In this blog, we’ll delve into the advantages of the cloud and why it has become an indispensable tool for organizations of all sizes and across sectors. Before we discuss its benefits, let’s first understand the cloud, its infrastructure and different cloud service and deployment models.

What is the cloud?

The cloud or cloud computing is a global network of distributed servers hosting software and infrastructure accessed over the internet. It enables organizations to operate efficiently without needing any extensive internal infrastructure. With the cloud, users and organizations can access the same files and applications from almost any device since the computing and storage take place on servers in a data center instead of locally on the user device or in-house servers.

For instance, users can access their Instagram account and emails with all their files and conversation history from a new device, all virtue of the cloud. As cloud vendors update and maintain the servers themselves, cloud computing is one of the most cost-efficient solutions for organizations, helping them save significantly on IT costs and overheads.

How does cloud computing work?

Cloud computing leverages virtualization technology that enables the creation of digital entities called virtual machines. These virtual machines emulate the behavior of physical computers, existing harmoniously on a shared host machine yet maintaining strict isolation from one another.

The virtual machines also efficiently use the hardware hosting them, giving a single server the ability to run many virtual servers. This transforms data centers into highly efficient hubs capable of serving multiple organizations concurrently at a remarkably economical cost. The efficiency also extends to the reliability of cloud services since cloud service providers back up their services on multiple machines across multiple regions to guarantee uninterrupted service delivery.

Navigating the cloud is a seamless experience for users, accomplished through the sophisticated gateways of browsers or applications, regardless of their device. Many elements work in tandem to ensure seamless cloud navigation experience for users. Here are some of the core components of the cloud that help it operate like well-oiled machinery.

Cloud infrastructure

Four integral elements define the backbone of cloud infrastructure:

• Servers: Servers are the core of cloud infrastructure, acting as the computational engines that process and deliver data, applications and services. The servers ensure an efficient allocation of computing resources to support diverse user needs.
• Storage: Cloud storage acts as a dynamic repository, offering scalable and resilient solutions for data management. From documents to multimedia, this cloud component delivers data integrity and accessibility, providing a robust foundation for information storage.
• Networking: Networking ensures seamless communication between servers, devices and users and helps establish the pathways for secure and swift data transfer.
• Virtualization: Virtualization optimizes the usage of hardware resources through virtual machines. The virtual machines ensure efficient utilization, enhance flexibility, and guarantee isolation and security within the cloud infrastructure.

The cloud services come with different service and deployment models, each tailored for specific organizational needs. Let’s unravel their distinct purposes and explore their roles in enhancing organizational efficiency.

Cloud service models

Cloud computing generally comes in one of three fundamental service models: Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

IaaS provides a foundational layer in which the cloud services provider manages the computing resources, including servers, storage, networking infrastructure and virtualization. It eliminates the need for enterprises to procure, configure or manage infrastructure themselves and pay only for the services they use.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

PaaS is a complete development and deployment cloud service model that offers a comprehensive platform, including the hardware and the underlying software stack. Along with the computing resources of IaaS, PaaS also offers middleware, development tools, business intelligence (BI) services, database management systems and more. It allows users to focus on developing and deploying applications without concerning themselves with the intricacies of the infrastructure or software updates.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

SaaS delivers fully developed applications over the internet, eliminating the need for users to install, maintain or manage the software locally. The SaaS model allows easy access to a wide range of applications, from productivity tools to enterprise software, without the burden of handling underlying infrastructure or software maintenance. It promotes accessibility, collaboration and scalability, allowing organizations to quickly get up and running with an app at minimal upfront cost.

Specialized cloud services

Along with the basic cloud service models, some specialized cloud services offer distinctive features. Here are some of them:

• Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) or Serverless Computing: FaaS provides a platform that allows users to execute code in response to specific events without managing the complex infrastructure typically associated with building and launching microservices applications.
• Container-as-a-Service (CaaS): In the CaaS service model, the cloud service provider offers a platform for deploying, managing and scaling containerized applications. It simplifies the orchestration of containers for the users, enhancing efficiency and portability in application development.
• Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS): DBaaS offers fully managed database solutions that allow organizations to focus on data-driven applications without the burden of database maintenance.
• Storage-as-a-Service (StaaS): StaaS delivers a flexible and cost-effective alternative to traditional on-premises storage systems through scalable and managed storage solutions.
• AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS) and Machine Learning-as-a-Service (MLaaS): AIaaS and MLaaS empower organizations with access to artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities, allowing them to leverage advanced analytics without any extensive in-house expertise.

Cloud deployment models

There are various cloud deployment models that cater to diverse organizational needs. Here are some of the most common deployment models:

Public cloud

The public cloud is a globally accessible and shared infrastructure offered by third-party providers over the public internet. This model is ideal for startups and businesses with fluctuating workloads due to its scalability, cost-effectiveness and on-demand resource allocation.

Private cloud

Private clouds are dedicated environments exclusive to a single organization. They offer heightened control, security and customization, making them suitable for industries with stringent compliance regulations or enterprises handling sensitive data.

Hybrid cloud

The hybrid cloud deployment model is an amalgamation of both public and private cloud components. The model enables organizations to leverage the flexibility of the public cloud for non-sensitive operations while keeping critical data within the secure confines of a private cloud. The hybrid cloud suits businesses with dynamic workloads and diverse infrastructure needs.

Multicloud

Multicloud deployment involves utilizing services from multiple cloud providers to achieve flexibility, cost savings and reduced risk. This model is ideal for enterprises seeking a diversified and resilient cloud infrastructure.

Community cloud

Community clouds are a collaborative model in which infrastructure is shared between several with common objectives, such as security, compliance and jurisdiction. This deployment model fosters collaboration and resource optimization and is appropriate for organizations working on a similar project, research topic or application.

With the emergence of the modern cloud in the early 2000s, it gained widespread popularity among businesses of all sizes. Most businesses quickly joined the cloud bandwagon, recognizing its importance in fast-tracking their digital transformation journey.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the reasons for the proliferation of cloud computing.

Why do we need cloud computing?

Cloud computing allows organizations to transcend physical barriers and access computing resources on a scale, revolutionizing traditional IT infrastructures. This flexibility allows enterprises to seamlessly scale operations up or down, according to market dynamics.

Moreover, with data and applications residing in a centralized, easily accessible location, teams dispersed across departments and geographical boundaries seamlessly collaborate in real-time. As knowledge and insights flow freely, unhampered by physical constraints, it enhances productivity and fosters a culture of innovation.

Let’s explore the diverse applications of cloud computing and how they play a pivotal role in optimizing operations and fostering innovation for organizations.

