Private Cloud Platforms comparison & reviews

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Analysis expand Luciano Taranto
by Bhagyashri (Shri) Bhagvat Luciano Taranto
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  • Fully Supported
  • Limitation
  • Not Supported
  • Information Only
Pros
  • + Mature on-prem IaaS solution
  • + High-fidelity implementation of AWS APIs
  • + Proven at scale over years of operation
  • + Strong Storage Capability with Additional Compute and Networking Functionality
  • + Vendor Maturity and Market-share
  • + Simple and Straightforward Editions
  • + True Disconnected Offering of Cloud System
  • + IaaS and PaaS Solution
  • + Enterprise Solution
Cons
  • - Recent acquisition concerns
  • - No administrative GUI
  • - Missing features beyond API compatability
  • - Limited Capability
  • - Few Use Cases
  • - Temporary
  • - Disconnected Mode Only Billed as Capacity
  • - New to Market
  • - Closed Solution
  Content  
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Content Creator
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Overview
Integrated software stack with AWS-compatible IaaS services.
The AWS Snowball Edge is a type of Snowball device with on-board storage and compute power for select AWS capabilities. (see details)
Azure Stack is Microsofts extension of Azure that provides a way to deliver Azure services in an on-premises environment. (see details)
  Assessment  
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Maturity
Based on the Eucalyptus code-base that has been in production for over a decade, powering installations beyond 200K cores in size.
Snowball Edge was announced 2016 and builds on AWS which has been around since 2012
Azure Stack was made publicly available June of 2017 and builds off of Azure which has been available since February of 2010
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Disconnected Offering
Can be deployed in a disconnected environment
Must connect back to AWS platform for full functionality
Azure Stack can be deployed in disconnected mode
Infrastructure Services expand
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  Compute  
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Virtual servers
Virtual servers are called cloud instances (equivalent to EC2 instances in AWS)
Virtual servers are called EC2 instances
Azure Stack allows for the deployment of virtual servers called virtual machines
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VM Type - General Purpose
Virtual machine hardware can be configured to take full advantage of the underlying hosts hardware. A collection of instance types can be customized in terms of vCPUs, memory, and disk.
The SBE1 EC2 instance is the general purpose offering
General purpose VMs are Basic A, Standard A, Av2-series, D-series, DS-series, Dv2-series, DSv2-series
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VM Type - Compute Optimized
Compute-optimized instance types can be customized by modifying the instance type
The SBE-C EC2 instance is the compute optimized offering
Computed optimized VMs are F-series, Fs-series, Fsv2-series
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VM Type - Memory Optimized
Memory-optimized instance types can be customized by modifying the instance type
There is no memory optimized offering
Memory optimized VMs are D-series, DS-series, Dv2-series, DSv2-series
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VM Type - Accelerated (GPU)
GPU instance types can be customized through advanced configuration only. No official documentation.
The SBE-G EC2 instance is the accelerated GPU offering
There are no accelerated VM offerings with a GPU
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Metadata URL
Metadata URL, featuring EC2-compatible information and thus compatible with cloud-init, is reachable from instances.
You get access to a subset of metadata typically available to EC2 instances through an internal URL
While Azure has an Instance Metadata service, this functionality is not currently supported on Azure Stack
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Rapid Provisioning
System components enable fast provisioning, particularly of EBS-backed instances.
You can specify the job and resources and Amazon will configure the device for you and ship it out to you
You can easily and quickly deploy virtual machines using the Azure Stack console
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Resize existing VM
EBS-backed instances can be resized after stopping by modifying InstanceType attribute via ModifyInstanceAttribute request (in CLI or Console).
Typically resize an instance using CLI modify-instance-attribute on instanceType attribute but Snowball Edge only allows you to modify userdata
This functionality is supported in Azure Stack as well
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Resource Management
Resources can be managed from either the Console or CLI/API
Resources such as EC2 instances cannot be managed through the console after the device is created and must instead be managed through the CLI/API adding a level of complexity
The Azure Resource Manager provides a platform to manage all resources deployed within the Azure Stack
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Scalability
AWS AutoScaling APIs are supported, with performance-based triggers for up- and down-scaling.
A cluster of 5-10 Snowball Edges can be created to offer increased durability and locally scale up or down storage on demand
Azure Stack includes scale sets which allow for automatic scaling of instances based on load
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VM Imaging
Images (akin to AMIs and AKIs) can be created and shared with other cloud users. Existing instances can be saved into an image.
