligence from

Cloud Solution Provider


3.4.5.4. Cloud based monitoring services for public clouds 3.4.5.5. Agent or agent less monitoring.

3.5. Given an understanding of cloud computing, explain the different IBM

provisioning solutions, so that the IBM provisioning strategy for a cloud environment is clearly understood.

SUBTASK(S): 3.5.1. Provisioning is the most import aspect of a cloud environment which pro-

vides automation of the Service Catalog functions. 3.5.2. IBM provides the following 3 solutions for provisioning in a cloud envi-

ronment. 3.5.2.1. Tivoli Service Automation Manager (TSAM): It is a software

solution optimized to accelerate Cloud deployments with an ap-proach to service-aware automation. To achieve this it leverages both Tivoli’s Process Automation Engine (TPAE) and IBM’s CCMDB for clearly defined insights into physical and virtual in-frastructure interdependencies from a configuration, asset and service management perspective. It also includes capabilities from Tivoli Provisioning Manager (TPM) for actively provisioning new VMs and the Tivoli Service Request Manager (TSRM) for self-provisioning through service catalog requests.

3.5.2.2. IBM Service Delivery Manager (ISDM): It is a tightly integrated service management solution that combines the necessary software components to implement cloud computing. It’s deli-vered as a pre-integrated software stack deployed as a set of virtual images that automate IT service deployment, and provide resource monitoring, cost management, and provisioning ser-vices via cloud. Products within the software stack include TSAM, IBM Tivoli Monitoring (ITM), Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager (TUAM), and Tivoli System Automation (TSA), which is designed to control and optimize the performance of systems resources such as file utilization, processes, and IP addresses in clustered or Cloud environments.

3.5.2.3. IBM CloudBurst: CloudBurst is a purpose-built solution de-signed to optimize business workloads with minimal customiza-tion. It includes the entire software stack delivered by the ISDM, as well as hardware including pre-configured servers, storage and networking. CloudBurst is designed for fast deployment and fast time to value and supports a common user interface, com-mon reporting, security, and other services across the Cloud en-vironment. It integrates with existing systems, network and sto-rage hardware, and comes as a single blade in a BladeCenter H chassis with redundant Ethernet and Fibre Channel switch modules. CloudBurst also supports energy utilization and man-agement, backup and recovery, metering and accounting.

3.5.3. An architect should reference the following table to decide which provi-sioning solution best meets the need of the organization.


Feature / Function TSAM ISD

M Cloud-Burst

Stand-alone Software Offering X X

Self-service portal for reservation of com-puting, storage & networking resources

X X X

Rapid deployment of services in service catalog

X X X

Automated provisioning and de-provisioning of resources

X X X

“Lights-out” automated operation X X X

Pre-packaged automation templates and workflows for most common resource types such as VMware virtual images and LPARs

X X

Real-time monitoring of physical and vir-tual resources

X X

Energy management to reduce costs X X

Integrated usage and chargeback capa-bilities through TUAM

X X

Reusable image library for rapid deploy-ment

X X

Virtualization management X X

Included Quickstart Implementation Ser-vices

X

Ready to go solution including Hardware, Software and Services

X

3.6. Given the objective of architecting a cloud computing solution,

identify the security requirements to protect unauthorized access to infrastructure, applications, and services.

SUBTASK(S): 3.6.1 Assessment of the business and IT security risks; identify vulnerabilities

and gaps in key security controls; create policy design and definitions for secure controls; and offer a prioritized list of recommendations against business goals for security best-practice improvements to help mitigate business risks. 3.6.1.1. Loss of governance – Because the organization may not have

direct control of the infrastructure, trust in the provider and its own ability to provide proper security is paramount.

3.6.1.2. Compliance risk – The cloud provider impacts the organization’s ability to comply with regulations, privacy expectations and in-dustry standards, because data and systems may exist outside the organization’s direct control.


3.6.1.3. Isolation failure – Multi-tenancy and resource sharing are defin-ing characteristics of the cloud. It is entirely possible for compet-ing companies to be using the same cloud services, in effect running their workloads shoulder-to-shoulder. Keeping memory, storage and network access separate is essential.

3.6.1.4. Data protection – The ubiquitous nature of data in the cloud raises unprecedented identity and access management threats. Because the organization relinquishes direct control over data, it relies on the provider to keep that data secure and, when it is deleted, ensure that it is permanently destroyed.