Uses of cloud computing

Here are some use cases of cloud computing for modern businesses:

• Data storage and processing: Cloud computing provides a scalable and cost-effective data storage system made accessible by a web services API. It allows organizations to efficiently manage and process vast amounts of data without the constraints of on-premises infrastructure.
• Big data analytics: With enormous processing power and scalability, the cloud has revolutionized big data analytics. Organizations leverage cloud platforms to analyze complex data sets and make data-driven, informed decisions.
• Data backup and archiving: The cloud facilitates seamless data backup and archiving, ensuring integrity and real-time data availability. This eliminates the risk of data loss and provides a reliable mechanism for long-term data retention.
• Business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR): Cloud computing serves as a robust foundation for business continuity and disaster recovery strategies for organizations. It continually captures any changes to the data and transfers it to the disaster recovery server, ensuring rapid recovery in the event of disruptions or disasters.
• Remote work and collaboration: Cloud computing allows remote workers to access their work files and applications from anywhere, fostering flexibility and collaboration among geographically dispersed teams.
• Testing and development: Cloud platforms offer an agile environment for testing and development of applications. It enables developers to access resources on-demand, experiment with different configurations and deploy applications swiftly.

As the cloud operates through many interconnected networks, it raises security concerns among organizations, with cyberthreats at an all-time high. However, the cloud’s adaptive security protocols ensure that businesses can confidently navigate the digital terrain without compromising the integrity of their data. Let’s understand how the cloud safeguards an organization’s data.

Cloud security

Cloud service providers set an unparalleled standard for safeguarding sensitive data and ensuring the integrity of digital landscapes. They employ a multilayered approach, integrating robust encryption protocols, multifactor authentication and stringent access controls to fortify the confidentiality and integrity of stored data.

Moreover, cloud service providers also adhere to compliance regulations, perform security audits and monitor mechanisms regularly to identify and address any vulnerabilities. With these robust security controls, organizations can confidently entrust the cloud with their critical application, a boon in today’s ever-evolving threat landscape.

With many benefits, adopting cloud computing has become imperative for organizations seeking to thrive in the competitive business landscape. Let’s look at some of the ways cloud computing has impacted businesses.

Cloud computing in business

The inherent value of cloud computing lies in its capacity to transcend traditional constraints, adapt swiftly to market dynamics and optimize operational costs. It propels organizations’ digital transformation journey by unlocking new avenues for innovation, facilitating seamless scalability and helping them navigate future uncertainties with resilience and efficiency.

What are examples of cloud computing in business?

Here are some industry-wise instances of the efficiency of cloud computing:

• Healthcare: Cloud computing has revolutionized healthcare by enabling healthcare providers to leverage cloud platforms for data analytics, facilitating personalized treatments and improving patient care. Telemedicine services have especially witnessed exponential growth by adopting cloud computing, which has ensured broader accessibility of healthcare resources.
• Finance: Cloud computing has helped the financial sector streamline operations and enhance data security. Many financial institutions utilize the cloud for real-time data analytics, fraud detection and risk management. The innovative features of the cloud allow the industry to offer new services and products to customers at a rapid pace.
• E-commerce: E-commerce platforms use cloud-based analytics to understand customer behavior, optimize inventory management and deliver personalized recommendations, enhancing customer satisfaction and retention. It also helps them handle fluctuating workloads, ensuring seamless shopping experiences during peak times.
• Education: Cloud computing has transformed education by facilitating online learning platforms, collaboration tools and resource sharing. Several educational institutions utilize cloud-based services to efficiently manage student data, virtual classrooms and collaborative research projects.

Take advantage of cloud computing with Kaseya

While the benefits of the cloud are aplenty, its management can be arduous if you still rely on traditional endpoint management solutions. In order to leverage the cloud services to the fullest, your IT team needs an advanced endpoint management system that ensures seamless management of diverse cloud-based environments in a single UI.

With Kaseya VSA, you can automate the discovery of all endpoints and network devices, including virtual hosts and virtual machines. VSA is a next-generation, unified RMM solution that maximizes IT operational efficiency with complete IT asset discovery, monitoring and management. It gives you the visibility and functionality you need to manage all of IT in a single UI.

To learn more about Kaseya VSA, Request your demo today!

The post What Is Cloud Computing? Services, Types, Advantages and Use Cases appeared first on Kaseya.

Cloud services are a boon for the fast-expanding mid-market segment who can pay on the go and expand and scale their business without incurring high IT infrastructure costs. The report also highlighted that nearly two-thirds (64%) of respondents spend as much as 25% of their resources on cloud infrastructure.

With cloud technologies becoming increasingly popular, this blog will aim to answer common questions such as what cloud migration means, why it’s important, top migration strategies and other key queries. Dive in.

What is cloud migration?

Cloud migration refers to moving company data, applications and other IT resources from on-premises data centers and servers to the cloud. Companies can either transfer their data to public cloud service providers like 2022 IT Operations Survey Results, set up their private cloud computing environment or create a hybrid environment.

With cloud services gaining popularity, there is also an increasing rise in cloud-to-cloud migrations in which companies move their resources from one cloud service provider to another. Another concept under the umbrella of cloud migration is cloud repatriation, or reverse cloud migration, in which users move their data and resources from a cloud environment to a local server.

Why is cloud migration important?

Cloud migration is important because it gives SMBs the capability to support a diversified and hybrid employee and client base efficiently. Cloud computing is the future of IT, and not migrating to it will result in you falling behind. Consider these points:

• Cost: Every company, big or small, needs a robust IT infrastructure to run its operations. Cost-sensitive small businesses may find it difficult to grow if they have to set up an entire infrastructure from scratch. The cloud, with services like Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Software as a Service (SaaS), gives small businesses, like MSPs, all the IT tools and resources they need to kickstart and manage their business for a fraction of the cost.
• Scalability and capacity planning: Moreover, capacity planning is difficult for businesses in the growth stage due to cyclical change in demand that places an unpredictable load on IT infrastructure. Cloud computing allows a company to scale up or down its usage based on demand and only pay for what it uses. By doing this, they do not have to spend money on expensive hardware that may result in the underutilization of resources during non-peak periods. As a result, operational costs shrink further and free up funds for revenue-generating projects.
• Automation and cybersecurity: On top of being a good fit for cybersecurity management, cloud technologies help automate processes. With cloud storage, businesses can quickly recover data in case of an incident while technicians can automate software patching for applications on the cloud to save time and improve efficiency.
• Digital experience: Cloud resources allow users to deploy technology in minutes and start working, testing and implementing their ideas and strategies immediately. The technology also provides users with a global reach, so they can deploy their applications and provide services anywhere in the world without hassle.

What are cloud migration strategies?

Cloud migration strategies are in-depth plans companies make to migrate their data and resources from on-premises infrastructure to the cloud or from one cloud provider to another. No two businesses will have the same cloud migration strategy. It will vary depending on their expectations from cloud adoption, its impacts on their business operations, the money they expect to save and other business factors.

