Rackspace launches cloud consultancy service while firing staff

After Fleecing Shareholders...

Remember when Rackspace WAS the cloud? No? That claim, among many others, was touted by endless analysts - to the detriment of dumb shareholders whose hard earned 401k cash went down the Rackspace rat hole.

Now - this latest play?

Next up - Rackspace To Open First Mars Data Center.

Rackspace is a dump

I interviewed at RS years ago .. it is located in an abandoned shopping mall in San Antonio .. in an abandoned neighborhood ghetto that appears to have been destroyed by a gang war decades ago I felt I was entering the secure Green zone in Iraq . The turn over rate is a real problem - The mgr asked if I had intentions of lasting longer then the 2 year average .tour of duty .. I said " it depends". Ironically no data center equipment is onsite .. it is all located in more secure areas.

Needless to say .. I wasn't hired.

Why consult for the cloud?

My client is a pretty small shop. I wanted to try out an ELK stack to see if it could be useful (and sensibly priced) for us. I used their 'cloud' to create a VM and got started. Then I realised I wanted to add storage, but couldn't make it work. I got support to help out who told me 'oh, you need a different type of VM for that'. So I destroyed the one I'd started with and created a new one. I still couldn't make it work, so got support on it again. This time they told me my VM was on an old hypervisor and needed to be moved to get the storage.

Later, I talked to a 'cloud evangelist'. I asked how I was supposed to know upfront that I needed a particular type of VM for an experiment like this. I also asked how I could get my VMs on suitable hypervisors for my experiment. The only answer the guy gave to pretty much every question was "I'd definitely advise engaging with us first because we can help you get the best out of the platform". When he heard I was looking at ELK, he tried to sell me their hosted ELK service.

My problem with all of this is that 'the cloud' is supposed to be self-service (with support on hand to help out when things go wrong). I'm supposed to be able to throw together an ELK stack in an afternoon and still have time to write up the proposal to my boss. I really don't want to have to talk to a disguised salesman a week next tuesday just to try something out. Don't even get me started on their 'fanatical support' (which should be rerbanded 'average support you can get anywhere').