Cloud Computing - How to Solve Challenges and Avoid Typical Mistakes Using Amazon Web Services

8/8/2019 Cloud Computing - How to Solve Challenges and Avoid Typical Mistakes Using Amazon Web Services

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/cloud-computing-how-to-solve-challenges-and-avoid-typical-mistakes-using 1/9

Cloud Computing: How toSolve Challenges and AvoidTypical Mistakes UsingAmazon Web Services

Handbook and Tips

Abstract:Thousands of companies worldwide engage in cloud computing to get financial and technical benefits.Many succeed, yet many more cannot help making mistakes that hinder their efficiency. This white paperwill explain how you can win with cloud computing and what challenges you need to overcome. It will alsoshow how to avoid the most common mistakes made by companies using Amazon Web Services, the mostpopular cloud computing offerings.

By Matthew Brown and Sergey Sundukovskiy



2

Cloud Computing: How to Solve Challenges and AvoidTypical Mistakes Using Amazon Web Services

Contents

Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................3 Cloud Computing is a New Name for an Old Good Thing .............................................................3 Four Common Challenges of Cloud Computing ............................................................................4

Different standards ............................................................................................................................ 4 Caring about security ......................................................................................................................... 5

Application performance ..................................................................................................................... 5 Interaction between private and public clouds ..................................................................................... 6

Amazon Web Services: Opportunities in the Cloud ......................................................................6

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) .................................................................................................. 6 Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) ................................................................................................. 7 Amazon SimpleDB ............................................................................................................................. 7

Amazon Web Services: Challenges and Mistakes to Avoid ..........................................................8 Scalability does not mean auto-scaling ................................................................................................ 8 Disregarding safety of data ................................................................................................................ 8 Non-standard URLs and indexing ........................................................................................................ 8

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................9 About the Authors ........................................................................................................................9



3


Executive Summary

According to a recent study by Microsoft, about 30% of companies plan to integrate cloud computing into theirinfrastructures within the next two years. The tendency is nothard to explain. Another survey by Avanade, a global ITconsultancy, revealed that four out of five IT managers andexecutives believe their existing internal IT systems are tooexpensive. In the current economic situation, their costs areincreasing even more.

What makes so many companies consider migrating to the cloudis that cloud computing, in addition to its flexibility and scalability,enables companies to save dramatically. Photo hosting service SmugMug claims to have economized$1,000,000 in just seven months after engaging in the cloud. Thousands of companies have followedSmugMug's example and experienced the same or even higher success.

The increasing demand has led to a growing number of related Web service providers, as well. Without adoubt, Amazon Web Services become the most popular one —because of the richest functionality andhighest safety offered.

When rushing into the cloud, many IT executives forget about the new challenges, which makes it harderfor them to get all the benefits of cloud computing. Our experience in the cloud has helped us figure outthe most common challenges companies face and the mistakes they frequently make. This handbook ishere to assist you in solving these issues.

Cloud Computing is a New Name for an Old Good

Thing

Cloud computing is the evolution of three popular IT business trends: infrastructure as a service (IaaS),platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). The main features of cloud computinginclude the following:

It is run on the Web (“in the cloud”).

It makes use of a shared infrastructure —sometimes very complex —known as “the cloud,” since it is essentially invisible or untouchable to end-users.

It is commonly offered as an on-demand service , meaning that customers pay only fortheir usage of the service, not the service itself, and delegate all maintenance issues tothe cloud provider.

It offers scalable dynamic resources depending on the current application’s requirements.There is no need to allocate much memory for a simple application, and, on the otherhand, any additional resources can be drawn in any time for a complex dynamicapplication.

Usage of cloud computing can be measured and billed exactly for the amount used. This isprobably the most adequate method considering the scalability of resources and variableusage intensity. You do not need to overpay!

Photo hosting serviceSmugMug saved$1,000,000 in 7months with cloudcomputing.



4


Representing a new approach to information services delivery, cloud computing is beneficial in a variety of ways, including the following:

Cloud computing offers flexibility , making it possible to access information fromanywhere. The information is not stored on a local server; it is stored on the Web (“in thecloud”).

Cloud computing is easy to implement; getting up and running takes much less time thanever before.

Cloud computing is cost-effective , as you pay for the service incrementally —the pricedepends only on your usage!

With cloud computing, there is no need to worry about keeping your software up-to-date ,or constantly upgrading your hardware; everything is done by the cloud provider for free.