The 5 Rs of cloud migration

Migrating to the cloud is not a simple one-size-fits-all process. For migration to be successful, each application, dataset and workload must be mapped out in detail. According to Gartner, there are five categories of cloud migration strategies, dubbed the FIVE Rs. Let’s take a look at what they are:

• Rehost: It is the easiest and simplest way to migrate workloads to the cloud by leveraging IaaS. Rehosting, also called lift and shift, is an ideal strategy for organizations new to the cloud who want a clean migration experience without undertaking major code modifications.
• Refactor: Refactoring is similar to rehosting, with the difference that organizations use PaaS instead of IaaS, which allows them to make small modifications to applications and datasets so they can be optimized for the cloud. For this reason, refactoring is also called lift, tinker and shift.
• Revise: Organizations can take full advantage of cloud services and capabilities by adopting this method, but it requires making major code changes to applications, database architecture and systems. Choosing this strategy requires careful and in-depth planning.
• Rebuild: In a rebuild, the old code is thrown out and rewritten from scratch for the cloud. As this process is time-consuming and costly compared to others, you should only do it when you are sure your current methods aren’t working effectively and starting over is more cost-effective.
• Replace: Replace is similar to rebuild, except instead of developing a native application from scratch, you move your data to an application provided by a third-party vendor.

What are cloud migration deployment models?

The cloud deployment model indicates how you’ve configured the cloud infrastructure, which determines how much access and control you have over it. A deployment model determines where and who controls cloud databases and servers. There are four primary deployment models, which are:

Public Cloud

The public cloud setup gives users access to comprehensive IT resources like virtual machines, computing power, application storage and data backup over the internet without requiring them to maintain the hardware themselves. The public cloud service providers share the computing resources with multiple tenants and charge them on a pay-per-usage or subscription basis.

Private Cloud

A private cloud setup is for use by a single customer. Companies create the cloud environment for personal use and do not share it with others. This option combines the benefits of public cloud with the security and control of an on-premise IT ecosystem. Although this setup is costly due to upfront investment in technology, many organizations find the security benefits outweigh the costs.

Hybrid Cloud

A hybrid cloud setup is when a company uses a mix of on-premise, public and private cloud environments. Companies use data management processes to connect systems running on traditional architecture that they may not want to expose to the cloud. Often, companies keep confidential resources and data on-premises and use the cloud for services like analytics. The hybrid model is where most businesses end up.

Multicloud

Multicloud setups involve connecting multiple public clouds in one architecture to create a single user experience.

What is the cloud migration process?

A successful cloud adoption strategy will vary based on unique business needs and requirements. However, all cloud migration takes place in the following four stages:

1. Planning: In this step, you determine what use cases transition to a cloud model will serve, such as backup, storage or DevOps. It’s essential to ensure that the vendor supports your use cases. Decide whether to work with a public, private or hybrid model. The next step is to determine which applications and data are critical, and it’s best to migrate non-necessary data first. You should also consider the issue of interoperability, data compliance and security. The more detailed your plan, the smoother the migration process will be.
2. Build the business case: After planning, the next step is to create a business case for each application, dataset or workload you plan to migrate to the cloud. Add up the costs of all the cloud services you plan to use and compare them with your current setup. Are there savings to be made? It would be best if you also considered which cloud services you plan to use in the future. Consider the operational and cost savings and the architectural benefits of going to the cloud. For instance, prices will go up when you implement new features, increase workloads or add capacity.Get to know the different cloud vendors and their pricing models, as well as the discounts you can get for long-term commitments or promising a certain level of cloud usage. The purpose of adopting cloud migration is to improve business operations and reduce costs. Therefore, it’s important to ensure that the cloud service vendor you choose will help you achieve the desired results.
3. Execute: You have the blueprint for cloud migration and have run the numbers that prove it’s a wise and profitable move. Next comes the execution phase, where you must ensure that the migration does not disrupt business operations, result in cost overruns and happens as quickly as possible.The best approach is to follow a phased migration process, allowing each dataset to be tested in the new environment before the next lot gets migrated. Public cloud service providers offer a range of tools that make migration easy and seamless.
4. Maintain: Successful cloud adoption is not the end of the story. The final step is optimizing cloud usage, keeping data secure and making it easy to retrieve. Additionally, it would help if you tracked KPIs to ensure that the results you expect from moving to a cloud setup are coming through.

What are the benefits of cloud migration?

Cloud computing technology and cloud-based services have matured. Their capabilities and reliability have advanced to a degree that for most organizations it’s no longer a matter of if they will launch a cloud deployment or expansion, but when. Here are some of the top benefits of cloud migration:

Cost management

With no upfront commitments or long-term contracts, you pay only for the resources (storage, compute power, etc.) you use. This reduces your IT operational costs and helps boosts profits. You can spend the money you save on introducing innovation at the workplace and improving your own services.

Easy scalability

Cloud services offer high scalability and availability to their users. It’s easy to scale your usage up or down, depending on the changing needs of your business. You can also modify the computing power required with just a few clicks.

Boosted performance

Cloud-hosted websites or applications run better for end users since the cloud provider will naturally have significantly more data centers. As these data centers are located around the globe, you can host your data in a market you want to serve and remove location-based latency. As a result, you will be able to provide better service to your users.

Improved flexibility

Cloud adoption provides businesses with flexibility and scalability by not restricting them to the physical limitations of on-premises servers. In addition, you can also take advantage of the reliability of multiple cloud data centers as well as responsive and customizable load balancing that evolves with your changing demands. This way you never have to worry about high fixed costs since everything is variable.

What are the challenges with cloud migration?

Even though migrating to the cloud has many benefits and is the inevitable next step in information technology, several challenges remain.

Inadequate planning

Successful migration to the cloud requires proper planning, and most companies don’t pay enough attention to this step. Whether it’s due to lack of time, inattention or management’s inability to get on the same page, errors during migration are preventable if all the wrinkles are ironed out during the planning phase.

Upfront costs

Technology adoption comes at a cost. Many technicians see migration as a net new cost rather than considering its long-term cost-saving benefits. When companies are on a tight budget, migrating to the cloud can be challenging. However, the cloud can be a great way for companies to save money and unlock efficiencies in their business.

Data security

Cloud operates on a shared responsibility model where the service providers supply robust security controls but the responsibility to configure them correctly is up to the users. There is also a risk associated with mass data transfers, as information can get intercepted during the transfer. When using cloud services, users must exercise all cybersecurity precautions.

Compliance maintenance

Compliance is another challenge. When deploying cloud technologies, you must ensure compliance with the various rules and regulations that will vary based on your industry and location. Ensure you’re compliant with the standards appropriate for your organization.