3.6.1.5. Management interface and role-based access – Cloud applica-tions are accessed and managed through the Internet, and in-volve deep and extensive control. The risk associated with a se-curity breach is therefore increased and proper access authori-zation must be carefully considered.

3.6.2 Assess your cloud security readiness with robust service offerings. 3.6.2.1. Identity and access management 3.6.2.2. Data protection 3.6.2.3. Auditing and monitoring 3.6.2.4. Legal, regulatory and privacy requirements 3.6.2.5. Access controls for sensitive data 3.6.2.6. Greater visibility and monitoring of access 3.6.2.7. Protection of data at rest and in transit 3.6.2.8. Adherence to regulations 3.6.2.9. Improved security management to increase efficiency and re-

duce costs. 3.6.2.10. Security and Resiliency defined as in the IBM Common Cloud

Management Platform Reference Architecture (CCMP-RA) 3.6.2.11. Command & Control / Security Policy Management / Software,

System & Service Assurance 3.6.2.12. Data Policy Enforcement / Identity Lifecycle Management /

Threat & Vulnerability Management 3.6.2.13. Audit & Compliance Management / Access Management & Se-

curity Entitlement / Security Extension to IT Service Manage-ment

3.6.2.14. Availability & Continuity Management 3.7. Given the objective of architecting a cloud computing solution,

identify the requirements and considerations to provide storage capacity, and data protection and recovery to support the infrastructure, applications, and services.

SUBTASK(S): 3.7.1 Data and storage management in the Cloud are critical:

3.7.1.1. To provide a reliable, on-demand service experience. 3.7.1.2. To reduce costs and enable scalability. 3.7.1.3. To mitigate risks.


3.7.2 The keys to effective cloud storage management include: 3.7.2.1. Data protection and recovery 3.7.2.2. Data security and life-cycle management 3.7.2.3. Storage utilization and optimization 3.7.2.4. Storage resource management

3.7.3 Automate data management policies through three distinct processes: 3.7.3.1. Migration, Archival and Expiration. 3.7.3.2. Data migration within the Cloud can help you get control of, and

efficiently manage, data growth and its associated storage costs by providing automated space management. It provides the fol-lowing key features:

3.7.3.2.1. Storage pool virtualization that helps maximize utiliza-tion of the managed storage resources;

3.7.3.2.2. Restore management capabilities that are optimized based on the location of the data;

3.7.3.2.3. Migration that is transparent to the users and to appli-cations;

3.7.3.2.4. Migrations that are scheduled to minimize network traf-fic during peak hours;

3.7.3.2.5. Automatic migrations that occur outside the backup window;

3.7.3.2.6. Threshold limit settings that can eliminate “out of disk space” messages.


Section 4 - Management of a Cloud Environment

4.1. Given the objective of architecting a cloud computing solution, describe and discuss the design of IBM Service Management as per the IBM Common Cloud Management Platform Reference Architecture (CCMP-RA).

SUBTASK(S): 4.1.1 Business Support Services (BSS)

4.1.1.1. Offering management / Customer management / Pricing and Rating

4.1.1.2. Order management / Entitlement management / Subscriber management

4.1.1.3. General accounting / Invoicing and Billing / Peering and Settle-ment

4.1.1.4. Contracts and Agreements / Opportunity to order / Service offer-ing catalog

4.1.1.5. Metering, Analytics and Reporting 4.1.2 Operational Support Services (OSS)

4.1.2.1. Service delivery catalog 4.1.2.2. Service templates / Service automation management 4.1.2.3. Service request management / Change and configuration man-

agement / Image life-cycle management 4.1.2.4. Provisioning / Incident and problem management / IT service

level management 4.1.2.5. Monitoring and event management / IT asset and license man-

agement / Capacity and performance management 4.1.2.6. Virtualization management

4.1.3 Core components of Service Managed Virtualization and Clouds 4.1.3.1. Locating and Requesting Services

4.1.3.1.1. Self-service portal / Automation engine / and Service catalog

4.1.3.2. Deploying Cloud Services 4.1.3.2.1. Automated provisioning / and Image management

4.1.3.3. Managed Cloud Services 4.1.3.3.1. Monitoring / Security and Metering

4.1.4 Service Management Capabilities 4.1.4.1. Process and Technology Automation across Business Services

4.1.4.1.1. Align assets and resources to business priorities: How are resources being deployed to meet business de-mand.

4.1.4.1.2. Automate Service Operations: Are activities efficiently executed when delivering business services.

4.1.4.2. Visibility across Applications, Data and underlying Infrastruc-tures

4.1.4.2.1. Map service dependencies to infrastructure: How are resources connected to provide business services.


4.1.4.2.2. Monitor infrastructure resources: How are infrastruc-ture events affecting services.

4.1.4.2.3. Understand user service experience: How are services meeting business user needs, How are services meet-ing business agility needs.

