Why?

Because companies choose to use Cloud Services for the following reasons.
1. To urgently replace an existing backup solution.
2. Because some new urgent project demands a Cloud based solution.
3. To speedily boost or replace on premise servers.

All of these are time based demands and often they spawn a sudden launch into Cloud without serious consideration of how resources should be managed.

The common problems this creates include:

• No tagging
• No one knows why a server was built or if it can be deleted
• Lack of clear ownership
• Bills cannot be allocated properly
• Disagreement as to who owns the shared Cloud services
• Insecure solutions
• Inefficient solutions
• Inflexible designs

Insperitas can help you by:

Evaluating your whole Cloud infrastructure
Ensuring proper systems and processes to enforce best practices
(read more…)
Remediation of existing issues

But you don’t want or need to become dependent on Insperitas. And you probably wont be able to move immediately to meet best practices. A better solution might be for a consultant can come to your site (or work remotely) for 1  day a week to teach and guide your own employees to implement success.

Together let’s bring your costs back down to earth.

Call me  (+44 7932 678578) or fill in your details on our contact page and start moving towards a more cost effective Cloud engagement.

A Brief History of Change

Companies used to be pretty static. Small changes were introduced over years. As a Global marketplace started to open up, companies realized the need to  change in order to remain relevant and competitive. Small changes can be effected by the in house BAU team whereas large changes are renamed as projects and these are facilitated by project managers. (That’s why there are so many project managers now compared to 15 or 20 years ago.)

As changes in companies multiplied some problems developed. Changes sometimes broke things and running multiple projects concurrently required changes to be carefully co-ordinated. This led to change management becoming another drain on resources. Companies would create change boards or CABs and these have to be staffed by operationally responsible people.

Most people think of a CAB as Change Approvals Board. In fact ITIL refers to a CAB as a Change Advisory Board. There is a world of difference between the two! Changes are often reviewed in CABs by those who know the existing state of play well, but know little about the change being introduced. These people rely on getting the right information from the PM and the Project’s architect. This in turn reduces the CAB to a paper exercise. “Fill in this 8 page document and we will consider whether your change should be allowed to go ahead”. This is exacerbated by the CAB being staffed by people who have the responsibility to keep things working. So there is a general reticence to introduce change.

A CAB should of course be a forum to schedule changes that might interfere with each other not a hurdle to progression.

(Almost) Up-toDate

So now to Etsy and Amazon.

In 2011 Amazon explained that they introduce one change every 11.6 seconds. That’s a lot of changes to get through CAB… unless of course they have a better solution?

Etsy have a policy of asking their new developers to release change to live on DAY ONE of their employment. This allows them to get into the right mindset for introducing change. And the correct mindset is “Go for it!”

How can that work? Isn’t it dangerous? Well there are a number of tools and processes that can help. Perhaps the over-riding consideration is Fail-Fast (an Agile Teaching) but you need an infrastructure that can provide you with the security you need, one that can facilitate the Fail-Fast approach. This CAN be accomplished without reference to Cloud Services, but in reality Cloud will provide you with the easiest solution.

In terms of acronyms we can talk about DevOps, DevSecOps and WebOps. Also important are CI, CD and Agile. Each of these deserves its own paper. But the bottom line is that CABs ARE HISTORY. If your company has one.. you have a problem. You dont need it. Its slowing you down. Move on.

If you would like a FREE REVIEW to see how your business can benefit from Cloud Solutions then fill in your details on the contact page and I will get be delighted to help.

This blog is NOT a full and complete list of all security measures that could be implemented but I would like to highlight some of the measures that should be considered.

Risk Awareness

We all have data that is pretty much of very little value to anyone else. That picture of your new born baby might have massive sentimental value to you but is probably not going to be worth much in the hands of a criminal. We also have data that we intend to be publicly available: Your CV, for example, or a company’s marketing brochure.

Some data that will be stored in the Cloud could cripple or destroy  a business if it were to be compromised. Every  piece of data has a value to you and a value to others. The costs of securing data should be carefully weighed against those values.

Your CSP

Whilst a very large company investing millions in a Cloud Service might well want to spend money determining how secure a CSP’s datacentres are, for the most of us that is overkill. Cloud Service Provider’s (CSP’s) base their business case on providing a secure solution. For the most part, we can safely assume that data stored with a major player in the Cloud will be significantly more secure than storing it ourselves. (Yes, even if you keep it under your pillow … or your dog’s pillow)

They will however expect you to do your part!

ENCRYPTION

Hopefully an obvious one but if you don’t intend your data to be publicly available then you should definitely encrypt it! However you have a number of options.

1. Encrypt on premise and manage your own keys.
2. Encrypt in transit using your own or a CSP managed key.
3. Encrypt at rest using your own or a CSP managed key.

For the vast majority of us, trusting the keys provided by the CSP will be sufficient. If you are storing government secrets you may wish to manage your own keys.

Account Security

From when your account is first set up you should be sure that your access to your account cannot be compromised. If you allow someone else access to your account everything else becomes irrelevant. In many companies though access needs to be shared. There are a number of tools we can use such as   Multi-Factor Authentication that we can utilize to help us implement Least Privilege Access.