Support cloud migration with Kaseya

The migration to cloud computing has rapidly accelerated in the past year as organizations have digitally transformed their business. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) extends your IT environment from on-premises to the cloud. The global market size of IaaS is expected to reach nearly $82.2 billion this year. Needless to say, IT teams need an endpoint management solution that enables them to manage cloud-based environments on services such as Azure and AWS, as well as hybrid on-premise and cloud environments.

With Kaseya VSA, you can automate the discovery process of all endpoints and network devices, including virtual hosts, virtual machines and cloud infrastructure for services such as Microsoft Azure. You can deploy our automation agents to Azure Active Directory (AD), with more cloud providers on the horizon. VSA gives you the visibility and functionality you need to manage all of IT in a single UI. If your RMM can’t manage your hybrid IT ecosystem, it’s time to upgrade. Request your demo today!

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As the name suggests, a cloud service provider is essentially a third-party company that offers a cloud-based platform for application, infrastructure or storage services. A cloud service provider generally establishes public cloud platforms, manages private cloud platforms and/or offers on-demand cloud computing services such as:

• Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
• Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)
• Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (DRaaS)

What Is a Public Cloud?

In a public cloud, all of the hardware, software, networking and storage infrastructure is owned and managed by the cloud service provider. The public cloud infrastructure is heavily based on virtualization technologies to provide efficient, scalable computing power and storage. The public cloud provider makes these resources available to customers over the internet.

Since you pay only for the amount of cloud services you use, based on your business requirements, adopting cloud computing can help in reducing business costs as compared to owning and operating on-premises datacenters.

Cloud adoption also provides businesses with flexibility and scalability by not restricting them to the physical limitations of on-premises servers. In addition, you can also take advantage of the reliability of multiple cloud data centers as well as responsive and customizable load balancing that evolves with your changing demands.

In this blog, we’ll compare the three leading public cloud providers, namely Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

According to a Canalys report, the global spending on cloud infrastructure grew a sizeable 33% to $142 billion in 2020, with AWS having 31% of the market share, followed by Microsoft Azure at 20% and Google Cloud at 7%.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) Overview

A subsidiary of Amazon, AWS was launched in 2006 and offers on-demand cloud computing services on a metered, pay-as-you-go basis. It is one of the most comprehensive and broadly adopted public cloud platforms across the globe. As one of Amazon’s strongest revenue segments, AWS generated a whopping 45$ billion in net sales in 2020.

Common cloud functionalities offered by AWS that can help businesses scale and grow include:

• Networking and content delivery
• Analytics
• Migration
• Database storage
• Compute power
• Developer tools
• Security, identity and compliance
• Artificial intelligence
• Customer engagement
• Internet of Things
• Desktop and app streaming

What Are the Advantages of AWS?

Let’s look at some of the major advantages of AWS:

Ease of Sign-Up

One of the key benefits of adopting AWS is that the onboarding process is a breeze. All you need to provide are a few key credentials and you’re good to go. There is no need to sign an agreement. If you’re unsure, you can opt for the one-year free tier that includes a bunch of the most popular AWS services free of charge up to a certain limit.

Scalability and Elasticity

AWS offers the Auto Scaling service that allows you to easily scale up, down or out your computing resources depending on your changing business requirements.

Along with scalability, you can also leverage the Elastic Load Balancer service to distribute your incoming application traffic across several different targets including containers, messaging services, instances, IP addresses and more.

Access to a Diverse Range of Tools

AWS offers an array of dynamic services such as virtual private cloud (VPC), elastic compute cloud (EC2), simple storage service (S3), relational database service, AWS Lambda and more.

Easy Training and Certifications

Apart from detailed documentation for each of its services, Amazon also offers training and certification programs for the users to gain a better understanding of the usage and application of AWS.

Greater Security

AWS ensures end-to-end security for its cloud infrastructure by implementing software, physical and operational measures wherever required.

Cost-Efficient

With no up-front commitments or long-term contracts, you pay only for the resources (storage, compute power, etc.,) you use. This reduces your IT operational costs and helps boosts profits.

What Are the Disadvantages of AWS?

As with every technology, AWS has its own set of disadvantages as well. Some of these are:

Limitations of Amazon EC2

There are default limits set for AWS resources, such as snapshots, volumes and images, that vary from one region to another. As such, the user is allowed to launch only a certain number of instances per area. In addition, there is a limitation on the availability of information for the resources that are managed by Amazon VPC and Amazon EC2 consoles.

Charges for Technical Support

You will be charged a fee for technical support based on the package you opt for, namely developer, business or enterprise. There is a pricing list that defines the standard pricing for the packages.

Security Limitations

As a security measure, AWS has implemented limitations on some of its features, such as EC-2 classic and EC2-VPC, with no room for any customization.

Cost Management Limitations

One of the key disadvantages of AWS is that it can be difficult for users to optimize costs across on-demand and reserved instances.

Microsoft Azure Overview

Commonly referred to as simply Azure, Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service that was introduced by tech-giant Microsoft back in 2010 for the purpose of testing, building, deploying and managing services and applications. According to Forbes, 63% of enterprises are currently running apps on Azure.

Some of the key functionalities that Azure offers include:

• Computing power
• Database storage
• Content delivery network (CDN)
• Caching
• Business Analytics
• SQL database
• Virtual services
• Application and infrastructure migration
• Media services
• Mobile services

What Are the Advantages of Azure Cloud?

Some of the major advantages of Azure Cloud are listed below:

High Scalability and Availability

Owing to Microsoft’s vast global footprint, Azure offers high scalability and availability to its users. In addition, Azure is well-equipped to scale up or down, depending on the changing needs of your business. You can modify the computing power required with just a few clicks.

Analytics and Intelligence Capabilities

One of the key benefits of Azure is that it offers SQL and NoSQL data services and provides built-in support for gaining deep and meaningful insights into the strategies that businesses can adopt to improve their operations and decision-making. Also, it might be interesting to note that Azure is the only cloud platform that offers unique capabilities like cognitive APIs, bots, machine learning and Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS).

Cost Efficiency

You can opt for the pay-as-you-go payment plan offered by Azure to have the level of control you need to make sure that you don’t exceed your IT budgets. Leveraging Azure’s SaaS applications helps reduce your infrastructure costs and the expenses of maintaining and managing your IT environment.

Compliance, Security and Disaster Recovery

Azure is one of the most secure cloud platforms out there. With its array of compliance certifications, Azure has emerged as the preferred cloud platform for high-risk industries such as government agencies and healthcare. Azure provides high-end protection for its customers and offers additional services, such as multifactor authentication and enterprise-grade disaster recovery capabilities, that help secure and recover your critical business data with minimum downtime.

What Are the Disadvantages of Azure Cloud?

