Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
Infrastructure as a service or IaaS is almost synonymous with cloud computing platforms. These solutions allow businesses to deploy, host, and scale web-based applications. Virtual machines enable almost limitless scaling of server capacity.Rather than a set monthly fee, the pricing model is often pay-as-you-go.
Examples: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace.
Software as a service (SaaS)
Software as a service (or SaaS) is a way of delivering applications over the Internet—as a service. Instead of installing and maintaining software, you simply access it via the Internet, freeing yourself from complex software and hardware management. SaaS examples: BigCommerce, Google Apps, Salesforce, Dropbox, MailChimp, ZenDesk, DocuSign, Slack, Hubspot
Public Cloud
Public cloud is a cloud deployment model where computing resources are owned and operated by a provider and shared across multiple tenants via the Internet. They may be free or sold on-demand, allowing customers to pay only per usage for the CPU cycles, storage, or bandwidth they consume.
Private Cloud
Private cloud provides computing services to a private internal network (within the organization) and selected users instead of the general public.
The proposed option is to apply the Hybrid cloud model by combining both private and public cloud for double protection on sensitive and important databases such as transaction history and customer accounts.
Maintaining minimal ownership of local data centers will still provide more freedom and control over cost and data security, also on how to manage it. Cloud bills can quickly go up when we apply more complex computing processes and application setup.
Another benefit is we may need to adhere to data storage compliance required especially when dealing with customers from big companies. Then they may don’t want to see us storing sensitive info at the location where there is less control.
Infrastructure
as a service
We
need the server as the platform to run the application. We can rent the server
on cloud, fast and easy infrastructure setup. Cloud providers will take care of
the underlying infrastructure. So, we can focus on our business rather than
managing the IT infrastructure. Let the cloud service provider manage it and we
just rent it. One biggest benefit is the cloud is very flexible and scalable,
we can adjust the server capacity we rent according to the different needs at
different times. We will be able to handle spikes flexibly, spin up and scale
down with 1 click. Thus, we only pay for what we use.
Software
as a service
To
administrate the on-site order and fulfilment application, In our case, to
manage distributors’ log in account, process order, arrange and track shipment.
We can also search and apply business applications available from AWS
marketplace such as ARIA, A SaaS based offering to Automated Purchase Order
Processing.
Integration
of both IaaS and SaaS cloud service
In
conclusion, we suggest applying both IaaS and SaaS cloud service to simplify
the computing infrastructure of the company. We will apply AWS EC2 instances to
replace physical server, infrastructure as a service. We will also be using the
application offered on AWS marketplace for software as a service.
Multi-Cloud
In multi-cloud, a business uses multiple cloud services of the same type from different cloud platforms.
Partnering with multiple cloud providers enables a business to:
Use best services for each app and task.
Eliminate the risk of vendor lock-in.
Ensure the team relies on the best cloud solution.
Optimize the spending by choosing the most affordable services.
Most of these multi-cloud setups include a mixture of public cloud providers such as Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), IBM, and Microsoft Azure.
Hi Team,
As per discussed, created this team blog to discuss about out group project assignment.
Business Case Study (Group – 30%)
Future Manufacturing Ltd is an international manufacturer with offices located in US, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Singapore.
The company manufactures thousands of small parts that are required in CNC machines, laser cutting machines, plastic molding machines and stamping machines. In the current order placement and fulfilment system, each distributor must create an account with the company, login to the online ordering portal and place the orders. The orders will automatically be sent to the fulfilment department to package the orders and arrange for the delivery to the distributors. The system will track the order status via the same online ordering portal.
The online ordering portal has 25,000 registered distributors and an average of 50,000 daily orders are received. In recent years, It has also been observed that the ordering patterns spike in Apr, Nov and Dec with at least 50% increase in these months.
The current online ordering portal web application is developed using Microsoft ASP.NET. The system is run on 2 on-premises IBM Lenovo Think Server TS450 Tower Servers, each with 64GB of memory and Intel Xeon E3 (Quad Core) E3-1225 v5 processors. The application uses Microsoft SQL Server 2019 which runs on one IBM Lenovo Think Server while the web application (ASP.NET) runs on the other IBM Lenovo Think Server, forming a 2-tier client-server architecture. The Singapore company subscribes to Starhub fibre broadband of 100MBps for Internet connectivity. 2 full-time IT administrators are employed to maintain and administer the servers while the application is developed and maintained by a 3rd party software vendor.
The current servers are aging with frequent hard disk failures and power outages. It has observed that the servers are having difficulty in processing the incoming orders especially during the ordering spike that happens in Apr, Nov, and Dec period.
CEO Mr. Mark See is introduced to the benefits of migrating some of the IT operations to the cloud services that will maximize the revenue with significant reduction of total cost of ownership.
You are tasked to study the company operations and propose the cloud solution using Google Slides for the presentation and blog to communicate the proposed solution to the management.
Your study should include but not limited to the following:
Identify the components that will be migrated to cloud
Describe the cloud services and deployment(s) that will be used in this setup
Tabulate an estimated cost and list the benefits for cloud implementation
Discuss the migration plan
Propose future for extending the cloud adoption
You are to submit the Google Slides and blog link in PolyMall by end of Week 8 (12 Dec 2021).
