Disaster Recovery reference architecture for data stores

It is always recommended to do DR planning at solution level which means that all the components making the solution should be well co-ordinated during DR. But to reach the solution level, it is important that DR design of individual components is ready.

This post documents a reference design of an important component of any solution which is Data/State store. This component is accessed by application tiers. This post is not about High Availability – Load Balancing combination. But, deals with DR scenarios where the secondary/DR site is in hot/warm/cold state.

Below diagram states the reference design of how the DR architecture commonly looks like. DR Agents play a critical role of when to call it a DR and based on that the app configuration changes to connect to available instance of Data Store.

So what are the considerations when designing the DR solution for Data Store ? Here are few important ones:

• How application will store connection string to data store and how it will get updated at the time of DR.
• How the DR site will be provisioned ?
• What will be the state of DR site at normal times – hot/warm/cold. This will depend on RTO/RPO objectives and will also determine the provisioning method.
• How the replication of data will happen between primary and DR site.
• How the failover will happen from primary to DR site ?
• How the failback will happen from DR to primary site ?

IT4IT–Business of IT

IT4IT is the latest open standard from Open Group which tries to fill the gap created due to individual frameworks available for various lifecycle stages of Business of IT. These frameworks do not integrate well with each other and that’s what IT4IT tries to address.

I recently got a chance to meet Lars Rossen who is the Chief Architect of IT4IT and his vision around IT4IT and future of Business of IT is exactly what industry needs today.

..more coming soon on this.

The rise of Pair-Programming

As agile is getting into more and more software development teams so is the importance of pair-programming.

At core pair-programming is all about two people sharing single development workstation and working on same development task. They code & watch/review in turns.

While at first look it just seems to be wastage of efforts, the reduction in time taken to complete the task and improvement in quality of code delivered, outweighs any additional effort. Here are some statistics:

Read the below paper and start practicing pair-programming today.

http://www.cs.utah.edu/~lwilliam/Papers/ieeeSoftware.PDF

Free Analytics for Retail eBook

Here is another Dummies eBook available for free courtesy IBM.

Contents at a Glance
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Chapter 1: Understanding Business Analytics . . . . . . . .3
Chapter 2: Meeting the Demands
of the Smarter Consumer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Chapter 3: Harnessing the Power of Information . . . . .17
Chapter 4: Measuring the Impact of Decisions . . . . . . .27
Chapter 5: Using Predictive Analytics
to Anticipate and Respond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Chapter 6: Social Marketing and
Content Analysis Made Easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Chapter 7: Ten Ways to Improve
Shopping Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Grab it from here

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/retail/

Leadership Capability Framework

Loved this model of Leadership Capability Framework published by Australia Public Service Commission.

Shapes strategic thinking

Inspires a sense of purpose and direction

• Personally contributes to, shapes and champions the organisation's vision and goals, relating these to government requirements. 
• Translates broad strategy into practical terms for others, and creates a shared understanding of what has to be achieved. 
• Within the overall strategic context, presents others with an integrated picture of the actions and priorities that will be required. 
• Provides them with a clear sense of direction and endeavours to unite understanding among all levels within the organisation.

Focuses strategically

• Develops advice to government on potential outcomes, and develops a long term perspective on organisational success. 
• Integrates a 'big picture' view of goals with how to achieve them. 
• Operates on the basis of a 'whole of government' framework and takes the broader context into account. 
• Ensures portfolio effort contributes to cross-government priorities. 
• Envisages what might be and how future possibilities balance with the 'here and now'.

Harnesses information and opportunities

• Seeks to acquire knowledge, and is open to new information and different perspectives. 
• Values finding out about Australian and global best practice (public and private sector) and considers the workings of the organisation within this context. 
• Demonstrates business acumen by thoroughly researching the market that the organisation operates in (and opportunities offered and constraints imposed) to yield greater efficiencies and improve quality of service. 
• Keeps abreast of major technological changes and their impacts.

Shows judgement, intelligence and commonsense

• Grasps complexity and identifies issues that tend to be overlooked by others. 
• Thinks through problems from various angles, and analyses them dispassionately and objectively. 
• Probes and critically evaluates information before applying both intellect and experience to final judgement. 
• Is willing and able to question traditional assumptions and practices rather than taking things as given. 
• Has the capacity to provide originality of thought and develop innovative solutions.

Achieves results

Builds organisational capability and responsiveness

• Initiates fluid and flexible resourcing options based on an appreciation of emerging requirements in a constantly changing environment. 
• Looks outside of organisational 'silos' to identify what resourcing combination will deliver the best results, rather than being bound by existing organisational structures and processes. 
• Responds flexibly to various stakeholder requirements and changing circumstances as they arise, varying deployment of resources within imposed constraints. 
• Exploits the advantages offered by information technology. 
• Takes action to ensure sustainability.

