CLOUD PROVIDER EVALUATION
In this project, you will first learn about networking in the cloud
and auxiliary cloud services provided by cloud vendors. Next,
you will explore cloud computing trends, best practices, and
issues involved in migrating IT deployments to the cloud, as well
as typical architectures of cloud deployments. Then, you will
apply your findings to propose a general architecture for
BallotOnline’s cloud deployment to best address the company’s
business requirements.
Once you have selected a deployment architecture, you will
research two leading cloud vendors: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
and Microsoft Azure. Exploring and comparing the tools
available for application migration will enable you to recommend
a vendor to the executives in your final report. The final
deliverable is a written report to BallotOnline management,
describing the results of your research and recommending the
cloud deployment architecture and the vendor for its
deployment, with justification.
Your final report should demonstrate that you understand the IT
needs of the organization as you evaluate and select cloud
providers. The report should include your insights on the
appropriate direction to take to handle the company’s IT
business needs. You will also be assessed on the ability to
integrate relevant risk, policy, and compliance consideration into
the recommendations, as well as the clarity of your writing and a
demonstration of logical, step-by-step decision making to
formulate and justify your ideas.
Research Networking and Auxiliary
Services in the Cloud
The executives at BallotOnline have been impressed with your
research on cloud computing thus far. While there are a variety
of cloud providers, BallotOnline is considering using Amazon
Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, two of the top
providers in the market. BallotOnline's executives want you to
help determine which would be the best provider for the
organization.
Research Cloud Trends, Best Practices,
and Migration Issues
The cloud computing revolution is redefining ways that
companies of all sizes use information technology. The cloud
landscape shifts rapidly, and current trends reflect this rapid
pace of change. You likely got an idea about this in the last step
when you conducted research on cloud architecture. Now,
continue gathering information for your final report by
assessing:
•
issues outside the company, such as emerging issues in the
industry, regulatory changes, and general trends in cloud
computing to gain an understanding of how these issues
may influence BallotOnline's decisions;
•
best practices for cloud implementation and assess whether
BallotOnline can benefit from these;
•
cloud migration strategies for the application and data,
since BallotOnline is moving an existing web application to
the cloud, making sure that the application is configured
properly for the system architecture of your cloud
deployment; and
•
IT change management techniques that could help
BallotOnline make this transition.
Research Typical Architectures of
Cloud Deployments
In the previous step, you considered best practices and trends in
the cloud industry. Next, you will have to look at the kinds of
architectures needed for cloud.
Because most elements of cloud deployments are implemented
in a virtualized environment controlled by software, the degree
of freedom in defining your deployment of cloud reference
models is unprecedented. You can define the number of virtual
servers required and the configuration, and even change them
dynamically as needed. You can also define your virtual local
area networks (LANs) and subnets, and place servers in them to
implement network security requirements.
The basic cloud deployment components are cloud consumer,
cloud provider, and cloud carrier, with cloud brokers and auditor
as possible additions.
Typical cloud architectures of cloud deployments vary from
single server (suitable for proof-of-concept engagements) and
multiserver architectures with various servers carrying different
software components and occupying different security zones, to
geographically dispersed deployments to achieve high
availability, resilience, and speed of delivery. There are
several issues to consider when selecting a server architecture,
including cost, scalability, performance, and use of
management.
For this step, research the typical architectures of cloud
deployments and begin to consider what might be a good fit for
BallotOnline.
In the next step, you will continue research, this time on trends
in cloud computing as well as issues that can arise during data
migration.
Propose Cloud Architecture for
BallotOnline Deployment
Now that you have looked into cloud architectures, in this step,
you will propose the cloud deployment architecture for
BallotOnline, applying the knowledge of typical architectural
elements of cloud deployment from the project's initial step. You
will also consider trends and migration issues from a previous
step. Your recommendation should consider the company's
business requirements.
Describe your proposed architecture and include a diagram to
provide leadership a way to envision the system.
Recall that the company has an existing web application that it
wants to move to the cloud, and also that the company wants to
expand its business to other parts of the world. In earlier
projects, you learned about and analyzed the IT business
requirements for BallotOnline. Among them were demands
for application and data security
(https://lti.umuc.edu/contentadaptor/page/topic?keyword=Application%20and%20Data%20Secu
rity),
data encryption, and separation for deployments overseas.
Also, the application should handle load peaks during election
times in different regions.
Specific technical requirements state that BallotOnline is a web
application, written using the popular open-source LAMP (Linux,
Apache, MySQL, PHP) software suite and the PHP application.
Describe your proposed architecture by submitting a report with
a drawing of the architecture (hand-drawn or computer-created)
diagram and explaining its elements.
There are some sample drawings here under typical cloud
architectures to give you an idea.
