Cloud as a Story - Vunvulea Radu

Cloud! When we think of the cloud, our mind goes to unlimited scalability and power, using an efficient system that can automatically respond to demand. The reality is not like this, mainly because most of the systems were migrated as is to the cloud or built by teams where the cloud skills were limited. Cloud modernization is not part of the lifecycle of systems that run inside the cloud, meaning that the same cloud services are used by a system after 5-10 years. Performance bottlenecks emerge when AI is added to systems because of inefficient resource allocations, architectural decisions, and a lack of understanding of the demand of the AI model.  The truth is that most of the systems that run in the cloud nowadays are not ready for the demand for an AI service. Microsoft, like other vendors, provides paths to navigate in the AI journey that requires customers to adopt new cloud technologies or change the way how the system works. One of the mistakes made by organizations is...

  In fast-changing times like today, real-time communication assures uninterrupted user experiences and increases business operations. Low-latency bi-directional communication keeps the users interested, like in financial trading, live chat, co-working systems, or online gaming. With the help of the Azure Front Door Standard and WebSockets, businesses scale their real-time applications efficiently around the globe. Azure Front Door represents the CDN in the cloud, improving performance, security, and reliability. Now, with WebSockets, this brings new possibilities for enterprises by offering global scalability and high availability, enhanced security, optimized performance and seamless Azure integration. WebSockets operate distinctively from regular HTTP, facilitating communication between clients and servers through a persistent connection with full duplexing on top of TCP. Establishing a connection for HTTP is not required. This efficient operation of WebSockets significantly im...

404 Errors are not only for on-premises systems. The business expects that the cloud is equal to 99.9999% availability, leading to false expectations and a smaller budget for developing and running a high-availability solution. Public cloud vendors like AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure invest in fault tolerance and redundancy solutions, providing many nines for each of their services. The reliability of systems also depends on how the architecture was done and how the solution is managed. The IT team is responsible for using, designing, and managing the cloud services. The cloud services are designed to minimise downtime through thorough data replication, automated failover policies, and availability zones. Statistically, a cloud service, a cloud vendor, will be down. As the number of cloud services and usage increase, we should expect that specific services will have downtime sometime in the future. For example, an update of a cloud service can create a ripple effect across mult...

One common misconception is related to IT teams and the cloud. Businesses expect that cloud adoption will eliminate or drastically reduce the cost and size of IT teams. Cloud indeed simplifies the management of the infrastructure and the activities that need to be done to manage the cloud environment. It does not mean that IT teams are not required anymore. The IT team evolves; even if the size of the team shrinks, it becomes more critical for the company and the business.   In most cases, responsibilities regarding hardware provisioning, maintenance, OS & software updates and packing shift from the IT team to the cloud vendors. This allows companies to focus more on the services and applications running on top, proving out-of-the-shelve capabilities related to encryption, backup, DR and data governance. On the other hand, IT teams need to manage new dimensions, such as cloud governance, security, compliance, optimisation, and integration. The IT teams need to ensure that r...

Cloud is not for all and will not become a standard and universal solution for any organization, business and workload. Cloud adoption, which is part of the cloud journey, covers multiple cloud vendors, cloud services and on-premises solutions during a 5-10-year period. The cloud solution for your current business might not fit your needs in 5 years. This is normal, part of the lifecycle of a system and needs to be incorporated into it. The assumption that one cloud fits all your needs is an oversimplified approach that leads to a cloud adoption failure. The impact of a one-size-fits-all approach can affect the operational costs, performance and compliance. Regulatory requirements regarding data residency might not map to one cloud vendor's physical presence. A single cloud model (vendor) with inefficient resource allocation can affect the system's performance. One vendor approach can affects the cloud infrastructure costs, because it force you to pay for service tiers that a...

The idea that migration to the cloud is simple, straightforward and rapid is a wrong assumption. It’s a common misconception of business stakeholders that generates delays, budget overruns and technical dept. A migration requires laborious planning, technical expertise and a rigorous process.  Migrations, especially cloud migrations, are not one-size-fits-all journeys. One of the most critical steps is under evaluation, under budget and under consideration. The evaluation phase, where existing infrastructure, applications, database, network and the end-to-end estate are evaluated and mapped to a cloud strategy, is crucial to ensure the success of cloud migration. Additional factors such as security, compliance, and system dependencies increase the complexity of cloud migration.  A misconception regarding lift-and-shits is that they are fast and cheap. Moving applications to the cloud without changes does not provide the capability to optimise costs and performance, leading to ...

Cloud Myths: Cloud is Cheaper (Pill 1 of 5 / Cloud Pills) The idea that moving to the cloud reduces the costs is a common misconception. The cloud infrastructure provides flexibility, scalability, and better CAPEX, but it does not guarantee lower costs without proper optimisation and management of the cloud services and infrastructure. Idle and unused resources, overprovisioning, oversize databases, and unnecessary data transfer can increase running costs. The regional pricing mode, multi-cloud complexity, and cost variety add extra complexity to the cost function. Cloud adoption without a cost governance strategy can result in unexpected expenses. Improper usage, combined with a pay-as-you-go model, can result in a nightmare for business stakeholders who cannot track and manage the monthly costs. Cloud-native services such as AI services, managed databases, and analytics platforms are powerful, provide out-of-the-shelve capabilities, and increase business agility and innovation. H...