Platform9 Private Cloud Director Architecture

Event: Cloud Field Day 21

Appearance: Platform9 Presents at Cloud Field Day 21

Company: Platform9

Video Links:

Personnel: Chris Jones, Roopak Parikh

Platform9’s Private Cloud Director (PCD) architecture is designed to provide a managed private cloud experience, with distinct components that handle different aspects of the system. The architecture is divided into three main areas: the operations plane, the management plane, and the infrastructure layer. The operations plane is only available for customers who are hosted by Platform9, and it handles tasks like log collection, metrics, and alerting, allowing Platform9 to monitor and manage the infrastructure. For self-hosted customers, these capabilities are not integrated, but they can still use third-party tools like Splunk or Datadog for monitoring. The management plane, which runs on Kubernetes, is responsible for managing APIs, databases, and other core services, and it can be deployed either by Platform9 or by the customer in their own environment.

The process of onboarding servers into PCD is straightforward, thanks to Platform9’s bootstrapping agent, PF9. This agent is deployed on each server and reports back to the management plane, allowing users to configure their infrastructure through the UI or API. The system supports various operating systems like Red Hat, Ubuntu, and CentOS, and Platform9 provides tools like Ansible, Pixie, or Ironic to automate the deployment of hundreds of nodes. Once the servers are onboarded, users can configure enterprise features such as high availability, virtual machine rebalancing, and virtual network creation. Additionally, Kubernetes clusters can be easily created on top of the virtual machines, with Platform9 handling the automation of network and load balancer setup.

Platform9’s architecture also draws parallels to VMware’s ecosystem, with features like DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) being comparable to Platform9’s rebalancing feature. The company acknowledges that for users familiar with VMware, there may be a need for a “Rosetta stone” to translate between VMware’s terminology and Platform9’s offerings. Throughout the presentation, Platform9 aims to highlight these parallels to make the transition easier for users coming from a VMware environment. The architecture is designed to be flexible and scalable, catering to both hosted and self-hosted environments, while providing a robust set of tools for managing private cloud infrastructure.


Migrating from VMware to Platform9 Private Cloud Director

Event: Cloud Field Day 21

Appearance: Platform9 Presents at Cloud Field Day 21

Company: Platform9

Video Links:

Personnel: Chris Jones

In this presentation, Chris Jones from Platform9 discusses the challenges and solutions involved in migrating from VMware to Platform9’s Private Cloud Director (PCD). He highlights that one of the most common concerns for organizations looking to move away from VMware is the complexity of migrating their virtualized infrastructure. Platform9 has developed a tool, internally named “vJailbreak,” to address these challenges. This tool is designed to help organizations migrate their virtual machines (VMs) from VMware to an OpenStack-based environment, which is the foundation of Platform9’s PCD. The tool is open-source and available on GitHub, and it aims to handle various migration complexities, such as high-performance networking, large data volumes, and minimizing downtime during the migration process.

The presentation also delves into the technical aspects of the migration process. One of the key challenges in migrating VMs between different hypervisors is the compatibility of device drivers, such as storage controllers and network controllers, which may not work seamlessly after migration. Platform9’s solution involves converting virtual disks and ensuring that the necessary drivers are updated during the migration process. The tool also supports both cold and warm migrations, allowing organizations to choose between a quicker migration with downtime or a more seamless migration where the application continues running while the data is being transferred. The flexibility of the tool extends to mapping storage and network configurations between VMware and OpenStack environments, giving administrators control over how resources are allocated in the new environment.

In a live demonstration, Tanay Patankar, Software Engineer, showcases the migration of a Windows-based e-commerce application from VMware to Platform9’s PCD. The demo highlights the ease of use of the vJailbreak tool, which allows administrators to specify credentials, map networks and storage, and configure migration options such as cutover windows and post-migration scripts. The tool also supports bulk migrations, enabling organizations to migrate multiple VMs simultaneously while minimizing service interruptions. The demo concludes by showing that the application server, after migration, continues to communicate with the database server still running in the VMware environment, demonstrating the ability to operate hybrid environments during the migration process.


