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The Magic Number 5 | April 2017

The Magic Number 5Why Cloud Applications Require an

Always-On Data Platform

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CONTENTSWelcome to the Cloud � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4

How Cloud Applications Were Born � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 4

The Data Layer and Why It’s Important for Cloud Applications � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 5

The 5 Characteristics of Cloud Applications � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 6

DataStax Enterprise: Managing Data for Cloud Applications � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 7

Zero Downtime 7Multi Modes 8Security 8Search 8Analytics 8OpsCenter 8

Goodbye, Cloud� Hello… What? � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 9

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WELCOME TO THE CLOUDIt’s 2017; the iPhone is ten years old, as is Amazon Web Services� The past decade has been a blur of constant and rapid technology evolution fueled by a dizzying array of applications designed to make our lives more convenient�

Whether it’s for buying groceries or selling software, we expect these applications to perform a certain way all the time, and when they don’t, we get frustrated�

Welcome to the era of cloud applications�

In this eBook, we’ll take a look at how we got here, why data plays such an important role in making cloud applications work correctly, and why DataStax is the ideal solution for powerful applications that are contextual, always on, real time, distributed, and scalable�

HOW CLOUD APPLICATIONS WERE BORNLike any “revolutionary” technology, the advent of cloud applications really comes down to a series of prior inventions:

The invention of computers in the 1940s

The invention of the personal computer by IBM in the 1980s

The invention of the world wide web by English scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989

The invention of “Software as a Service” by Salesforce in 1999

The invention of Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) web service in 2006

And the invention of the iPhone in 2007

About 35 years ago PCs exploded onto the scene and shortly thereafter started to connect to the newly invented world wide web, making advances like web-based email possible�

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These internet-based applications were the precursors of today’s cloud applications, and their architecture used the “client-server” model:

1� Client – usually a personal computer

2� Server – usually a high-powered network computer

3� Network – whatever is needed to connect the client to the server

In 1999, Salesforce introduced the first true “Software as a Service” (SaaS) in the form of an enterprise CRM, which allowed companies to use software on a subscription basis rather than having to pay costly software licenses and annual maintenance fees�

In 2006 Amazon introduced the Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) – a service designed to make web-scale cloud computing easy for developers� With EC2, developers could use Amazon’s infrastructure to build applications, thus creating the first “public” cloud.

Just one year later Apple gave us a new and ubiquitous way to connect to applications: the iPhone� Smartphones evolved quickly and soon enough you could use them to take, upload and share photos, watch movies, shoot movies, stream music, make music, do your expenses, and access your CRM, among many other things, all while sitting on a beach�

Users could access their applications from anywhere and were using these applications for everything�

And thus, cloud applications were born�

THE DATA LAYER AND WHY IT’S IMPORTANT FOR CLOUD APPLICATIONSDuring the client-server era, as with now, people (and machines) needed a way to store and manage data� Take any customer relationship management (CRM) application – if it can’t store and retrieve customer-related data such as account name holder, company name, address, and activity, it’s useless�

Relational database management systems were perfect for managing data from these types of applications because the data was highly structured and static, and the query language relational database management systems used to manage the data, SQL (structured query language), was easy to learn�

For legacy applications, data can reside on a single server and scale up simply by adding more servers, and that’s exactly the way it was done for a long time�

But when the cloud era began, architects and developers had to start doing un-natural things with the relational model to be able to distribute the data�

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They had to break the model to partition the data into smaller chunks and shard them across servers to spread the load� They also found that there were new types of data coming in – unstructured data from social media data which did not fit into the relational model.