The disadvantages of Azure Cloud include:

Regular Management Required

In order to make efficient use of Azure, you need to hire Azure experts that can handle server monitoring and patching of your cloud infrastructure. That said, while you do save a lot of money from not having to purchase hardware or locally maintain your IT infrastructure, you will still need to spend on hiring professionals that can help you manage the platform.

Platform Expertise Required

As opposed to local servers, deploying Azure requires platform expertise for it to run efficiently. Over-provisioning of cloud services is one of the most common mistakes that admins make due to a lack of awareness and understanding of the inner workings of the cloud servers.

Google Cloud Platform Overview

Launched by Google in 2008, Google Cloud is a suite of cloud computing services that operates on the same infrastructure that is used by Google internally for its most popular end-user products including YouTube, Gmail, Google Search and file storage.

Major functionalities of Google Cloud include:

• Big data services
• Compute engines
• Live migration
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Cloud management
• Machine intelligence
• Networking
• Cloud storage
• Identity and security

What Are the Advantages of Google Cloud?

Google Cloud offers a host of benefits such as:

Google-Grade Security

One of the major advantages of Google Cloud is that it operates on Google’s unique security model that features an end-to-end security process, developed as a result of over 15 years of experience focused on customer security on apps like Google Apps and Gmail.

Live Migration

Unlike Azure and AWS, Google Cloud offers live migration of virtual machines (VMs). As such, there is no change in cloud performance even when the VMs are being migrated. Since your VMs will always be up and running, the Google Cloud engineers are better equipped to resolve updating and patching issues more efficiently.

Environment-Friendly

As compared to typical data centers, Google Cloud data centers run on relatively low energy and utilize 100% renewable energy wherever available.

High Reliability

In the event of an incident that disrupts a data center from functioning, the system switches to a secondary data center, ensuring that the users do not face any business interruption.

What Are the Disadvantages of Google Cloud?

A few of the aspects in which Google Cloud misses the mark include:

Insufficient and Expensive Support

One of the major drawbacks of Google Cloud is that the support offered for customer issues is not the best in class. All users of the platform are offered free-of-charge Bronze-level support by default. However, you can buy the Silver, Gold or Platinum package to avail additional support services. However, the charges for these higher-level packages are quite high.

Less Choice of Functionalities

Compared to its competitors AWS and Azure, Google Cloud offers a smaller range of cloud services.

AWS vs. Azure vs. Google Cloud

In this section, we’ll do a service-based comparison of AWS, Azure and Google Cloud to help you better understand which one suits you best.

Compute Services

Database Services

Storage Services

Networking Services

Pricing

Conclusion

Regardless of which cloud platform you choose, you need to manage and optimize your usage to keep costs under control.

Want to know how Kaseya VSA can help you with that? Request a demo today!

The post AWS vs. Azure vs. Google Cloud: Comparing Cloud Platforms appeared first on Kaseya.

What Are Containers?

Containers may be described as packages that include everything needed to run a single application or micro service. This includes its dependencies and run-time libraries. Containers allow the application to be run quickly and reliably from anywhere, right from desktop computers to physical and virtual servers and even the cloud.

The container is abstracted away from the host operating system (OS). Each container shares the OS kernel with other containers rather than including its own full OS. Access to underlying OS resources is limited. As such, a containerized application can be run on different infrastructure types such as the cloud, virtual machine, bare metal and so on, without the need for refactoring the application for each IT environment.

Since containers typically share the machine’s OS kernel and don’t have the overhead of having a full OS within each container, they are often regarded as being more “lightweight” than virtual machines (VMs).

How Does Containerization Work?

Containerization may be defined as a type of OS virtualization wherein applications are run within isolated user spaces (containers) that all share the same OS kernel. It is the encapsulation of an application and the environment required to run it so it can be efficiently and consistently run across several different computing platforms.

Containerization is emerging as the preferred approach for software development and DevOps pipelines. The creation and deployment of applications are faster and more secure with containerization.

When code is developed using traditional methods in a specific computing environment and transferred to a different computing platform, it can often result in errors. However, containerization effectively eliminates this problem by encapsulating the entire application code along with its related libraries, dependencies and configuration files required for it to run.

Pros and Cons of ContainerizationLike every technology out there, containerization has its fair share of advantages and disadvantages that you must take into consideration.

Pros of Containerization

• One of the major advantages of containerization is that it provides a fast and lightweight infrastructure for you to run your applications. The relatively lightweight containers are more flexible, and you can create and move them more quickly than VMs.
• Containerization supports policy-based optimization. You can use an automation layer to locate, auto-migrate and execute on the best platform.
• Containerization is helpful in lowering your software development and operational costs.
• Containerization also provides greater scalability. Compared to VMs, many more containers can be created and run on a physical server since they don’t require a full OS to be included in each container. In addition, monolithic applications can be broken down into smaller micro services using containers. You can then scale and distribute the individual features.

Cons of Containerization

• One of the major drawbacks of containerization technology is that it requires a significant amount of work to set up in an organization so that it performs efficiently.
• Since the technology is relatively recent, the required application support and dependencies still remain insufficient.
• It’s hard to find qualified container developers.
• Containers share the host OS kernel. That said, in the event of the kernel becoming vulnerable, all the associated containers would become vulnerable too.
• Container technology can be more expensive in terms of application development costs.

What Problems Do Containers Solve?

As per a forecast by GartnerInc., the global container management revenue is estimated to witness strong growth from $465.8 million in 2020 to a sizable $944 million in 2024.Gartner also predicts that by the year 2022, north of 75% of global businesses will likely be running containerized applications in production.

The containerization technology provides tremendous portability across computing platforms and environments. It allows the developers to write the application once and then run it anywhere they like.

Being a key component of the private cloud, containers are fast emerging as a game-changer for many businesses. Private cloud has become the favored approach for organizations to deliver the flexibility and control required while also enabling efficient consumption of multiple cloud services.

What Are Virtual Machines?

A virtual machine (VM) may be described as a virtual environment where each VM is a complete virtual computer with its own guest OS, virtual memory, CPU, storage and network interface. VMs function as software-defined virtual computers running on physical servers.

Usually referred to as a guest, a VM is created within a physical computing environment called a “host.” Multiple VMs can share the resources of a single host such as memory, network bandwidth and CPU cycles and run concurrently. However, each VM will have its own OS and operate independently of other VMs that might be located on the same host.

How Does Virtualization Work?

As the foundation of cloud computing, server virtualization enables more efficient utilization of physical computer hardware. You can utilize the full capacity of a physical machine by running multiple VMs on a single server.

Server virtualization is executed by running a virtual instance of a computer system within a layer, called a hypervisor, that is abstracted from the actual hardware. The hypervisor allocates hardware resources, such as CPUs, memory and storage, to each VM. Server virtualization allows running more than one OS on a single computer system at the same time.