Introducing Platform9 Private Cloud Director

Event: Cloud Field Day 21

Appearance: Platform9 Presents at Cloud Field Day 21

Company: Platform9

Video Links:

Personnel: Roopak Parikh

In this presentation, Roopak Parikh, CTO of Platform9, introduces the company’s new product, Private Cloud Director, which aims to address the challenges IT managers face when balancing between public and private cloud infrastructures. He begins by drawing an analogy to the Perigian spring tide, where the Earth, moon, and sun align to create extreme tidal forces, likening it to the pressures IT managers face from the rising costs of both public and private cloud solutions. Parikh shares an example of a large corporation that has been using public cloud for five years but found it too expensive, while their private cloud costs are also increasing. This situation, he explains, is common for many organizations that are trying to manage a mix of public cloud, private cloud, and on-premises infrastructure, including Kubernetes, virtual machines, and bare metal servers.

Platform9 has been in the industry for eight years, managing production workloads for various customers, and has developed a deep understanding of the complexities involved in running both virtualized and containerized environments. Parikh highlights that Platform9 has historically offered multiple products to cater to the private cloud market, and with their new Private Cloud Director, they are offering an enterprise-grade, production-ready solution that integrates both containers and virtualization. This solution is designed to be cost-effective and developer-friendly, addressing the needs of organizations that are struggling to manage their hybrid cloud environments. The product is built on years of experience managing large-scale infrastructures, including customers with over 10,000 physical servers and numerous clusters running both virtual machines and containers.

The Private Cloud Director offers three key elements, starting with virtualized clusters, which allow organizations to take their physical servers, virtualize them, and create multiple clusters. These clusters can be used for both virtual machines and containers, providing a unified infrastructure for different workloads. The solution also includes an extension framework that integrates services across both virtualized and containerized environments, offering a seamless experience. Traditionally, Platform9 has provided its solutions as a SaaS-managed service with “always-on assurance,” but they are now also offering a self-hosted version for organizations with specific security or sovereignty requirements. This flexibility allows organizations to choose the deployment model that best fits their needs while maintaining the benefits of a fully integrated cloud management solution.


DevSecOps Built Right

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Security Field Day 12 Delegate Roundtable

Company: Tech Field Day

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Personnel: Alastair Cooke

DevSecOps is the latest trend that is being embraced in the enterprise. Developers are “shifting left” to incorporate security into their processes. Everyone should make security their job. However, we are still not any more secure than we have been. In this delegate roundtable discussion, Alastair Cooke leads the conversation about how security is being incorporated into DevOps but the lessons aren’t being taken to heart. The delegates opine about the path of least resistance and how shortcuts abound in a world where people are pushed to their limits.


It’s Time To Update Your Password Policies

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Security Field Day 12 Delegate Roundtable

Company: Tech Field Day

Video Links:

Personnel: Tom Hollingsworth

NIST has released new password policy suggestions and the security community is ready for them. However, businesses are not. The challenge of keeping up with the modern security landscape is balancing the need to keep your users and data safe while also adhering to business policy and regulations. In this roundtable discussion, Tom Hollingsworth leads the Security Field Day delegates in understanding the new NIST guidelines as well as how to keep users on the cutting edge as well as ensuring legal compliance.


Citrix Secure Private Access End-User Experience Demo

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Citrix Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: Citrix Systems

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Personnel: Rainer Hasenzagl, Shivam Saggar

This demo covers how end users use the Citrix Secure Access Agent and Citrix Enterprise Browser to securely access any type of application including on-premises applications in addition to web and SaaS applications. The demo also covers how to enable secure access for different end-user needs on both managed and unmanaged devices using agents or agentless methods.


Citrix Secure Private Access Admin Experience Demo

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Citrix Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: Citrix Systems

Video Links:

Personnel: Rainer Hasenzagl, Shivam Saggar

This demo walks through how an IT admin can set up Citrix Secure Private Access and enable zero trust access for end users. It will also cover how to determine which applications end users are currently using, how to configure ZTNA policies, and how to quickly identify problems.


