Cloud Management Platforms

Cloud Management Platform - CMPs provide a means for a cloud service consumers to manage the deployment and operation of applications and associated datasets across multiple cloud service infrastructures, including both on-premises cloud infrastructure and public cloud service provider infrastructure. In other words, CMPs provide management capabilities for hybrid cloud environments. Hybrid cloud adoption has expanded the role of IT operations and created a demand for adaptable management tools capable of supporting the complexity of hybrid cloud deployments.

The CMP plays an essential role to simplify management, enable visibility and optimize utilization of resources in a multi-cloud environment. The intent of this section is to highlight the core functional capabilities needed to achieve this goal. These core capabilities are represented by four categories: General; Service Management; Financial Management, Resource Management, Governance and Security. Effective and efficient management of hybrid cloud environments require rich CMP capability in each area.

• General Services - A flexible foundation is needed to enable integration, provide for self-service and give feedback to users. The capabilities needed to establish foundation include: Portal, Service Catalog and Analytics and Reporting

• Service Management: The intent of service management is to simplify service requests and manage resources to ensure business service levels are achieved. Service Management Capabilities include: Service Level Management, Service Monitoring and Capacity Monitoring.

• Financial Management - Automating cloud resource consumption tracking and spend is a critical CMP capability. Accurate, real-time analysis and reporting along with predictive analytics is required to contain cost. Financial capability includes: Metering, Cost allocation, Chargeback / Showback, Invoicing and Forecasting.

• Resource Management - A CMP must provide visibility to cloud resource management of virtual resources (application, server, storage, and network) and deliver services on-demand when needed. The capabilities needed to effectively and efficiently manage resources include: Discovery, Tagging, Provisioning/De-provisioning, Orchestration, Cloud-to-Cloud Migration.

• Governance - Hybrid cloud services must be managed in accordance with organization policies. Governance capabilities include: Policy-based Management and Compliance.

• Security - Security of hybrid cloud services must be managed in accordance with company policies. Security capabilities include: Encryption Management and Identity and Access Management.