Sunday, February 1, 2015

(Phase Two – EA integration) Strategy to migrate Software Applications to Cloud



Series:
 (Disclaimer: The manuscript is my personal view and is not affiliated to any groups or organizations)


Phase II encourages more integrated Cloud and EA. Some of the important tasks to considers:
1.      Network connectivity between the company and the cloud: Hybrid solution could be consideration as an option. Depending on the security needs of the application and the company, private vs. public connectivity from Cloud to EA must be considered. Bandwidth needs, cost needs, etc. come into play here.
2.      Storage and back up needs: Pure over the wire backup vs. hybrid device with an extension to public need to be considered. StorSimple, etc provides a wonderful on-prem cache of frequently accessed data, dedupe of data, compress and encryption of data before it leaves the premises etc. but comes with a cost.
3.      SSO needs: Using same credential on-prem in Cloud for cloud should be considered. How Active directory can be integrated with Azure Active Directory? DirSync/AAD Sycn/AAD Connect/FIM/Dir Sycn with Password sycn/Dir Sync with SSO, etc. are some of the considerations for hybrid identity.
4.      Provisioning and billing needs (System Center Service management): Can employees create their own VMs? Can they create directly in the Azure? Or do they need to adhere to a prescribed process and policy? System Central Service Manager can address the needs. Azure Pack can provide the single pane for both IT admins and their consumers to fulfil their need.
5.      Central monitoring: A single pane of monitoring for 24x7 team? System Central Operation Manager could be a big help. OpInsights could be used. Global Monitoring System should also be evaluated. For webanalytics and performance measurement AppInsights should be considered.
6.      Business Intelligence: Generated outputs from the application data/log data should be integrated with the company’s data warehouse. HDInsight (or RedShift) should be considered for a durable and scalable infrastructure need.
a.      Usage of the Applications
b.      Usage of the Cloud and its services
c.      Usage of various roles
7.      Security: Company’s responsibilities of Infrastructure need, application data (at rest, in motion, in process) need, privacy and governance need, location of the data, need etc. should be considered in details. Some of the security need could entail code change.
8.      Roles and responsibilities clarification/alignment: Roles and responsibilities laid out in the organization has to be evaluated and adjusted as per a different set of needs to manage the cloud and on-prem (or Hybrid)
9.      Training: It is critical for company to seriously considered extensive training of the personnel and chart out of the roles and responsibilities. Cursory training can easily implant a wrong prospect about the new Cloud technologies which can easily derail the company’s effort to prudently use these technologies.
10.   Application code repository: On the Cloud? Visual Studio Online provides free code repository Git and Team Foundation Servie.
11.   User Access: Using same identity as on-prem, access to SaaS applications using SSO, exposing and usage of Internal applications, etc. should be considered.
12.   Compliance: Execute and materialize of all of the above elements within the current guidance or new needed guidance from auditors.

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