4.1.4.3. Service Management Control aligned to Business Priorities 4.1.4.3.1. Provide business aligned dashboards: What is the

health of my business and services that support it. 4.1.4.3.2. Provide Security and Compliance solutions: How se-

cure and compliant are my business services. 4.1.4.3.3. Fulfill Service Requests: How effectively are requests

for services being managed. 4.1.4.3.4. Continuous Service and Application portfolio manage-

ment: Which services or application should be the fo-cus of new solutions, transformation, improvement, cost cutting, consolidation or retirement.

4.2. Given the understanding of cloud environments, describe what IBM

solutions provide reporting and analytics capabilities for a cloud environment, so that the IBM Cloud Computing reporting tools available from IBM have been explained.

SUBTASK(S): 4.2.1. Usage and Metering reporting requirements:

4.2.1.1. Understand costs, track, allocate and invoice by department, user and many additional criteria.

4.2.1.2. Collect, analyze and bill based on usage and costs of shared assets.

4.2.1.3. Deliver detailed information and reports about the intricate use of shared resources.

4.2.2. Available Tivoli Usage and Accounting Manager (TUAM) reports in IBM Service Delivery Manager (ISDM): 4.2.2.1. Configuration Report – RCFGX001.rptdesign

4.2.2.1.1. Contains information about report configuration. 4.2.2.2. Client Report – RCLTX001.rptdesign

4.2.2.2.1. Lists all clients registered in the TUAM database. 4.2.2.3. Invoice – RINVC007.rptdesign

4.2.2.3.1. Displays the key accounting information, such as the number of server hours, memory hours and CPU hours, multiplied by the defined rate per each account code.

4.2.2.4. Run Total Invoice – RIVTC001.rptdesign 4.2.2.4.1. Displays the number of server hours, memory hours

and CPU hours, consumed in the whole infrastructure. 4.2.2.5. Rate Report – RRATX001.rptdesign

4.2.2.5.1. Lists the rates as defined in the TUAM database. 4.2.3. Tivoli Monitoring reporting

4.2.3.1. Historical Data


4.2.3.1.1. Use historical data collection and reporting to gather useful metrics about your managed network. You can also use historical data with the chart baselining tools for predictive analysis and in situation modeling for key performance indicators.

4.2.3.2. Situations for Event Monitoring 4.2.3.2.1. Situations are definitions of conditions to test, such as

slow transaction rates or invalid logon attempts. Use situations to raise alerts of certain conditions and to trigger single action commands or automated workflows.

4.2.3.3. Automating Actions and Responses 4.2.3.3.1. The Tivoli Enterprise Portal has functionality that

enables you to design your own Take Action com-mands, Launch Application definitions, and Policy defi-nitions, then store them for use by other users. A poli-cy, rather than being run by the user, runs automatical-ly when a referenced situation event is opened.

4.2.3.4. Custom Queries 4.2.3.4.1. In views that display monitored data, attribute values

from agents are retrieved by queries to the Tivoli En-terprise Monitoring Server.

4.2.3.4.2. You can edit the queries that are used in the prede-fined workspaces provided by your monitoring prod-ucts, or create new queries to populate new views. In addition, you can retrieve data from any JDBC- or ODBC-compliant database to display in a chart or table by writing an SQL SELECT statement. These custom queries are created in the Query editor.

4.2.4. Define the Tivoli Common Reporting Tool. 4.2.4.1. The Tivoli Common Reporting tool is a reporting feature availa-

ble to users of Tivoli products and provides a consistent ap-proach to viewing and administering reports. Tivoli products can provide report packages designed for use with Tivoli Common Reporting, with reports that use a consistent look and feel.