Cloud computing is safe. Service providers back up their data, so even if one or two

servers crash, this does not result in loss of data.Disaster recovery costs with cloud computing are alsoabout half as costly by virtue of cost-effectivevirtualization.

These and other considerations explain the 30 percent increasethat, according to the RSA, cloud computing enterprise usage hasseen recently. A survey of American companies by the RSA hasalso revealed that 16% of businesses plan to migrate to the cloudwithin the next 12 months.

However, like any other technology, cloud computing comes with its own challenges; and in order to stayeffective, companies need to be prepared for them.

Four Common Challenges of Cloud Computing

Companies that go for cloud computing without proper preparation are likely to run into a number of obstacles where they least expect them. The most typical challenges include the following:

Different standards

Major cloud computing providers, such as Amazon, IBM, Cisco, Salesforce.com, Microsoft, and Google,have come up with their own standards of cloud computing, followed by a considerable number of smallerproviders.

While the range of standards to choose from may seem a good thing, you will no longer think so when youneed to move data from one cloud to another or set up two applications in different clouds to interact. Thecloud is easy and flexible as long as you are within one, but as soon as you start working with anothercloud, nothing is simple anymore.

Currently, a universally accessible cloud computing application is more of a dream than a reality. So, onemust work hard to make data transfer seamlessly between the clouds.

16% of Americancompanies plan tomigrate to the cloud

within the next 12months.



5


Caring about security

According to the IDC Enterprise Panel, about 75% of IT executives expressed concern about securityissues with cloud computing. Like getting involved in any other outsourcing relationship, cloud computingmeans entrusting your data to a third party. Hence, all the security concerns about data are also handedover to the service provider. Can companies be sure that the cloud will take good care of their data?

The system of user authentication and authorization used by a cloud computing service provider shouldminimize the risk of data getting into the wrong hands.Furthermore, since a cloud is multi-tenant, it is pivotal that aservice provider can guarantee faultless data segregation fromother customers. The typical way to segregate data is to encryptit, but, according to Gartner, ―encryption accidents can make datatotally unusable, and even normal encryption can complicate

availability.‖

Another question is whether it is secure to transfer data to andfrom the cloud. All the transfers should exclude the slimmestchance of interception. Then, what happens when a cloud computing service user removes some of theirdata? Basic security requirements generally specify that the data deleted must be physically removed fromthe cloud’s servers immediately.

One more potential source of risk is today’s erratic economics. If the service provider should becomebankrupt or get swallowed up by a bigger company, what is to become of the data on its servers?

A good cloud computing provider should be able to address these and other questions that may arise.Moreover, they should be open about all matters that are closely related to their customers. A companythat has its data in the cloud has the full right to know where this data is stored (while in practicecompanies often do not even know in which country the servers are located), or to carry out aninvestigation of inappropriate or illegal activity in the cloud.

Application performance

There are two aspects that may limit an application’s performance in the cloud.

First, it is important to realize that applications in the cloud may run slower than on a local machine. Thevery idea of virtualization implies certain performance penalties, so IT executives should not be surprisedwhen they notice a 20% or even greater decrease in application performance in the cloud compared to thelocal environment. However, with some applications, the slowdown in performance will be practicallyunnoticeable.

There are a lot of factors that determine how an application runs in the cloud, such as application type,workload type, hardware, and others. It also matters that with cloud computing, you cannot rely on ahomogeneous environment. The cloud is, in fact, quite heterogeneous: different CPUs, different amountsof memory, etc. Being aware of how an application runs in the cloud is crucial for being realistic about youroverall performance.

Another virtualization issue is that the maximum amount of memory available on any single virtual machineis 15.5 GB, so far. While this would probably suffice for most needs and you still can unite the resources of several virtual instances, those applications that use more memory on local machines may not run

Disaster recovery costs with cloudcomputing are twicelower.



6


smoothly on a single virtual machine in the cloud. Although it is likely that virtualization vendors, such as VMware and Citrix, may increase this memory limit in the future, just keep that in mind.

Interaction between private and public clouds

When opting for cloud computing, most companies do not externalize all of their data. Considerableamounts of information remain in the so-called ―private‖ cloud, which means that it is still physically storedwithin a company’s private network.

