Azure Stack –

which most people have heard of, or perhaps it’s predecessor Windows Azure Pack (WAP) is like having your own copy of Microsoft’s public cloud Azure running in your own data centre, but for your own private use! Currently the world has the option of using Windows Azure Pack, a collection of Microsoft System Center technologies that allow you to have a self service portal to control your networking, OS and Application Templates and virtual machines. Essentially, Microsoft has been creating two cloud offerings, one for their own use, Azure, and one for our use, Windows Azure Pack.

If you have ever used WAP, it works, in comparison to Azure, it lacks the bells, whistles and new technology, and also does not take advantage of the new Windows Server 2016 technologies. Fortunately for us, Microsoft’s has somehow taken their Azure offering and has packaged it up into a sellable Hyper Converged product that we can buy and run in our own data centres!

Great you think, but at this point it’s currently being offered by only 4 vendors. Also these Azure Stack products that you purchase are a sealed configuration and essentially a Hyper Converged black box despite it using Windows Server 2016, Storage Spaces Direct (S2D), ReFS and offers their Azure platform.

Hyper Converged –

appliances have been around for quite a while, Azure Stack is a new one, but includes the Azure cloud interface. If you purchase another type of Hyper-Converged appliance, you get a working infrastructure , but you pay a pretty penny for how the technology works and it’s management interview. Project @Data_Raft is your life raft in this case.

Project Codename @Data_Raft –

is the world first Microsoft MVP Community Open Source Hyper-Converged solution in the world.

The goal of this project is to bring affordable Hyper-Converged infrastructure to environments of all sizes using 100% native Microsoft technologies and a few cool Open Source tools too. The cost to you is FREE.

Our goal with this first project of it’s kind ever is to bring together knowledgeable MVPs is to provide and showcase what your infrastructure can truly do. Like Azure Stack, we’ll be using the tried tested Microsoft technologies.

Stay tuned for more information about @data_Raft.

See the official Official Announcement