Week 7 - What to look for in a Cloud provider

When looking at a Cloud provider, you will want to consider several things.

• You will want to know your business objectives for moving to the Cloud and communicate it to the vendor. The vendor will need to understand your objectives. They will need to take the time to listen to what you are wanting to accomplish and not just push their agenda.

• You will want to know the location of the Cloud provider’s data centers. This will take into consideration network bandwidth for your users. Also, if you are a global company, there will be regulations on where data can be hosted.

• You will want to know their security policies. The Cloud Security Alliance setup the Security Trust and Assurance Registry certification program. The Cloud providers go through a third-party assessment of the security of their facilities. If they “pass”, they will be listed in the CSA STAR registry. You will want to make sure that the vendor is in there.

• Look for a provider with success in the field. Do they have experience with companies your same size? Have they setup a similar type of cloud for another client? Do they have references that you can talk to?

• Other things to consider: Can you understand their Service Level Agreement? Do they have written processes and procedures? Are they willing to help with a pilot test?

https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/

http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/feature/Top-considerations-for-choosing-a-cloud-provider

http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/tip/What-makes-a-good-cloud-provider

Week 6 - Things to consider

So, your ready to implement a cloud? There are things that need to be considered before you start bringing the cloud in to a business.

• Can your application run in the cloud? There can be licensing issues and network bandwidth issues if they are at a cloud provider.
• Do you need to be aware of any compliance regulations? If your company has any compliance regulations (like HIPAA or PCI DSS), you will need to make sure that the data you put there is able to reside there. There are usually specific regulations on how and where personal data can be stored.
• Have you done a business plan? You will want to include a cost analysis. Also, do an assessment of your business needs, your IT organization and your infrastructure. When you understand your current environment, it will make it easier to know what to move to the cloud.
• Have you worked on a migration plan? You will need to plan what applications can be moved, what you plan to move first. Sometimes, moving development and test environments to the cloud first, gives the company a chance to see if they want to continue moving everything to the cloud.

http://meship.com/Blog/2014/11/05/five-steps-implement-cloud-computing/

Week 5 - 6 Essential Characteristics of a Cloud

There are six main characteristics of the Cloud model.

1. Self-service - A user can create their own computing resources (software, operating system, or server) within minutes of deciding they need it. This can be done without any help from a technician, usually through a self-service portal on the web.

2. Standardized - Delivers functions and processes that are largely the same to multiple users, across multiple companies or enterprises, across many different industries, and in diverse geographies.

3. Access from Anywhere - A user can access the computing resources from wherever they need it as long as they are connected to the network or internet. This allows the usage from any device, such as cellular phones, tablets, desktops, or laptops.

4. Pay-Per-Use or As You Go - Users of the computing resources pay based on their use of the resource.

5. Shared Pool of Resources - Multi-tenant – a tenant is defined by the service model or type of cloud being used. (therefore can be either a department, organization, company, end user). Many clients can access the same Cloud, but they will be securely separated by the use of virtualization.

6. Can Scale Up/Down - Computing resources can scale up or down based on the users needs. This  can be based on triggers that will automatically scale up or down the resource.



https://www.ibm.com/blogs/cloud-computing/2014/01/cloud-computing-defined-characteristics-service-levels/

Week 4 - Types of Cloud Deployment Models

There are four common types of cloud deployment models: Private, Public, Hybrid, and Community. When a business sets out to implement cloud computing, they will need to determine which deployment model best meets their needs. The deployment model is basically the location of the cloud.

Private cloud deployment is an internal cloud. The business owns and manages the infrastructure for the cloud. The cloud is accessed thru a private network and only for the use of the company - it isn't shared. The main reason companies keep a private cloud is for security. This cloud is behind their firewall. Organizations that have to comply with regulatory standards that regulate privacy and audits will use a private cloud.

Public cloud deployment is owned and hosted by a cloud provider at their location. Services and infrastructure are provided to a business. This deployment works well with companies that have spikes in their usage during peak times of the business. The cloud provider is able to increase and decrease the size of the infrastructure based on the needs of the business.

Hybrid cloud deployment is a combination of private and public cloud deployment. Businesses will keep secured applications and data on a private cloud. They will have the shared application on the public cloud. This still gives them cost benefits. This also allows for cloud bursting. Cloud bursting allows a private cloud to burst into the public cloud when load spikes need the extra capacity.

Community cloud deployment is a setup where businesses with the same setup is needed, shares the cloud with other businesses. If a business is working on a joint venture with another company, they may setup a cloud to share the information.

This chart from CloudTweaks (2012) shows the size of businesses and what cloud deployment they tend to use.

http://cloudtweaks.com/2012/07/4-primary-cloud-deployment-models/

Week 3 - Three types of cloud services

In Cloud Computing, there are three types of common cloud services and four types of common cloud deployments. This week, we will talk about the three types of services. They are software, platform, and infrastructure services.

Software as a Service (SaaS) allows businesses and consumers to use applications that are hosted by a cloud provider. When you use Netflix, Microsoft 365, Gmail, or Google docs, you are using SaaS. Check out http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/cloud/library/cl-cloudservices3saas/ to learn more.

Platform as a Service (PaaS) is an application platform that allows developers to build and deploy applications without having to maintain an infrastructure. Check out http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/cloud/library/cl-cloudservices2paas/ for more information.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) uses a cloud provider to provide datacenter hardware needed. The provider will host servers for a business. They are able to increase and decrease the size of the servers in a very short time period. Businesses just pay for what they use. Check out http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/cloud/library/cl-cloudservices1iaas/ for more information.

Week 2 Blog Entry - What is the Cloud

What is the Cloud?

The easy explanation is the cloud is where you access programs or data over the internet instead of storing everything on your hard drive. Sometimes, you will be all in the cloud and others you might partially be in the cloud. For example, you use Microsoft Office products that have been downloaded to your desktop or laptop, but you store your documents in One Drive or Google Drive. The drives are utilizing the cloud. If you exclusively use Microsoft 365 online and don’t download the application, you are utilizing the cloud for those.

You may not realize how much you use the cloud. Anytime you access your email on the web, if you use Apple iCloud, and if you use any of the Google products (Drive, Photos, email, Google Apps, etc.), you are using Cloud technology. Even Facebook and Instagram could be considered cloud services because of the way they handle your photos. With the use of Carbonite to back up my desktop for several years, I’ve been using the cloud for backups.

Next week, we’ll talk about the differences with businesses using the cloud.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372163,00.asp

Week 1 Blog Entry - BSIT 400 Cloud Computing and Governance

Hello.
I'm Krista and I'm taking Cloud Computing and Governance through Bellevue University. This is one of the few classes that I have left towards a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.

I'm finding that The Cloud is in more places than you think. I am an IT capacity planner for distributed systems. I work with virtualized servers, which are basically cloud based. I use Microsoft 365 and Google drive and email.

It will be interesting to learn more about cloud computing as I go along with this class.