IAM Key Components

IAM involves several key components, including authentication, authorization, and user provisioning and de-provisioning. Authentication is the process of verifying the identity of a user or device that is requesting access to a cloud resource. This can be achieved through various methods, such as passwords, security tokens, and biometric factors like fingerprints or facial recognition. By verifying the user’s identity, organizations can ensure that only authorized users have access to their cloud resources.

Authorization is the process of granting or denying access to a specific cloud resource based on the user’s identity and access privileges. Access privileges are typically assigned based on the user’s role or job function within the organization. For example, a user with administrative privileges would have access to more sensitive data and systems than a user with a basic user role.

Added Layer of Security

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) is becoming increasingly popular as an added layer of security for the authentication process. MFA requires users to provide more than one form of authentication, such as a password and a security token, to verify their identity. This helps to prevent unauthorized access by ensuring that a potential attacker would need to possess more than just one factor of authentication to gain access to cloud resources.

Role-based access control (RBAC) is a model for managing access to cloud resources based on the user’s role or job function within the organization. RBAC allows organizations to manage access to resources more efficiently and securely by limiting access to only those users who require it to perform their job duties. This reduces the risk of data breaches and other security incidents that may occur due to unauthorized access.

User provisioning and de-provisioning are crucial components of IAM that ensure that users are provided with the necessary access privileges when they join an organization, and those privileges are removed when they leave the organization. This helps to prevent former employees from retaining access to sensitive data and systems after they have left the organization.

Conclusion

Ultimately, IAM is a critical aspect of cloud security that allows organizations to manage the digital identities of their users and control their access to cloud resources. By implementing IAM frameworks, organizations can reduce the risk of data breaches and other security incidents that may occur due to unauthorized access to cloud resources. IAM provides organizations with greater control over their cloud resources, ensuring that only authorized users have access to sensitive data and systems. As more and more organizations move their operations to the cloud, IAM will become increasingly important in ensuring the security of cloud-based data and systems.

Let’s start the conversation today! Click here to discuss how Wowrack can enhance your organizations security.

The post A Brief Overview of Identity & Access Management (IAM) appeared first on Wowrack Blog.

This migration will allow the business to provide broader access for their customer or their own employee to a certain degree. 

Here, we have compiled a discussion on the general look of “what is a cloud”, the planning and strategies that you could use, and the common challenge that you might face when performing cloud migration. 

General Look of “What is Cloud” 

To understand why you might need to perform cloud migration in the current business environment, you first need to know about the cloud. 

Cloud computing – often being shortened into “cloud” – refers to the pool of computer services that you can access through the connection of the internet. 

The advantage of this pool of computers is its ability to be accessed instantly without the need for the user to set it up themselves. Cloud also allows businesses to move away from on-premise storage. 

Instead, the cloud provider will have dedicated massive data centers around the world to fill all of their clients’ needs. These data centers allow the cloud provider to better maintain and secure the infrastructure. 

Why Move to Cloud? 

You then might ask, why should you perform cloud migration or why even use the cloud at all? So, let us make it clear the two biggest advantages of using the cloud today. 

1. No More On-Premise Server – This means no more dedicated IT specialists. You can focus more on what is your business need, rather than performing maintenance of your IT infrastructure. 

2. Virtually Limitless Computer Resources – You can have as many computer resources as you need. High workloads, add more resources. Not much going on, reduce the resources. That simple. 

If you are still unsure about the feasibility of using the cloud for your business, here are some reports and surveys regarding what the future is like. 

According to Flexera, by the end of 2020, 60% of small and medium businesses moved their workload to clouds and will continue to use the cloud for the foreseeable future. 

Another survey conducted by Venture Beat conclude that 50% of the Fortune 500 companies have undergone a digital transformation in the Q3 of 2021. 

These two surveys should have shown that modern business is putting great attention to the use of the cloud and slowly moving away from an on-premise server to cloud setups. 

Planning What You are Moving 

So, let’s say that you are willing to move your business model from on-premise to cloud, what should you do first in this case. The first thing you need to do is to plan what you are moving into the cloud. 

The fundamental planning when you want to perform cloud migration are the following: 

3. Why you are moving it, 

4. What you are moving, and 

5. How you are going to do it. 

First, evaluate “why” you want to move into the cloud. The business environment often became the biggest reason perform the migration. 

Try to set aggressive goals to drive the migration forward. This includes creating a baseline of your IT performance and cloud migration key performance indicators (KPI). 

Second, find out what you want to move into the cloud. Preferably, workloads or applications that can be moved as they are will be the first ones to be migrated. Meanwhile, with the one that needs a lot of reworking as the last one to be migrated. 

Third, choose how you are going to do perform the migration. The use of tools to simplify migrations and choosing the correct cloud deployment model will be your focus on the last step of planning. We will discuss this more in-depth in the strategies section down below. 

Strategies You Can Use to Perform Cloud Migration 

There are three most common strategies that you can use when performing cloud migration from on-premise storage. Below are the strategies in the order of the quickest and easiest set up to the most difficult one. 

1.    Rehosting (Lift and Shift) 

Rehosting is the quickest and easiest choice you can choose when performing a cloud migration. This strategy is recommended to be used for simple and low-impact workloads. 

