"The Cloud", the current buzz word running through the Federal government these days. It's helping to change the way we view, manage and access servers. If you are still learning about "the cloud" and want to know how it works, watch this video.
We know how it works, but how do we test the performance of a Cloud service? One new tool called Cloudsleuth (in beta) helps to answer these questions by visualizing the user experience. What it measures are the response time and availability measured by the Gomez Performance Network. This metric relies on two different components of the GPN, Gomez Active Backbone nodes and Gomez Last Mile peers. You can read more about the GPN here.
What's great about the tool is the ability to test the response time of the Cloud. As you know we love to test speeds, try it yourself with our consumer broadband test. For example, since we are located in Washington, DC, the test shows that accessing a cloud in this area yields a response time of .5 sec. But if I had accessed that cloud in Los Angeles, the test shows a response time of 5.5 sec longer. Knowing this information can help your internal workflows or compare performance when choosing a cloud service.
Currently, monitored providers include Microsoft Azure, OpSource, Amazon EC2, GoGrid, Google, and Rackspace Cloud.