Since data between a private and a public cloud may migrate very often, this process should be asseamless as possible. On top of that, it should meet your security standards. These important detailsshould be arranged before clinching a cloud computing deal.

But there is more to it than just that. Imagine that a company decides to back up its local data in the cloudor to save public cloud data locally. This definitely guarantees better safety of data, but the issue of synchronization comes up. You do not want to update your data twice and would prefer automaticsynchronization with the cloud. A good cloud computing provider is the one that offers this kind of servicesto you.

Amazon Web Services: Opportunities in the Cloud

With the wide range of cloud computing services available in the market today, IT executives sometimes

do not know where to look first. In this case, you’d better startwith the services that enjoy the greatest popularity and bestreputation today — Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Amazon Web Services allow companies to use an effective, time-tested computing infrastructure that Amazon has been using forits own global network of Web sites. The top three most popularcloud computing services from Amazon include:

Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

Amazon S3 is a cloud storage service that allows users to ―store any amount of data and retrieve it fromanywhere on the Web.‖ An unlimited number of objects ranging from 1 byte to 5 GB in size can be stored.To sort objects, S3 allows grouping them into buckets, which are very similar to local folders.

Amazon S3 enables access restrictions for each of your objects, with a range of available ways to accessobjects, from HTTP requests to using the BitTorrent protocol. Amazon also ensures a high availability of S3users’ data, guaranteeing 99.9 percent uptime, measured monthly. The service is available for a veryaffordable cost: $0.12 –$0.15 per 1 GB, per month.

Releasing companies from the need to worry about storage space, uptime, or server maintenance costsand providing great economy, Amazon S3 has gained great popularity with a broad spectrum of clients.

WordPress.com, Twitter, Slideshare.net, alongside with thousands of others, are among its users. Photohosting service SmugMug claims to have saved over $1,000,000 on storage costs after just seven monthsof using Amazon S3.

Amazon WebServices are based on

Amazon's owntime-proveninfrastructure.



7


Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)

Amazon EC2 is a Web service that enables its clients to run and host their applications in the cloud ratherthan on local machines. It means that customers use a Web interface to administer a virtual machineprovided by Amazon.

Companies of all sizes have appreciated the opportunity to use massive computer arrays by purchasingaccess to them, without having to acquire any hardware. EC2 makes it possible to create high-demandWeb applications with thousands of users more affordably than ever before. The New York Times relies on

Amazon EC2, as well as the S3 storage service, to host its TimesMachine, which provides access to the

newspaper’s public archives. IBM uses Amazon EC2 to provide pay-as-you-go access to its database andcontent management software, such as IBM DB2 and Lotus.

EC2 offers a wide range of virtual machines so that it is possibleto choose a configuration best suited for any specific application.This, as well as the fact that the number and types of virtualmachines can be changed at any moment, helps Amazon EC2achieve maximum scalability. Each client can buy just theresources s/he needs, and when the client’s needs change, thenumber of instances in virtual use can change, accordingly. Toensure resistance to failure, instances can be placed in differentgeographic locations and time zones.

The EC2 environment is based on Xen, an open source virtual machine monitor. Amazon EC2 allows you touse and create your own Amazon Machine Images, or AMIs, which serve as templates for your instances.

While most AMIs are based on Linux, other operational systems, such as OpenSolaris and Windows Server,are also supported.

The costs of using EC2 consist of an hourly charge per virtual machine and a data transfer charge. The ―pay-as-you-go‖ system and great scalability opportunities have contributed to Amazon’s naming its cloud ―elastic.‖

Amazon SimpleDB

Amazon SimpleDB is a service for storing, processing, and querying structure datasets, designed to beused in concert with Amazon EC2 and S3.

Not a relational database itself, SimpleDB provides all the functionality of a database, such as real-timelookup and querying of structured data, without the operational complexity. With SimpleDB, there is noneed for schemas; the service automatically indexes your data and provides an easy-to-use API for storageand access. The data model is as simple as the service’s name suggests: collections of ―items‖ (small hashtables containing attributes-value pairs) are organized into ―domains.‖

SimpleDB is impressively fast, even when dealing with large amounts of data. As with S3 and EC2, it offerson-demand scaling: SimpleDB customers are charged only for actual data storage and transfer.Transferring data to other Amazon Web Services is free of charge.

IBM uses AmazonEC2 to provide pay-as-you-go access toits database andcontent managementsoftware.