4.2.4.2. Tivoli Common Reporting consists of several components: 4.2.4.2.1. A data store for storing and organizing report designs,

reports, and supporting resources. The data store is a location within the Tivoli Common Reporting infrastruc-ture where all report-related files and reports are ma-naged and maintained.

4.2.4.2.2. A Web-based user interface for specifying report pa-rameters and other report properties, generating for-matted reports, and viewing reports.

4.2.4.2.3. A command-line interface for working with objects in the data store and performing additional administrative functions.


4.2.4.2.4. Report packages, archive files containing reports, do-cumentation, graphics, and dynamic link libraries. Re-port packages for some monitoring agents are included as .zip files on the Application CD in the REPORTS di-rectory, and the REPORTS directory is divided into subdirectories named with the three-character prefix that identifies the product. Report packages for some monitoring agents are available from the IBM Tivoli Open Process Automation Library (http://www-18.lotus.com/wps/portal/topal). You can search on "Ti-voli Common Reporting" to find report packages on OPAL. A sample set of reports was provided with the Tivoli Common Reporting product. Other sets can be downloaded and installed by using the Import facility. You can find additional report packages generated by other non-IBM users, business report templates, and the Tivoli Common Reporting: Development and Style Guide on the IBM developerWorks (Website: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/spaces/tcr).

4.2.4.2.5. The open-source Eclipse BIRT Report Designer that you can use to modify reports or create your own. This tool is not included with Tivoli Common Reporting, but can be downloaded from http://www.eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/ or from the Tivoli Common Reporting page at IBM developerWorks (http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/spaces/tcr).

4.2.5. Analytics Products 4.2.5.1. IBM Cognos

4.2.5.1.1. IBM Smart Analytics Cloud 4.2.5.2. IBM SPSS

4.2.5.2.1. IBM Predictive Analysis 4.2.6. Business Rules Management

4.2.6.1. IBM ILog Jrules 4.2.6.1.1. The IBM WebSphere ILOG JRules business rule man-

agement system (BRMS) provides a comprehensive set of capabilities that enable Business and IT func-tions within the organization to work together collabora-tively for authoring, maintaining and deploying decision logic that is critical to business systems.

4.3. Given an understanding of cloud computing, describe TUAM

capabilities, so that IBM accounting and billing strategy for a cloud environment is clearly understood.

SUBTASK(S): 4.3.1. IBM’s accounting and billing capabilities on the Cloud are provided by

TUAM. IBM TUAM can collect data from the provisioning solutions to

http://www.ibm.com/software/tivoli/opal

http://www.ibm.com/software/tivoli/opal

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/spaces/tcr

http://www.eclipse.org/birt/phoenix/

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/spaces/tcr


provide service usage reporting and enable accurate billing of cloud ser-vices consumed.

4.3.2. It provides comprehensive insights into IT consumer costs across virtua-lized, hybrid and traditional infrastructure and application environments. From a Cloud perspective, it can show who’s (individual, department, geography, SP customer, project etc.) using what and how much of the shared resources are available.

4.3.3. If chargeback is desired, it can also generate bills, either for actually bill-ing or for data-driven capacity and portfolio planning. TUAM drill-down delivers both per-service and per-service component usage, which is im-portant for Cloud. For instance, it can itemize on a volume or dollars-and-cents basis database usage, e-mail usage, print server usage, storage requirements, and systems/workload usage for Cloud and non-Cloud in-frastructures, in support of both distributed and mainframe-hosted ser-vices.

4.3.4. The benefits of this type of visibility are manifold. It allows for capacity and resource planning, portfolio and service planning, vendor manage-ment, and conversely vendor-enabled billing for customers.

4.3.5. Most importantly, it provides a foundation for IT and business executives to discuss in consistent and meaningful dollars-and-cents terms how and why and at what cost IT services are being used and so promote better communication between IT and the business it supports.


Next Steps

1. Take the IBM Cloud Computing Infrastructure Architect V1 assessment test using the promotion code csistudy for $10 ($20 USD savings).

2. If you pass the assessment exam, visit pearsonvue.com/ibm to schedule

your testing sessions. Use the promotion code tivguide to receive 20% off.

3. If you failed the assessment exam, review how you did by section. Focus attention on the sections where you need improvement. Keep in mind that you can take the assessment exam as many times as you would like ($10 per exam), however, you will still receive the same questions only in a different order.

http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/tests/samC2010-280.shtml

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