The global virtualization software market is estimated to see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 30% over the next two years.

There are four types of virtualization:

• Server Virtualization – With over 90% of businesses in Europe and North America using it, server virtualization is the most common type of virtualization.Server virtualization segregates one physical server into several isolated virtual server instances, as described above.
• Network Virtualization – Network virtualization allows for the creation of abstract versions of physical network resources, including firewalls, routers and switches, within separate layers of the virtual network.
• Storage Virtualization – Storage virtualization abstracts, aggregates and manages multiple physical storage resources to make them look like a single, centralized storage pool. The storage resources can be from different vendors and networks.
• Desktop Virtualization – Creates a virtual version of the workstation, along with its operating system, that can be accessed remotely.

Pros and Cons of Virtualization

Let’s discuss some of the major advantages and disadvantages of virtualization.

Pros of Virtualization

• One of the key benefits of virtualization technology is that it enables efficient hardware utilization. You can create multiple virtual instances on the same hardware and reduce hardware costs.
• Increased uptime and availability is another upside of virtualization. With capabilities such as fault tolerance, storage migration, live migration, distributed resource scheduling and high availability, VMs allow IT to quickly recover from unforeseen outages.
• Virtualization helps lower IT operational costs since it requires a smaller number of hardware servers and associated resources to achieve the same level of scalability, availability and performance. This means less time managing and maintaining hardware resources.
• Backup, duplication and recovery are relatively easier and quicker with virtualization. With real-time data backup and mirroring, there is negligible data loss and quick recovery from the last saved state that was mirrored on a separate virtual instance.

Cons of Virtualization

• With the initial setup cost of storage and servers being higher than usual, the high initial investment is one of the major downsides of virtualization.
• In order to implement and manage a virtualized environment, you need to train your IT staff or hire experts that are well-versed in virtualization technologies.
• Testing is critical to ensure your systems work flawlessly in a virtualized environment.

What Problems Are Solved With Virtual Machines?

Organizations today often require many servers in different physical locations, each operating at their highest capacity, to drive efficiency and ROI. As such, it has become a standard practice to use virtualization to increase the utilization of computing resources.The key idea behind virtualization was to boost the efficiency of IT systems.

Virtualization helps boost IT scalability, flexibility and agility while reducing operational costs.In addition, availability of resources, increased performance, automated operations and workload mobility are some of the reasons why virtualization has become mainstream in the IT industry.

The 2020 State of Virtualization Technology report predicts that by 2021, the rate at which enterprises adopt virtualization technology is estimated to grow significantly. While 75% of enterprises are likely to adopt application virtualization, nearly 69% are expected to start using desktop virtualization.

Containers vs. Virtual Machines: What’s the Difference?

In this section, we’ll discuss the key distinguishing factors between the two technologies. The diagram below shows that VMs each have their own “Guest” OS and sit on top of the hypervisor layer. Each VM has its own binaries and library files. Containers, on the other hand, may share binaries and libraries and don’t contain an OS. There’s a container engine in place of the hypervisor.

Here’s a comparison table:

When Should You Use Containers?

Containers might be the right choice if you’re looking to cater to your short-term application needs. Since containers are portable and can be set up and started up quickly, they can help elastically scale your applications to align with demand. Examples include event-driven video streaming, web service delivery, insurance claims or online order fulfillment.You should opt for containerization when your priority is to maximize the number of applications you’re running on a minimal number of servers. However, containers have the limitation of not being supported by dedicated storage resources and processing and operating systems.Containers are well-suited for packaging micro services and building cloud-native apps.

When Should You Use Virtual Machines?

VMs are the best option for businesses that need to run multiple applications that require the comprehensive functionality and support of a dedicated OS.VMs are best suited for applications that you need to use for extended time periods and run within a virtualized environment that is more versatile and secure.

Virtualization is better suited for housing traditional, legacy, monolithic workloads, provisioning infrastructural resources, running one OS inside another and isolating risky development cycles.

Monitoring Your Virtual Environment

When it comes to monitoring and managing your virtual servers, make sure that your endpoint management tool provides complete visibility into your virtual environment so you can quickly identify issues and resolve them.

Kaseya VSA discovers the two most popular virtualization infrastructures, VMWare and Microsoft Hyper-V, and includes hosts and VMs on its Network Topology Map.

Learn more about Kaseya VSA. Request a demo today!

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Virtualization technology has its origins in the 1960s, with work that was done at IBM on time-sharing of mainframe computers. VMware didn’t arrive on the scene until the late 1990s. In 2001, VMware introduced ESX Server, a Type-1 hypervisor. This technology doesn’t require a host operating system to run virtual machines. Instead, the hypervisor runs on the “bare metal.”

Today, it’s standard practice to use virtualization to increase the utilization of the computing resources in the computer.

There are several different types of virtualization including server, network and desktop virtualization.

Server Virtualization – This allows for the creation of multiple virtual server instances on a single physical server. This means companies can run multiple business applications, each in their own virtual machine (VM), on these servers. The increased server utilization allows businesses to buy fewer physical machines and it also reduces the power and cooling costs associated with running datacenter servers.

Network Virtualization – This involves separating network resources from hardware and recreating them on a single, software-based administrative unit. Applications can run on a virtual network as if they were running on a physical network. The physical hardware, though still required, need not be reconfigured when a new virtual machine is added to the network or moved to a different part of the network. Networks can be cloned and recreated in seconds with network virtualization.

Desktop Virtualization – Virtualization of desktops is done to create a virtual version of the workstation along with its operating system that can be accessed remotely.

What Is Hyper-V and How Does It Work?

Microsoft’s hardware virtualization product, Hyper-V, enables you to create and run a software version of a computer, called a virtual machine (VM). Hyper-V can have multiple virtual machines, each with their own operating system (OS), on one computer, allowing VMs to run these multiple OSes alongside each other. This eliminates the need to dedicate a single machine to a specific OS.

Microsoft Hyper-V is also a Type-1 Hypervisor. In Hyper-V, there is a parent partition and any number of child partitions. The host OS runs in the parent partition. Each child partition is a VM that is a complete virtual computer, with a guest OS (need not be Microsoft) and programs running on it. The VMs use the same hardware resources as the host. A single Hyper-V host can have many VMs created on it.

Why Is Hyper-V used?

Hyper-V allows you to use your physical hardware more effectively by running multiple workloads on a single machine. It lets you use fewer physical servers, thereby reducing hardware costs and saving space, power and cooling costs.

With Hyper-V, you can set up and scale your own private cloud environment. Many organizations use Hyper-V to centralize the management of server farms. This allows them to control their VMs efficiently and reduce the time spent on IT infrastructure management.

What Does Hyper-V Consist of?