Citrix Secure Private Access

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Citrix Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: Citrix Systems

Video Links:

Personnel: Shivam Saggar

Learn about what is driving customer needs to secure application access and take a deep dive into the Citrix zero trust architecture that can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud. The flexibility to deploy on any infrastructure enables any user on any device to securely access any application.


All About Citrix with Kiran Ghodgaonkar

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Citrix Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: Citrix Systems

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Personnel: Kiran Ghodgoankar

Get an overview of the Citrix platform, the Citrix approach to zero trust, and the evolution toward a modern, secure application delivery architecture built on zero-trust principles. This session serves as an introduction to the rest of the presentation with key concepts and how Citrix embraces them.


Al Democratization – The Path to Mass Adoption by Kurtis Kemple

Event: AI Data Infrastructure Field Day 1

Appearance: Ignite Talks at AI Data Infrastructure Field Day 1

Company: Ignite

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Personnel: Kurtis Kemple

Kurtis Kemple’s talk at AI Data Infrastructure Field Day 1 explores the democratization of AI and its potential to transform lives beyond the enterprise sector. He begins by highlighting the current focus of AI on improving business efficiency and productivity, which, while necessary, has limited the technology’s reach to a broader audience. Kemple shares his personal journey from incarceration to becoming a senior director at Slack, emphasizing how technology, particularly AI, can be a transformative force for individuals who traditionally lack access to it. He argues that for AI to achieve mass adoption, it must become more accessible and user-friendly, addressing the needs of non-technical users who are currently excluded from its benefits.

Kemple identifies several barriers to AI adoption among the general public, including the complexity of AI systems, issues of intellectual property theft, and a significant lack of trust. He points out that the current AI landscape often requires users to become skilled prompt engineers to interact effectively with AI models, which is not feasible for everyday users. He draws an analogy to Steve Jobs’ introduction of the iPod, suggesting that AI needs to be as intuitive and user-friendly as revolutionary consumer products. Kemple stresses that the blank canvas problem, where users are presented with an empty text field and little guidance, is a major obstacle to AI’s widespread adoption.

To overcome these challenges, Kemple proposes a shift towards collective intelligence, where numerous specialized models are made accessible through a marketplace. This marketplace would support both free and paid models, offer no-code tools for fine-tuning, and provide educational resources to empower experts from various fields to create and share their models. He envisions an intelligent orchestration layer that can route user queries to the appropriate models, simplifying the user experience. Additionally, Kemple emphasizes the importance of building trust through open-source foundations, transparent data sets, and credible model training by recognized experts. By making AI more accessible, trustworthy, and tailored to diverse needs, Kemple believes that AI can truly transform lives and reach its full potential.


WhatsApp for Qlik Sense SaaS by Brian Booden

Event: AI Data Infrastructure Field Day 1

Appearance: Ignite Talks at AI Data Infrastructure Field Day 1

Company: Ignite

Video Links:

Personnel: Brian Booden

Brian Booden’s Ignite talk at AI Data Infrastructure Field Day 1 details the integration of WhatsApp with Qlik Sense SaaS, a business intelligence (BI) tool. Booden, with a background in data and analytics, highlights the importance of conversational analytics in today’s data-driven world. He explains that while Qlik integrates with various tools like Slack and Teams, WhatsApp is notably absent. This absence is significant because WhatsApp is widely used for personal communication, making it a more immediate and engaging platform for users. Booden emphasizes the unique engagement factor of WhatsApp, where users are more likely to respond to messages due to the platform’s notification system, which includes read receipts.

Booden outlines the technical architecture required to connect Qlik with WhatsApp, focusing on the need to minimize data transfer points for security reasons. He explains that the integration involves using WhatsApp APIs to facilitate direct communication between Qlik and WhatsApp, ensuring data protection and compliance with privacy regulations. The challenge lies in WhatsApp’s stringent policies, as it is part of Meta (formerly Facebook), which requires business messages to be pre-approved and triggered by specific actions. Booden has spent the last 18 months developing a solution to navigate these complexities, enabling seamless data interaction through WhatsApp.