Marshals professional expertise

• Values specialist expertise and places emphasis upon creating an environment which facilitates the sharing and effective utilisation of professional knowledge and skills. 
• Ensures relevant professional input from others is obtained.

Steers and implements change and deals with uncertainty

• Develops and oversees the implementation of change initiatives in a sometimes uncertain environment. 
• Defines high level objectives and ensures translation into practical implementation strategies.
• Undertakes both long and short term planning phases and sets timescales for completion.

Ensures closure and delivers on intended results

• Engenders a culture of achievement, by ensuring ideas and intended actions become reality and that planned projects actually result in expected outputs. 
• Puts systems in place to establish and measure accountabilities.

Cultivates productive working relationships

Nurtures internal and external relationships

• Builds relationships with Ministers, within the organisation and with key people in external organisations. 
• Proactively creates a professional network and develops mutually beneficial relationships based on respect. 
• Shows commitment to customer service.

Facilitates cooperation and partnerships

• Puts effort into developing a work environment where people pull together and value collaboration and teamwork. 
• Creates a sense of 'interconnectedness' with other departments and agencies, ensuring opportunities to share views and ideas. 
• Personally manifests strong interpersonal relations by role-modelling 'team-player' behaviour, including a willingness to consult and listen.

Values individual differences and diversity

• Supports and respects the individuality of others and recognises the benefits of diversity of ideas and approaches. 
• Recognises different skill areas and levels of expertise. 
• Understands others and responds to them in an appropriate way.

Guides, mentors and develops people

• Inspires ongoing learning in others. 
• Gives timely recognition for good performance. 
• Motivates others with an enthusiasm to 'give their all' by setting challenging goals, as well as supporting and encouraging them when they need assistance to overcome problems. 
• Helps others to address areas of weakness by encouraging them to take an active role in their own development, and creating a climate with right opportunities to do so. 
• Understands when it is appropriate to confront issues and takes action to deal with difficult performance situations.

Exemplifies personal drive and integrity

Demonstrates public service professionalism and probity

• Adheres to and promotes the APS Values and ethical framework as set out in the APS Code of Conduct. 
• Serves the government of the day irrespective of personal preferences. 
• Implements policies and programs based on corporate decisions rather than personal views.

Engages with risk and shows personal courage

• Is prepared to be forthright and 'tell it like it is' (and not how people might like it to be). 
• Is independently minded and willing to challenge ideas and confront issues. 
• Is prepared to acknowledge when in the wrong, and learns from mistakes. 
• Is also prepared to ask for help and values advice from others.

Commits to action

• Is determined, highly motivated and action-oriented. 
• Takes personal responsibility for getting things done, and for the success of the organisation. 
• Handles issues proactively and tries to shape events. 
• Doesn't procrastinate. 
• Readily invests energy and initiative into progressing work.

Displays resilience

• Remains focused on the objectives even in difficult circumstances. 
• Bounces back after setbacks and remains positive. 
• Maintains energy and willingly invests extra effort when required.

Demonstrates self awareness and a commitment to personal development

• Shows strong commitment to continued learning. 
• Actively seeks feedback from a wide range of sources. 
• Takes responsibility for own development and for managing self in a way which enables sustained performance. 
• Looks for opportunities to enhance own skills. 
• Values continuing development.

Communicates with influence

Communicates clearly

• Produces user-friendly verbal and written communication that is clear and concise. 
• Ensures unambiguous delivery of the message, and checks that it has been understood as intended. 
• Keeps people up to date and fully informed of any changes to the original communication.

Listens, understands and adapts to audience

• Listens actively to ensure views and information are properly exchanged.
• Checks with others to ensure their views have been accurately understood. 
• Uses and adapts style as necessary to meet the requirements of the audience.
• Creates opportunities to listen to those whose input can add value.

Negotiates persuasively

• Establishes credibility and approaches negotiations persuasively. 
• Offers a convincing rationale which has been thought through in advance and carefully positioned with reference to desired organisational outcomes. 
• Allows for a genuine contest of ideas and pulls disparate views into a coherent position, and finds common ground to facilitate agreement and acceptance of mutually beneficial solutions. 
• Reaches negotiated positions, through compromise, which lead to the achievement of the required outcomes.

http://www.apsc.gov.au/publications-and-media/current-publications/senior-executive-leadership-capability-framework

Healthy Computing Report

Microsoft’s PC accessories group recently did a survey in 10 markets around the world to determine common modern computing habits of workers and the implications of those habits, with a particular focus on the health, comfort and productivity impact on workers.

