Multi-cloud services are widely used in the industry and offer flexible IT infrastructure that makes it easy to add or remove capacity depending on the needs of your business, without compromising on agility or performance. But how do you know if these services are being used correctly?
What are the implications of using cloud services in an unmanaged way and why should you care? And what should you consider if you’re considering using Multi-Cloud Visibility software to address these issues?
Why have multi-cloud visibility?
With so many different cloud vendors out there, and new ones popping up all the time, it can be a nightmare to know where your data is at any given time. By having multi-cloud visibility, you’ll be able to track your data in real time, no matter which cloud vendor you’re using. You’ll also have peace of mind knowing that you’re making the best decision for your company’s security. And with less time spent trying to figure out who has your data, more time will be available for business planning and innovation.
What are some steps we can take now to achieve this?:
1) Analyze your workloads – What services do you use and what do they rely on? Make a list of what you want access to if an outage were to happen. Consider how you store customer data and how much of it is stored in the cloud versus on-premises. Know how much bandwidth you need to connect your remote locations together, so that everything runs smoothly when disaster strikes.
2) Get Certified – Certify your IT staff through one or more industry recognized programs like CompTIA Security+ or Network+, along with providing them continuing education credits from either SANS CyberAware or SANS GIAC certifications.
Which products do we recommend for multi-cloud visibility?
If you’re looking for a way to improve your visibility across multiple cloud providers and platforms, vCommander is a great place to start. It offers extensive support for all major cloud providers, so you can view your resources from one location without having to log in or out of any of them. What’s more, as the latest version includes an orchestration engine that lets you automate workflows and deploy apps with just a few clicks on the UI, we recommend this product as an excellent solution for multi-cloud deployment.
Another option is IBM Cloud Management Platform (CMP). CMP provides unparalleled insight into your environment through both native API integration and the use of dashboards and widgets. Plus, by using its extensive catalog of pre-built service templates, you’ll be able to get up and running quickly.
Also Read: What is the internet of things and how does it work?
Installation & Configuration
To install and configure Multi-Cloud Visibility, use the following steps: 1) Download ArcGIS Online. 2) Open ArcGIS Online and log in. 3) Click on Create new organization. 4) Fill out the form to create your organization with a name of your choosing. 5) Click Create to finish creating your organization.
6) You should now see the ArcGIS window open up. 7) The first thing you will want to do is download Python. 8) In this tutorial, we are using Python version 2.7.9. 9) If you have any issues installing Python, please refer to the documentation for help. 10) After installation, find where python was installed (we used C:\Python27).
11) Drag and drop the geoprocessing toolbox into ArcMap by dragging and dropping PythonToolbox onto ArcMap. 12) Now that the geoprocessing toolbox has been added to ArcMap, right click on PythonToolbox within ArcMap > select properties.
Monitoring & Alerting
If you’re operating in an environment where there are multiple clouds, you need to know what’s happening on all of them. Multi-cloud visibility is the process of monitoring and alerting across your multi-cloud environment.
A lot of tools can help with this, including AWS CloudWatch, Datadog, CloudHealth by Veritas Health, and OpsGenie. All these tools offer different features to help deliver the visibility you need across your environment. You might be able to use one tool for alerts and another for real-time monitoring or dashboards.
One tool may have integrations that make getting information from other platforms easier or may allow you to do more sophisticated data analysis on specific aspects of your business operations. Experiment with a few tools and figure out which ones work best for your needs before implementing anything company wide.
Next Steps
The first step in achieving multi-cloud visibility is to identify all of the data sources that you will need to collect. These might include, but are not limited to, your on-premises and cloud infrastructure, third party public clouds or any other vendor you may be storing data with.
Next, create a strategy for how you will connect with these different data sources. For example, if your goal is to have visibility into both Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure as well as one or more on-premises databases, then you will want to build an application that can query those databases simultaneously. Or, if you would like to monitor the AWS environment from a specific region such as US West (Oregon), then you’ll want an agent installed at each region that checks for instances there.
How do I create a multi-cloud strategy?
The first step to a multi-cloud strategy is understanding your current needs. What kind of applications will you be running on the new cloud environment and are they compatible with what the new cloud has to offer? What is your budget for this project and how much can you allocate for this project in the future?
From there, you should create a multi-cloud roadmap. This roadmap should include all of the steps necessary for making your migration a success. A good way to organize your ideas is by dividing them into six phases: Assessment, Planning, Implementation, Operations & Management, Maintenance, and Completion.
How do I start the cloud journey?
The first step in achieving a level of Multi-cloud visibility is to start by identifying all the cloud providers you currently use and then mapping out what they offer. Next, identify which services are critical to your business and rank them in order of importance. For each service, determine the impact on your business if that service was to fail.
Finally, prioritize which providers you will use for the services ranked most important to your business and map out a plan for how you will transition to those providers.
Conclusion
It is not impossible to manage multiple cloud accounts, but you will need to dedicate some time and energy. You can get the most out of your cloud account by developing a roadmap for your company’s future and then implementing that plan.
