are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (csedu 2012)

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ARE CLOUD ENABLED VIRTUAL LABS ECONOMICAL? A Case Study Analyzing Cloud Based Virtual Labs for Educational Purposes Nane Kratzke 1 Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems

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Cost efficiency is an often mentioned strength of cloud computing. In times of decreasing educational budgets virtual labs provided by cloud computing might be an interesting alternative for higher education organizations or IT training facilities. This contribution analyzes the cost advantage of virtual educational labs provided via cloud computing means and compare these costs to costs of classical ed- ucational labs provided in a dedicated manner. This contribution develops a four step decision making model which might be interesting for colleges, universities or other IT training facilities planning to implement cloud based training facilities. Furthermore this contribution provides interesting findings when cloud computing has economical advantages in education and when not. The developed four step decision making model of general IaaS applicability can be used to find out whether an IaaS cloud based virtual IT lab approach is more cost efficient than a dedicated approach.

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Page 1: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

ARE CLOUD ENABLED VIRTUAL LABS ECONOMICAL?

A Case Study Analyzing Cloud Based Virtual Labs for Educational Purposes

Nane Kratzke

1 Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems

Page 2: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

The next 25 minutes are about ...

•  Definition of virtual labs

•  Analyzed use case •  Some use case specific findings about costs •  Some use case specific findings about resource usage

•  Decision making is not always obvious => How to decide?

•  Findings and advices •  Establishing virtual labs •  Is the concept transferable? •  Advices for practical courses •  Pragmatic rules for cost control

•  Conclusion and outlook

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 2

Page 3: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

What is a virtual lab (definition)

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 3

A Virtual Lab is a collection of compute, storage and networking resources provided by an educational organization for educational or research purposes.

It can be provided to a single or a small group of students.

Provided resources are available for

•  short-term use,

•  accessible via internet and

•  are billed by actual resource consumption.

Page 4: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Analyzed use case

•  Web technology lecture/practical course for 49 computer science students (bachelor) in summer 2011.

•  Project 1: Website for a scientific conference on robotic sailing •  Project 2: Google map based automatic sailbot tracking service •  All groups were assigned cloud service accounts provided by Amazon

Web Services (AWS). •  Analysis of billing as well as usage data provided by AWS.

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 4

Page 5: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Cost analysis

5 Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems

Total costs: 846.99 $

Total students: 49

Cost per student: 17.28 $ CW 13 CW 14 – CW 17 CW 18 – CW 21 CW 22 – CW 25

(A)Costs per Month (aligned to Weeks)

Calendar Weeks (CW)

Cos

ts in

US

D

0100

200

300

400

500

instancehour (62%)

datastorage (34%)

adressing (3%)datatransfer (0%)

(B)Main Cost Drivers

B 1 (5%)

B 2 (7%)

B 3 (7%)B 4 (4%)B 5 (6%)

A 1 (10%)

A 2 (31%)

A 3 (10%)

A 4 (19%)

(C)Costresponsibilty of Groups

(D) Histogram of Costs per Group

Cost Ranges in USD

# G

roup

s

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

01

23

4

Main identified cost drivers:

(1)  Server uptime (2/3)

(2)  Data storage (1/3)

Page 6: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Server Usage Analysis

6 Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Average Box UsageMaximum Box Usage in an hour

(A)Maximum and Average Box Usage

Calendar Week

Use

d S

erve

r Box

es

010

2030

4050

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

(B)Accumulated Processing Hours per Week

Calendar Week

Pro

cess

ing

Hou

rs

0500

1000

1500

2000

14 16 18 20 22 24

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

(C)Average Box to Maximum Box Ratio

according to Weinman

Calendar Week

Avg

to M

ax B

ox U

sage

Rat

io

Training

Project 24x7 Migration

Page 7: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Average to Peak Ratio per Week

7 Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Average Box UsageMaximum Box Usage in an hour

(A)Maximum and Average Box Usage

Calendar Week

Use

d S

erve

r Box

es

010

2030

4050

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

(B)Accumulated Processing Hours per Week

Calendar WeekP

roce

ssin

g H

ours

0500

1000

1500

2000

14 16 18 20 22 24

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

(C)Average Box to Maximum Box Ratio

according to Weinman

Calendar Week

Avg

to M

ax B

ox U

sage

Rat

io

Cloud computing is economical reasonable

Cloud computing might be reasonable

Cloud computing is economical not reasonable

Page 8: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Economical Decision Analysis A four step process to decide for or against cloud based virtual labs

