Key Components of a Cloud Infrastructure Framework

As more businesses move to the cloud, it is imperative for them to recognise that cloud transformation programs are not just about moving data, resources, and applications to the cloud. It is a thorough process that involves setting up clear business objectives, and developing a detailed cloud infrastructure framework to migrate, deploy and maintain the cloud infrastructure to ensure optimal performance, reduce costs, and ensure greater reliability. 

In this blog, we cover the various aspects of a cloud infrastructure framework; 

• Cloud infrastructure Optimisation 
• Cloud Infrastructure Components 
• Cloud Infrastructure Costs 

• Cloud Infrastructure Deployment 
• Cloud infrastructure Entitlement Management 

Cloud Infrastructure Optimisation 

For instance, today there are multiple cloud services available to CIOs; public clouds like Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud, and private or hybrid cloud alternatives.  

Often, CIOs are left in a dilemma when it comes to identifying the right cloud strategy for their businesses because it needs to fulfill the dual requirements of being reliable and cost-effective while performing efficiently.  

Reliability and performance not only saves costs, but also plays a vital role in delivering improved user experience and customer service, increased revenues, and enhanced brand reputation. 

Having said that, there are 6 best practices CIOs can adopt to optimise their cloud resources: 

1. Identify business objectives and align them with the right cloud strategy, and additional tools and technologies required to achieve these objectives 

2. Manage cloud space and capacity optimally by mapping critical resources, developing policies around the management of these resources, and assigning teams to access and monitor them 

3. Track and monitor applications and resources to eliminate latency, and improve performance and efficiency 

4. Create storage tiers to classify data based on relevance, value, and demand. Managing storage effectively ensures important data can be accessed quickly. It also reduces overloads and improves infrastructure performance 

5. Rely on heat maps to identify storage and usage patterns and utilise servers optimally. In other words, turn on servers or increase cloud capacity when the demand is high, and revert to old usage patterns when the demand is minimal 

6. Use AI and ML tools to test and automate infrastructure management. This will improve utilisation, enhance responsiveness and keep costs under control while ensuring enhanced performance and reliability 

One of Merit’s Cloud Infrastructure Experts says, “In today’s era, there is a wide range of cloud services available across AWS, Azure, GCP, and other cloud platforms. If you’re looking to build analytics into your applications there are specific tools for that. If you’re looking for a data warehouse there are specific solutions like Amazon’s RedShift and Athena available. The decision-making around what service to use when has become complicated. That is where the role of a cloud strategy expert comes into play.”  

Cloud Infrastructure Components 

Whether a business opts for a cloud strategy through IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-service), PaaS (Platform-as-a-service), or SaaS (Software-as-a-service) model, it effectively makes use of hardware and software components like networks, data servers, storage centers, and virtualisation, deployment and cloud management capabilities. These components ensure that the organisation is able to store, access, utilise and secure data in the most efficient, optimal manner possible. 

Let’s look at the key cloud components in more detail. 

Network 

Whether a business opts for a public, private or hybrid cloud, a networking system (Internet) is required for the resources to be stored and accessed from the cloud. Networks can include physical wiring infrastructure, routers, switches, and load balancers. 

Data Servers 

Servers typically act as a centralised resource for businesses to store, manage and access their data, applications, and workloads. Through servers, data can be allocated, reallocated, monitored, and secured. 

Storage 

Usually, cloud providers have many replicas of storage servers because in the event that one storage server fails, data can still be retrieved and accessed from backup storage. This is a crucial component because it ensures that the cloud server is reliable even in the event of a disaster or shutdown. 

Virtualisation 

In simple words, virtualisation uses software to create a layer of abstraction on top of traditional hardware, so that hardware components like processors, memory, and storage can be accessed by different users and environments in a cloud environment. 

Cloud Infrastructure Costs 

Typically, for migration and maintenance, small businesses spend anywhere between USD 5000 for small workloads to USD 500,000 and above for larger tasks. Of course, the costs can go up a lot more in the case of mid-market and large enterprises. Having said that, there are steps businesses can take to optimise cloud spending and maximise reliability, performance, and efficiency. 

