Welcome to this week’s edition of CloudBolt’s Weekly CloudNews!

Here are the blogs we’ve posted this week:

With that, onto this week’s news:

Cloud computing ‘sticker shock’ is on the rise, and containing it may be a new career path

Joe McKendrick, ZDNet, Feb. 14, 2021

“We’re talking about those who are part of a rising new discipline called ‘FinOps’ — the practice of monitoring, measuring and mitigating the costs and value delivered from the cloud. Here, we see automation is still a struggle to fully attain, and cloud spending a big question mark.

Nearly half of survey respondents (49%) had little or no automation of managing cloud spend. Of those with some automation, almost one-third automated notifications (31%) and tagging hygiene (29%.) Only 13% automated rightsizing and 9% spot use. This ‘indicates that companies are likely missing opportunities to optimize cloud spend,’ the survey’s authors note. About half, 46%, use cloud native tooling as their primary technology, 43% use a 3rd party platform, and 11% use home grown tools or spreadsheets.”

3 must-haves for your multi cloud architecture

David Linthicum, InfoWorld, Feb. 12, 2021

“Your preflight checklist should have centralized account management, resource management, and asset normalization. If you’re looking for true success with multi cloud, you need to treat the group of public cloud providers as a single cloud as much as possible. There should be a common user management layer to add, remove, or change user accounts using a single point of control that’s capable of talking to each cloud natively.

Cross-cloud resource management: This category can be AIops tools, cloud management platform tools, or anything that monitors the use of resources, such as storage and compute (including provisioning), and most important, automated deprovisioning to return the resource back to the pool. This stops the cloud provider from billing for that resource.”

7 Cloud Computing Trends to Look Out For in 2021

Samuel O’Brien, Customer Think, Feb. 11, 2021

“With more companies switching to cloud computing than ever before and as a result, it’s expected to grow from $371.4 billion in 2020 to $832.1 billion by 2025, according to a report from Research and Markets. 

Edge computing has grown in popularity in recent years. It’s like cloud computing in that it stores data and information online, but it stores it locally (aka ‘on the edge’). It brings data storage closer to the devices being used, eliminating the need to rely on keeping data in a faraway, central location. For example, if you are in a self-driving car, instead of running the algorithm through a traditional cloud computing service, edge computing can run it locally. This improves the efficiency and speed of the delivery. Edge computing is used for other Internet of Things (IoT) technology, such as facial recognition, remote doorbells, smart light switches, Bluetooth, and temperature control systems.”

We’re here to help you anywhere on your hybrid and multi-cloud journey. Request a demo today.

The benefits of hybrid cloud integration are clear to many modern-day enterprises. IT leaders have embraced hybrid cloud to adapt to the constantly evolving business landscape. Accordingly, organizations can run applications seamlessly across public, private, and on-premises cloud infrastructures. Each workload runs in an environment that best matches its security and performance requirements.

But adopting hybrid cloud is not without its challenges. To make it work effectively, organizations have to master four basic challenges.

Migration Complexity

Moving to a hybrid environment from a private cloud, public cloud, or an on-premises data center can be expensive. It is also time-consuming.

IT must ensure existing applications and workloads are seamlessly portable and operable across the on-premises data center and public cloud providers. Moreover, the organization may be using different cloud stacks that come with varying complexity.

In essence, migrating to hybrid cloud requires organizations to integrate different clouds and providers. It also should make the proprietary features and components work seamlessly. Most organizations don’t have the IT personnel with the skills to conduct the migration.

For a successful migration, you might need to hire an external consultant or work with a managed cloud service provider.

Governance

The goal of IT governance is to standardize processes in the organization. In a hybrid cloud setup, governance can be a challenge because of the merging of disparate systems. Many organizations struggle with governance in the hybrid cloud.

The solution is three-pronged: Organizations need to increase automation, implement self-service, and have a unified management panel. In short, they need a cloud management platform (CMP), such as CloudBolt. A CMP would enable IT to have granular, single-console monitoring of cloud resources. A CMP also makes it easier to manage security, data, process, and policy implementation.

A CMP would make hybrid cloud governance much simpler by introducing an abstraction layer between IT and the disparate computing environments.  

Provisioning

Provisioning refers to the allocation of cloud resources and services. Hybrid cloud environments have two provisioning methods – dynamic provisioning and self-provisioning.

Dynamic provisioning, also referred to as cloud bursting, automatically scales up and down according to demand. Self-provisioning is a managed service where IT admins buy additional cloud resources whenever organizations need them.

It’s possible to automate provisioning in hybrid cloud. Organizations can do this by scaling multitiered, distributed workloads across environments using a combination of orchestration tools. A unified CMP interface’s consumption component shows the true consumption costs to help organizations avoid a toolchain or billing nightmare.

