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Project 2: Explore Automation Services and Advanced
Features in the Cloud
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You recently developed BallotOnline’s cloud migration plan,
programmatic cloud configuration and deployment, and performed data
migration to the cloud. You have also conducted postmigration
activities to ensure a successful data migration. Now, in this project,
you will explore cloud automation services and other advanced
features.
Your supervisor, Sophia, the vice president of Information Technology
(IT), says that you need to research, configure, and deploy the following
aspects of BallotOnline’s new cloud infrastructure, using the cloud
automation and other advances cloud services:
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Compute
Databases
Advanced data protection
comprehensive service catalog with advanced features
As the principal cloud architect for BallotOnline, you are grateful that
your previous work has been validated by the executive board, and
you’re eager to show Sophia and the board members a comprehensive
cloud orchestration and automation software solution for the
organization. Such a solution will provide cost savings for the
organization. You will also compile and consolidate your activities in a
Cloud Automation and Advanced Features technical report.
In thinking about the steps needed to put together the Cloud
Automation and Advanced Features solution, you will use the
knowledge and experience that you have acquired during your cloud
testing and planning activities.
If the solution is set up the right way, you and your team will be able to
assess some important components, including orchestration framework,
how to automate operations, and any related application programming
interface (API) integration. You are beginning to see that putting forth a
successful Cloud Automation and Advanced Features solution will help
with implementation of advanced features as well as any additional
components required for efficient operations in the cloud.
All of those components will be included in a Cloud Automation and
Advanced Features Report. The executive board will evaluate your
report based on the degree to which you can apply industry best
practices and standards to meet the business needs of BallotOnline.
You know that taking full advantage of automation and advanced
features will help BallotOnline with scalability and cost efficiency.
Those enhanced features will increase security, reduce risk, and
effectively manage cloud infrastructure.
Check the Project 2: FAQ thread in the discussion area for any updates
or clarifications about the project.
There are 7 steps in this project, which will take about three weeks to
complete. Click Step 1 to get started.
Project 2: Explore Automation Services and Advanced
Features in the Cloud
Step 1: Review CloudFormation
Previously, you used existing CloudFormation templates to define your
cloud environment.
Now, you will design your own templates to automate seven elements
of BallotOnline’s cloud environment to speed up the deployment
process, limit or eliminate any human errors, and reduce time to
deployment.
Take Action
Learn How to Create Templates with CloudFormation Designer
Throughout this project, you will be generating templates to model and
provision a cloud environment.
Before moving to the next step, review the following activities and
AWS information to learn how to use CloudFormation Designer:
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Introduction to AWS CloudFormation Designer
Working With Templates
Customizing Templates
AWS CloudFormation Designer Interface Overview
As you create your orchestration and automation templates throughout
this project, make sure you save the template from each step to be
used in the final Cloud Orchestration and Automation Report.
In the next step, you will deploy compute functions in the cloud for
BallotOnline’s data.
Project 2: Explore Automation Services and Advanced
Features in the Cloud
Step 2: Deploy Compute in the Cloud
Review
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Overview of Big Data
As an online voting company, BallotOnline’s operations team manages
large amounts of electronic data. So, the first process you will automate
is the deployment of an elastic High-Performance Computing (HPC)
Cluster to improve the management and analysis of this data.
Create a Compute Template
Deploying an Elastic HPC Cluster explains how to install and deploy
CfnCluster, configure the environment, run a simple parallel
“mpi_hello_world” job, and shut down the cluster. Use this guide to help
understand the process to deploy this service. You can then either use
CloudFormation Designer to generate the appropriate template using
the associated widget, or you can find the appropriate code on your
own.
The template should perform these tasks automatically:
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Set Up Prerequisites
Install a Cluster
Configure and Launch the Cluster
Submit and Run a Simple Parallel MPI Job (you can use the sample
job provided in the document above)
Create an EBS Volume Snapshot for Cluster Reusability
After you have created and tested the template, save it for later use in
the final Cloud Orchestration and Automation Report. Then, move to
the next step, where you will deploy databases. Don’t forget to clean up
your cluster to avoid extra charges from AWS.
Project 2: Explore Automation Services and Advanced
Features in the Cloud
Step 3: Deploy Databases in the Cloud
In this step, you will create a CloudFormation template to automate the
setup, operations, and scaling of BallotOnline’s data warehouse to help
stakeholders in management, accounting and finance, operations,
capacity management, and IT understand trends, make forecasts, and
run reports.
Create a Template to Deploy a Data Warehouse
The Amazon Redshift Getting Started Guide guides you through the
process of setting up a data warehouse. Use this guide to help
understand the process to deploy this service. You can then either use
CloudFormation Designer to generate the appropriate template using
the associated widget, or you can find the appropriate code on your
own.
The template should perform these tasks automatically:
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Set Up Prerequisites
Create an IAM Role
Launch an Amazon Redshift Cluster
Authorize Access to the Cluster
Connect to the Cluster
Load Data from Amazon S3
After you have created and tested the template, save the template to
be used in the final Cloud Automation and Orchestration Report. Then,
move to the next step, where you will deploy tools for development
tasks. Don’t forget to clean up your environment to avoid extra charges
from AWS.
Project 2: Explore Automation Services and Advanced
Features in the Cloud
Step 4: Research Advanced Data Protection
Solutions in the Cloud
Protection from data loss is one of BallotOnline’s top priorities. Because
native cloud offerings lack the advanced data protection capabilities
BallotOnline is seeking, you will have to deploy advanced data
protection solutions in the cloud to maintain data compliance
requirements and meet all the service-level agreements for the business
units.
