Migration
Assessing which workloads should move first
Choose early cloud migration workloads by screening readiness, comparing business value and risk, and selecting a useful first move group.
Desk
Desk Cloud Ops
Focuses on the operational practices that keep cloud services available and observable.
Migration
Building a dependency map before migration
Map application connections, data flows and shared services so you can choose migration groups and identify cross-environment risks.
Reliability
Checking connection limits before an application launch
Calculate database connections across app instances and test pool waits, errors and query latency before launch.
Cloud Planning
Choosing a region from latency and operational requirements
Shortlist a cloud region using user latency, dependent services, service availability, data handling and operating capacity.
Migration
Choosing a rollback plan for a cloud cutover
Choose a migration rollback path based on traffic, write ownership and data state, then set decision triggers and rehearse both fallback branches.
Reliability
Choosing alerts that require a clear operator action
Decide which cloud signals deserve an alert by defining impact, owner, urgency and the operator's next step.
Reliability
Choosing cloud requirements from reliability and data needs
Define checkable cloud requirements from business availability, recovery targets, data sensitivity and handling needs.
Cloud Planning
Cloud deployment workflows
Plan a cloud deployment workflow with release stages, environment checks, a controlled rollout and a response to failure.
Cloud Planning
Cloud hosting and compute selection
Choose cloud compute by comparing application constraints, operating responsibility, demand, total cost and region fit.
Cloud Planning
Cloud infrastructure planning for businesses
Plan cloud infrastructure around workloads, data, reliability and operating responsibilities before choosing a deployment approach.
Migration
Cloud migration planning
Plan a cloud migration by choosing workload treatments, grouping dependencies, sequencing waves and defining cutover and fallback checks.
Reliability
Cloud monitoring with golden signals, SLOs and alerts
Build cloud monitoring around user outcomes, diagnostic signals and alerts that lead to a clear response.
Cloud Planning
Cloud networking
Cloud networking connects users, offices and workloads to services through defined routes, names and access controls.
Reliability
Cloud reliability
Define cloud reliability for business workloads, choose controls for likely failures, and check whether recovery meets agreed targets.
Cloud Planning
Cloud storage and backups
Choose cloud storage by workload and access needs, then design protected backups and check recovery against business targets.
Cloud Planning
Comparing managed database options by workload
Compare RDS, Cloud SQL, Azure PostgreSQL, MongoDB Atlas and BigQuery against workload needs and documented limits.
Reliability
Comparing redundancy with recoverability
Compare what redundancy and recovery each protect, where their limits differ, and how to combine them against business targets.
Cloud Planning
Connecting an office network to cloud workloads
An office-to-cloud connection should be designed around the applications staff need, not a blanket path to every cloud address.
Reliability
Defining availability requirements for a business workload
Define availability around a business journey, choose a useful measure, and record recovery targets alongside the objective.
Cloud Planning
Managed databases in the cloud
Choose a managed cloud database by workload, operational responsibility, recovery needs, connection capacity and cost.
Reliability
Managing operating system updates for cloud servers: 4 steps
Plan cloud server patch priorities and deployment waves, then verify application health and track skipped or failed machines.
Migration
Mapping business workloads before a cloud migration
Map business actions, components, data and owners before migration so placement decisions rest on a usable workload inventory.
Reliability
Monitoring application latency alongside server resources
Read request latency with traffic, errors, dependencies and server resources to investigate slow application actions.
Cloud Planning
Object, block and file storage compared
Compare object, block and file storage by access method, sharing needs and application behaviour before choosing a cloud service.
Cloud Planning
Planning a cloud handover when an external provider leaves
Transfer cloud operations from an external provider with a service inventory, usable runbooks, checked procedures and controlled access removal.
Reliability
Planning database backup and restore tests
Set a database restore test pass condition, isolate the restored copy and measure data and application recovery.
Cloud Planning
Planning DNS changes during cloud deployment: cutover plan
DNS changes are deployment changes because they determine which service clients reach.
Reliability
Planning for a regional service disruption
Prepare a regional disruption plan with clear failover criteria, independent dependencies, data decisions and a tested return path.
Cloud Planning
Public cloud, private infrastructure and hybrid setups compared
Compare public cloud, private infrastructure and combined setups by operating work, workload fit, data placement and recovery needs.
Reliability
Recording logs useful for incident investigation
Choose application log events, fields, identifiers and safeguards that help operators reconstruct an incident.
Reliability
Reviewing alert noise after an incident
Use an incident timeline to find duplicate, mistimed and unactionable alerts while preserving useful detection.
Reliability
Reviewing backup and recovery evidence regularly
Review backup coverage, job history and restore exercises against each workload's recovery requirements, then assign gaps.
Reliability
Reviewing configuration changes that expose services
Trace a cloud access change to its affected service, assess reachability and record the correction and checks.
Reliability
Rolling back an application release safely
Decide how to respond to a faulty application release by checking version, traffic and data compatibility before verifying live service.
Reliability
Separating development, test and production environments
Set boundaries for cloud development, test and production while keeping test results relevant to a live release.
Reliability
Testing a deployment before changing live services
Choose release checks around changed components, important user actions and explicit pass conditions before changing live services.
Reliability
Testing a recovery procedure rather than assuming it works
Test the full recovery path, measure actual RTO and RPO, inspect recovered data, and record the limits of each exercise.
Reliability
Testing cloud backups against recovery requirements
Plan an isolated cloud-backup restore, measure usable recovery against RTO and RPO, and record what the test actually proves.
Reliability
Troubleshooting connectivity between cloud services
When one cloud service cannot reach another, locate the failing layer before changing rules.
Cloud Planning
Virtual machines versus managed application hosting
Compare VMs and managed application hosting by OS control, application compatibility, scaling and operating responsibility.