Security

Hybrid cloud environments are complex, and with complexity comes security risks. The biggest point of risk for organizations moving to a hybrid model is public cloud. This is because security in public cloud is API-driven, and the security practices employed may not be sufficient. After all, developers who are not familiar with the organization’s security needs set up the security protocols.

To overcome these security challenges, organizations need to invest in visibility, control, and optimization. You can achieve all these with the right CMP.

Get your cloud management platform concerns addressed. Schedule a demo of CloudBolt now.

The promise of public cloud is the allure of decentralization and agility. But without proper methods to gain oversight and ensure optimization, chances are you may be succumbing to a variety of sins that are costing you time, money, efficiency, and governance.

We’ve recently posted our latest eBook, Avoiding the 7 Deadly Sins of Public Cloud Costs, looking at all the ways your public cloud costs can spiral to the depths but also best practices for pulling your enterprise back up.

This is the fifth in a weekly blog series examining each of the seven sins. This week we’ll look at Sin #5, A Lack of Cloud Accountability.

Sin #5: A Lack of Cloud Accountability

Some organizations have the right intentions to empower their developers. They want fast, agile, productive, innovative, all that. However, without accountability, you’ll never find out who might be running up a big public cloud spending spree at your expense.

You can only control what you can measure. Put in place tools to take a close view of cloud spending. Develop KPIs that set alert points. They’ll help you drive more accountability to keep costs in check.

Cleanse Your Organization of Public Cloud Cost Sins

Looking to learn more about the six other deadly sins of public cloud costs? Download the eBook today. Also be sure to check out our comprehensive AWS Cost Optimization Guide for best practices on AWS costs.

Save 20% on Public Cloud Costs, or We’ll Give You $1,000. Guaranteed.

Welcome to this week’s edition of CloudBolt’s Weekly CloudNews!

Here are the blogs we’ve posted this week:

With that, onto this week’s news:

5 approaches to cloud automation

Kevin Casey, The Enterprisers Project, Feb. 4, 2021

“There’s plenty of overlap between infrastructure automation and one of its more modern (and large) subcategories: cloud automation. That makes sense because many of the principles or approaches to cloud automation here aren’t that different from on-premises infrastructure.

‘Much of the automation you might put in place for a hybrid cloud infrastructure will be similar to, or even the same as, automation you might want in an on-prem environment,’ says Gordon Haff, technology evangelist at Red Hat. ‘For example, it’s important for a CI/CD pipeline to continuously test and scan wherever the associated infrastructure is located.’”

Secure multi-cloud with architecture and governance focus

Katie Donagan, TechTarget, Feb. 3, 2021

“Certified enterprise and security architect Jeroen Mulder explains why multi-cloud security architecture planning should be informed by the business and customer perspectives. Cloud sprawl increases the complexity of security. To prevent sprawl, best practice is to keep everything as single stack as possible, but that’s not the world we’re living in right now. We’re living in a multi-cloud world.

Companies need to learn how to do enterprise architecture — multi-cloud security is about more than technology. Yes, firewalls are a security no-brainer, but security doesn’t start with the firewall — it starts with governance. Who’s eligible to enter what systems? Where do we need to secure the systems, and at what level, and why? After governance, think about data, then applications and then technology. Enterprise architecture is about focusing on the bigger picture and determining if and how technology can add value to the business.”

Future of education: How cloud computing is supporting a new hybrid model of learning

Mark Samuels, ZDNet, Feb. 8, 2021

“One study at the start of 2019 concluded that online education had failed to reduce costs or improve outcomes for students. Additional surveys showed that the number of students using online learning internationally was modest and, worse still, often in decline. 

Cloud-based services have proven their value and are helping institutions like LSE to connect with students around the globe who might previously have been unreachable. ‘It hasn’t gone unnoticed that those opportunities exist,’ agrees Dawson.”

We’re here to help you anywhere on your hybrid and multi-cloud journey. Request a demo today.

The AWS Cloud Management Tools Competency is a program that helps Amazon Web Services customers identify solutions that facilitate their cloud strategies. It does this by delivering governance and operations best practices. Today, enterprises must balance the benefits of the cloud and maintain compliance, governance, and efficient use of resources. AWS Cloud Management Tools Competency (AWS CMT) Partners allow enterprises to meet these goals. 

Your organization can easily manage AWS resources using a “guardrails” approach while monitoring for opportunities to improve efficiency. 

AWS Management Tools Competency Categories

Cloud Governance

In this category, AWS Partner Solutions aims to simplify AWS resource management. Service providers give organizations policy-driven guardrails to keep tabs on configuration changes and noncompliant actions or resources. As a result, it becomes easier to integrate with AWS management tools and third-party tools to enforce cloud governance. 