Report is definitely of every individual’s interest. You can grab the full report here.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Features/2013/Aug13/08-13HealthyComputing.aspx

The Illusions of Big Data

Gartner’s Svetlana has made an interesting post on current expectations from Big Data and how much of it can be realized. Do not miss this one ….

http://blogs.gartner.com/svetlana-sicular/the-illusions-of-big-data/

HL7 standards for Healthcare Industry

Just a quick note, if you work with Healthcare industry, you should be fully aware of information that the following organization provides.

Number of useful standards and reference information models. Most of the technology vendors like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, etc. provides compatibility with these standards.

HL7 standards are grouped into reference categories:

• Section 1: Primary Standards - Primary standards are considered the most popular standards integral for system integrations, inter-operability and compliance. Our most frequently used and in-demand standards are in this category.
• Section 2: Foundational Standards - Foundational standards define the fundamental tools and building blocks used to build the standards, and the technology infrastructure that implementers of HL7 standards must manage.
• Section 3: Clinical and Administrative Domains - Messaging and document standards for clinical specialties and groups are found in this section. These standards are usually implemented once primary standards for the organization are in place.
• Section 4: EHR Profiles - These standards provide functional models and profiles that enable the constructs for management of electronic health records.
• Section 5: Implementation Guides - This section is for implementation guides and/or support documents created to be used in conjunction with an existing standard. All documents in this section serve as supplemental material for a parent standard.
• Section 6: Rules and References - Technical specifications, programming structures and guidelines for software and standards development.
• Section 7: Education & Awareness - Find HL7's Draft Standards for Trial Use (DSTUs) and current projects here, as well as helpful resources and tools to further supplement understanding and adoption of HL7 standards.

Essential Cloud Computing

 

While Cloud Computing has reached the initial level of maturity, there is till enough evidence of confusion over what cloud computing is. NIST has created a very simple literature on essentials of cloud computing. http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-145/SP800-145.pdf

 

Essential Characteristics:
On-demand self-service. A consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each service provider.

Broad network access. Capabilities are available over the network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and workstations).

Resource pooling. The provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to consumer demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter). Examples of resources include storage, processing, memory, and network bandwidth.

Rapid elasticity. Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and released, in some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and inward commensurate with demand. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be appropriated in any quantity at any time.

Measured service. Cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability1 at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported, providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models:
Software as a Service (SaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider’s applications running on a cloud infrastructure2. The applications are accessible from various client devices through either a thin client interface, such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email), or a program interface. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages, libraries, services, and tools supported by the provider.3 The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting environment.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). The capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, and deployed applications; and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models:

Private cloud. The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization comprising multiple consumers (e.g., business units). It may be owned, managed, and operated by the organization, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises.

Community cloud. The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for exclusive use by a specific community of consumers from organizations that have shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be owned, managed, and operated by one or more of the organizations in the community, a third party, or some combination of them, and it may exist on or off premises.

Public cloud. The cloud infrastructure is provisioned for open use by the general public. It may be owned, managed, and operated by a business, academic, or government organization, or some combination of them. It exists on the premises of the cloud provider.

Hybrid cloud. The cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more distinct cloud infrastructures (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities, but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load balancing between clouds).

IASA World Summit

IASA World Summit has been scheduled on Dec 6th and 7th.

Core Topics include following :

• Cloud Computing
• Enterprise Architecture
• Software Architecture
• Business Architecture
• Information Architecture
• Architecture Career
• Women in IT
• Best Practices
• Case Studies.

Get more information here :

http://www.iasaglobal.org/iasa/IWS.asp

Free Event : Delivering Enterprise Architecture with TOGAF and ArchiMate

 

Date and time:
Thursday, November 29, 2012 11:00 am
Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00)

Panelist(s) Info:

Bas van Gils, PhD (EA Consultant, BiZZdesign)

Duration:
1 hour

Description:

The Open Group standards for enterprise architecture – TOGAF® and ArchiMate® – are increasingly adopted on a global scale. As these standards converge, more and more organizations use them in conjunction to build an effective EA practice. As with many things: the proof of the pudding is in the eating. In this webinar we will therefore zoom in on the value add of the combination of TOGAF and ArchiMate. In order to cater for a broad audience, we will start with a high-level overview of both standards and then show with practical examples how the standards can be used in conjunction to deliver business value.

https://opengroupevents.webex.com/ec0606l/eventcenter/enroll/join.do?confViewID=1003076185&theAction=detail&confId=1003076185&path=program_detail&siteurl=opengroupevents

Download Forrester Wave for Enterprise Cloud Databases

Forrester has released it ‘Forrester Wave’ report for Enterprise Cloud Databases.

