CloudLITE 2.0, or work on the errors of the cloud provider
In mid-October, we restarted the CloudLITE cloud service, changing the provisioning and billing platform to BILLManager. Today we will talk about what has changed and why.
CloudLITE is a VMware-based IaaS service that allows you to automatically deploy a virtual data center, create virtual machines with any operating system and configurations, and manage the entire economy through the VMware vCloud Director panel.
So the service was at the time of its launch in April . Since then, CloudLITE has already managed to fill some bumps (without victims among customers, fortunately), acquire a stable pool of customers, which helped us pay attention to certain points and make adjustments to the further development of the service.
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As practice has shown, the rich functionality of the vCloud Director panel was not to everyone's liking: yes, many users appreciated the capabilities of the enterprise-solution, but there were many who were embarrassed by this abundance.
The transition to vCloud Director was not easy, first of all, for yesterday's users of VDS / VPS: a completely unfamiliar interface, a huge number of settings ... We tried as much as possible to “facilitate” this acquaintance through instructions and video manuals, but still some of the users were lost, were mistaken - and as a result went away disappointed.
Again, as it turned out, not everyone needs such an immense bunch of settings in principle: many would be perfectly satisfied with the ability to create a standard virtual server in one click - preferably with a pre-installed OS and other system software. It is not surprising that such users were not at all inspired by the idea of ​​spending time and energy on learning the rich tools of vCloud Director.
As a result, only users already familiar with vCloud really appreciated CloudLITE, and we wanted to please everyone.
So, the challenge was to, while retaining the vCloud Director functionality for those who really need it, make CloudLITE convenient and useful for users who are just discovering the possibilities of IaaS.
As a result, a compromise solution. In the new personal account on the basis of BillManager (thanks to colleagues from ISPsystem :), a lite-control panel of virtual machines has appeared. Now users who are more convenient to deal with ready-made templates of virtual machines can deploy a virtual server directly in your account.
Here you can perform all the basic operations with a virtual machine:
• create / delete
• on / off / restart
• transition to the machine control console
• backup setup (based on Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise)
• purchase of licenses for Windows Server Standard 2008 and 2012.
More advanced settings are always available in vCloud Director: there you can work with all network settings (Firewall, NAT, VPN, load balancer, etc.), download ISO images of the necessary operating systems, deploy virtual machines with your OS, create VM templates, import and export them.
In the original version, we had a calculator that allowed us to create practically any power configuration (processor, memory, disk) and immediately estimate the cost of the extended channel and additional IP. As life has shown, in most cases, users need well-defined - that is, amenable to standardization :) - “sets” of parameters.
In the new release we decided to switch to fixed tariffs (12 pieces), divided into 4 categories. We have left the possibility to regulate separate parameters within one tariff: for example, increase the disk separately, without switching to a higher tariff and without buying additional processors and memory. In the same way, you can deal with memory and processors (starting with the Standard group of tariffs).
We are faced with the fact that IT specialists of companies for acquaintance with CloudLITE are often registered as private individuals (paying for a "test" pool with personal cards), so that at the stage of placing a product they "re-register" their account as a legal entity. The difficulty was that in the first release of CloudLITE, users could not make such changes on their own.
In the new Dashboard, we took into account a similar user script and added this feature. Now, when choosing at registration any convenient status (natural / legal person, individual entrepreneur), the user can, if necessary, independently change it before each payment.
As part of the first release, in order to activate virtual resources, it was necessary to make a full advance payment a month in advance: if at the beginning of the month the account did not have at least a ruble to the full cost of the subscription, the resources went into lockout. Despite our methodical reminders via automatic mailing, some users were late with payment and as a result found their resources stopped.
There were also such cases: the user for some reason could not pay the full amount at the beginning of the calendar month and requested a deferment. We often met, especially our regular customers, but each such request had to be processed manually, but we wanted a system solution to the problem :).
In CloudLITE 2.0 the minimum billing period is a calendar day, and therefore there is no need to make a 100% advance payment one month in advance. Users can gradually replenish the account for any amount - the main thing is that the funds deposited are sufficient to pay for the current day.
It will also be convenient for those who need resources - or their specific configuration - are needed for just a few days.
We continue to work on the service in several directions at once:
1) interface simplification
2) flexible payment mechanisms
3) new functionality
VDS \ VPS . In the very near future, as part of CloudLITE, it will be possible to get a classic virtual server, or a ready-made virtual machine with pre-installed OS and configured access via RDP or SSH. Opportunities for customization of any settings (primarily network) will be minimal, but the server will be ready to work with one click. All this will work also on VMware.
Payg The work of the entire virtual data center or individual virtual servers can be suspended for a while — and, accordingly, during the whole freeze, you pay only for disk space and memory reserved for VDTs and VM.
DNS server support. Very soon, it will be possible to manage DNS records in your Personal Account (based on the DNSmanager panel) and you can easily and naturally move to us with web resources from other providers :).
Cloud storage and SaaS-services : here while we keep the intrigue, but there will also be.
You can test the new features of CloudLITE.ru by selecting one of the test configurations:
“Starter 3” - 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 50 GB HDD or “Standard 1” - 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB HDD .
Looking forward to feedback from the general public.