No mention in the developer guide
You can create and publish a custom marketplace item
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VM Import/Export
Instances can be imported using raw disk or VHD formats. Exports done manually at hypervisor level. No API support for the operation exists.
No mention in the developer guide
You can import and export a disk used by a VM. In addition, you may be able to import/export a VM state but this is not confirmed (see details)
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VM live migration
VMs can be live-migrated using CLI / API. In the event of a host failure instances to not automatically restart.
AWS does not support live VM migration and as such we shouldnt expect Snowball Edge to do this
Azure Stack supports live VM migration as a preventative measure to protect resources from failing hardware
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VM to host affinity
Not supported. Can only be achieved by backend administration using instance migration.
When deploying a cluster, you can select which nodes an instance runs on
This capability is not supported by Azure Stack
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VM to host anti-affinity
Not supported. Can only be achieved by backend administration using instance migration.
When deploying a cluster, you can select which nodes an instance runs on thus also choosing which nodes it does not run on
Azure Stack provides Availability Sets which replicate the VM across different hosts for high availability thus enforcing host anti-affinity
  Networking  
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Cloud virtual networking
Overlays a virtual network on top of your existing network. Supports EDGE (EC2 Classic) and VPCMIDO (AWS VPC) modes.
The EC2 instances can have virtual network interfaces attached to them which allows them to communicate with each other and outside devices
The Network Resource Provider delivers a series of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) features
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Cross-premises connectivity
Support for AWS VPN Gateway is available but only when using VPCMIDO network mode.
The Snowball Edge connects into the datacenter and allows for transfer of data between the datacenter and AWS albeit in a slow snail-mail fashion
Cross-premises connectivity can be established in Azure Stacks which are deployed in the connected mode
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DNS hostname resolution
DNS names for VM instances is supported automatically
No mention in the developer guide
Azure Stack supports DNS hostname resolution
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DNS zone management
No mention in the documentation
No mention in the developer guide
Azure Stack supports the creation and management of DNS zones and records using both the console and the API
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IP reassignment
Elastic IP and Elastic Network Interface functionality enables flexible IP address assignment.
You can delete the virtual network interface attached to an EC2 instance and then create a new virtual network interface for that EC2 instance with a new static IP address
You can reassign an IP by modifying the virtual network interface or by deleting it and creating a new one (Experience)
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Load balancing
Elastic Load Balancer is an included service.
No mention in the developer guide
The Azure Stack provides load balancing functionality
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Network Interfaces
Elastic Network Interface functionality allows attaching and detaching of virtual NICs to instances
The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter (see details)
You can create and modify network interfaces attached to virtual machines (Experience)
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Outbound Network Connectivity
Can be configured to connect to external networks with both EDGE (EC2 Classic) and VPCMIDO (Amazon VPC) networking modes.
The device has a set of external network interfaces for connectivity into the customer datacenter (see details)
The Azure Stack is integrated into the customers datacenter and has outbound network connectivity to the customers border
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Public IP Address
Public IP addresses can be assigned to instances either automatically or from a pool of Elastic IP addresses.
Can attach a virtual network interface to your EC2 instance and specify a public IP address for use
Azure Stack supports IPv4 public addresses
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SR-IOV support
Can be customized to use SR-IOV for instance networking by advanced configuration only. No official documentation.
No mention in the developer guide
No mention of this capability for Azure Stack
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VM Security Groups
Instances can be added to a security group which has a specific network security policy applied to it.
Security groups exist and can be configured for EC2 instances similar to the way they work in AWS with limitations
VM Security groups are provided as network security groups
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Virtual Network Peering
Ability to create a peering connection between two VPCs is supported.
Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) are not supported in Snowball Edge and thus you cannot make virtual networks to peer
Not supported as of 20190124
  Storage  
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Object storage
Supports S3-compatible object storage using its Object Storage Gateway (OSG)
The Snowball Edge supports S3 (object storage) as its primary purpose is downloading customer data from a remote datacenter which can then later be transferred to S3 in AWS
Azure Stack provides blob storage for object storage
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Block storage
Elastic Block Storage (EBS) provides block-level storage volumes that you can attach to instances.