8


Amazon Web Services: Challenges and Mistakes to

AvoidDue to their high reliability and cost-saving approach, Amazon Web Services are becoming increasinglypopular with companies on both sides of the Atlantic. However, while some things Amazon Web Servicesmake easier to achieve, some things are quite complicated for a newbie.

Here are some typical challenges that customers new to Amazon’s cloud computing service face and typicalmistakes they make.

Scalability does not mean auto-scaling

Mistake: Some IT executives forget that scalability and adjusting the resources that you use are never

done automatically. With cloud computing, there still has to be a person who monitors an application’sperformance and the resources used. For example, as soon as an application run in EC2 needs morememory, this person should see how much more memory is needed and add a virtual instance of appropriate size.

Without human management or a custom automation application, there is still a risk of not providingenough resources for an application or overpaying for odd resources.

Disregarding safety of data

Mistake: Some people consider backing up as an unnecessary formality.

It is true, Amazon has a great reputation —no complaints of data loss, corruption, or unavailability haveever been heard from its clients so far —but the point is, should anything happen to your data due to theperformance of your application, bugs, or unforeseen customer efforts, the data will be lost. Therefore,creating backups and undertaking security measures are still as relevant as ever before.

Non-standard URLs and indexing

Challenge: Operating large volumes of dynamic data, Amazon Web Services may create non-standard

and dynamic URLs, which can be an obstacle for smooth search engine optimization.

Solution: Whenever it is possible, rewriting a URL is a veryhelpful practice that is likely to solve the problem. URLs rewrittento look standard are both user-friendly and work better withsearch engines.

Another useful thing to do is create an RSS feed and a sitemap,which will help index your pages faster. Amazon even providessome ready-to-use code for an RSS feed, but creating a customfeed is probably what the most expert developers will do.

Additionally, consider joining the Amazon Associates program. Itis an easy way to boost your search engine ranking by getting connected to millions of Amazon’s own

Creating backups andundertaking security measures are stillrelevant as ever

before.




pages. Joining is free, but the price you pay is the necessity to put advertisements of Amazon’s productssomewhere on your Web site. This is, in fact, the driving principle of Amazon Associates —you make linksto Amazon and get paid for every click, your growing search engine ranking being the positive side effect.

For many companies, engaging in the program may not be an appropriate option, but for some it canprove to be a winning decision.

Conclusion

While cloud computing has the potential to provide a range of benefits to businesses of any size and anyindustry, the cloud has its own hidden challenges. Those who want to make good use of it should be readyto avoid them to benefit from this promising technology.

Once implemented, cloud computing efforts may turn into a huge winner, saving considerable amounts of money, increasing the performance of your applications, and providing 24/7 availability and scalability.

About the Authors

Matthew Brown is a VP of Marketing at Akelios with over ten years of experience in IT and Marketingfields. Matthew’s professional background includes working for major IT industry companies: he was aProduct Line Manager at Sun Microsystems and a Senior Marketing Manager at Oracle. Matthew specializesin Cloud Computing and marketing, as well as project and resource management. He holds an MBA fromthe George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University, and a B.A. inMarketing from New York University.

Sergey Sundukovskiy has over 15 years of experience serving in capacities ranging from Senior Architect to CIO, including experience in building IT organizations from the ground up in both start-upsand Fortune 100 companies. He currently works as a CIO at Akelios. Sergey specializes in intra-companyand offshore system and product development, Cloud Computing, cross-functional training, and strategicplanning. Sergey holds a B.A. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego, and anM.S. in Information Technology from the University of Liverpool, as well a Ph.D. in Information TechnologyManagement from the School of Business and Technology, Capella University.

Akelios is a team of Cloud Computing experts that provides a wide range of Cloud Computing services,including Cloud training, Cloud development, Cloud migration, and Cloud support. Akelios assists companies in various stages of the Cloud adoption cycle, providing Cloud Vendor, Platform, and Product Selection, Cloud Application Migration, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Cloud Disaster Recovery, Security Planning,Cloud Performance Tuning, and Cloud Architecture Design. Akelios helps its customers select the most

appropriate combination of a Cloud Vendor and a Cloud Platform combined with the Cloud-specific products that best fit their Business and Technology circumstances. For more information, please visit www.akelios.com .

http://www.akelios.com/



Documents

Cloud Computing - How to Solve Challenges and Avoid Typical Mistakes Using Amazon Web Services