Today marks the official release of CA AppLogic version 3.0.  Click here for the official press release.

We’ve been part of the beta users group for many weeks now, not to mention having our hand in a few other areas of it’s development.  It’s been a lot of fun being at the forefront of a major version release, in some cases it’s been a lot of work as well.  We’ve put in over 200 documented man hours in one particular area. Having said that though, the amount of knowledge that we’ve gained is immeasurable and will continue to benefit our client base for the foreseeable future.

CA AppLogic 3.0 has some major functionality changes in it.  The first is the Backbone Fabric Controller, which replaces the ALDO for distribution, grid setup and patch / hotfix maintenance.  The BFC is all GUI driven now, it allows you to manage multiple grids as well as power management for the grid servers, if the servers have it available that is.  The BFC has a lot of power and holds a lot of promise, it’s really pretty amazing to watch in action.

The four major areas of improvement that will benefit Cirrhus9 clients in the most positive way are 1) VLAN support 2) Role Based Access Control (RBAC) 3) Bandwidth metering and 4) Support for the VMware Hypervisor.

VLAN tagging will allow Cirrhus9 to basically build true multi-tenant  grids for our MSP clients.  This will give them the flexibility to have a single grid that has truly segregated clients on it as opposed to having multiple grids for each one.  It will also allow for easier system administration per client and geographically disperse data centers for the same overall grid.

RBAC is another nice feature of CA AppLogic 3.0.  We can provide access to a Business Service or object (application template, application instance, catalog or grid) based on requirements instead of having everything wide open for all system administrators.  This will be a particularly nice function for any government clients, where security and privacy is essential.  RBAC also allows integration with LDAP servers and you can create customized roles as needed.

The really cool thing I’m excited about is the Bandwidth metering.   I like the flexibility that this option gives us now because we can have several billing models, if we choose to.  Tiered billing can be in place for high consumption users while fixed billing options can be provided to clients that have set requirements that don’t vary much.    There’s going to be a pretty good sized shift in our billing models to accompany this but, in the end it will be well worth it.

The VMware support enables CA AppLogic 3.0 to run with more than one hypervisor within a grid.  So, not only do you get to use the Xen hypervisor, AppLogic now supports VMware ESX Server v4.0 update 2.  If configured during the build of the grid from the BFC, the ESX hypervisor is included as part of the platform fabric and is seamlessly added to your available options on the grid while creating new Business Services.  You also have the ability to import OVF-based images (Open Virtualization Format) to provide for the migration of existing workloads from other platforms.  This option allows companies that already have a investment in VMware to continue to use their product licensing while bringing the power of AppLogic to their business.

We’re excited about all the new enhancements to the CA AppLogic product and are happy to be a part of bringing them to market.  These changes show that CA Technologies has a strong commitment to AppLogic and it’s future.  I can’t wait to see where we go from here!

If you have any questions or would like more information, don’t hesitate to contact us.  We’re here to help you out!

Mike