Regardless of how you ended up with your multi-cloud strategy, proper management of these systems is essential for deployment success. Here are five keys to keep in mind when managing this type of system.
The use of multi-cloud environments is becoming an increasingly prevalent IT strategy: by 2021, 98% of companiesOpens a new window plan to use multiple hybrid clouds. While multi-cloud poses advantages like critical cost reduction, the harsh reality is that many companies lack the abilities and tools for effective multi-cloud management — only 38%Opens a new window have multi-cloud management procedures and tools in use.
Various reasons exist as to why organizations would deploy a multi-cloud strategy. Some that are top of mind include reducing redundancy against possible outages, optimizing cost for storage and reducing vendor lock-in. Other use cases include acquisitions where a multi-cloud strategy accommodates the acquired company’s IT system.
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Regardless of how you ended up with your multi-cloud strategy, proper management of these systems is essential for deployment success. Here are five keys to keep in mind when managing this type of system:
1. Establish an understanding of cloud resiliency
A necessary step in building a strong foundation in a multi-cloud strategy is to establish an IT Disaster Recovery plan for any crucial applications. This could include everything from cloud-to-IaaS, cloud-to-cloud, DRaas, BaaS or colocation. The system must use the proper architecture and consistently test the communication between these two environments.
Which leads to another main question: how should multi-cloud environments be interconnected? Since cloud-native VPN solutions limit you to 1.25Gbps of throughput, consider private connectivity options and direct interconnects to all major cloud providers.
Virtual WAN (Azure) and Transit Gateway (AWS) can also meet higher bandwidth needs. Regardless of the chosen path, an organization must have an established understanding of how networking is conducted in the cloud to ensure a resilient architecture able to withstand outages.
2. Keep automation top of mind
A common saying in the IT world is that if you find yourself completing the same task twice, then you should automate it. When it comes to cloud management, automation can be a massive time saver for IT teams. This is especially true for more straightforward tasks such as networking, vulnerability scanning or patching.
For greenfield environments, in particular, consider serverless or container solutions. These enable more effortless mobility of workloads between clouds since applications are self-contained and mobile. Automation not only minimizes the amount of time spent on simple tasks but also reduces the number of human errors and allows IT professionals to focus on tasks requiring more critical oversight.
Many cloud providers coin automation practices as “Infrastructure as Code (IaC).†Effective use of IaC will likely require a mentality switch for IT staff who are used to more traditional methods. Cloud providers offer scripting tools, but it’s essential also to consider using third-party options like Terraform and utilize source control with IaC.
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3. Use the right interface
The ability to manage all cloud environments and streamline processes is essential within multi-cloud management, which is why selecting the right tool for integration is a critical component. Putting the proper tool in place will simplify overall management by providing orchestration and real-time monitoring.
Big-name brands like Microsoft and IBM offer third-party tools, but it’s important to keep in mind that as an organization adopts multi-cloud, the footprint may increase, making operations more complex. Instead of working with a cure-all solution, consider a strategic service providerOpens a new window who can add value and keep the environment optimized from a cost and performance perspective.
4. Understand and meet compliance requirements
If an auditor starts digging into your organization, you have to provide proof you’ve met regulatory standards; otherwise, you could get slapped with lawsuits and fines or even lose out on business opportunities. Some regulatory frameworks require data be housed in specific regions, while others require user data not leave the country. Understanding compliance frameworks in play is essential to accommodating requirements within multi-cloud environments.
5. Roll out a robust access control plan
In any IT environment, security should always come first, but this becomes even more important with a multi-cloud approach. Connective areas between clouds can be tricky and should receive special attention and considerations such as proper change management, authenticated users, role-based access control and multi-factor authentication.
Leveraging an IdP platform with multifactor authentication with multi-cloud and on-premise environments is one practical approach. Taking this route often identifies access management policies that can be centrally enforced and also enables conditional access policies to improve overall organizational security.
As the popularity of multi-cloud environments continues to grow, multi-cloud management must be top of mind. Tying all tasks around where data lives to the long-term company strategy will not only define actions, testing and storage priorities but also ensure alignment across the entire business.
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