CLOUD COMPUTING IN LIBRARIES Basic concepts and library applications Library Services in the Cloud 9 Nov, 2012 Marshall Breeding Independent Consult, Author, Founder and Publisher, Library Technology Guides twitter.com/mbreeding

Summary  Cloud computing in Libraries: trends related to the adoption of cloud computing technologies for library management and discovery products.

Summary  Cloud computing is one of the most important technology trends of the times. The phase of client/server computing is fading into obsolescence, replaced by entirely web-based systems, increasingly deployed through SaaS. Libraries and other technology-oriented organizations now have options through infrastructure-as-a-service offerings such as Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud and Simple Storage Service to ramp up computing capabilities quickly, enjoy free access for smaller projects, and take advantage of usage- based subscription models for larger-scale production projects. Breeding expands on these topics and provides a basic explanation of cloud computing that focuses on real advantages and disadvantages for libraries.

Cloud Computing for Libraries  Volume 11 in The Tech Set  Published by Neal- Schuman / ALA TechSource  ISBN:  Book ImagePublication Info:

Cloud computing as marketing term  Cloud computing used very freely, tagged to almost any virtualized environment  Any arrangement where the library relies on some kind of remote hosting environment for major automation components  Includes almost any vendor-hosted product offering

Cloud computing – characteristics  Web-based Interfaces  Externally hosted  Pricing: subscription or utility  Highly abstracted computing model  Provisioned on demand  Scaled according to variable needs  Elastic – consumption of resources can contract and expand according to demand

Fundamental technology shift  Mainframe computing  Client/Server  Cloud Computing

Local Computing  Traditional model  Locally owned and managed  Shifting from departmental to enterprise  Departmental servers co-located in central IT data centers  Increasingly virtualized

Virtualization  The ability for multiple computing images to simultaneously exist on one physical server  Physical hardware partitioned into multiple instances using virtual machine management tools such as VMware  Applicable to local, remote, and cloud models

Gartner Hype Cycle 2009

Gartner Hype Cycle 2010

Gartner Hype Cycle 2011

Cloud computing layers

Mobile Computing

Infrastructure-as-a-service  Provisioning of Equipment  Servers, storage  Virtual server provisioning  Examples:  Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)  Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)  Rackspace Cloud  EMC 2 Atmos (

Web-scale computing

Amazon EC2  Amazon Machine Instances (AMI)  Red Hat Enterprise Linux  Debian  Fedora  Ubuntu Linux  Open Solaris  Windows Server 2003/2008

Amazon Web Services Console

Software-as-a-Service  Complete software application, customized for customer use  Software delivered through cloud infrastructure, data stored on cloud  Eg: Salesforce.com—widely used business infrastructure  Multi-tenant: all organizations that use the service share the same instance (codebase, hardware resources, etc)  Often partitioned to separate some groups of subscribers

Types of SaaS

Application service provider  Legacy business applications hosted by software vendor  Standalone application on discrete or virtualized hardware  Staff and public clients accessed via the Internet  Same user interfaces and functionality as if installed locally  Established as a deployment model in the 1990’s  Can be implemented through Infrastructure-as-a Service  Individual instances of legacy system hosted in EC2

ASP vs SaaS From: THINKstrategies: CIO’s Guide to Software-as-a-Service

Multi-tenant

Salesforce: classic multi-tenant  Salesforce.com: multi-tenant cloud infrastructure used by organizations across many industries

Multi-Tenant vs Multi-Instance

Private vs Public

Storage-as-a-Service  Provisioned, on-demand storage  Bundled to, or separate from other cloud services  Examples:  Enterprise: Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service)  Consumer: Dropbox

Data as a service  General opportunity to move away from library-by- library metadata management to globally shared workflows  Shared knowledge bases  E-resource holdings  Bibliographic services  Linked data applications  Key Issues  Data ownership  Creative commons license  Data portability across competing providers

Cloud computing in action Common Library Examples

Cloud computing trends for libraries  Increased migration away from local computing toward some form of remote / hosted / virtualized alternative  Cloud computing especially attractive to libraries with few technology support personnel  Adequate bandwidth will continue to be a limiting factor

Operation of a library’s Web site  Fewer libraries choosing to operate their Web sites on local servers  Simple sites: Web hosting services  Intermediate sites: Hosted CMS  Drupal consulting firm + hosting service  Complex sites  Custom programming  EC2 or other Infrastructure as a service

Mail and Calendaring  Many libraries just use individual accounts on Gmail or similar services  A more sophisticated approach uses mail services from Google, Microsoft, or others institutionally  Google Apps for Businesses  Microsoft Exchange Online  Same interface, but addresses carry the institutional domain name  Free or low-cost for small organizations  Professional levels for larger organizations  Supplemental services:  No advertising  Back-up and recovery services  Service Level agreement

Document creation and collaboration  Google Docs / Google Drive  Microsoft Office 365  Zoho.com  Concerns / Issues:  Documents as official institutional records  Backup and recovery process  Private or Subject to FOIA?

