Part 3 of the series I am busy with will deal with a couple of scenarios where a Cloud environment is a good target. These are by no means the only options or scenarios, but are a starting point for you to consider migrating services, applications, or whole sites to the cloud.
Test & DEV Environments
For the most part, Test & DEV environments aren’t used that often, sometimes a couple of times per year. If this is running on an on-site private cloud, then turning it off, or even decreasing resources won’t amount to much if the hardware is a sunken cost.
Migrating a Test and DEV environment allows you to take advantage of consumptive billing. By this I mean the pay-for-use benefit of using a Cloud environment. This could be Public Cloud, or even a SaaS option. Doing so allows you to turn off the VMs, and then turn them on when required, or delete if this is a once-off requirement. If the VMs are required to run for longer, resources can be limited and then increased when required. This takes any strain off on-site private cloud hardware, freeing up resources for other usage, or, meaning a small CAPEX investment can be made should new hardware be procured.
Greenfields Installation
A “greenfields” installation is an installation from scratch with no pre-existing hardware or virtualization on site. Why is this an opportunity to move to Cloud? Because there will be very little hardware required for a new site, if any, meaning you can create this new environment on a platform that suits the business.
Deploying VMs on a Public Cloud infrastructure, for instance, allows you to plan more accurately, and expand as required. This could be by scaling up and adding more resources to a VM or application, or by scaling out and adding additional VMs. Automation here is key as it takes the guess work out of the entire process. You can still have a hybrid cloud environment, for instance, where you utilize multiple cloud environments or services, whilst customizing all your requirements. The initial outlay to set up the environment might be high, but running costs can be better managed if done with careful management.
Move to Hybrid Cloud
Hybrid cloud means a form of Public Cloud environment being utilized whilst still maintaining an on-site private cloud. It allows you to offload applications or services to a provider that will allow consumptive billing, or better availability or an application. Another benefit is freeing up server room space in racks, lowering electricity costs and either extending current on-site hardware for longer, or purchasing for a smaller replacement environment. Essentially you’re joining your on-site private cloud to some form public cloud via a network connection of your choosing. Or, you’re using a hybrid cloud environment as a stepping stone to migrating more of, or all of, your onsite applications, services and VMs to cloud.
Disaster Recovery and Offsite Backups
Companies such as Veritas and Veeam (there are more!) allow companies to either replicate backups or VMs to an offsite Public Cloud environment to create a Disaster Recovery site, or stream backups from onsite to an offsite location. An example would be both of the mentioned companies allowing you to do this to AWS.
Why is this useful for a company? It means you’re able to leverage a Public Cloud environment such as AWS to run your DR environment, whilst keeping resource utilization at a minimal level to allow for replication to be successful. For backups, it means another copy offsite and recovery option instead of tape (if you’re not supportive of backing up to tape). Both would satisfy audit requirements and make the Business Continuity Process (BCP) more robust.
Big Data
The idea of Big Data and companies using as much information as they have available to them to benefit business has been around for a number of years. However, only the biggest companies can afford the large infrastructure investments. Leveraging a Big Data provider still offers all the benefits of manipulating data, with no CAPEX outlay.
Easier Licensing
Moving to something like Office 365 allows you to assign and revoke licenses far easier than doing so with online installations of Office 2016 for instance. When a user joins, you can buy a license which is then charged from the point of purchase to the point of departure of the user. Instead of either NOT licensing a user for a shorter period of time (DON’T do this!), you can assign them to an Office 365 that is revoked once used.
It makes licensing management easier in the long run, and you’re always able to utilize new software once it is released.
The above topics are just an indication of when you could move to a Cloud environment, but there are far more options available. Take your time when deciding when and how to move, and consider what version of Cloud (Public/Private/Hybrid/PaaS/SaaS) suits your company's needs best, and take it from there.