Rejila Beta - On Demand Cloud Servers

Friday, October 30, 2009

MySource Mini CMS goes into the cloud

By Georgina Swan at Computerworld

Australian-owned content management company Squiz has released its MySource Mini content management system (CMS) under the general public license (GPL).

And in a new twist, the CMS is also available for download as a free VMWare image, which means it can now be offered as a cloud application. The company has partnered with cloud platform provider Rejila.

MySource Mini is a spinoff of the MySource Matrix CMS, which is used to power several high profile websites including Sydney Olympic Park, Asia Link, Tropical North Queensland Tourism, the Centennial Parklands Foundation and the Oxford School of Archaeology. It was launched in April this year as an hardware appliance but the VMWare option is designed to make it easier to implement and host.

There is also a pre-paid option for automated updates and maintenance, which follow the RedHat support model. The service costs $5500 per year for commercial users and $275 for personal users.

“Virtualisation allows Squiz to still treat the CMS as an appliance, but we can also offer the worry-free automated maintenance service,” said Squiz managing director, John-Paul Syriatowicz.

Users can download the virtual machine image at mini.squiz.net.

The cloud solution means users will now be able to get up and running in a matter of minutes.

“A new MySource Mini server can be provisioned and deployed in literally minutes,” said Rejila founder, Samuel Yeats. “Costs are also easily controlled starting at just 10 cents per hour, but the power of the cloud means it can be scaled to almost any size immediately.”

Source: http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/324428/mysource_mini_cms_goes_gpl_into_cloud

Monday, October 19, 2009

UltraServe takes library software to the cloud

By Brett Winterford at IT News

Brisbane-based software developer Softlink has signed a deal with hosting company UltraServe to enable its customers to launch an entire new server-based iteration of its software in five minutes.

Softlink, one of Australia’s biggest international software success stories, develops software for libraries, with 10,000 customers in 108 countries using its solutions.

If you have ever searched for a book by author or paid a late fee at your local library, that search or transaction would most likely to have been powered by Softlink’s wares.

Typically, Softlink’s customers either deployed the library catalogue software on an internal server or via a thin/client or web hosted model, which has been on offer since 2003.

Softlink’s director of professional services John Crook said there is a “declining number” of libraries that still “like the idea of running their own servers” and deploying the software in-house.

“For some of these customers, the bottleneck was getting the hardware,” he said. “They would [ask] us what server the software needs and then go through a lengthy provisioning process. It’s not quite an RFT [request for tender], but it can literally be months before they have a server of the correct specifications.”

Softlink’s web hosting partners, by contrast, tend to offer “a new server provisioned within a couple of days”, but from there the library would still need to port the Softlink software and the library’s existing data across to the hosted hardware.

Crook saw an opportunity to speed up the process further via the use of virtualisation technology.

“I was keen and excited to see where cloud computing is going,” he said.

Crook was referred by his virtualisation vendor to hosting company UltraServe, whose Rejila cloud computing environment caught much of the Australian market by surprise when it launched in May.

Rejila offers a web interface for customers to remotely spin up virtual servers housed within the UltaServe data centre to custom specifications.

Crook said UltraServe had developed a cloud-based image of Softlink’s software within days, which can now be replicated such that a customer can “have a Softlink server up and running in five minutes.”

Crook said Softlink can now offer its customers the choice of hosting the software on their own servers, over the web from a standard dedicated hosting provider or provisioned by UltraServe’s Rejila cloud compute model.

He said the cloud computing alternative “is about taking away the customer’s pain. It creates a one-stop-shop - you don’t need any IT guys or to train them up in configuring the software.”

The software developer is also using the Rejila service for its own internal purposes.

“When we want to do a sales demo with a customer, the beautiful thing is that you can press a button and have a service deployed in minutes. You can play with it and move all the data around and shut it down again when you’re done. Now that’s cost you only 40 cents. And when you need to do a new sales demo, you have a clean system ready to go.”

The cloud service is also being used for training customers how to use Softlink’s products, he said.

Source: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/158506,ultraserve-takes-library-software-to-the-cloud.aspx

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Use the new API to control your cloud computing servers

Rejila Cloud Computing will soon be publically releasing its restful HTTP API providing real time provisioning and control of Rejila services. The API will enable customers to create a new server to expand your virtual data centre or control your existing cloud servers.