In his live demonstration, Booden showcases two use cases: structured data interaction and unstructured data interaction using Qlik’s recently released LLM (Large Language Model) called Qlik Answers. The first demo involves pulling customer data from a Qlik dashboard and generating a PDF report, all triggered through WhatsApp. The second demo focuses on querying unstructured data, such as troubleshooting a printer issue, using natural language processing. Booden concludes by emphasizing the growing importance of conversational analytics, predicting that the demand for instant, mobile-friendly data interactions will continue to rise. He believes that integrating BI tools with widely-used communication platforms like WhatsApp can significantly enhance user engagement and efficiency.


SonicWall SonicPlatform and Managed Security Services

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: SonicWall Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: SonicWall

Video Links:

Personnel: Tarun Desikan

Tarun will introduce SonicPlatform, our integrated management console for service providers and customers. In the demo he’ll show how a unified platform combined with a 24/7 SOC staffed by experts is essential to protect against modern threats.


SonicWall Secure SD-WAN and Firewall

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: SonicWall Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: SonicWall

Video Links:

Personnel: Chirag Saxena

Chirag outlines SonicWall’s network security portfolio with common deployment scenarios, and demos how organizations can secure their sensitive data across branches, HQ, and distributed hybrid workforce.


SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: SonicWall Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: SonicWall

Video Links:

Personnel: Tarun Desikan

Tarun introduces SonicWall’s newest offering – Cloud Secure Edge (CSE), formerly Banyan Security. He demos how to apply a Zero Trust security model to enable your workforce to securely access any resource from any device.


Introducing the New SonicWall Cybersecurity Platform

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: SonicWall Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: SonicWall

Video Links:

Personnel: Chirag Saxena

SonicWall has transformed from a traditional network security vendor to a comprehensive modern cybersecurity platform. Chirag will introduce the new SonicWall platform and detail its adoption by our partners and customers.


Dell’s Cybersecurity Strategy for the Future

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Dell Technologies Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: Dell Technologies

Video Links:

Personnel: Steve Kenniston

In this wrap up, Steve Kenniston discusses how Dell is building a holistic cybersecurity solution for the future that embraces key technology advantages. Included is a discussion of post-quantum cryptography and how Dell will be implementing these new standards.


How Dell Technologies Enables Recovery from a Cyberattack

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Dell Technologies Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: Dell Technologies

Video Links:

Personnel: Brian White

In this session, Sr. Consultant Brian White will discuss how Dell Technologies helps elevate customers cyber resilience strategy to preserve the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data to ensure recoverability in the event of a cyberattack.


Detect and Respond to Threats with Dell Technologies

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Dell Technologies Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: Dell Technologies

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Personnel: Adam Miller

In this session, Adam Miller will discuss Dell Technologies’ strategy to help customers quickly detect and respond to threats across their organization, exploring what we’re hearing from our customers and how solutions from endpoints to managed services can.


Reduce the Attack Surface with Dell Technologies

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Dell Technologies Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: Dell Technologies

Video Links:

Personnel: Sameer Shah

During this section we will examine ways to minimize cybersecurity vulnerabilities and entry points. We will discuss strategies, best practices, and how Dell products and services help our customers advance these objectives.


Dell Technologies Cybersecurity Overview

Event: Security Field Day 12

Appearance: Dell Technologies Presents at Security Field Day 12

Company: Dell Technologies

Video Links:

Personnel: Steve Kenniston

In this session we will review Dell’s overall cybersecurity strategy from the ground up starting with our Secure Supply Chain and a review of our key practice areas, Reduce the Attack Surface, Detect and Respond to Cyber Threats and Recover from a Cyberattack to leading with zero trust principles. We will outline how Dell approaches customers to help solve their most critical cybersecurity challenges.


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