• Choose the right cloud deployment strategy for your business based on your objectives. At any point in time, a public cloud or a hybrid cloud can prove to be more cost-effective than a private cloud, if your industry permits it.  
• Regularly audit your cloud usage and spending. This will help identify underutilised cloud space or resources, overlaps, and potential gaps. Auditing also ensures unused resources are removed, and idle resources are used effectively.  
• Bring your cloud security, admin, and developer teams together to identify areas where cloud spends are necessary and not so important. When teams work in silos, they may spend on areas that may not be important, and this may increase cloud costs unnecessarily. Working as a team can ensure capital expenditures are minimised and financial resources are allocated more efficiently. 
• Use system visualisation and heat maps to understand how the systems are used, and allocate and reallocate usage accordingly. 
• Capitalise on the third-party and in-built automation tools and technologies to optimise resource utilisation, identify usage patterns and enhance performance.  

Cloud Infrastructure Deployment 

Based on their key objectives and industry-level compliance and regulatory policies, businesses can choose from three cloud deployment models; 

Public Cloud Deployment 

Public cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure provide third-party data centers on a subscription basis, and depending on their need,  businesses can store data on a pay-per-use model. Public clouds are ideal for businesses that have fluctuating needs and are in the growth phase, or for businesses that are still in the testing phase.  Public clouds are cost-effective because multiple businesses store their data in the public cloud. They require no hardware setup, they are scalable, and the vendors have good security and disaster recovery policies in place to minimise risk. 

Private Cloud Deployment 

Private clouds are exclusive to an organisation, and are located in the organisation’s physical data centers. Even if they are hosted by third-party vendors, they run on a private network, and the hardware and software is exclusively maintained by a single organisation. Private clouds are more secure because the data center and data are maintained and secured by one organisation. There is also higher control over the data because it is accessible only to certain employees in the organisation. 

Hybrid Cloud Deployment 

Businesses that opt for hybrid cloud models have data and applications moving between both public and private cloud environments. Usually, in a hybrid cloud model, businesses store sensitive data in the private cloud and other data in the public cloud. In the event of data overflow, this model allows businesses to scale their public cloud space and store data there. It also minimises capital expenditure and ensures optimal usage and performance. 

We published a detailed blog on this topic. Read it here: https://www.meritdata-tech.com/resources/blog/digital-engineering-solutions/cloud-deployment-model-business/ 

Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management 

As more and more businesses move to the cloud, one of the biggest challenges they face is in managing identity and access to data and resources. Not only do cloud permissions work differently with each provider, but businesses also need to keep track of resource allocation and movement within and outside the organisation. One of the best ways they can manage access and resource allocation is by adopting a CIEM (Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management) strategy.  

Banner: Best Practices for Your Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) Strategy

Link: https://www.meritdata-tech.com/resources/blog/digital-engineering-solutions/cloud-infrastructure-entitlement-management-ciem-strategy/ 

Gartner defines CIEM as ‘offerings that are specialised, identity-centric SaaS solutions focused on managing cloud access risk and governance of entitlements in hybrid and multi-cloud IaaS.’  

Today, CIEM is necessary for businesses because; 

• It uses machine learning and advanced analytics tools to present cloud security teams with a unified view of entitlements across cloud services 
• It optimises and improves identity and access management for resources across the organisation 
• It monitors entitlement and permissions and aids an organisation in protecting its data and managing user permissions effectively 

• It actively detects potential threats, theft and malicious activity 

Merit’s Expertise in Cloud Infrastructure Deployment, Management, and Optimisation 

Merit works with a broad range of clients and industry sectors, designing and building bespoke applications and data platforms combining software engineering, AI/ML, and data analytics.  

We migrate legacy systems with re-architecture and by refactoring them to contemporary technologies on modern cloud ecosystems. Our software engineers build resilient and scalable solutions with cloud services ranging from simple internal software systems to large-scale enterprise applications.  

Our agile approach drives every stage of the customer journey; from planning to design development and implementation, delivering impactful and cost-effective digital transformations.  

To know more, visit: https://www.meritdata-tech.com/service/code/digital-engineering-solutions/