Successful Implementation of Cloud Computing Technologies Report

Project 1: Explore IaaS and PaaS Services in Microsoft
Azure
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Previously, you’ve examined and investigated various cloud service
offerings and deployment options for BallotOnline in the Amazon Web
Services cloud environment.
To ensure that the BallotOnline cloud migration team looked at cloud
offerings from other vendors, Sophia, the vice president of Information
Technology (IT), suggested exploring Microsoft Azure cloud and
determining if Azure IaaS service offerings are competitive with AWS.
In addition, she proposed to look at Azure PaaS capabilities to compare
the ease of development and deployment process and DevOps options
between these two cloud vendors.
As the principal cloud architect for BallotOnline, you will research
Azure’s IaaS and PaaS capabilities. You will design and implement PoC
(proof of Concept) projects in Azure cloud, investigating and using its
services within both service models. These projects will attempt to
deploy future BallotOnline web applications using a prototype web
page as a simple example and find out to what degree the Azure
environment supports the DevOps processes for web applications.
Project Steps
You will conduct the proof of concept in several steps.
1. In Step 1 you will start exploring the features of the Azure
environment, to get a feel for how to use its services for possible
BallotOnline cloud deployment.
2. You will provision a Virtual Machine (VM) in Azure and configure
it with the web services needed.
3. You will create the machine image off your VM, and configure the
scale set along with load balancer for your VMs, using IaaS Azure
services.
4. You will also create Azure Webb App service – a PaaS offering
supporting the automatic and continuous deployment of web
apps.
You will prepare lab reports documenting your efforts in each of these
steps.
In the last step of the project, you will prepare and submit the final
report to BallotOnline management to document your Azure
explorations.
The project will take about four weeks to complete. Check the Project 3
FAQ thread in the discussion area for any last-minute updates or
clarifications about the project. Click on Step 1 to get started.
In Step 1 you will start exploring the features of the Azure
environment, to get a feel for how to use its services for possible
BallotOnline cloud deployment.
In previous projects, you have investigated and reported on several
aspects of cloud technology crucial to BallotOnline’s cloud migration.
To make a final determination, you have been asked to build a proof of
concept for migrating the company’s website to Amazon Web Services
(AWS) cloud.
Proof of Concept Steps
You will conduct the proof of concept in several steps.
5. You will build an AWS migration environment and configure the
web services needed.
6. You will test the migration environment.
7. You will prepare a cloud monitoring dashboard.
8. You will cause site outages and investigate the results on the
monitoring dashboard.
Take Action
Follow these steps to access the discussion:
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Click My Tools in the top navigation bar.
Click Discussions.
Select the relevant discussion.
Once in the discussion, you can Start a New Thread, as well as respond
to threads others have created. Use the discussion to develop
awareness, share your thoughts, ask questions, and reflect. Remember
that everyone brings a valuable and unique perspective, and treat
everyone with respect.
Take Note
Getting Help:
To obtain technical assistance, fill out the support request form:
(https://umuc.secure.force.com/WebToCase )
Make sure you fill out the fields on the form as shown below.
Case Type: UMGC Virtual Labs Support
Customer Type: Student (Note: faculty should choose Staff/Faculty)
SubType: CLOUD COMPUTING (CCA)
SubType Detail: Pick the category that best fits the issue that you are
experiencing.
Email: The email that you currently use for classroom communications
In the form’s description box, provide information about the issue.
Include details such as steps taken, system responses, and add
screenshots or supporting documents.
Project 1: Explore IaaS and PaaS Services in Microsoft
Azure
Step 1: Explore services and offerings of
Microsoft Azure cloud
You will start your exploration of Microsoft Azure cloud offering by
looking at general overviews of its services and offerings.
Resources
Check out and study the content of following links on Microsoft
website:
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Get to know Azure – for general introduction of Azure
What is the Azure portal? – for overview of Azure web portal
Global Infrastructure – for overview of Azure infrastructure
Browse Azure products for overview of popular Azure products
and services
Student Hub – for learning about Azure student accounts and
educational offerings
Technical documentation – starting point for all Azure technical
documentation
Project 1: Explore IaaS and PaaS Services in Microsoft
Azure
Step 2: BallotOnline PoC in Azure: Provision
and Prepare Web Server Virtual Machine
The BallotOnline management has asked you to build an environment
as a proof of concept on Microsoft Azure cloud to migrate the
BallotOnline web service. This environment will consist of virtual
servers or virtual machines made up of a group of instances that will be
used to serve out the BallotOnline website.