Data in the cloud  Storage as a service  Informal / small-scale  Dropbox (2GB+)  Microsoft Skydrive (7GB+)  Mostly used as supplemental storage and for sharing  Institutional / Larger-scale  Local storage still dominant  When using cloud storage for institutional data Multiple tiers of backup with SLA  DuraCloud, S3, many others

Platform-as-a-Platform as a Service  Virtualized computing environment for deployment of software  Application engine, no specific server provisioning  Examples:  Google App Engine SDKs for Java, Python  Heroku: ruby platform  Amazon Web Service  Library Specific platforms

Library automation through SaaS  Almost all library automation products offered through hosted options  SaaS or ASP?

Data as a service  SaaS provides opportunity for highly shared data models  General opportunity to move away from library- by-library metadata management to globally shared workflows

Web-scale Index-based Discovery Search: Digital Collections Web Site Content Institutional Repositories … E-Journals Reference Sources Search Results Pre-built harvesting and indexing Consolidated Index ILS Data Aggregated Content packages (2009- present)

Repositories in the cloud  Dspace – institutional repository application  Fedora – generalized repository platform  DuraSpace – organization now over both Dspace and Fedora  DuraCloud – shared, hosted repository platform  Pilot since 2009, production in early 2011 

Caveats and concerns with SaaS  Libraries must have adequate bandwidth to support access to remote applications without latency  Quality of service agreements that guarantee performance and reliability factors  Configurability and customizability limitations  Access to API’s  Ability to interoperate with 3 rd party applications  Eg: Connect SaaS ILS with discovery product from another vendor

Maintain institutional branding  Using cloud computing does not mean giving up your identity  Be sure that your services delivered through your own URL  Most cloud services support domain aliases  Accomplished through DNS configuration  Implemented by your network administrator  Create CNAME entry to redirect cloud service to a subdomain associated with your library:  S3.mylibrary.org = s3.amazonaws.com.

Cost implications  Total cost of ownership  Do all cost components result in increased or decreased expense  Personnel costs – need less technical administration  Hardware – server hardware eliminated  Software costs: subscription, license, maintenance/support  Indirect costs: energy costs associated with power and cooling of servers in data center  IaaS: balance elimination of hardware investments for ongoing usage fees  Especially attractive for development and prototyping

Personnel Distribution  Server Administration  Application maintenance  Staff client software updates  Operational tasks  Application configuration or profiling  Operational tasks Local ComputingCloud Computing

Budget Allocations  Server Purchase  Server Maintenance  Application software license  Data Center overhead  Energy costs  Facility costs  Annual Subscription  Measured Service?  Fixed fees  Factors  Hosting  Software Licenses  Optional modules Local ComputingCloud Computing

Benefits of Cloud Computing  Elimination of capital expenses for equipment  Lower annual costs  Redeployment of technical staff to more meaningful activities  Higher revenues relative to software-only arrangements  Provision of infrastructure at scale with lower unit costs  Longer-term relationships with customers Libraries Providers / Vendors

Risks and concerns  Privacy of data  Policies, regulations, jurisdictions  Ownership of data  Avoid vendor lock-in  Integrity of Data  Backups and disaster recovery  Opportunities for increased redundancy

Required infrastructure  Adequate bandwidth  Web-based applications do not necessarily require the highest-performance connectivity  Able to function well in remote and rural areas?  Business applications consume less bandwidth than audio or video streaming services  Reliable Internet and local network infrastructure  Critical paths:  Users --> provider  Library locations --> provider  Not: users --> library

Security issues  Most providers implement stronger safeguards beyond the capacity of local institutions  Virtual instances equally susceptible to poor security practices as local computing

Cloud computing trends for libraries  Increased migration away from local computing toward some form of remote / hosted / virtualized alternative  Cloud computing especially attractive to libraries with few technology support personnel  Adequate bandwidth will continue to be a limiting factor

Relevant trends  No technical limitations on scalability of infrastructure  General move toward ever larger implementations of automation infrastructure  National infrastructure (beginning with smaller countries)  US: Statewide and regional projects

Resource sharing opportunities  Larger instances of automation systems or participation in multi-tenant services provide inherent resource sharing capabilities  Ever larger repositories of metadata  Simpler mechanisms for patron requests of items not in local collections

Increased pressure  Library automation vendors promoting SaaS offerings  Some companies already exclusively SaaS  Software pricing increasingly favorable to SaaS

Caveat  Critically assess viability of the technology and its appropriateness for your organization  Start with low-risk projects before making strategic commitments

Questions and Discussion