Block storage must exist as the Snowball Edge is capable of hosting EC2 instances but end-users have no access to block storage and cannot attach volumes themselves to EC2 instances
Azure Stack supports page blobs which are the equivalent of block storage
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Shared file storage
Shared file storage is not supported.
Once connected to the datacenter, the S3 Adapter for Snowball or NFS mount point can be used to upload data from the datacenter into the Snowball Edge
Azure Stack does not provide a SMB or NFS solution
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Backup
Procedures for backing up and restoring everything except root disks of instance-store (ephemeral) instances are documented.
By its nature, the device offers data backup for data stored within a datacenter albeit in a slower process
Microsoft Azure Backup Server can be used to back up data within Azure Stack (see details)
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Local Data Protection
Relies on replication features of underlying software and hardware (RAID and Ceph) for local data protection from hardware failures.
The Snowball Edge employs defense-in-depth for data protection including a ruggedized tamper-reistant enclosure, 256-bit encrpytion, and a TPM
Local data is encrypted and replicated across nodes in case of hardware failure
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Remote Replication
No special functionality for automatic remote replication are provided, but backup process can include transfer of backed up data offsite for disaster recovery.
By its nature, the device offers remote replication for data stored within a datacenter albeit in a slower process
The only replication option available is locally redundant storage
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Snapshots
EBS snapshots are supported in both Web console and via CLI/API.
No mention in the developer guide
Snapshots are supported for blobs (limited to 1000 per blob) but not for page blobs
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Storage Architecture
Deployed as customer configurable two-level storage system. Support for HCI not documented.
Each Snowball Edge node provides betwee 42TB and 80TB (see details)
Azure Stack provides for either a hybrid or all-flash storage architechture
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Storage QoS
Supports only a single storage class for both block and object storage.
No mention in the developer guide
Azure Stack supports standard and premium storage
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Storage Scalability
The Storage Controller (SC) and Object Storage Gateway (OSG) are molular and enable storage capacity to be dynamically allocated independent of the system.
Multiple Snowball Edges can be clustered to increase data durability as well as locally grow and shrink storage on demand
Azure Stack operators can increase the overall capacity of an existing scale unit by adding additional scale unit nodes
Platform Services expand
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  Compute  
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Kubernetes Orchestration
No support for Kubernetes orchestration is available.
No mention in the developer guide
Azure Stack has a preview capability to deploy a Kubernetes cluster but it is not supported in the disconnected scenario
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Serverless
No support for a serverless runtime is available.
The Snowball Edge offers access to AWS Lambda which can execute serverless functions based on S3 storage actions made on the device
App Service (available in PaaS offering) provides Azure Functions which executes event-driven serverless workloads
  Data  
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Relational database
No support for DBaaS is available.
No mention in the developer guide
Relational databases are supported through the use of optional resource providers SQL Server and MySQL Server
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NoSQL—key/value storage
No support for a NoSQL database is available.
No mention in the developer guide
Table storage is Microsofts NoSQL key/attribute store
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Caching
No support for an in-memory cache service is available.
No mention in the developer guide
No mention of Azure Cache for Redis being available but can use Redis marketplace item
  Developer Tools  
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Message Queuing
No support for message queuing is available.
No mention in the developer guide
Queue storage provides the capability for message queuing
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Pub/Sub Messaging
No support for pub/sub messaging is available.
No mention in the developer guide
Azure Stack does not currently support either Service Bus nor Event Grid which provide the pub/sub messaging capability in Azure
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Web Applications
No support for a PaaS-type service for hosting Web applications is available.
Can build EC2 instances which can host web applications
App Service is available on Azure Stack (additional PaaS offering) which provides web apps
  Analytics and IoT  
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Internet of Things
No support for IoT services is available.
The Snowball Edge incorporates AWS IoT Greengrass to power Lambda for edge computing needs
Not much documentation out there but there appears to be a private preview for IoT Hub on Azure Stack which is fairly recent
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Edge compute for IoT
No support for service that deploys cloud intelligence onto Edge devices is available.
The Snowball Edge incorporates AWS IoT Greengrass to power Lambda for edge computing needs
No solid documentation of this as a full capability but Azure Stack does support Azure Functions which is used for IoT Edge (see details)
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Streaming data
No support for data streaming is available.
No mention in the developer guide
Event Hubs was announced at Ignite 2018 as on the roadmap for Azure Stack but as of yet it is not available
Management Tools expand
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  Interface  
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Console
Web Console supports most of the cloud user functionality that is also accessible via CLI/API.
