As we look ahead to the Shiny New Data Center of the Future (SNDCotF) we have to focus inevitably on the cloud that lies beyond it, and its potential to be the overflow resource pool of anyone experiencing transient load increases (incidental, occasional, one time, or cyclical). Already small companies are able to take advantage of storage and processing power available in the data centers of Amazon, Google, and others. They can scale up quickly, briefly, and dramatically.

But, can they monitor what they do?

Can they watch their virtual servers’ logs and configurations? The application logs of the workloads they push up and out? Those virtual servers still need to be woven into problem resolution processes, as well as processes for performance management, security, and compliance. It is necessary to correlate events outside the data center with those inside.

It is also necessary to retain the data and what they say about compliance and security even when the demand spike has passed and not only do the workloads vanish but the resource pool ceases to be in any way related to the enterprise. (Which of course brings up the question of infrastructural transparency - -will cloud vendors open up reporting data to tenants for the length of their tenancy. Are their security and compliance tools multi-tenant friendly enough? Can your systems tap them for information as needed?)

Although our research shows only minimal penetration of cloud computing into the enterprise so far, interest is strong and offerings are multiplying and maturing. Before you try to fly in the clouds, its best for you to consider all these angles and plan for accountability and security at the same time that you consider the resource benefits – get your tools ready or get tools that can do the job.