Thus, a new type of database was required for these new cloud applications and their new distributed data demands�

These new “NoSQL” (not only SQL) databases started springing up everywhere and used a variety of data models, including key/value, document, graph, and columns�

By 2012 the competition began to shake out into NoSQL winners and losers, and Apache Cassandra established itself as the go to open-source database for scale-out, distributed applications� It would go on to be shepherded and developed for enterprises by DataStax�

THE 5 CHARACTERISTICS OF CLOUD APPLICATIONSCloud applications need to be able to operate at a global scale� Wherever they are in the world, users expect the application to be available and responsive at all times as long as they have a functional web connection�

This puts a lot of strain on the application, but even more strain on the database layer supporting the application, which is responsible for reading and writing data instantaneously and scaling to millions of globally distributed users�

That’s why cloud applications are responsible for the advent of NoSQL databases and the need for powerful database management solutions� To perform well, they need to be:

Contextual - To provide the best user experience possible, applications need to provide contextually relevant data� This can include things like a nearest location, a previous order at a restaurant, insight into customer buying patterns, recommendations for a movie to watch, and on and on – the possibilities are endless�

Always On - It wasn’t that long ago that companies could schedule downtime to update applications� But nowadays, if an application isn’t available when a user wants to access it, or if it is down completely, then the company is losing customers and risking its entire brand and reputation� In this era of cloud applications, downtime simply is not an option� The applications must be continually updated, which also means rolling updates to the data management layer with no planned downtime�

Real-Time - Users expect a certain level of performance from the applications they use, and if they don’t operate at real-time speeds, the effect on the user is similar to the application being unavailable. Frustration levels rise, and customers begin to look elsewhere�

Distributed - The application is distributed across many servers in multiple locations, allowing its users to access it from any geographic location and ensuring very fast response times�

Scalable - Today, user volumes can expand almost instantly� If a program goes viral, the company, which may have planned for one hundred thousand customers, suddenly finds it has over a million. While this may be an enviable position to be in, it can also be extremely dangerous to companies unable to scale their applications to support all the new users� In this scenario, the application and data management layer must be able to scale instantly�

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These are the 5 characteristics of high-performing cloud applications� These are the traits that make up the apps you probably use on almost a daily basis – apps that make your life easier in so many ways�

But without a powerful data layer, cloud applications couldn’t perform the way they do�

DATASTAX ENTERPRISE: MANAGING DATA FOR CLOUD APPLICATIONSAs noted above, cloud applications rely on data to make them contextually relevant, and they must also be available and responsive, which means that the data management platform must be an enabler of these characteristics�

DataStax Enterprise, built on Apache Cassandra, is architected to provide contextual data, and to be always-on, real time, distributed, and scalable. It has an elegant flexible architecture which makes it easy to scale across data centers to distribute the data, and place it close to a cloud application’s end users�

Cloud applications consume data via a variety of different access patterns, and this has historically required using several different databases, one for each access method. The complexity created by stitching together multiple systems makes it difficult and costly to maintain or develop new functionality.

That’s why DataStax Enterprise exists, and here’s what it brings to the table�

Zero DowntimeEvery month there’s a new headline about a datacenter going down�

The fact is that hardware failures can and will occur, so architects need to ensure their data management layer has a built-in failsafe, a distributed architecture with no single points of failure and redundancy of both functionality and data�

To support the distributed and always-on nature of cloud applications, DataStax Enterprise uses advanced replication, which is specifically designed to support microservice deployments such as local retail analytics and to tolerate sporadic connectivity that can occur in constrained environments, such oil-and-gas remote sites and cruise ships�

In these environments, customers need the ability to flexibly deploy a multi-directional replication system that allows them to strategically manage and prioritize data in order to make the best use of resources and limited bandwidth� Additionally, when connectivity is lost, data must be stored at the edge so that when connectivity is restored, replication resumes and no data is lost�

With data replication, if one or more database servers or ‘nodes’ goes down, the other nodes in the system are able to continue with operations without data loss, thereby providing true fault tolerance� In this way, the data management layer can provide continuous availability whether in single locations, across data centers, or in the cloud�

