I’ve had a few false starts trying to describe the point of configurable cloud services with an analogy. I tried cars, but I’m not going to lie – I haven’t the foggiest idea what a transmission does. I can tell you how to do enterprise-class cloud provisioning, but my chassis is an utter mystery to me. I tried other analogies like custom-fit suits, which it turns out are the domain of highly-paid lawyers and not the general public. I tried many other things along the way. And in a meeting last week, I found a new analogy…TV Dinners. Work with me here.
If you run a cloud using image or template-based provisioning – for the entire stack of the cloud service – you’re essentially in the TV dinner business. You are the supermarket manager, and you have a freezer case full of Lean Cuisine or Hungry Man dinners, and your users come to you – and they can ask for Mac-n-cheese or Salisbury steak or something that claims to be the perfect facsimile of a Panini, complete with char marks. You can even include a brownie dessert. But, if someone comes to you with an allergy to gluten, or a request for double-mashed-potatoes, you can’t help him.
Also, you might be faced with a couple management issues in your freezer case. Say microwave-panini fall out of favor – you’ve got to clear out the old stale inventory. Say spinach from California is found to have e-coli.. you have to go through and pull and update all the boxes with spinach. And, every so often, someone important or rich or otherwise influential will walk by your freezer case and ask for a new chicken enchilada offering, and you’ll find you had better start stocking that too. You’ll have one big freezer in no time.
Let’s say, on the other hand, you’re looking to feed your customers but have a kitchen in back. That kitchen has a set of ingredients, and a friendly chef will whip up whatever you need in a few minutes. You offer your customers omelets, sandwiches or pizzas, each with toppings and fillings. Omelet with tomatoes? Sure thing. Pregnant customer who can’t have goat cheese? We’ll use cheddar. Double mashed? For you, of course. Now, if you didn’t order fresh basil from the green grocer, you might be unable to produce a caprese salad – and that may be your choice as a restaurateur. But, with the ingredients you have, you can satisfy a wide variety of customers, each getting the meal they want.
So what’s the service catalog? The service catalog is the list of offerings. You could have a list of fixed TV dinners or a list suggested combinations (omelets, pizzas or sandwiches) and a set of configurable toppings. The more robust, flexible and role-based the service catalog is, the better you’re able to satisfy the user.
What would you rather eat? And which business would you rather be in? I find the freezer section a little… icy.
Posted by Lilac Schoenbeck