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- physical servers - traditional server installation on top of OS.
- virtual machines - improved scalability and overall hardware-resource utilization and centralized administrative tasks..
- containers - cloud virtualization that benefit benefiting from a more efficient abstraction layer than virtual machines.
When organizations are in the initial stage of (re-)defining their IT infrastructure, it is commonly recognized that after virtualization, containerization is the next logical step in the evolution of IT infrastructure. A container is a "lightweight" abstraction layer on top of the host operating system. Multiple containers share the machine’s operating system kernel and do not require the overhead of associating an operating system within each application. While we simplify / improve the possible to install Delft-FEWS for use with containers, running Delft-FEWS on on-premise hardware, or in physical hardware / virtual machines remains fully supported.
Similar installation steps to regular installation
Delft-FEWS system installation installations on regular physical hardware / VMS is VMs are currently done by organizing a central database, installing RPMs / MSIs / unzipping the binaries, setting OS environment variables and starting a launcher service. For installation Installations in the cloud this is are not going to be much different. Usually this is A general difference is that cloud installations are controlled using data driven yaml / json configuration files to apply the needed actions. In comparison with VMs, containers bring reduced start-up time, more compute capacity, more flexibility, fault isolation, ease of management, simplified security and reduced costs. The operational benefits for Delft-FEWS systems are also in line with the Roadmap plans for automation of installations with less needless customization, better auto-scaling and more flexible testing. We prefer using linux containers as much as possible. Whether linux containers can be used may depend on the requirements of the forecast model. Any Windows-based forecast models can be separately run on Windows hardware, Windows VMs (or in a Windows docker container).
| component | cloud readiness status | Room for improvements |
|---|---|---|
| Database | Both db docker containers as well as managed instances are already possible. Managed instances require minor adjustments of the db scripts. | Support one set of database scripts for all db flavors managed and unmanaged. |
Master Controller | Yes | Enable service replication |
Admin Interface | Yes | |
Operator Client / SA | Use Database proxy (Azure: Azure Virtual Desktop) | |
| ConfigManager | See Operator Client, in addition the AdminInterface API can be used. | |
Forecasting Shell Server | Yes | Facilitate auto scaling. |
WebServices | Yes | |
DatabaseProxy | Yes | |
OpenArchive | Yes |
Delft-FEWS in the cloud
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Delft-FEWS Hardware and software requirements
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Most container solutions have Kubernetes under the hood. For autoscaling we will use the Kubernetes API because in our view Kubernetes is the most commonly accepted and best supported cloud computing solution for this. Kubernetes uses Docker containers. A container is a "lightweight" abstraction layer on top of the host operating system. Multiple containers share the machine’s operating system kernel and do not require the overhead of associating an operating system within each application. In comparison with VMs, containers bring reduced start-up time, more compute capacity, more flexibility, fault isolation, ease of management, simplified security and reduced costs. The operational benefits for Delft-FEWS systems are also in line with the Roadmap plans for automation of installations with less needless customization, better auto-scaling and more flexible testing. We prefer using linux containers as much as possible. Whether linux containers can be used may depend on the requirements of the forecast model. Any Windows-based forecast models can be separately run on Windows hardware, Windows VMs (or in a Windows docker container).
Important cost variables
An estimate for the cost for a basic/medium-sized Delft-FEWS system in the cloud would be around 12k€- 15k€. Many cloud providers offer a "cloud calculator" to calculate, upfront, the expected cost. The estimate differs per Delft-FEWS system.
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