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Multi ModesDataStax Enterprise employs a powerful, multi-modal platform with support for key-value, tabular, document (JSON) and graph� This capability allows architects to write data to a single solution and access it using a variety of methods based on the needs of the application� The addition of graph capabilities is particularly powerful as it can be used for managing and querying data that is complex and highly connected. It makes it effortless to find commonalities or abnormalities and unlock the value in data relationships�

SecurityEnterprises increasingly expect mature security functionality in any platform that they are going to widely deploy in the enterprise to power cloud applications� DataStax Enterprise provides the tools necessary for stringent HIPAA, PCI and SOX compliance requirements� This functionality includes support for industry-standard authentication mechanisms, role-based authentication, user activity auditing, and end-to-end encryption�

SearchMost cloud applications need to provide a way to search the data, and DataStax Enterprise is the only commercial search solution that can scale for the needs of enterprises today� DSE Search intelligently partitions data across the cluster to avoid hot spots, evenly distribute load, and route queries to provide the responsiveness that a cloud application requires�

AnalyticsAs noted earlier, cloud applications need to be contextual to be effective, and to do this their data platforms need to use best-of-breed data analytics� Fast analysis of transactional data is another big advantage of DataStax Enterprise� DSE Analytics makes it easy to generate ad-hoc reports, target customers with advanced personalization, and process real-time streams of data to create intelligent cloud applications�

OpsCenterDevops teams want to get their cloud applications to market as quickly as possible and don’t want to have to spend time managing the data platform� DataStax OpsCenter is a browser-based, visual management and monitoring solution for DataStax Enterprise. OpsCenter provides architects, database administrators, and operations staff with the tools necessary to intelligently and proactively ensure their databases are running well and that administrative tasks are simplified so IT staff can concentrate on things other than babysitting their database systems.

All of these added features set DataStax Enterprise apart from the Cassandra base and make it a powerful tool for enterprises� But no technology survives without adapting, and DataStax is constantly evolving to match the evolution of data itself�

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GOODBYE, CLOUD. HELLO… WHAT?In client-server era not many people could have imagined the cloud, and now, in the cloud era, it’s hard to see exactly what’s coming next� But with all devices becoming “smart”, via sensors and network connections, it’s clear we’re headed for connectivity at a massive global scale – not just between people but things�

In a way, the Internet of Things is the new cloud� Applications are becoming far more powerful with their connections to objects, and this is creating a huge opportunity when it comes to data and understanding the behaviors and preferences of B2B and B2C customers�

Enterprises have a big challenge ahead of them: corralling this avalanche of data into useful, actionable insights they can use to understand their customers at a granular level, create targeted marketing promotions and product introductions or enhancements, and prevent fraud and identity theft�

DataStax Enterprise, offering the best distribution of Apache Cassandra, is building out in the direction of customer experience – using its powerful platform to capture and capitalize on every moment and allow companies to provide personalized experiences via their customer-facing cloud applications� The data layer is the key� The PC is still here, but data management has evolved with it, and the time to invest in powerful data management is now, before the next revolution leaves you in the dust�

DataStax is the best distribution of Apache Cassandra� But what does that mean, exactly? Click here to learn more�

The Magic Number 5

About DataStax

It starts with a human desire, and when a universe of technology, devices and data aligns, it ends in a moment of fulfillment and insight. Billions of these moments occur each second around the globe. They are moments that can define an era, launch an innovation, and forever alter for the better how we relate to our environment� DataStax is the power behind the moment� Built on the unique architecture of Apache Cassandra™, DataStax Enterprise is the always-on data platform and has been battle-tested for the world’s most innovative, global applications�

With more than 500 customers in over 50 countries, DataStax provide data management to the world’s most innovative companies, such as Netflix, Safeway, ING, Adobe, Intuit and eBay. Based in Santa Clara, Calif., DataStax is backed by industry-leading investors including Comcast Ventures, Crosslink Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Meritech Capital, Premji Invest and Scale Venture Partners� For more information, visit DataStax�com/customers or follow us on @DataStax