How true are those scenarios though? As soon as part of the workload is in the provider cloud things need to change. Application admins and network admins surely have already been enlisted to figure out how the workload applications can function in the provider cloud and still interact with the private cloud. What services does the workload need? How does workload security work? How does workload routing work? How does the hybrid cloud environment impact the workload? How many different cloud provider APIs will need to be leafed? These are only a few of the considerations there can be many more. But what if you could put some or all of your workload in the provider cloud and not have to change anything? What if the layer 2 network could be extended into the provider cloud? Cloud adoption has increased 61% from last year. Yet, 69% of organizations do not have mature cloud strategies in place. According to IDC’s™ global cloud study, the greater the level of cloud maturity, the better the outcomes. This includes increased revenue and more strategic allocation of the IT budget. Cisco™ designed Cisco Intercloud Fabric™ as a native cloud application that enables businesses to securely extend their private cloud and all its process and policies into the public cloud.

With Cisco Intercloud Fabric™, Cisco™ customers have the ability to control this cloud environment through a single pane of glass, moving workloads across and between clouds, all with consistent networking and security policies. We’ve totally simplified the environment between private and public cloud, which allows customers to choose the right cloud for their business requirements, regardless of underlying technologies like hypervisors. Build highly secure hybrid clouds and extend your existing data center to public clouds as needed, on demand, and with consistent network and security policies. With Cisco Intercloud Fabric™, you can do all this and more. Cloud providers can now offer a complete hybrid cloud solution. Differentiate your offering as a premium service and provide a robust set of cloud deployment options. What if the IP addressing of the workload could remain the same? What if the security of the workload could be maintained? What if workloads on different cloud providers could be managed in a homogeneous fashion? What if there was an API for automation of workload life cycle? Hybrid clouds gives you the benefits of a private and public cloud, whether you’re using the private cloud in an enterprise or using IT managed provider clouds. If the workload is completely in the provider cloud, split between the provider cloud and private cloud or completely in the private cloud, it really should make no difference to the workload.

Amazon AWS Deployment

There are two network services that can be deployed in Amazon AWS™, the Intercloud Fabric Router™ and the Cisco Intercloud Fabric Firewall™. The Cisco Intercloud Fabric Router™ is the Cisco CSR1000V™ and the Intercloud Fabric Firewall™ is the Cisco Virtual Services Gateway™. In the Cisco Intercloud Fabric™ documentation you will see the acronyms CSR™ and VSG™ respectively. As the documentation and messaging for Intercloud Fabric™ evolves there will be standardization on the ICF router and ICF firewall acronyms. With the accounts setup and the requirements known, you’re ready to get started and experience all the benefits of hybrid cloud without the hassle. Once you’ve absorbed all you need to know about Cisco Intercloud Fabric™, try it. A 60—day license is available, the license allows Cisco Intercloud Fabric™ the ability to connect to Amazon AWS™ and Microsoft Azure™. Additionally the license allows for deployment of the Cisco Intercloud Fabric Router™ and the Cisco Intercloud Fabric Firewall™.

Cisco Intercloud Fabric

Cisco Intercloud Fabric™ Core Services—the Cisco Intercloud Fabric installation documentation and videos go a long way to get you started, however I wanted to provide a bit more information to help you prepare for Cisco Intercloud Fabric installation, configuration and connection to either Amazon AWS™ or Microsoft Azure™ or both. First you’ll need an account at the cloud provider; the account needs and capabilities are different for each provider. Amazon AWS™—standard Amazon AWS™ account, account policy requirements, full Amazon EC2™ access policy, full Amazon S3™ access policy—if you are going to deploy Microsoft Windows™ images, full Amazon AWS Marketplace™—if you are going to deploy Intercloud Fabric Router, and to deploy the Intercloud Fabric Router (AKA Cisco CRS100V™ in Amazon AWS Market place™ you will need to accept the terms for the image. The CSR image to search for in AWS Marketplace™ is “Cisco Cloud Services Router: CSR 1000V™ — Bring Your Own License (BYOL)”. Microsoft Azure™—standard Microsoft Azure™ Account, Cisco Intercloud Fabric Router™ is not yet deployable in Microsoft Azure™, Cisco Intercloud Fabric Firewall™ is not yet deployable in Microsoft Azure™, download the attached presentation for a step by step guide to getting an Amazon AWS™, Microsoft Azure™ account or Cisco Intercloud Fabric™—Cloud Access Keys™.

Features And Benefits

The Cisco Intercloud Fabric™ release notes detail all the physical and virtual hardware requirements. You will also find the details for which Guest OS versions are supported and any other of the latest caveats related to Intercloud Fabric. Currently Cisco Intercloud Fabric™ infrastructure runs on VMware vSphere 5.1™ (including update 1) and 5.5, an Enterprise Plus license is not needed. The infrastructure is comprised of three virtual appliances. From a networking perspective you’ll need some IP addresses, management IP address and IP address for the networks that will be extended to the provider cloud. For the ICF™ Infrastructure the IP requirement is ICFD—1, PNSC—1, and cVSM—1. Each connection from ICFD to a provider cloud requires the deployment of an Intercloud Extender (ICX) this is a VM that will reside in the VMware™ environment and an Intercloud Fabric Switch (ICS) this is a VM that will be deployed in the provider cloud. These two VMs create the secure tunnel over which layer 2 networking is extended. The ICX/ICS pair (the IcfCloud™) can be provisioned as single VM instances at each end of the layer 2 extension or in an HA mode.