Least Privilege Access

It is essential that any Cloud Strategy simplifies the process for devolving access and responsibility for data. Practices that have been important in traditional computing environments for many years are even more crucial as we move to the Cloud. This includes appointing a data owner for every bit of data and managing the full life cycle of that data. Least privilege, as the name suggests, means that we only give the minimum amount of access to data that a person needs to accomplish the specific task in hand. Some CSPs allow a person (an identity) to assume a number of roles which allow differing levels of access.

Firewall Controls

All major CSPs offer a competent firewall service that can be trusted. This should be utilized to implement Least Privileged Access to the public. This would indicate that where a service has a public front end, the data behind that service is held in a place that is fire-walled off from the front end.

CI / CD

The perfect security solution lies in making security part of your release process. The most forward thinking companies have a process of Continual Improvement and Continuous Deployment. One of my favourite lines is that Etsy ask their new programmers to deploy to live on day one. It is possible to completely automate the processes that secure our data and our infrastructure in the Cloud. This is complex but will be valuable when done well. One day all code will be released this way (I hope )

You Need  Cheap Secure Offsite Backup. The Cloud can be an effective way to achieve this.

Your Server Hardware is Old. You have some applications running on a server that is aging and ought to be replaced. If “Cash is King” then saving the capital expense might be useful.

You’d Like to Reduce Your IT Costs. Sometimes a service that is currently provided in house such as email can be delivered more effectively (and possibly cheaper) by a Cloud Service Provider (CSP).

Whatever your drivers are, it is essential that you resolve the following important issues!

Choosing the CSP. There are a number of providers. Which one(s) are a good fit for your business?

Account set up. The last thing you need is to set up the account in a way that will leave you frustrated later.

Cost Management. You need to be certain that costs cannot escalate horribly because of a poor design.

Security is essential. How can you be 100% sure that your data (and your customer’s) data is secure?

This blog expands on the topics above. I would be delighted to assist you with investigating and providing solutions for any of these. Insperitas is also able to provide support for Cloud solutions.

Choosing The CSP.

The three largest providers are also the most flexible

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the largest CSP on the planet and offers a very wide range of services. The tools are relatively well known and can be adapted easily. For many this is the go-to place when beginning a Cloud Journey. https://aws.amazon.com/choosing-a-cloud-platform/

Microsoft are good at providing a Cloud version of services that they would traditionally provide by selling applications. Email is a classic example. For larger companies MS also offer a mature Identity and Access Management Solution based on Active Directory. Microsoft have a large network of partners and are “Enterprise Ready” in the sense that they are the oldest and most mature of the Big 3 CSPs.

Google are slightly newer to providing Cloud Services when compared to AWS. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) provides a much smaller array of services than AWS. However the services which they do provide are very well executed. They have a stated aim to be the largest CSP in the world in the next few years. https://cloud.google.com/why-google/

Setting up the account

The important things to ensure when it comes to setting up your account in either AWS or in GCP are:

• Dont get locked out! You need MFA but who will have ultimate control?
• For AWS choose a good Phone number.
• For Google, will you get an enterprise account or a Gmail account?
• How can you give access to another account for support?
• Can you make use of free services?

https://aws-tutorials.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/setting-up-your-new-aws-account.html

Setting up the account

The important things to ensure when it comes to setting up your account in either AWS or in GCP are:

• Dont get locked out! You need MFA but who will have ultimate control?
• For AWS choose a good Phone number.
• For Google, will you get an enterprise account or a Gmail account?
• How can you give access to another account for support?
• Can you make use of free services?

https://aws-tutorials.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/setting-up-your-new-aws-account.html

Managing Costs

If you have teenagers in your house you will well understand the difference in attitude to electricity use between bill-payers and non-bill-payers (also known as freeloaders). When you are using your own hosted infrastructure you only have to make sure that you don’t fill up the hard drive or place too many demands on memory and processor. However when you use Cloud Services you need to be sure from day one that you will be warned if your monthly costs are going above your anticipated levels.

In addition you need to be sure that your costs are allocated correctly. This isn’t difficult but demands that you follow good Cloud practices right from the start.

Security

When I setup one of my first Cloud servers I was a little surprised to find out a week later that a virus had been installed on the server. I had left open a port to the server that could have been disastrous. These days whenever I build any service online I start with ensuring that it is secure. This isn’t complicated but it is necessary.

For a FREE assessment type code 1709FREE into the “Message” bar on our Contact page

Why?

• Following the 10 Cloud Guiding Principles drives behaviour that will increase efficiency.
• Cloud Solutions encourage change and enhance agility.
• Cloud Solutions allow you to focus on what you do best rather than on the infrastructure.
• The worlds latest technology can be yours –  without capital investment.

(In no particular order)

Principle	Brief Description
1. Cloud First	Consider using a Cloud Solution before you look at other options. Why Cloud 1st?
2. Automate Everything	Everything you build should be both automated and repeatable Read why here
3. Build Everything using Code	Mouse Clicks on portals aren't automated. Benefits of IaC
4. Security is Paramount	Security shouldn't be an after-thought but should be built into everything. Stay Safe
5. Measure Everything	Tag everything. Log everything centrally. Save money and future headaches
6. Create Scalable Microservices	Scale horizontally No monoliths
7. Prepare for Failure	Assume things will break. Build self-healing solutions. here's how
8. Optimize for Cost	Never over-provide!
9. Consider Portability	Will you need to use another Cloud Service Provider?
10. Follow Cloud Native Best Practices	All applications should be designed in line with best practices