Step 1: Research Networking and Auxiliary Services in the Cloud

The executives at BallotOnline have been impressed with your research on cloud computing thus far. While there are a variety of cloud providers,BallotOnline is considering using Amazon Web Services (AWS) andMicrosoft Azure, two of the top providers in the market. BallotOnline’sexecutives want you to help determine which would be the best providerfor the organization.

You will start with learning about internet networking basics and cloud networking. You will also research many cloud services that cloud providers make available to their customers to help them take full advantage of cloud service and deployment models.

Step 2: Research Cloud Trends, Best Practices, and Migration Issues

Thecloud computing revolution is redefining ways that companies of allsizes use information technology. The cloud landscape shifts rapidly,and current trends reflect this rapid pace of change. You likely got anidea about this in the last step when you conducted research on cloudarchitecture. Now, continue gathering information for your final reportby assessing:

• issues outside the company, such as emerging issues in the industry, regulatory changes, and general trends in cloud computing to gain an understanding of how these issues may influence BallotOnline’s decisions;
• best practices for cloud implementation and assess whether BallotOnline can benefit from these;
• cloud migration strategiesfor the application and data, since BallotOnline is moving an existingweb application to the cloud, making sure that the application isconfigured properly for the system architecture of your clouddeployment; and
• IT change management techniques that could help BallotOnline make this transition.

In the Discussion: Cloud Trends and Migration Issues forum, post your findings and discuss them with your colleagues.

In the next step, you will propose an architecture to use for the company’s cloud deployment.

Step 3: Research Typical Architectures of Cloud Deployments

Inthe previous step, you considered best practices and trends in thecloud industry. Next, you will have to look at the kinds ofarchitectures needed for cloud.

Because most elements of clouddeployments are implemented in a virtualized environment controlled bysoftware, the degree of freedom in defining your deployment of cloud reference modelsis unprecedented. You can define the number of virtual servers requiredand the configuration, and even change them dynamically as needed. Youcan also define your virtual local area networks (LANs) and subnets, andplace servers in them to implement network security requirements.

Thebasic cloud deployment components are cloud consumer, cloud provider,and cloud carrier, with cloud brokers and auditor as possible additions.

Typical cloud architecturesof cloud deployments vary from single server (suitable forproof-of-concept engagements) and multiserver architectures with variousservers carrying different software components and occupying differentsecurity zones, to geographically dispersed deployments to achieve highavailability, resilience, and speed of delivery. There are several issues to consider when selecting a server architecture, including cost, scalability, performance, and use of management.

Forthis step, research the typical architectures of cloud deployments andbegin to consider what might be a good fit for BallotOnline. Discussyour findings and thoughts with your colleagues in the Discussion: Cloud Architectures forum.

Inthe next step, you will continue research, this time on trends in cloudcomputing as well as issues that can arise during data migration.

Step 4: Propose Cloud Architecture for BallotOnline Deployment

Nowthat you have looked into cloud architectures, in this step, you willpropose the cloud deployment architecture for BallotOnline, applying theknowledge of typical architectural elements of cloud deployment fromthe project’s initial step. You will also consider trends and migrationissues from a previous step. Your recommendation should consider thecompany’s business requirements.

Recall that the company has anexisting web application that it wants to move to the cloud, and alsothat the company wants to expand its business to other parts of theworld. In earlier projects, you learned about and analyzed the ITbusiness requirements for BallotOnline. Among them were demands for application and data security,data encryption, and separation for deployments overseas. Also, theapplication should handle load peaks during election times in differentregions.

Specific technical requirements state that BallotOnlineis a web application, written using the popular open-source LAMP (Linux,Apache, MySQL, PHP) software suite and the PHP application.

ACTION ITEM

Describeyour proposed architecture by submitting a report with a drawing of thearchitecture (hand-drawn or computer-created) diagram and explainingits elements in the dropbox below.

There are some sample drawings here under typical cloud architectures to give you an idea.

In the next step, you will begin researching the specific providers, starting with Amazon.

Step 5: Research AWS

You’vedescribed your proposed architecture and included a diagram to provideleadership a way to envision the system. Now, it’s time to look closelyat the leading cloud providers to see if their services will fitBallotOnline’s needs.

Each cloud provider provides a uniqueprofile of services, so it is good practice to compare cloud vendors andevaluate their reliability, performance, ease of use, cost, securityand compliance measures. As more providers enter the marketplace, manywill specialize on specific needs and use cases, making this evaluationeven more critical.

In this step, you will explore AWSand assess the feasibility of this platform for deploying thearchitecture proposed in the previous step. You should also considerissues related to AWS Pricing.

Basedon your research, determine to what degree AWS supports the elements ofthe BallotOnline business and technical requirements.

Share your thoughts with your colleagues in the Discussion: Amazon Web Services Feasibilityforum. In the following step, you will do the same for Microsoft Azure.

Step 6: Research Microsoft Azure

Now that you have had a chance to research AWS, it’s time to explore Microsoft Azure, another cloud provider that could be used to deploy the proposed architecture. You should also consider issues related to Microsoft Azure pricing.

Basedon your research, determine to what degree Microsoft Azure supports theelements of the BallotOnline business and technical requirements. Shareyour thoughts with your colleagues in the Discussion: Microsoft Azure Feasibility forum.

Nowthat you have completed research on the cloud providers, in the nextsteps you will work on proof of concepts for each provider.

Step 7: Generate AWS Proof of Concept (POC)

Withyour research complete, you will now deploy a simple one-page PHPapplication to the AWS cloud. It will allow you to explore deploymentmethods, ease of use, provisioning speed, etc., for the Amazon cloud.

ACTION ITEM

As you may have already discovered in your research on AWS, it makes a cloud migration tool called Elastic Beanstalk available for customers to migrate their existing applications into the AWS cloud. We will use this tool to deploy your AWS proof of concept (POC).

Follow the steps in the AWS lab instructions to complete your AWS POC.

In the dropbox below, upload the URL linking to your application running in the AWS portal.

Step 8: Generate Azure Proof of Concept (POC)

Now that your AWS POC is complete, you can proceed with a similar POC deployment for the Microsoft Azure cloud.

ACTION ITEM

Follow the steps in the Azure lab instructions to complete your Azure POC.

In the dropbox below, upload the URL linking to your application running in the Azure portal.

Youare ready for the last step: writing the final report withrecommendations on the cloud providers for the BallotOnline executives.

Step 9: Write the Final Report Evaluating AWS and Azure Providers

Nowthat you have completed your research, shared your ideas withcolleagues, and explored the two vendors, it is time to compile yourfindings and recommendations for the BallotOnline executives. You mayfind these considerations for cloud provider selection helpful in making your decisions.

Use the Final Report Evaluating AWS and Azure Providers Template to write your report and submit your work to the dropbox below.

Beforeyou submit your assignment, review the competencies below, which yourinstructor will use to evaluate your work. A good practice would be touse each competency as a self-check to confirm you have incorporated allof them in your work.

• 2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the issue or problem.
• 2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to determine its value and relevance to the problem.
• 2.4: Consider and analyze information in context to the issue or problem.
• 2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.
• 5.4: Articulate insights to leadership on the appropriate course of direction on the identified IT business needs.
• 6.1: Articulate the systems architecture of the cloud – cloud infrastructure, cloud service, cloud platform, and cloud storage.
• 6.6: Evaluate and select cloud providers (AWS, Azure, VMware, Google Cloud, IBM).
• 6.8: Review, evaluate, and utilize emerging technologies related to cloud to support business needs.

Submission for Project 3: Final Report Evaluating AWS and Azure Providers