(https://lti.umuc.edu/contentadaptor/page/topic?keyword=Typical%20Cloud%20Architectures)
Research AWS
In this step, you will explore AWS (https://us-east2.console.aws.amazon.com/console/home?region=us-east-2#) ( LOGIN:
jwhite161@student.umuc.edu/ umuc161! )
and assess the feasibility of this platform for deploying the
architecture proposed in the previous step. You should also
consider issues related to AWS Pricing.( https://aws.amazon.com/pricing/)
Based on your research, determine to what degree AWS supports
the elements of the BallotOnline business and technical
requirements.
Research Microsoft Azure
Now that you have had a chance to research AWS, it's time
to explore Microsoft Azure, another cloud provider that could be
used to deploy the proposed architecture. You should also
consider issues related to Microsoft Azure pricing.
BallotOnlinePOC-jennyrgoldstongmail
Based on your research, determine to what degree Microsoft
Azure supports the elements of the BallotOnline business and
technical requirements.
AWS Proof of Concept
With your research complete, you will now deploy a simple onepage PHP application to the AWS cloud.
As you may have already discovered in your research on AWS, it
makes a cloud migration tool called Elastic Beanstalk
https://aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/
available for customers to migrate
their existing applications into the AWS cloud. We will use this
tool to deploy your AWS proof of concept (POC).
Generate Azure Proof of Concept (POC)
Now that your AWS POC is complete, you can proceed with a
similar POC deployment for the Microsoft Azure cloud.
Upload the URL linking to your application running in the Azure
portal.
(https://ballotonlinepoc-jennyrgoldstongmail.azurewebsites.net)
You are ready for the last step: writing the final report with
recommendations on the cloud providers for the BallotOnline
executives.
Now that you have completed your research, shared your ideas
with colleagues, and explored the two vendors, it is time to
compile your findings and recommendations for the BallotOnline
executives. You may find these considerations for cloud provider
selection helpful in making your decisions.
Use the Final Report Evaluating AWS and Azure Providers
Template to write your report and submit your work.
Write the Final Report Evaluating AWS
and Azure Providers
Now that you have completed your research, shared your ideas
with colleagues, and explored the two vendors, it is time to
compile your findings and recommendations for the BallotOnline
executives. You may find these considerations for cloud provider
selection helpful in making your decisions.
Use the Final Report Evaluating AWS and Azure Providers
Template (attached in separate document named
and Azure Providers )to
Report Evaluating AWS
write your report and submit your work.
Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies
below, which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A
good practice would be to use each competency as a self-check
to confirm you have incorporated all of them in your work.
•
2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate
the issue or problem.
•
2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized
manner to determine its value and relevance to the
problem.
•
2.4: Consider and analyze information in context to the
issue or problem.
•
2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions,
checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.
•
5.4: Articulate insights to leadership on the appropriate
course of direction on the identified IT business needs.
•
6.1: Articulate the systems architecture of the cloud - cloud
infrastructure, cloud service, cloud platform, and cloud
storage.
•
6.6: Evaluate and select cloud providers (AWS, Azure,
VMware, Google Cloud, IBM).
•
6.8: Review, evaluate, and utilize emerging technologies
related to cloud to support business needs.
FTSP ENDPOINT: ftps://waws-prod-dm1-055.ftp.azurewebsites.windows.net/site/wwwroot
USERNAME: BallotOnlinePOC-jennyrgoldstongmail\$BallotOnlinePOC-jennyrgoldstongmail
PASSWORD: cFHJvK8yCmgHfWlZ0gtDo0KJmGgQAsXzXf1pSJhXHCHmgtxCTDoZbsTl6BlG
Report Evaluating AWS and Azure Providers
The report will be five to seven pages in length and should include source citations, as
appropriate, in APA style.
This report should include the following components:
●
Title page
○ Include: for whom you are preparing the document, the title, the date prepared,
and your name as the preparer of the document.
●
Executive summary
○ Include: the purpose of the report and the intended audience.
○ Brief description of conducted research and POC deployments.
●
Comparison of architecture deployment feasibility (from Steps 1 - 5)
○ Describe how the architecture proposed in Step 3 can be implemented in AWS
and Azure environments, and compare ease of implementation.
○ Evaluate and compare efforts to implement BallotOnline business requirements.
○ Compare availability and ease of use for application scaling, geographical
distribution, and network security measures.
○ Compare availability and ease of use of cloud services required by BallotOnline
(database as a service, auditing, logging, application security, etc.).
○ Compare support for application migration and monitoring.
●
Comparison of ease of deployment (from Steps 6 and 7)
○ Describe AWS and Azure capabilities for deploying web applications using the
PHP language and MySQL database.
○ Compare ease of use of user interfaces, portals, and management consoles.
○ Compare POC environment deployment times.
●
Comparison of costs
○ Discuss and compare pricing plans available, costs of servers, and services.
●
Conclusions and recommendations
○ Present the final recommendation based on your research and POC deployment.
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