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.
Author
Jack Harris
Subject: cloud operations and infrastructure. Related coverage: Cloud Planning; Cost Control. Jack Harris is the editorial byline assigned to this area. Background, definitions and the interpretation of available information belong to this editorial remit. The emphasis is on useful distinctions rather than a universal recommendation. This is an editorial pen name used by the publication, not a claim of an independently verified personal identity.
Governance
Assigning owners to cloud accounts and workloads
Map cloud account and workload owners to decision rights, daily operations, budget contacts and escalation routes.
Reliability
Checking connection limits before an application launch
Calculate database connections across app instances and test pool waits, errors and query latency before launch.
Governance
Checking data export and exit options before procurement
Check export methods, formats, access windows, charges and deletion terms before committing data to a cloud supplier.
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.
Cost Control
Choosing storage tiers from access patterns
Use read frequency, retrieval time and retention to choose object-storage tiers, then check total lifecycle and recovery costs.
Cost Control
Cloud cost management
Build a consistent cloud cost view, assign charges to workloads, investigate changes and reconcile internal reports with the final bill.
Cloud Planning
Cloud deployment workflows
Plan a cloud deployment workflow with release stages, environment checks, a controlled rollout and a response to failure.
Identity
Cloud identity and access
Plan cloud access for staff, administrators and workloads with narrow permissions, protected sign-in and a reviewable removal process.
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.
Cost Control
Cloud resource optimisation
Review charged resources, compute size, operating hours and commitments against workload needs and actual billing.
Cloud Planning
Cloud storage and backups
Choose cloud storage by workload and access needs, then design protected backups and check recovery against business targets.
Cost Control
Comparing compute pricing units with realistic workloads
Build a fair cloud compute estimate using workload scenarios, billing units, storage and data transfer.
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.
Identity
Escalating a suspected cloud account compromise
Handoff a suspected cloud account compromise, preserve available evidence and coordinate containment and reporting decisions.
Cost Control
Estimating database costs from storage and query activity
Build a managed-database cost estimate from running capacity, storage, backups, transfers and the right query billing model.
Cost Control
Finding idle cloud resources with ongoing charges
Trace billable idle cloud resources to their owners and purpose before stopping or deleting VMs, disks and addresses.
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.
Identity
Managing service identities separately from employee access
Give applications owned identities, choose supported authentication, limit runtime access and retire identities with their workloads.
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
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.
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.
Cost Control
Reading a cloud bill by service and workload
Reconcile the billed total, inspect service charges and billing units, and keep shared or unassigned workload costs visible.
Identity
Removing dormant credentials from cloud environments
Find cloud credentials that appear unused, check dependencies, disable and observe them, then delete confirmed dormant credentials.
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.
Identity
Reviewing privileged cloud accounts
Identify privileged cloud grants, confirm each business need and close retain, reduce or remove decisions with platform limits in view.
Governance
Reviewing cloud service commitments before procurement
Read a cloud SLA's coverage, conditions, exclusions, credits and claim process before signing a service agreement.
Cost Control
Scheduling non-production resources around use
Set operating windows for development and test resources, check provider stop behaviour and observe a full start-stop cycle.
Cost Control
Separating predictable charges from usage spikes
Classify purchases, recurring charges, usage and adjustments, then compare billable units to investigate a cloud cost increase.
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
Troubleshooting connectivity between cloud services
When one cloud service cannot reach another, locate the failing layer before changing rules.