RackNap Software

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Service delivery automation of Plesk & Virtuozzo based cloud servers with RackNap

RackNap’s integration with Virtuozzo API enables quick and automated provisioning and delivery of cloud servers, while Plesk automation ensures issuance and termination of Plesk licenses, in real time.

Virtuozzo Cloud Servers – an introduction

An industry leading virtualization platform for web hosters and service providers, Virtuozzo provides System Containers™, virtual machines and software-defined storage in a single solution. Virtuozzo enables enterprises and service providers to efficiently utilize the existing hardware at a very low total cost of ownership – at any phase of its lifecycle. It provides a number of benefits:

The Virtuozzo containers are highly efficient and lightweight as compared to VMs and are highly secure by design.

With hypervisor core built on open source KVM, you get high density, performance and security.

New Windows support with KVM allows service providers to run both Windows and Linux workloads with equally good stability and features.

Over 200 Virtuozzo patches are available, including memory management, high availability, backup and more.

With Virtuozzo storage, you get scalable, fault – tolerant and high performance storage.

ReadyKernel™ provides rebootless kernel updates.

Docker support, which includes new storage plugin.

Plesk Panel – an introduction

Plesk – the most used cloud platform and control panel to run and manage applications, sites and various other services across the globe, is an extensible, open, modular and flexible platform.

The new Plesk panel version – Plesk Onyx, comes with functionalities like multi-server management and framework ready environment for most advanced programming languages like Node.js, Python, PHP, Ruby and has integrated support for Docker, Github and more. It enables resellers and service providers differentiate themselves by creating targeted and simple managed offerings and/or creating managed solutions with any third party providers, like AWS or Azure.

The need for Virtuozzo and Plesk panel automation

Now, Virtuozzo automation and Plesk panel automation is important because in its absence:

When the customer orders the Plesk panel along with his cloud server i.e. Virtuozzo, the Plesk panel deployment has to be done by the system administrator with the license key.

Moreover, when due to any reason whatsoever, if the server terminates, the Plesk license is not terminated automatically. And this license if not terminated manually timely, results in the license cost that have to be borne by the service provider.

An ideal automation platform should not only be able to provide service providers, system administrators and the end customers with all the benefits of automation mentioned above, but should also be able to:

Install the Plesk panel automatically along with the provisioning of the Cloud server, without any manual intervention.

Terminate the license in real time, automatically, as soon as the cloud server terminates.

There are a number of Virtuozzo automation solutions, but RackNap is the one providing Virtuozzo API automated tasks with Plesk automation.

RackNap – automating the deployment and termination of Plesk panel with Virtuozzo based cloud server.

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Cloud Services Inventory Management Software – A Comparison

“The worldwide public cloud services market is projected to grow 16.5 percent in 2016 to total $204 billion, up from $175 billion in 2015” according to Gartner, Inc.

The benefits of cloud-based applications and services are proving to be the major driving forces behind cloud’s success. While the end customer is making use of the cloud virtualization capabilities, the cloud and web hosting providers are able to monetize the cloud. But to sell cloud, a cloud service provider requires special expertise and ability to automate various business processes, from sales, marketing and billing to proper inventory management and support.

One of the most important aspects of an organisation is to manage the inventory. A clear idea about your assets and their future requirements brings visibility in your internal operations. It gives direction to your business and hence needs to be looked after prudently.

However, handling your cloud inventory and assets is not an easy task, and so you need a smart inventory management software to handle it for you.

How can a cloud inventory management software help your business grow?  

To understand the benefits, you need to know – what exactly cloud inventory management is. It is about ascertaining “what resources you have” and “what you may need in future.” It may sound simple, but it involves a lot of complexities. You can neither maintain a high level nor a low level of stock in your shelves – you need the “exact” amount.

This brings in the importance of an inventory management software that is able to pertinently ascertain your inventory, keep track of it, and maintain a desired level of stock.

Thus, the perfect cloud management software will:

Automate your entire data centre inventory management process.

Help you maintain optimal levels of inventory via real-time tracking.

Give anywhere accessibility to the present state of your inventory.

Give streamlined order provisioning process.

With big market players already endorsing their inventory management software, the competition is high and so is the intricacy of choosing the right one. Here, we have come up with a quick comparison between two major cloud inventory management solution providers, who are:

RackNap

Ubersmith

What is their product offering and USP and which one can be the perfect solution to manage your inventory, let’s find out:  

RackNap vs. Ubersmith: Comparing the basics

Before comparing the inventory management method of both the software, we need to understand the basic work process of both the applications.

RackNap:

An all-inclusive, automation software RackNap streamlines all business processes of an enterprise. It is an end-to-end solution with complete automation for cloud billing, business intelligence, inventory management, marketing, and support processes.

The product is an offering from ZNetLive – one of the major players in the cloud industry with15+ years of experience in the cloud and hosting industry. What makes RackNap stand out from its competitors is:

Its ability to integrate with the existing systems of an enterprise.

And Vendor agnosticism.

As it is built by the people who belong to the same industry, the software has the ability to cope with all the major pain points of a cloud business, with inventory being a major one. The following infographic shows the major modules of RackNap for automating business processes.

Ubersmith:

An Internap company – Ubersmith, is known for its automated solution for the business processes like infrastructure management, billing, and desk support. It offers an integrated application that is able to provide information through a single pane of glass. It has 10+ years of experience in cloud, SaaS, colocation, hosting and providing other services to MSPs/ISPs. Its business agenda is to provide a solution that is able to better serve their end users, shorten time to market and run a better business.

The detailed comparison: RackNap vs Ubersmith

Read full article here- http://www.bestofguru.net/cloud-inventory-management-software-comparison/

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Cloud Service Delivery and Business Automation Platform

RackNap is a cloud service delivery, billing, inventory management and business automation platform for web hosters, data centers & subscription providers.

RackNap is a  end-to-end Business Automation and Cloud Service Delivery platform for cloud, datacenter, hardware and software distribution, SaaS and subscription, telco, and hosting industry. It enables providers to sell cloud services on their own infrastructure, as well as via third party providers like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, IBM – SoftLayer, and others. RackNap also automates all facets of business operations – SaaS and subscription billing management, sales and marketing, inventory management, support, marketplace and multi-tier partner management – all backed by business intelligence.

- See more at: http://www.racknap.com