Review
Data Loss Prevention
Like most services in the cloud, there are many data protection
solutions to choose from. You’ve narrowed it to two solutions. Before
moving on to the next step, be sure you understand the features, pros,
and cons of each:
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What Is AWS DataSync?
CloudEndure Disaster Recovery
Engage in an online conversation with your colleagues to discuss
advanced data protection solutions in the discussion Advanced Data
Protection Solutions. Then move on to the next step to deploy the first
solution in the cloud.
Project 2: Explore Automation Services and Advanced
Features in the Cloud
Step 5: Deploy an Advanced Data
Protection Solution in the Cloud
Headline: Nirvanix Cloud Services Shutting Down
In September 2013, Nirvanix, a cloud storage services provider,
announced that it was shutting down operations and notified customers
that they had two weeks to transfer all their data off the service. The
company filed for bankruptcy afterward. There was fear that there
would not be enough time for clients to retrieve all their data. While
there was no public announcement about data loss, industry insiders
speculated that some companies elected to delete secondary data
copies that were housed in Nirvanix (Silverton Consulting, 2014).
There is a potential for data loss if a cloud vendor goes out of business.
Lost data can lead to legal and regulatory penalties and damage to your
company’s reputation.
Lessons Learned
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Take precautions to safeguard your data from potential loss.
Do your homework on the reputation, financial stability, and
reliability of cloud vendors.
References
Silverton Consulting. (2014). Lessons from the rapid closure of Nirvanix.
https://www.fujifilmusa.com/products/tape_data_storage/case_studies
/pdf/SCI-Fujifilm1311-NirvanixLessonsv040B.pdf&sa=D&ust=1527260396945000&usg=AFQjCNHHi0NCK4B
mdkUeu7PghmRhf7oKtw
By deploying a backup solution to provide advanced data protection to
business units that use Office365 SaaS email, BallotOnline will ensure
that, in the event of vendor shutdown or other problems, the company
will not lose the data in the cloud.
While both services you reviewed in Step 1 have their merits, since you
already have AWS services in the service catalog and they have been
working well for BallotOnline so far, you can now to move ahead
with protecting your data in S3 from ransomware threats.
Take Action
Protect your Data from Ransomware
In this workshop, you will learn how to use the protective, detective
and monitoring controls in AWS to protect your data in S3 from
ransomware threats. You’ll understand your encryption options with
KMS and the role of KMS policies. You’ll set up GuardDuty for S3 and IAM
Access Analyzer and learn to read and respond to findings. And finally,
you’ll set up a tiered storage approach to backup and recovery and learn
to use S3 Object Lock, versioning, replication, and MFA delete to provide
immutable storage and protect against accidental or malicious deletion.
Take screenshots as you work for later use in the Advanced Cloud
Features Runbook.
After you have completed the workshop, move on to the next step to
look at advanced data security solutions.
Project 2: Explore Automation Services and Advanced
Features in the Cloud
Step 6: Deploy a Comprehensive Service
Catalog
In this step, you will use your knowledge of cloud service catalogs to
deploy a new service catalog and enhance it with advanced features.
This fresh build will give BallotOnline a comprehensive catalog with
advanced offerings.
Growing companies like BallotOnline need a service catalog to
consolidate all their service offerings in a centralized location to help
end users request available services. Advanced features will enable end
users to request customized services from additional sources, including
the AWS Marketplace.
Take Action
Deploy the Service Catalog and Prerequisites
Complete AWS Service Catalog Workshop to learn how to use AWS
Service Catalog to build and develop your workloads and standardized
patterns on AWS.
This workshop demonstrates how to work with
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infrastructure and security administrators,
developers and builders, and
information technology service management (ITSM)
administrators.
Take screenshots as you work for later use in the Advanced Cloud
Features Runbook.
After you have deployed the comprehensive service catalog, you will
move on to the final step, where you will compile and create a runbook
detailing the operations of the advanced cloud features.
Project 2: Explore Automation Services and Advanced
Features in the Cloud
Step 7: Write the Final Advanced Cloud
Features Report
At this point, you should have a good understanding of cloud
automation and advanced features strategy and how it differs from
traditional IT data center deployment practices. You are ready to
compile the final Cloud Automation and Advanced Features Report for
Sophia to present for approval at the executive meeting. Upon
approval, this document will be used by the operations team to
automate day-to-day cloud deployment tasks and implement advanced
features.
The final document should be between 12 and 14 pages, including the
code and screenshots from the workshops you completed. Use
the Cloud Automation and Advanced Features Report Template to put
together the Cloud Automation and Advanced Features Report, and
submit it via Assignments, under My Tools.
Check Your Evaluation Criteria
Before you submit your assignment, review the competencies below,
which your instructor will use to evaluate your work. A good practice
would be to use each competency as a self-check to confirm you have
incorporated all of them. To view the complete grading rubric, click My
Tools, select Assignments from the drop-down menu, and then click the
project title.
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10.1: Develop and implement cloud metering system.
10.5: Configure service catalog software to support various user’s
needs.
11.1: Perform system auditing.
11.2: Monitor cloud services charges from vendors and make
adjustments to stay within budget.
11.4: Monitor system performance.
11.5: Perform system maintenance.
11.6: Troubleshoot system problems.
11.7: Develop disaster recovery/business continuity plans.