Cloud Computing Bootcamp

Join CohesiveFT for world's first-ever full one-day, totally immersive Cloud Computing Bootcamp this afternoon at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, CA.

If you are already attending the SYS-CON cloud, virtualization and SOA events, your Golden Pass or Expo Plus pass will secure entry to the bootcamp. Patrick Kerpan will present during the Cloud Management Tools session from 2:30-3:30 pm. (He promises no "three miles up, three miles down" requirement to get your cloud wings).

If you want to meet up in San Jose earlier today, reach out via Twitter (@elasticserver), leave your comment below, or email us. We'll see you there!

Goat Alert: Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex Sighting Inside Elastic Server

It seems like only a few weeks ago, we announced the inclusion of Ubuntu 8.04LTS (Hardy Heron) in Elastic Server. Now, Ubuntu 8.10, the Intrepid Ibex, joins its other operating system brethren (and sistren?) inside the bustling Elastic Server factory. This latest release brings along support for Amazon EC2 large, extra-large and high-CPU AMI formats, so if your servers call for more RAM and CPUs, we've got you covered.

The beauty of the Elastic Server platform approach to custom stack creation is that users can easily point-and-click their way to the stack of their choice. Testing and deploying to the cloud has never been easier. Behold the simple interface for creating your custom stack.

Free Intrepid Ibex Sightings
To quickly locate Ubuntu-ready bundles, go to the Bundle Explorer and search for Ubuntu 8.10 or Ubuntu 8.04LTS. These tags indicate that the specific bundle has been tested and approved for use in your Elastic Server. If your favorite bundle isn't Ubuntu-ready yet, you can push your component to the top of the list by posting a request to our support forums (be sure to include a link to your bundle). We add new bundles on a regular basis and we even give props when we run across cool uses of the platform. See you in the factory!

Ubuntu and Canonical are registered trademarks of Canonical Ltd. No Ibexes were harmed in the making of this announcement.

Guest Post: Generic Phusion Passenger Server

The following is a guest post from Elastic Server customer Robert Brook of Millbank Systems, a small, informal group working within the UK Parliamentary Service. The original post can be found on the Millbank blog.

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Generic Phusion Passenger Server

As part of the Find Your MP project, a member of our team created a Generic Phusion Passenger Server VMWare virtual machine instance at Elastic Server. Don’t worry if none of that made sense.

What this means is: we use Elastic Server’s - er - service to create servers for local and cloud deployment. We use them in testing, development and production. We’re happy with what Elastic Server provides for us. Very happy. We’re even happier about the price.

We aim to release as much of our work as we legally can, which means practically all of it. This now includes parts of our infrastructure, released so others can build on it.

Why didn’t we just use Elastic Server’s default Passenger build? We tried it, but it didn’t do all we wanted exactly the way we wanted it to. We were able to tweak and build our own version and make that available publicly. Wins all round!

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The Elastic Server platform gives you the freedom to assemble the custom stack you want. This fine bundle has been added to our official Rails site, so anyone can include it in their assemblies (yes, even you!) Do you have an Elastic Server story to share? Drop us a note so we can shamelessly promote your excellent work!

CloudCamping in the U.S. and Across the Pond

This week, various members of the CohesiveFT contingent will be attending CloudCamps far and wide. Look for Phil at CloudCamp Federal in Washington DC, Wednesday, November 12, 2008 from 3:00 PM - 7:30 PM ET (only 6 tickets left as of this post!) Phil will be on hand to answer questions about our latest cloud security offering, VPN-Cubed, as well as provide demonstrations of our automated Elastic Server factory, the industry's first real-time assembly plant for custom stack creation and deployment. Send us an email to schedule time to meet with Phil. To make identification easier, we're including this lovely picture of Phil. Doesn't he look friendly and approachable?

On Thursday, November 13, 2008 from 6:30 PM - 10:00 PM GMT, our UK crew will be at CloudCamp London (only 12 tickets left as of this post!) Be sure to check out the Lightning Talk, Cloud ftw with CohesiveFT's Alexis Richardson and Adil Mohammed from Entrip. Email us to coordinate time to meet with the London team.

Join us for a Cloud Portability and Security Webinar on 11/18

CohesiveFT and our partner, GigaSpaces, invite you to a free webinar titled, Cloud Enablement with Security and Control. We'll cover the benefits of cloud-enabling your applications and IT infrastructure, as well as make the cloud relevant for a variety of data-intensive transactional applications. The presentation will include a live demo showing you how to spread your application across multiple clouds while maintaining a "single-cloud" and application control. Yowza!

WHEN: November 18, 2008, 1:00 PM EDT.

REGISTER: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/593992249

COST: 1 hour of your time

You may also want to prepare your buzzword bingo card because we're going to cover all of the topics that are top of mind at your organization including security, control, and portability. Specifically, the webinar will cover:

• Connecting multiple clouds – cloudstorming
• Seamlessly scale applications in the cloud on-demand to handle unexpected peaks
• Customer-controlled security for the cloud
• Cross-cloud failover
• Hybrid solutions between private data center and clouds

Space is limited, so please sign up as soon as you finish reading the last sentence of this post. Register at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/593992249

Questions? Post them below in the comments. We hope to see you at the webinar!

Vote for Virtualization on November 4th

UPDATE: You can now watch the pre-recorded version of this presentation.
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Our in-house elected official, Patrick Kerpan, has been invited to present at Silicon Valley Watcher's Virtualization Summit tomorrow, November 4, 2008. Tune in at 10 a.m. (CDT) to Patrick's session titled, "The Rise of the Small: How virtualization and the cloud will power the Internet of "things."

Tomorrow's Virtualization Summit will feature a variety of speakers including Sun Microsystems, Interphase Systems and HP, to name a few. Tom Foremski of Silicon Valley Watcher fame will moderate a Q&A session during the live webcast. And, unlike tomorrow's U.S. election, it's not too late to register.

The webcast is hosted by BrightTALK. You can watch these free presentations from the comfort of your browser (or mobile device, if you happen to be standing in line at the U.S. polls). We also plan to live-stream Pat's session on our website. Take control of your IT future this Election Day. Register now!