Life inside the datacenter is increasingly dynamic. Now a microcosm of data life in its own right, the rise of software-defined everything (increasingly written as SDX) means we start using terms like ‘server-side’ more often. These are the mechanical workings of the cloud, these are the back-end services that drive your tablet and these are the back-office technologies that even the CEO has to take notice of, hopefully.
Adoption of software-defined datacenter architecture means ‘traditional’ network hardware appliances give way to software-based intelligence that ‘describes’ virtual machines (and their form and function) in terms of what they do to our data. Cloud security automation firm HyTrust says that as organizations have increasingly virtualized their infrastructure, server-to-server traffic has grown to represent as much as 80% of overall datacenter traffic.
A micro-segmentation of your network
HyTrust CloudControl is a virtual appliance that resides between administrators and
“Traditional IT security controls focus on perimeter defense, but traffic in the datacenter is not inspected. Modern-day attacks exploit this gap, potentially leading to serious breaches. VMware NSX makes micro-segmentation of network traffic or a zero trust security model feasible and scalable, enabling protection at the workload level,” said the firm, in a press statement.
This server-side world logically starts to develop its own set of professionals, its own technical sub-language and – like the consumer level above it – its own app stores.
With a name that sounds somewhat like a Japanese games console manufacturer, Bitnami is one such destination for server applications. The firm has recently announced the expansion of its library to include both open source and commercially licensed server software.
“Bitnami stacks take the hassle out of compiling, configuring and managing dependencies by providing ready-to run installers and cloud images for its library of applications. The new partnerships with commercial software vendors will deliver the same benefits for a wider range of applications with an increasing enterprise focus. Users will be able to quickly deploy these applications on local servers, as virtual appliances, and on the leading cloud platforms such as Amazon Web Services,
Microsoft Azure,
What kind of apps are server-side?
To be clear, server-side applications of the type discussed are the more ‘core service’ type as in the HyTrust example. Equally, many of the Bitnami applications referenced here will be the developer tools, infrastructure services, analytics, code review tools or CRM, email and so on. There are also blogging tools, games servers and even WordPress.
The point is, the back-end is now so much closer to the front-end by virtue of the rise of mobile (and our need to pull in processing power from the rear on our small devices) – and this means that a new and more essentially virtualized appreciation is needed to understand the modern IT stack today.
Server-side is coming forward and now means front-side for users, if we do it right.