Resource and Cost Optimization

In this category, service providers help organizations gain visibility into their AWS environments. Organizations can see resource utilization, workload costs, chargebacks, and other critical metrics. After your organization has achieved cost visibility, AWS Partner Solutions provides cost and resource optimization recommendations to help customers optimize their AWS environments. 

Why Your Organization Should Work with AWS Competency Partners

AWS Competency Partners are AWS-recognized companies with the requisite skills to create and deliver AWS solutions. These solutions meet the needs of the modern-day enterprise. The partners have extensive domain depth and specialize in different markets. Here are some of the reasons you might want to work with them.

AWS Partners Focus on Your Success

AWS Competency Partners, such as CloudBolt, help you take full advantage of the benefits of AWS. They have extensive expertise that uniquely positions them to help organizations achieve their business goals. The team at CloudBolt helps organizations achieve their technology goals by leveraging the agility, innovation, and services of AWS. 

By integrating the CloudBolt with AWS, your organization gains an easy way to deliver AWS resources quickly, cost-effectively, and securely. These resources include compute, storage, and networking. 

Today, enterprises face all manner of challenges in the cloud that can prevent them from hitting their goals. Some of the biggest challenges include:

Using AWS and CloudBolt, your organization can take advantage of the power of the cloud-native resources AWS provides. As a result, you can scale AWS offerings on-demand while allowing IT to manage these resources’ life cycles. IT can take actions, such as configuration, provisioning, and Day-2 operations within the CloudBolt CMP. 

AWS Partners — Vetted, Verified, and Validated

AWS Partners undergo a rigorous validation and assessment for their offerings and practices for security, reliability, and performance.  

In addition, AWS Technology Partners undergo a Well-Architected Review during the application process. This ensures they’re following the laid down AWS best practices for architecting cloud systems. 

You can be sure you’re working with pros when choosing an Amazon Partner Network (APN) vendor to work with.

CloudBolt’s Direct of Product Marketing Nilesh Deo and Midwest Sales Director Matt Hallahan recently appeared on the Hashtag RealTalk podcast with Aaron Bregg to discuss all things hybrid cloud. It’s a fun, informative discussion titled “It’s 12 AM: Do You Know Where Your VMs Are?”

You’ll hear these key takeaways you can apply to your own business:

Featured speakers:

See CloudBolt’s enterprise-grade hybrid cloud solutions in action.

The promise of public cloud is the allure of decentralization and agility. But without proper methods to gain oversight and ensure optimization, chances are you may be succumbing to a variety of sins that are costing you time, money, efficiency, and governance.

We’ve recently posted our latest eBook, Avoiding the 7 Deadly Sins of Public Cloud Costs, looking at all the ways your public cloud costs can spiral to the depths but also best practices for pulling your enterprise back up.

This is the third in a weekly blog series examining each of the seven sins. This week we’ll look at Sin #3: when orphaned resources get left behind and forgotten.

Sin #3: Leaving Orphaned Storage Behind

Sometimes, spinning down public cloud resources has unintended consequences. For example, the attached storage from a spun-down VM can be left running unwittingly. That means you have orphaned storage running that you aren’t using, or don’t even know exist. This eats up your bottom line without the right safeguards in place.

Develop processes to check for unattached resources. Drive financial transparency through showback. And, let IT admins wind these resources down over a period of time if still unattached.

Cleanse Your Organization of Public Cloud Cost Sins

Looking to learn more about the six other deadly sins of public cloud costs? Download the eBook today. Also be sure to check out our comprehensive AWS Cost Optimization Guide for best practices on AWS costs.

Save 20% on Public Cloud Costs, or We’ll Give You $1,000. Guaranteed.

Welcome to this week’s edition of CloudBolt’s Weekly CloudNews!

Here are the blogs we’ve posted this week:

With that, onto this week’s news:

Securing the future – where are the risks in multi-cloud?

Richard Meeus, ITProPortal, Jan. 22, 2021

“If multi-cloud is set to boom in the coming year, then what are the potential threats that businesses should be aware of from a security perspective, and how can you get ahead of the potential new threat actors targeting your business? Businesses have to deal with the increased risk that remote working brings. Through a transition to the cloud, employees are accessing that data from untrusted networks. So not only are businesses dealing with multiple data sets sitting in multiple clouds, they are being accessed via insecure networks and therefore the surface attack area for attackers is growing. The attacker’s first port of call is to attempt to compromise weak credentials, unprotected devices or untrusted networks in their efforts to steal valuable data or hold businesses to ransom.

