This blog is a collaboration between Meenakshi Kaushik, Product Manager, Engineering Cloud& Co-Authored by Peter Kisich, Product Marketing Managerand Silesh Bijjahalli, Engineering Product Leader.

Have you ever wondered how you can get the benefits of cloud native data services in your on-premises environment? Cisco and Pure Storage have an easy answer that helps you connect to the clouds of your choice, stay in control, and optimize everywhere to deliver better outcomes.

It starts with overcoming the cloud native skills gap

According to 451 Research, "The transition to cloud native application architectures is accelerating as organizations look to these technologies to support better performance and security of their applications." However, when it comes to deploying cloud native applications, the number one challenge for organizations is a lack of skills and resources to manage and operate enterprise-grade solutions.

With Intersight Kubernetes Service (IKS), Cisco simplifies and automates the hybrid deployment of Kubernetes clusters, including networking, storage, compute, virtualization, and operating systems -all from the Cisco Intersight cloud operations platform. Even organizations with limited Kubernetes skills can easily adopt a secure and enterprise-ready solution for cloud native Kubernetes clusters.

Simplifying adoption of on-premises, cloud native data services

Taking it a step further, in partnership with Pure Storage, we now extend ease of adoption of on-premises data services for cloud native applications using Portworx and Intersight. Purpose-built for Kubernetes, Portworx Data Services offers fully automated management of data services on premises with an expanding catalog that already includes Cassandra, Kafka, Postgres, Redis, and RabbitMQ.

Together, Intersight and Portworx simplify deployment and day-two operations so that infrastructure, operations, and DevOps teams can focus on using, rather than running, scalable and secure enterprise data services on Kubernetes.  With built-in automation for high availability, backup, disaster recovery, encryption, and migrations, organizations' data is safe, in compliance, and extensible to other lines of business.  These features also ensure developers are provided with the automated, scalable data services they expect in the public cloud from existing on-premises assets.

Deploying Intersight Kubernetes Service and Portworx

1. Step One: Create a Kubernetes cluster to deploy data services. In IKS you can create a Kubernetes cluster profile with just a few clicks so that you can deploy again and again.
   • Once your cluster is automatically deployed from the cloud, you can view all the inventory and operate the cluster from Intersight
     Intersight Kubernetes Service (IKS) cluster profile
2. Step Two: Install Portworx Data Services. This also is an automated installation, and it provides the console for deploying data services.
3. Step Three: Connect the Kubernetes clusters to Portworx and deploy curated data services from the catalog, adding included backup, recovery, and security capabilities.

What about the public cloud for data services?

While public cloud providers offer simplified data services, in most cases they have a limited selection and deploy to a single provider. As these services scale, their costs can become prohibitive, especially when there is under-utilized capacity in other areas of the business.  In addition to cost, many organizations have the need for data sovereignty where the sensitive nature of data requires on-premises compliance. In such cases, the combined Intersight-Portworx solution provides the simplicity of cloud services deployment-even in the case of "air gapped" data that must remain completely isolated.

The Kubernetes cluster operations and data services with Intersight and Portworx enable a self-service cloud experience for IT and development teams with the added benefits of using the existing on-premises infrastructure. This saves time, reduces costs, and helps you get the most out of your existing investments.

See it in action

Cisco Intersight Kubernetes Service is available for a free 90-day evaluation on the Cisco Intersight cloud operations platform. Once enabled, you can deploy Kubernetes clusters in just a few clicks with little or no experience. Then simply add Pure Storage Portworx Data Services to that cluster and away you go!

Learn more at our Cisco Live Session (ID: CNCENT-1001) on Monday, June 13 at Cisco Live US, in Las Vegas.

Register for Cisco Live US

and attend ourIKS and Portworx session

Resources

Review our Cisco Intersight Kubernetes Service User Guide

Visit the Pure Storage site to learn more on Portworx Data Services

Register for Cisco Live US and attend our IKS and Portworx session