While the Rejila drag and drop web interface is an easy way to work with your cloud servers, an API allows you to take advantage of one of the key features of cloud computing - automation. Gain flexibility in your IT infrastructure by developing applications that can scale to your needs. An ideal way to take better advantage of utility style billing.

Current Rejila beta users will be able to use the API in the next few weeks. Documentation will be delivered through myRejila.

What the API allows you to do

The API is going to offer you all the powerful features of the Web Interface

Provisioning

• Create a VDC (virtual data centre)
• Create a Server (Linux or Windows)
• Create a Load Balancer

Control

• Start/Stop a Server/Load balancer
• Reset/Restart a Server
• Delete a Server/Load balancer

Also with a general set of functions that allow for discovery of all your available resources and services.

• List your current VDC’s
• List your current Servers/Load balancers
• Get the currently available Infrastructure configs

Future API enhancements

Monitor

Monitor your data centers in real time and get an idea of your compute, store and network requirements, allowing you to better evaluate your needs.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Rejila provides Zeus load balancing functionality

In the news: NEWSWIRE:
Rejila - Australian Cloud Computing partners with Zeus

Zeus provides the technical expertise that Ultra Serve needed to deliver an exciting Cloud Computing platform on time.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – 16 June 2009 – Zeus Technology, the only software-based application traffic management company, today announced that it has partnered with Ultra Serve to deliver load balancing services to the first Australian Cloud infrastructure platform provider “Rejila”.

Rejila’s parent company Ultra Serve Managed Hosting, already uses the Zeus Extensible Traffic Manager (ZXTM) for its enterprise grade managed hosting services. Ultra Serve therefore knew that unlike many of the hardware based load balancing solutions, Zeus pure software, would lend itself naturally to the Cloud environment.

“Zeus can be instantly added into a Rejila Cloud server cluster through a web based drag and drop interface,” says Samuel Yeats, CEO, Ultra Serve. “Flexibiliy was a key requirement that is met by the Zeus extensive application programming interface (API), allowing Rejila to scale and meet clients changing requirements. The technical expertise and support provided by Zeus, has allowed us to deliver an exciting Cloud Computing platform on time.”

“Cloud Computing is becoming a reliable and affordable reality for organisations of all sizes across the world. Proprietary hardware simply cannot meet the dynamic needs of these Cloud vendors in a cost-effective manner. By working with Rejila, we can now offer their customers powerful application traffic management services – something that will continue to accelerate adoption of Cloud Computing in the very near future,” said Paul Brennen, CEO, Zeus Technology.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Australia’s First Cloud Infrastructure Platform launched

Sydney, Australia, 28 May 2009 Ultra Serve successfully launches a new infrastructure beta cloud computing platform Rejila at CeBit. “Cloud computing has quickly risen as a flexible and scalable hosting solution that is both cost effective and environmentally responsible” says Samuel Yeats CEO of Ultra Serve. Cloud computing allows the sharing of a large pool of computing resources such as processor time, RAM and storage. Users can dynamically change their share of these resources depending on their needs at that time. “At CeBit we received at lot of interest and positive comments about Rejila. We are excited to launch this Australian first” Samuel stated.

Rejila cloud users can create server instances by using a drag and drop web based interface. Hosted in Australia, the Rejila cloud allows businesses to build their own virtual data centre. Users develop their platform and applications to be hosted on the highly resilient and flexible Rejila infrastructure. Ideally suited to uses where there are changing demands such as a temporary burst of content distribution or a quickly growing service. Potential users of this new service include web developers who build a testing environment for their development cycle or even those with managed servers who need a temporary burst into more resources for a specific event.

Cloud computing is regarded a being a green hosting solution as less hardware is sitting idle. Users can grow (or shrink) their resources on demand. “Dynamic and scalable hosting is becoming important to our clients” Samuel states. “We believe Rejila provides a more agile option for those with variable hosting needs.”

Cloud computing operates on a completely different hosting model with no contracts and a pay by the hour pricing structure. With no entry costs it’s accessible for small to medium businesses with existing infrastructure. Hardware, software and maintenance is completely managed by Ultra Serve giving a reliable and scalable service. The Rejila cloud has been developed in Australia and is built on a CISCO network. Using VMware for virtualisation and Zeus load balancers Rejila is an exciting new hosting option for businesses in Australia.