In Step 2 of our Azure exploration project you will deploy a virtual
machine in Azure and equip it with all installs needed to serve the
BallotOnline web page.
You will configure VM with NGIX, a widely used open-source web
server, and install the BallotOnline website data.
The webmaster of the BallotOnline website has provided you with the
files to migrate to Azure. The files are compressed in a zip file and can
be accessed here.
Finally, you will perform a test to ensure that the new web services are
available.
After the basic infrastructure is provisioned, in the next project step
you will configure your deployment to provide its web services in an
auto-scaled and load-balanced environment.
Take Action
Complete the Provision and Prepare Web Server VM lab following
the lab guide.
As you build out this environment, you will capture your progress with
screenshots as indicated in the lab instructions.
Lab results should include the following items:
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Screenshots of your progress in completing the labs (refer to lab
instructions)
URL to your test migration website
Brief summary of your progress in completing the lab
Project 1: Explore IaaS and PaaS Services in Microsoft
Azure
Step 3: BallotOnline PoC in Azure: Create
Azure VM Scale Set with Load Balancer
In the previous step, you provisioned an Azure VM and configured it to
support BallotOnline’s website.
Now, you will create a Virtual Machine image based on your server, and
use it to create and configure Azure Scale Set – a service allowing for
auto-scaling multiple VMs based on a machine image. While
provisioning your scale set, you will automatically associate it with a
load balancer, to distribute website requests among VMs in the scale
set.
As in the previous step, you will use the Azure web portal to provision
and configure your resources. Manual creation of these resources
illustrates the PaaS-level services in Microsoft Azure cloud.
Take Action
Complete the Deploy Scale Set and Load Balancer lab by following
the lab guide.
As you perform your test, you will capture your progress with
screenshots as indicated in the lab instructions.
Lab results should include the following items:
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Screenshots of your progress in completing the labs (refer to lab
instructions)
Demonstration of accessing the BallotOnline web page via the
scale set URL.
Brief summary of your progress in completing the lab
Project 1: Explore IaaS and PaaS Services in Microsoft
Azure
Step 4: BallotOnline PoC in Azure: Deploy
Azure PaaS Web Application
In the previous step, you implemented the BallotOnline PoC
deployment using IaaS service set of Azure.
In this step, you will explore and use the PaaS-level Azure service
– Azure Web App Service.
It enables you, among other things, to build and host web apps in the
programming language of your choice without managing infrastructure.
You will also use Azure CLI to provision your Web app and associated
resources.
Take Action
Complete the BallotOnline PoC in Azure: Create Azure PaaS Web
Application lab by following the lab guide.
As you perform your test, you will capture your progress with
screenshots as indicated in the lab instructions.
Lab results should include the following items:
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Screenshots of your progress in completing the labs (refer to lab
instructions)
Demonstration of accessing the BallotOnline web page via the
scale set URL
Brief summary of your progress in completing the lab
Project 1: Explore IaaS and PaaS Services in Microsoft
Azure
Step 5: Write Explore Microsoft Azure Final
Technical Report
In the previous project steps, you explored and used Azure IaaS and
PaaS services to migration of BallotOnline’s web services to Azure.
Now, you will document the lessons learned during the buildout of the
Azure environments and your test migration in your final report
to BallotOnline management.
Here are some areas to consider:
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What challenges did you encounter while building out the Azure
environment?
Did you encounter any errors while building out the Azure
environment? If so, elaborate.
Did you encounter any issues while testing the migration? If so,
elaborate.
Compile a final report for management that includes an executive
summary, all lab reports, and lessons learned, and a summary of the
lessons learned from the project.
The final document should be between 12 and 15 pages, including the
code and screenshots from the workshops you completed.
Use the Explore Azure Final Report template to submit your work to
the assignment dropbox below.
Project 1 – Explore Microsoft Azure Final Report Template
Executive Summary (