Hyper-V includes multiple components that make up the Microsoft virtualization platform. These include:

• Windows Hypervisor
• Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management Service
• Virtualization WMI provider
• Virtual machine bus (VMbus)
• Virtualization service provider (VSP)
• Virtual infrastructure driver (VID)

Additional Hyper-V tools that need to be installed include:

• Hyper-V Manager
• Hyper-V module for Windows PowerShell
• Virtual Machine Connection (VMConnect)
• Windows PowerShell Direct

Hyper-V is available in three versions:

• Hyper-V on Windows 10
• Hyper-V Servers
• Hyper-V on Windows Server

What Are the Benefits of Hyper-V?

There are many benefits of Hyper-V, a few of them being:

High Scalability and Flexibility

With the installation of Hyper-V on a private cloud environment, organizations can be more flexible with their on-demand IT services and expand when required. Hyper-V puts existing hardware to the maximum use, ultimately reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

Minimized Downtime

Having multiple instances of virtual servers minimizes the impact of sudden downtime, which means system availability increases and companies can improve business continuity.

Improved Security

Hyper-V safeguards VMs from malware and unauthorized access, making your IT environment and your data more secure.

What Is VMware?

VMware is also a hypervisor-based virtualization technology that allows you to run multiple virtual machines on the same physical hardware. Each VM can run its own OS and applications. As a leader in virtualization software, VMware allows multiple copies of the same operating system or several different operating systems to run on the same x86-based machine.

Hyper-V vs. VMware: What Are the Differences?

Hyper-V and VMware each have their own advantages and disadvantages and choosing between the two depends on your specific business requirements.

Let’s take a look at a few of the noticeable differences when it comes to their product maturity, complexity and pricing.

Discovery, Mapping and Monitoring of VMware and Hyper-V Environments

Your endpoint management tool should discover and include VMware and Hyper-V hosts and VMs on its network topology map. This provides the visibility you need to effectively manage your entire IT infrastructure. In addition, the ability to monitor hosts and VMs allows IT teams to use the endpoint management solution to maintain high uptime and performance of VMs.

Kaseya VSA monitors and manages both VMware and Hyper-V infrastructure efficiently. With endpoint management and network monitoring in one platform, Kaseya VSA monitors everything including traditional endpoints (servers, desktops, laptops), SNMP network devices and printers. Learn more about Kaseya VSA by requesting a demo.

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A major expense that most modern businesses incur is IT infrastructure costs. In fact, based on data in the Spiceworks 2020 State of IT report, hardware and software infrastructure costs are typically about 29% of the IT budget. And, according to Deloitte Insights, on average, IT budgets are about 3.3% of revenue. There are several potential ways to optimize your IT infrastructure costs and keep your business moving forward in these turbulent times.

Switch to Serverless Computing

While businesses the world over have been making a definitive shift to cloud services, the pandemic has further fueled the transition to the cloud. Serverless computing is a more recent development that offers an array of potential benefits ranging from cost savings and easier scalability, to faster deployment of new applications. With serverless computing, you ‘pay as you use’ for backend services. This can be less costly than traditional ‘server-full’ cloud services where you typically have to pay for a certain amount of capacity, even if it is not used.

Move from VMs to Containerization

Containers offer huge cost-saving potential for businesses looking for new ways of cutting back on their infrastructure expenses. Containerization reduces infrastructure costs because containers are more lightweight compared to virtual machines (VMs). Since you don’t need to have multiple OS images—one for each application on the server—more applications can run on the same hardware. This could reduce the number of hosts needed to deploy your applications.

In addition, containerization also promotes better coordination between the engineering and development teams, facilitates faster CI/CD pipelines and involves low maintenance costs. Container orchestration and containerized applications not only promote cost savings but also allow your developers to utilize their time and resources more productively. You can not only maximize your hardware utilization with the help of containers but also get the opportunity to run your applications on cheaper devices. For example, you can link together powerful PCs that will perform as well as more expensive mid-range servers when you are using containers.

Leverage Other Cloud Services, Such as DRaaS

In many cases, leveraging a cloud service can prove to be an excellent way to cut back on IT infrastructure costs. You can outsource the infrastructure components on a pay-per-use model and gain access to various advanced services and technologies. For example, DRaaS (Disaster Recover as-a-Service) is an advanced IT solution that can be accessed at a reasonable price. You can get the backup protection you need, with pricing based on the recovery time you want. The DRaaS provider should provide automated testing of recoveries on a weekly or monthly basis.

Consolidate IT Management Tools

Another portion of your operational costs involves the licensing and/or maintenance fees for your IT management tools. You can optimize these costs by eliminating the fees for IT management tools you no longer need once you have a core IT management platform in place.

The essential tools you need include Endpoint Management (RMM), Service Desk (or PSA in the case of MSPs), and Knowledge and Configuration Management (IT Documentation).

An IT management platform that offers seamless workflows across this core set of applications can be extremely helpful in boosting your IT efficiency and reducing costs that are otherwise spent on multiple, disparate tools. Workflow integrations mean that you can easily access other functions from the tool you are already working in. For example, access the remote endpoint management function from your IT documentation solution. Another example is the ability to run automation scripts from the service desk solution to automatically remediate IT incidents and close tickets faster.

We estimate that you can improve IT technician efficiency by 25 percent by using “workflow integrated” tools and IT automation.

You can also save money by eliminating redundant and overlapping tools. For example, having separate remote management and patch management tools or separate endpoint management and network management tools shouldn’t be necessary.

Consolidating multiple IT solutions into a core, streamlined platform helps businesses save a lot in terms of both time and money. Workflow integration helps eliminate the time wasted looking up information, retrieving passwords and switching between applications. Having a consolidated IT management platform enables your technicians to be more productive, which should also reduce operational costs.

Reducing your IT infrastructure costs is an excellent strategy for optimizing your overall business expenditures and maintaining profitability in a slow economy.

To learn more about strategic ways to reduce IT costs, please read our eBook: Strategic Ways to Boost IT Operational Efficiency & Cut Costs.

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Meanwhile core IT apps such as ERP and productivity tools like Office are now commonly run in the cloud. Let’s face it, the momentum is moving from on-premises to cloud.

Do these successes mean IT groups should move everything to the cloud ASAP, or take a cloud-first approach to all new applications and services? Not necessarily.

One set of companies always seems to go “all in” the cloud. These are tech startups who want to focus their attention and capital on creating new inventions and getting them to market. Some ventures capitalists will only invest in startups that use the cloud for their IT infrastructure. In fact, if you were creating an all new company, and had serious growth ambitions, you’d be crazy not to go with the cloud.

Most environments are not so pure. After years of being in business, most SMBs have an array of legacy gear that works, that is understood by IT, and that is paid for. Sometimes even decades-old servers handle specific functions well, and would be difficult to replace. So even as many new apps, such as ERP, email and backup move to the cloud, others, such as DBMS and accounting do just fine on in-house servers.