Instead of the preface
CloudLITE is a VMware-based IaaS service that allows you to automatically deploy a virtual data center, create virtual machines with any operating system and configurations, and manage the entire economy through the VMware vCloud Director panel.
So the service was at the time of its launch in April . Since then, CloudLITE has already managed to fill some bumps (without victims among customers, fortunately), acquire a stable pool of customers, which helped us pay attention to certain points and make adjustments to the further development of the service.
')
Control Panel: was
As practice has shown, the rich functionality of the vCloud Director panel was not to everyone's liking: yes, many users appreciated the capabilities of the enterprise-solution, but there were many who were embarrassed by this abundance.
The transition to vCloud Director was not easy, first of all, for yesterday's users of VDS / VPS: a completely unfamiliar interface, a huge number of settings ... We tried as much as possible to “facilitate” this acquaintance through instructions and video manuals, but still some of the users were lost, were mistaken - and as a result went away disappointed.
Again, as it turned out, not everyone needs such an immense bunch of settings in principle: many would be perfectly satisfied with the ability to create a standard virtual server in one click - preferably with a pre-installed OS and other system software. It is not surprising that such users were not at all inspired by the idea of ​​spending time and energy on learning the rich tools of vCloud Director.
As a result, only users already familiar with vCloud really appreciated CloudLITE, and we wanted to please everyone.
Control Panel: become
So, the challenge was to, while retaining the vCloud Director functionality for those who really need it, make CloudLITE convenient and useful for users who are just discovering the possibilities of IaaS.
As a result, a compromise solution. In the new personal account on the basis of BillManager (thanks to colleagues from ISPsystem :), a lite-control panel of virtual machines has appeared. Now users who are more convenient to deal with ready-made templates of virtual machines can deploy a virtual server directly in your account.
Here you can perform all the basic operations with a virtual machine:
• create / delete
• on / off / restart
• transition to the machine control console
• backup setup (based on Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise)
• purchase of licenses for Windows Server Standard 2008 and 2012.
More advanced settings are always available in vCloud Director: there you can work with all network settings (Firewall, NAT, VPN, load balancer, etc.), download ISO images of the necessary operating systems, deploy virtual machines with your OS, create VM templates, import and export them.
Calculator vs fixed rates
In the original version, we had a calculator that allowed us to create practically any power configuration (processor, memory, disk) and immediately estimate the cost of the extended channel and additional IP. As life has shown, in most cases, users need well-defined - that is, amenable to standardization :) - “sets” of parameters.
In the new release we decided to switch to fixed tariffs (12 pieces), divided into 4 categories. We have left the possibility to regulate separate parameters within one tariff: for example, increase the disk separately, without switching to a higher tariff and without buying additional processors and memory. In the same way, you can deal with memory and processors (starting with the Standard group of tariffs).
Payment methods: was
We are faced with the fact that IT specialists of companies for acquaintance with CloudLITE are often registered as private individuals (paying for a "test" pool with personal cards), so that at the stage of placing a product they "re-register" their account as a legal entity. The difficulty was that in the first release of CloudLITE, users could not make such changes on their own.
Payment methods: become
In the new Dashboard, we took into account a similar user script and added this feature. Now, when choosing at registration any convenient status (natural / legal person, individual entrepreneur), the user can, if necessary, independently change it before each payment.
Resource charging: was
As part of the first release, in order to activate virtual resources, it was necessary to make a full advance payment a month in advance: if at the beginning of the month the account did not have at least a ruble to the full cost of the subscription, the resources went into lockout. Despite our methodical reminders via automatic mailing, some users were late with payment and as a result found their resources stopped.
There were also such cases: the user for some reason could not pay the full amount at the beginning of the calendar month and requested a deferment. We often met, especially our regular customers, but each such request had to be processed manually, but we wanted a system solution to the problem :).
Resource charging: became
In CloudLITE 2.0 the minimum billing period is a calendar day, and therefore there is no need to make a 100% advance payment one month in advance. Users can gradually replenish the account for any amount - the main thing is that the funds deposited are sufficient to pay for the current day.
It will also be convenient for those who need resources - or their specific configuration - are needed for just a few days.
Where to go?
We continue to work on the service in several directions at once:
1) interface simplification
2) flexible payment mechanisms
3) new functionality
VDS \ VPS . In the very near future, as part of CloudLITE, it will be possible to get a classic virtual server, or a ready-made virtual machine with pre-installed OS and configured access via RDP or SSH. Opportunities for customization of any settings (primarily network) will be minimal, but the server will be ready to work with one click. All this will work also on VMware.
Payg The work of the entire virtual data center or individual virtual servers can be suspended for a while — and, accordingly, during the whole freeze, you pay only for disk space and memory reserved for VDTs and VM.
DNS server support. Very soon, it will be possible to manage DNS records in your Personal Account (based on the DNSmanager panel) and you can easily and naturally move to us with web resources from other providers :).
Cloud storage and SaaS-services : here while we keep the intrigue, but there will also be.
You can test the new features of CloudLITE.ru by selecting one of the test configurations:
“Starter 3” - 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 50 GB HDD or “Standard 1” - 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 50 GB HDD .
Looking forward to feedback from the general public.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/271079/
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