The Snowball Edge provides a management console for job management
Azure Stack offers both an administration portal as well as a user (tenant) portal
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API
AWS-compatible API is at the core of the product, with extensive support of many IaaS-level services, powering both the CLI and the Web Console.
Snowball Edge supports a limited API for both S3 and EC2 (see details)
Azure Stack offers a REST API as well as programmatic access through PowerShell/CLI
  Auditing  
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Health / Performance / System Monitoring
Monitoring is available via the CloudWatch service, with metrics visible in the Web Console and available from the CLI.
Limited monitoring of job statuses
Azure Stack offers monitoring services for compute including but not limited to host/guest metrics, performance counters, application, logs in addition to other sources
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Event Logging
Logs are available to the operations team but must be configured using at the OS-level using technologies such as syslog.
CloudTrail can log calls made to the Snowball Edge API but internal actions such as those against EC2 instances are not logged
Logs are collected both within the Azure Stack as well as by the infrastructure components themselves
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Analytics
No support for analytics service is availalble.
No mention in the developer guide
  Automation  
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Automated Tasks
CloudFormation doman-specific language and service enables users to orchestrate cloud application deployment and resource management.
The built-in Lambda capability can be used to execute automated tasks in response to S3 actions taken against the Snowball Edge
Azure Functions provides an event-drive programming model which allows for the automated execution of tasks in response to events
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Marketplace
No support for a marketplace of images is available.
Jobs using EC2 compute instances can use CentOS 7, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 16.04 images from the marketplace
Azure Stack supports a marketplace but it does not come preloaded with any images
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Marketplace Syndication
No support for a marketplace syndication is available.
Jobs using EC2 compute instances can use CentOS 7, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 16.04 images from the marketplace
A cloud operator has the ability to download a curated list of items (see details)
Security & Compliance expand
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  AAA  
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Authentication
User management and resource access control is available through Access and Identity Management (IAM) service.
Access to launch jobs, import/export data, unlock the Snowball Edge, and manage the Snowball Edge is controlled through IAM
Azure Stack supports authentication through either Azure AD in connected scenarios or AD FS for disconnected scenarios
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Multi-Factor Authentication
No support for MFA is available.
No mention in the developer guide
Multi-factor authentication can be configured in connected scenarios using Azure AD and disconnected scenarios using AD FS
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SSO / Integration
Support for LDAP/Active Directory integration (via periodic synchronizations) is supported.
No mention in the developer guide
Azure Stack can integrate with AD FS for user authentication and SSO
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Access Control
Sophisticated access control policies are supported by the Identity and Access Management (IAM) service.
Access to launch jobs, import/export data, unlock the Snowball Edge, and manage the Snowball Edge is controlled through IAM
Access control is implemented using roles - owner, contributor, and reader
  CIA  
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Encryption (Data at Rest)
System-wide at-rest encryption can be configured in the deployment.
Encryption is enforced to protect data at rest
All Azure Stack infrastructure and tenant data is encrypted at rest using BitLocker
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Encryption (Data in Transit)
Support for HTTPS endpoints can be manually configured on the UFS nodes
Encryption is enforced to protect data in transit
Data in transit is encrypted both at the infrastructure level and for external endpoints using TLS 1.2
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Key / Secret Management
Uses AWS-style access keys and secret keys for access to resources.
Encryption keys used to protect data on the device are managed by Amazon Key Management Service
Keys and secrets are managed using Key Vault
  Regulatory  
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Multi-Tenancy
User identities are organized into accounts and are the equivalent to the AWS IAM account alias.
No mention in the developer guide
Support for multi-tenancy is only available in connected scenarios deployed using Azure AD
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Regulatory Compliance (PII, PHI, PCI-DSS, RMF, NIST SP 800-53 ,etc)
Can be manually hardened using avaiable security technical implementation guides for underlying OS only
AWS complies with NIST SP 800-53 (but not necessarily the Snowball Edge), Amazon erases the Snowball Edge according to NIST 800-88 standards, all data is encrypted at rest and in transit
Microsoft provides guidance for controls they implement to achieve various regulatory standards including PCI-DSS, FedRAMP High, NIST SP 800-53, etc

Matrix Score

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  • Microsoft Corp
  • Amazon
  • Microsoft Corp
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