Following HPE’s recent announcement that it plans to acquire Morpheus Data, many users may start evaluating alternatives.
If HPE integrates the Morpheus Data platform into their technology, those who rely on Morpheus Data to provision infrastructure and hybrid cloud environments will face an uncertain future.
This article will help Morpheus Data users understand how Quali’s infrastructure automation and orchestration tools can help them navigate this transition.
Provisioning Infrastructure via Quali’s Tools
Similar to Morpheus Data, Quali’s tools provide self-service access to provision cloud, on-premises, and hybrid infrastructure assets.
For on-premises and cloud infrastructure resources, Quali CloudShell creates reusable automation assets that can be provisioned easily and orchestrated into blueprints for full-stack application environments (more on application environments later in this article).
For those with existing Infrastructure as Code (IaC), configuration management, and other infrastructure automation assets, Quali Torque will discover and normalize these resources so they can be provisioned easily and used to create blueprints for application environments. This includes automation assets defined via Quali CloudShell—providing a control plane for all resources needed to run cloud-native and hybrid environments alike.
Once normalized, both platforms provide self-service to find and provision individual assets via either platform.
Both platforms provide a Netflix-like experience to find and provision the application infrastructure resources.
The provisioning process is designed to eliminate technical nuances that may serve as a barrier for less-experience users. This includes default values for things like infrastructure parameters, security credentials (which are handled centrally and removed from the provisioning step), and cloud tags.
Quali users can typically provision the infrastructure they need in just a few simple clicks—regardless of where the configuration for that infrastructure was initially defined.
Blueprints for Deploying Application Environments & Services
In addition to enabling the provisioning of infrastructure assets, Quali’s tools were designed to make them easy to orchestrate into environment blueprints (which can then be launched through the same experience described for infrastructure assets).
Those with administrator-level permissions to create environment blueprints that can be reused and maintained continuously. Here’s how they differ:
- Quali CloudShell: Find and add any automation asset created in CloudShell to a new environment blueprint by searching, adding, and using CloudShell’s native drag-and-drop functionality to orchestrate dependencies among these assets. This minimizes the manual work needed to orchestrate on-premises and hybrid environments.
- Quali Torque: Access all infrastructure assets discovered from various source-control repositories. While Torque also provides a visual tool for designing an environment, the platform also provides a generative AI interface where those with administrator-level permissions required to create blueprints can submit natural-language prompts describing the environment they need. Torque automatically designs the environment blueprint, allows the user to review and modify directly in the visual design tool, and makes it available to provision immediately.
For a quick look at AI-driven orchestration of environment blueprints, watch this video:
Once complete, administrators can save blueprints, launch the application environment immediately, and add blueprints to the self-service catalog where those with end-user permissions can launch them on-demand (without permissions to modify the blueprint).
Integrations allow users to automate the deployment (for example, as part of their CI/CD pipelines) and operationalize their application environment via GitOps.
Enforcing Cloud Governance Standards
Generally, cloud governance in Morpheus Data is enforced as part of the provisioning process. Administrators can choose to lock down specific parameters regarding application infrastructure and blueprints, which ensures those who are provisioning can’t circumvent the standards set as part of that process.
Quali’s tools apply policies to the deployment of individual resources, whether or not they’re part of a environment blueprint.
For example, Torque administrators can set policies for allowed instance sizes and choose to apply them to specific Spaces, where user access is enforced.
If anyone attempts to provision an instance that exceeds that limit, Torque automatically denies the action until the instance is re-sized in line with the policies.
This ensures that even if an administrator creates a blueprint that violates their standards, no one in the Space can provision it.
Some common examples of cloud governance in Quali Torque includes:
- Maximum Runtimes: As part of the provisioning process, all users can set a “Duration” for each resource and environment they deploy. If admins want to prevent lengthy runtimes, they can set Policies on maximum allowable duration, which will automatically deny an environment if it is scheduled to exceed that limit.
- Maximum Expected Cloud Cost: Similarly, a popular cloud governance policy in Torque is maximum expected cloud costs. Whether the result of oversized resources or excessive runtimes, this ensures that no one can deploy a resource or environment that exceeds a custom cost threshold.
- Approved/Prohibited Cloud Platforms, Resources, or Configurations: This policy prevents shadow IT by allowing users to create and launch environments only with the cloud technologies and configurations that the administrator allows. For example, a common cloud security policy is to only allow private cloud storage for certain teams—thereby preventing a common security risk.
Administrators can also require Approvals for violations of policies. This allows admins to approve ad-hoc violations of policies. The Approvals tab in Torque provides everyone in a Space or Group within Torque (which offer various ways to manage user access) to view the status of an Approval Request and collaborate on them.
Watch this brief demo to learn more about cloud governance with Quali Torque:
Day-2 Actions on Infrastructure & Environments
Quali provides various options to perform Day-2 actions on infrastructure and environments.
Administrators can define actions as code in Torque, which makes them repeatable. These are called Workflows.
Torque executes these Workflows to perform the action on live application infrastructure and environments. This allows users to ensure all resources are configured and operating correctly without the need to pause or restart the environment.
Once Workflows are defined, admins and users have a number of options for executing the actions:
- Ad hoc actions: Via Torque’s native UI, users can initiate a Workflow to execute an action with a single click. The Workflow will appear within the view of a live environment and allows them to click “Execute” to initiate.
- Event- based actions: Administrators can also set event-based triggers to automate the action defined in a Workflow. For example, admins can trigger a Workflow as soon as an environment is launched, terminated, or experiences an error. This eliminates the need for manual intervention in response to an event.
- Recurring schedules for actions: Torque Workflows can also be executed based on cron jobs. For example, a basic (but popular) Workflow is to automatically power-on all VMs for a team that runs short-term environments at the beginning of the workday, then automatically power-off all those VMs at the same time every evening.
Quali Torque also provides a view of all Workflow Executions, so users can review the execution of the actual action and understand how it performed.
For a closer look at Day-2 actions via Quali Torque, watch this brief demo:
Reporting on Activity, Performance, & Cloud Costs
Morpheus Data reports are infrastructure-centric, which is to say that they focus on the performance and costs of individual assets.
Since Quali Torque oversees the operation of all cloud resources, the platform can track performance and costs for those resources as well—but also provide a view based on the users who initiated those deployments, the teams they work on, and the business function that the resources support.
For example, Torque reports can show all resources that encountered an error when provisioning, then allow users to quickly view the users and teams responsible for them.
The same can be said for cloud costs. Torque provides various out-of-the-box reports showing cloud cost by cloud platform and environment blueprint, as well as by Space (e.g. teams) and users.
This provides the context to make decisions faster and more easily.
Cloud Cost Optimization
Morpheus Data provides all the options available when launching a cloud resource, as well as the associated cost for each, to help inform cloud cost decisions. The platform can also set limits on the resources selected as part of deployment.
Torque provides similar cost estimates, and enforces cloud cost controls as part of the Policies (as described in the section above).
Torque also identifies idle cloud resources and calculates the wasted costs associated with them.
Every hour, Torque reviews all actively deployed resources to determine whether they’re being used to support an active workload. If they’re not, Torque flags them as “Inactive” and adds them to a report showing the exact resource, owner, and the associated cloud costs.
This allows Torque administrators to prioritize their biggest potential sources of waste, consult with the resource owner to understand its purpose, and terminate it to cut the unnecessary cost without disrupting operations.
Quali’s tools can provide an easy transition for Morpheus Data users, while providing advanced functionality to improve productivity and efficiency in the operation of cloud infrastructure.
To learn more, book a demo with our team today.