As the name implies, this strategy is only moving your data to the cloud. Thus, you might not receive the full benefit when compared to fully going cloud-native. 

2.    Replatforming (Move and Improve) 

The replatforming strategy is used if you are looking to have some of the benefits of what a cloud environment can provide to you. Usually, it involves modernization or updates to the workload or application that will be moved to the cloud. 

This strategy is often preferred when compared to rehosting due to the benefit that businesses could receive from the cloud infrastructure. 

3.    Refactoring (Rip and Replace) 

Refactoring or re-architecting strategy is only preferable for those who wish to fully embrace the cloud. This strategy will force businesses to perform total redesign of workloads or applications to receive the full potential of the cloud infrastructure. 

Common Challenges When Performing Cloud Migration 

There is nothing in the world that can work smoothly without a problem and the same can be said with performing cloud migration. 

Here are some common challenges that you might want to know before performing a cloud migration. 

• Complexity – Different types of cloud require different types of maintenance and can fulfill different types of needs. Understanding your need for the cloud will be the utmost important thing. 
• Dependencies – Workload and application dependencies might bring cloud migration to a grinding halt. 
• Legacy Application – There are times when workload or applications are too complicated and costly to be migrated into the cloud. This is why proper planning is necessary. 
• Databases – While not that big of a challenge, a large amount of data requires time to complete the migration into the cloud. 
• Managing Cost – Proper management of cloud resources can deliver cost-saving. Thus, business needs to consider all of the required cost before and after moving to the cloud. 

Wowrack is Here to Help

Moving to a new environment can be a daunting task for business, especially when we are talking about IT needs. This is why proper survey and analysis are better conducted before making any decision. 

If you are not sure what is the best compute environment for your application, you can always consult us by clicking the link down bellow. We will help you find the best-fit solutions for your needs.

The post What is Cloud Migration and the Benefit to Your Business? appeared first on Wowrack Blog.

• More efficient/lower costs
• Higher performance metrics (especially when used via managed hosting provider)
• Quick and efficient scalability
• Customized security and compliance structures

While the benefits are certainly attractive to many business owners and stakeholders, a large and potentially tenuous hurdle stands in the way: migration. Migration refers to the processes that occur when you are transferring your current set-up to the new cloud environment. Much as can be expected for any sort of migration, this has the potential to greatly disrupt the flow of productivity if not approached or deployed correctly.

Migration oftentimes becomes an issue because it is not a concern that is at the forefront of moving enterprise applications to the cloud, unlike security. Some of the top reasons for unsuccessful migrations can include:

• Choosing the wrong cloud solution for their needs
• Getting all teams on board and ready for a migration
• Unrealistic timelines for completion
• Lack of knowledge in how to deploy a successful migration if done in-house and without an experienced partner

Assess Current Application Structure and Determine Cloud Best Fit

While this task can certainly be conducted by an internal team who knows your business structure best, it’s equally important to get feedback and guidance from a knowledgeable cloud service provider to ensure that the most effective cloud environment is chosen based on current and future needs.

There are a few different cloud structures to consider for your post-migration environment, including:

• Public Cloud
• Private Cloud
• Hybrid Cloud

Depending on not only your current structure but also the ideal infrastructure for the future can heavily influence which type of cloud environment you migrate to. Because this could have such a huge impact on your productivity potential and financial bottom line, having a professional cloud provider consultant evaluate your situation could help you avoid costly future mistakes.

Create a Doable Plan of Action that Involves All Stakeholders

Once you have chosen the best fit for your new enterprise cloud environment, your next step is to create a plan of action to implement it. One of the most crucial steps is to ensure that all parties are privy to the migration, on board, and ready to do what is necessary on their end to ensure its success. This will help to ensure a smooth (and quick) transition that will get you fully migrated sooner.

While it is indeed possible to create and implement a plan through your internal team alone, more and more enterprises are finding benefits from a cost and timing perspective by partnering up with an experienced cloud service provider that has extensive knowledge of all steps of a migration process for both hybrid cloud, public cloud and private cloud options.

When choosing a partner, be sure to assess their case study history to see if any of their previous client situations are similar to your endeavors. Providers that have a wide variety of experience with different industries typically will be able to anticipate and address hurdles more quickly.

Your Migration Plan Should Be Timely, But Don’t Rush It

The faster and more efficient the migration, the faster you can realize savings and other benefits of operating through the cloud. However, don’t sacrifice rigorous testing and planning to simply roll out your new environment quickly, or you may cause more issues than you began with.

Alison DeNisco with ZDNet explains that it is imperative that you are fully aware of just how much work goes into a cloud migration – and that it is not as simple as dropping data from one storage environment to another: “Many organizations are layering cloud solutions on top of legacy systems and software, so it’s key to ensure that the solution chosen is able to be integrated with your existing systems.”

Moving your current enterprise infrastructure to the cloud is a smart move, and it’s never too late to reap the benefits of doing so. However, you must be diligent about creating and deploying a solid migration plan.

For an experienced partner who will learn the ins-and-outs of your particular enterprise, as well as what your goals are within a cloud environment, trust the experts at Wowrack. Our team will assess and create a customized plan that will ensure a smooth and stress-free cloud migration. Give us a call today. 

The post How to Execute a Successful Migration to the Cloud appeared first on Wowrack Blog.