Determine your atp ratio

Determine your dedicated costs

Determine your maximal cloud costs

Determine appropriate cloud ressources

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 8

Max instances: 49

Processing hours: 7612

Average: 7612 / (26 * 7 * 24) = 1.74

Overall atp ratio: 1.74 / 49 = 0.035

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Average Box UsageMaximum Box Usage in an hour

(A)Maximum and Average Box Usage

Calendar Week

Use

d S

erve

r Box

es

010

2030

4050

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

(B)Accumulated Processing Hours per Week

Calendar Week

Pro

cess

ing

Hou

rs

0500

1000

1500

2000

14 16 18 20 22 24

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

(C)Average Box to Maximum Box Ratio

according to Weinman

Calendar Week

Avg

to M

ax B

ox U

sage

Rat

io

Page 9: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Economical Decision Analysis A four step process to decide for or against cloud based virtual labs

Determine your atp ratio

Determine your dedicated costs

Determine your maximal cloud costs

Determine appropriate cloud ressources

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 9

Example Server: 500 US Dollar Amortization: 3 years

!

d3years(500$) =500$

3• 365 • 24h= 0.019$ h

„In other words, even if cloud services cost, say, twice as much, a pure cloud solution makes sense for those demand curves where the peak-to-average ratio is two-to-one or higher.“ Weinman, Mathematical Proof of the Inevitability of Cloud Computing, 2011

Page 10: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Economical Decision Analysis A four step process to decide for or against cloud based virtual labs

Determine your atp ratio

Determine your dedicated costs

Determine your maximal cloud costs

Determine appropriate cloud ressources

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 10

!

cMax =0.019$ h0.035

= 0.54 $h

According to Weinman the peak-to-average ratio should be greater than the ratio between the variable costs c and your (assumed) dedicated costs d:

Page 11: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Economical Decision Analysis A four step process to decide for or against cloud based virtual labs

Determine your atp ratio

Determine your dedicated costs

Determine your maximal cloud costs

Determine appropriate cloud ressources

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 11

!

cMax =0.019$ h0.035

" 0.54 $h

Exam

ple:

Am

azon

Web

Ser

vice

s EC

2-Pr

icin

gs fo

r EU

regi

on, 1

9th

Mar

ch, 2

012

Page 12: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Economical Decision Analysis A four step process to decide for or against cloud based virtual labs

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 12

A virtual lab provides a more than 25 times cost advantage.

The measured ATP ratio of 0.035 means in fact a 1/0.035 == 28.57 times cost advantage.

This means for the presented use case:

Compared to necessary investment efforts for a classical dedicated lab.

Page 13: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

General Advices for Implementing Virtual Labs

•  Use your first run to determine the ATP ratio (and make a profound decision pro or contra virtual labs) #1

•  Initial training phase (may be even an virtual lab training course) #2

•  Cloud computing gives flexibility. Use it! No presence is required (after initial training) #3

•  Watch your costs and establish a cost awareness #4

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 13

Page 14: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Mindkeeping cost control rules for students

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 14

motivation rule

Page 15: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Conclusions

•  Cloud computing loves peak load scenarios (be happy) •  25 times cost advantage (analyzed use case)

•  Cloud generated costs are use case specific (be carefull) •  Decision making must not be obvious •  Four step decision making model (to determine your ATP ratio)

•  Main cost drivers are (try to minimize) •  Server uptime •  Data storage (server volumes)

•  Uneconomical use cases (try to avoid) •  24x7 and •  constant loads

•  It is likely that cloud based virtual labs might be an economical option for several practical courses, but ...

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 15

Page 16: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Outlook

•  Provided cloud management tools are not designed for educational purposes so far •  Missing multi account handling •  Missing cross region handling •  Missing comfortable batch processing of

recurring administrational tasks

•  Our focus: Management software to set up and manage virtual labs •  Reduce administrational efforts for teachers •  Automatic average to peak ratio calculation •  Decision support by analysing generated

usage as well as cost data •  Mobile access via tablets/smartphones ...

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 16

Page 17: Are cloud based virtual labs cost effective? (CSEDU 2012)

Thank you for listening

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems 17

Prof. Dr. Nane Kratzke Computer Science and Business Information Systems Lübeck University of Applied Sciences Mönkhofer Weg 239 23562 Lübeck Germany

Mail: [email protected]

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