A noticeable trend during the pandemic has been a spike in application attacks on websites. These attacks are looking for weaknesses in your website, either in the coding or in obsolete components used within. Once exposed, the damages can be huge as can be seen in the myriad of different breaches disclosed every year. In a recent Akamai panel discussion on the topic of multi-cloud, its researchers revealed that they detected a 200 percent rise in attacks on applications during the pandemic, with one million a day in January rising to around approximately three million a day in September.”

Will The Cloud Take Down The Mainframe?

Tom Taulli, Forbes, Jan. 23, 2021

“‘Considering that innovation happens today in the cloud first, both ‘Big Iron’ and public cloud providers operating at ‘hyperscale’ have an important role to play. We will continue to see innovation around hybrid cloud models that feel more like a mashup of monolithic and distributed architectures than a dramatic changing of the guard. The public cloud footprint is no longer limited to a handful of data center regions. The new cloud frontier is expanding to cover the network’s edge with solutions like AWS Outposts and Azure Stack that bring the cloud closer to the mainframe. The future will favor solutions that facilitate the adoption of these hybrid models.’

So all in all, the mainframe world will continue as it has. If anything, it will probably grow as hybrid approaches show results.”

IT leaders see outsourcing cybersecurity as one solution to increased attacks

Veronica Combs, TechRepublic, Jan. 26, 2021

“Just over half of survey respondents said that security was the biggest challenge with cloud infrastructure. However, improving cloud security did not show up in the top three spending priorities. IT leaders said they will be making investments in increased storage and flexibility, multicloud and/or hybrid cloud capabilities, and system maintenance in 2021. 

The report authors note that security is a basic building block of all these functions and write that ‘the more security vulnerabilities are minimized, the greater chance your business has to continue running or recover from unforeseen events like cyberattacks, IT equipment failures, and natural disasters.’”

Experience the leading hybrid cloud management and orchestration solution. Request a CloudBolt demo today.

Are you considering a move from a single cloud environment to a multi-cloud environment? When cloud computing first emerged, it seemed like one cloud solution was the way to go. IT wrongly assumed that one cloud could meet the varied needs of the modern-day enterprise. For this reason, organizations started by moving applications to public cloud with a bit of refactoring. 

After cloud computing became widely accepted for less mission-critical applications, IT began to move more applications to the cloud. The need for more services and applications eventually led to the need for multi-cloud deployments. 

Reasons for Moving to Multi-Cloud

Some reasons organizations eventually move to a multi-cloud architecture include:

What Challenges Necessitate the Move from Single Cloud to Multi-Cloud?

The unique challenges organizations face when using the cloud often necessitates moving from single cloud to multi-cloud. Today, organizations are using multiple public and private clouds to prevent vendor lock-in, deploy applications, and exploit best-of-breed solutions. 

You should consider a multi-cloud strategy if your organization is facing any of these issues:

  1. Users are often not close to a data center or any office.
  2. Users are in different geographical areas or even international.
  3. DevOps teams need separate testing or development environments. 
  4. Your organization is a likely target of DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks that could put a strain on infrastructure. 
  5. The organization’s security policies or concerns call for having some data and infrastructure situated in a private cloud or even on-premises. 
  6. You have service requests distributed globally. This makes it necessary to distribute workloads across data centers to optimize performance. 
  7. Your organization already has multiple cloud contracts, and you want to centralize access and management. 
  8. There are multiple cloud contracts whose costs are spinning out of control. 

What are the Advantages of Moving from a Single Cloud to Multi-Cloud Architecture? 

The application of multi-cloud environments might be a tough concept to fully grasp. But the idea is simple. It’s about your organization choosing to distribute its assets, applications, software, and redundancies across several clouds. 

The whole concept might seem to go against the grain. After all, having all your “eggs” in one basket seems like the best way to keep your information secure. Multi-cloud, on the surface, looks like a huge security risk for many organizations. In addition, most public cloud providers encourage organizations to host all their services with them. They even give plenty of discounts and perks. 

However, the multi-cloud model is not without its perks. Using multiple cloud providers might just be what you need to push your organization’s digital transformation to the next level. Here are some of the benefits of making the move from a single cloud environment to a multi-cloud environment:

  1. It gives organizations the power of choice, so they can avoid vendor lock-in. 
  2. Organizations can take advantage of the benefit each cloud provider has to offer. It’s the proverbial having your cake and eating it, too. 
  3. It puts organizations where they can maximize their cloud budgets by distributing workloads where they run most efficiently and cost-effectively. 

Conclusion

For a small organization with minimal cloud computing needs, sticking to a single cloud service provider is a no-brainer. But for enterprises with a complex IT infrastructure and heavy technological needs, a solid multi-cloud strategy can make a significant difference to the bottom line. 

Experience the leading management solution for multi-cloud deployments. Request a CloudBolt demo today.