Don’t Forget Gordon Moore

In 1965, Intel co-founder established Moore’s Law. It postulates that the density, and thus the power of a processer doubles every 18 months. There is a debate as to whether Moore’s [prediction remains a hard and fast rule, but with the regular increase in the number of cores a processor contains these days, we’d say the power increases Moore anticipated are still basically in play.

Since servers generally last five years (though they may be replaced a bit more frequently), if you want to replace your five year-old server, either it will be 7.5 times faster for the same price or 7.5 times cheaper for the same speed. As mentioned, much of these efficiency boosts today come from the rise of multicore processing.

With these economics in mind, SMBs would do well to compare maximizing the benefits of their existing on-premises applications and infrastructure against the benefits of migrating these to the cloud. Keep in mind that once you move to the cloud, it might not be so easy to move back.

Be Skeptical of Cloud Economics

Cloud pricing and contracts can be highly complex, which is why businesses sometimes turn to experts such as R “Ray” Wang, a software licensing guru and principal analyst at Constellation Research.

Wang helps customers negotiate a minefield of issues. On the surface contracting with a cloud service may seem cost effective, but there are conditions and hidden costs that can turn what sounds like the deal of a lifetime into a money pit.

The main issue is the pay-as-you-go model. IT knows that data use and processing power always experiences increased use. So when you start using more capacity, your costs rise – in often unforeseen ways.

These issues are why Constellation and Wang created “The Enterprise Cloud Buyers Bill of Rights” which you can read here.

Another issue raised by Wang is that cloud providers control cloud pricing. Unlike a piece of on-premises software which you already own, you may find the cost of cloud service rising – apart from fees for increased use. Often there is little recourse than to absorb the cost as it can be difficult to migrate to another service.

Vendor lock-in is another issue. “Buyers do not own the rights to the code in most public Cloud models. Buyers pay for the right to access functionality and use the intellectual property, but at the full mercy of the Cloud vendor. Should the vendor decide to take a different product direction or find itself bankrupt, users remain at the vendor’s mercy,” Constellation says. “While users have access to and ownership of their data, the hurdle in moving from one Cloud vendor to another increases with usage over time. Without rights over the app’s functionality, users face lock-in if they cannot easily export their business processes that are instantiated in the vendor’s functionality,” the Cloud Bill or Rights argues.

Cloud vs. the WAN

Internal IT networks can be awfully snappy. We have high-speed network adapters, high-speed wireless routers, and high-speed Ethernet LAN backbones. These connections are almost always faster than the WAN connections that attach the LAN to the Internet.

While the LAN is only as fast as its slowest hop component (which all tend to be high speed), the cloud is only as fast as the slowest WAN connection and the slowest network and hops in between it and the cloud provider.

If you move major apps to the cloud, such as embracing Microsoft Office 365, you may be fielding complaints from end users about lag time. To reduce this latency you may have to upgrade the WAN connections, which is an additional expense. Adding to the burden, you may need to buy Quality of Sevice (QoS) tools, bandwidth shapers and other WAN speed boosting solutions.

A Strong Case for the Cloud

I’ve explained some major reasons why not everything needs to move to the cloud ASAP, as well as  pitfalls that, if avoided, create a better cloud experience.

But let’s face it – the cloud is here to stay. Major market researchers show the cloud momentum is virtually unstoppable. This means these cloud services, despite some lingering reservations, are providing true value.

While you may not need to move all your legacy apps to the cloud now, new apps could easily be deployed as cloud services with far less burden on IT.

The momentum is obvious. IDC argues that IT services over the public cloud are experiencing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.5 percent, and the cloud is expanding some five times faster than the overall IT industry.

One hot area is storage. The beauty here is IT doesn’t have to maintain as much backup infrastructure. At the same time, restores are more reliable because the data in a provider’s hands that focuses on storage, versus IT where storage maintenance and testing is often an afterthought.

Research and Markets explains why cloud storage and backup, are so hot. “Emergence of innovative storage technologies such as inline data deduplication, inline compression, WAN optimization, cloud-based security solutions and storage gateways are pushing the growth of the Cloud Storage Market. Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are rapidly adopting cloud-based storage services to reduce cost and IT complexity compared to large enterprises, thereby pushing the market growth,” the research house said. “The small- and medium-business segments are the major adopter of cloud storage services and this trend is expected to continue for next few years.”

And with the cloud, your backups can achieve nearly infinite scalability.

Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) is also hot, according to MarketsandMarkets which says DRaaS is growing at a CAGR of 55.2 percent and will be a $5.7 billion market by 2018.

The SaaS Play

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is one of the hottest areas of cloud computing. Just look at the success of Salesforce.com and Office 365.

Potential benefits are just too big to ignore. Volume licenses for on-premises software can be insanely complicated whereas, in comparison, licensing for SaaS apps is far simpler. Upgrades are easier too since, in  the cloud, they are automatic – no per machine manual software updates. Just as important, end users can get their application-related files from most any device and location.

Conclusion: Is a Private Cloud the Best of Both Worlds?

A private cloud may be a great option – and easier to do than you might think.

If you are already virtualized, it is not a big leap to turning your data resources into a private cloud, where the systems act as a unified, scalable utility. Here you gain all the benefits of a public cloud with fewer of the downsides.

Make On-Premises Management Simpler, Faster

As argued, on-premises computing can be fast, affordable and highly efficient. Managing it all, though, can be a bear. IT automation, such as that offered by Kaseya VSA, can dramatically reduce the administrative burden while insuring all end points remain up and secure.

Kaseya VSA is an IT system and endpoint management solution for IT, and supports remote management of your devices which is done through a single console.

With Kaseya VSA, IT pros can:

• Discover, audit, inventory and monitor clients, servers and the network
• Perform patch management
• Monitor end points for performance or problems
• Resolve issues – including non-working hard drives
• Maintain and run antivirus/anti-malware tools.

The great news is all that all these benefits can be automated, based on predefined policies that you set and manage based on your business’ needs.

Learn more about Kaseya VSA.

Monitor Your Cloud with Traverse

The cloud presents special network management challenges for IT. That’s because internal IT doesn’t have full control of the provider’s cloud infrastructure or a full view of all the network pieces that support these cloud applications and services.

And while IT struggles to monitor and manage the cloud, it still needs to take care of internal networks and even hybrid cloud configurations. Kaseya Traverse is a full-featured network monitoring solution designed to holistically monitor performance across on-premises, cloud and hybrid infrastructure.

With Traverse, IT staff can view even the most complex infrastructure based on service-level views. This service-oriented view enables fast root cause analysis, so network and service problems are quickly resolved and don’t hold operations up.

Learn more about Kaseya Traverse here.

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