Microsoft Windows Azure has come out to be the clear winner in the report and is offering the reprint of full report as free download.

Download it from here before it goes away.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windowsazure/archive/2012/11/14/windows-azure-sql-database-named-an-enterprise-cloud-database-leader-by-forrester-research.aspx

Download Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management

Gartner recently released there Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management. Oracle being one of the vendor in leaders quadrant is offering free reprint of the full report for download.

Download the report at no cost from here before it goes away.

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/1870042

Download Gartner Magic Quadrant for Horizontal Portals

Few days back, Gartner released its Magic Quadrant for Horizontal Portals. Here is a quick description of scope of this MQ.

Gartner defines a portal as "a Web software infrastructure that provides interaction with relevant information assets (for example, information/content, applications and business processes), knowledge assets and human assets by select targeted audiences, delivered in a highly personalized manner." Enterprise portals may face different audiences, including:

• Business-to-employee (B2E)
• Business-to-consumer (B2C)
• Business partners (B2B)

Of course, the public-sector corollaries to these three high-level audience types are also considered applicable. A portal product is a packaged software application that is used to create and maintain enterprise portals. These products can be used to design vertical or horizontal portals:

• Vertical portals focus on accessing specific applications or business functions.
• Horizontal portals integrate and aggregate information from multiple cross-enterprise applications, as well as specific line-of-business tools and applications.

Oracle being one of the leaders is providing the reprint of this MQ as free download. Grab it from here.

http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/1870043

Free eBook : Agile for Dummies

Download it from here :
http://adtmag.com/whitepapers/2012/08/ibm-agile-for-dummies-ebook.aspx

Event : Microsoft vision for Enterprise Social

Microsoft Asia Pacific is hosting a virtual event on November 21, 2012 to offer participants a unique opportunity to learn about Microsoft vision for Enterprise Social and discuss the implications to their own organization.

Speakers

• Claus Mortensen
  is the Principal at IDC Asia/Pacific Practice Group.
• Jared Spataro
  is Senior Director of Product Management for SharePoint, Project & Visio at Microsoft.

Register for the event here:

http://www.microsoft.com/enterprise/en-au/events/ms-vision-ent-social.aspx#fbid=AfIkbYtLX2f

Free eBook : Private Cloud for Dummies

With compliments from IBM, for a limited time you can download free eBook on Private Cloud.

Grab it from the link below before it goes away.

http://www.dummies.com/Section/id-612075.html

Career - Let the entrepreneurial spirit grow

TheNextWeb.com offers some tips on how to manage your time and efforts between your work and urge to work on new ideas. While the context of article is mainly about starting something of your own, its equally relevant in day to day work life where your interest in working on a topic is much higher than a task/topic you are supposed to work today. The more your work domain is different from your interest domain, the higher the challenges.

Here are the tips:

• Don’t stop thinking and writing down ideas.
• If you have set work hours, stick to them.
• If you don’t have set work hours, make them.
• Allot blocks of time dedicated only to coming up with, planning out, and developing your ideas.
• Let the entrepreneurial spirit grow.

Read tnw article here :

http://thenextweb.com/entrepreneur/2012/11/10/are-new-entrepreneurial-ideas-keeping-you-from-getting-things-done-in-the-present/

Microsoft Security Intelligence Report

Latest edition of Microsoft Security Intelligence Report is out.

Volume 13 of the Microsoft® Security Intelligence Report (SIRv13) provides in-depth perspectives on software vulnerabilities and exploits, malicious code threats, and potentially unwanted software in Microsoft and third-party software. Microsoft developed these perspectives based on detailed trend analyses over the past several years, with a focus on the first half of 2012.

HTML/Javascript continues to top the list when it comes to being platform for exploits.

You can download the full detailed report from here.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34955

Starbucks Experience and Productivity

Recently came across this interesting video on how to improve customer interaction experience by influencing the productivity on customer side also. The author in this video talks about how Starbucks took a disruptive approach which may not be as customer friendly but improves overall service experience for both sides.

After watching this I realized, how much I have been practicing the same approach for many years during my career with my clients. I as a consultant mostly work with large enterprises which have many people to spend lot of time on long calls which can be done quickly. So to improve mine and their productivity, I mostly end up influencing their work style. What is your experience ?

Video : http://blogs.hbr.org/video/2012/05/how-starbucks-trains-customers.html