Cloud devops services and applications continue to increase at an exponential rate. With that, the need for cloud soutions for devops has also emerged. Cloud operations, otherwise known as CloudOps, is an established industry standard now that aims to extract maximum value out of cloud solutions. CloudOps have a widespread impact because cloud application and data management in the cloud have special requirements, objectives, tools, and technologies. Cloud operations operate under one solid principle and goal, which is to maximize uptime by completely getting rid of service outages to ensure seamless working and functions.
What is CloudOps?
CloudOps refers to managing delivery, business continuity, tuning, operation optimization, and performance of workloads and IT solutions that run in a cloud environment. These could be in multi, hybrid, within the data center, or at the edge. This practice codifies major processes for cloud-based processes similar to DevOps, which codifies application development processes.
Difference between CloudOps and DevOps
In practice, CloudOps is not exactly the same as DevOps rather, it is an extension of the latter. It complements DevOps by putting cloud computing tools into practice instead of on-site servers. CloudOps also does not take the route of continuous operations implemented by DevOps in the cloud server. Both processes have similar goals of increasing uptime levels and quality enhancement with good customer experience. They have a mutual goal of a successful digital transformation strategy.
Objectives of CloudOps
The following are the fundamental objectives of cloud operations:
- Cloud operations keep the cloud services intact, up and about, and running, and maintain the cloud infrastructure at the same time.
- It aims to optimize the performance and capacity of cloud services by keeping the cloud budget within limits and ensuring nothing goes wasted, even if it means restraining the resources for optimal consumption. It also keeps a tab on operational costs and overheads.
- CloudOps has to fulfill SLAs (service-level agreements).
- They have to manage compliance protocols along with configurations.
- CloudOps is responsible for proper and adequate recovery and risk mitigation measures before anything unprecedented happens.
Pros and cons of CloudOps
We will first see what are the prominent benefits of CloudOps:
- CloudOps are cost-effective means of handling and managing cloud services
- This is an easier and more feasible option for managing cloud services as compared to traditional approaches.
- Cloud solutions for devops operations require fewer resources and costs than conventional approaches.
- It gets rid of manual processes and enables automation in many steps.
- CloudOps offers flexibility and scalability. With the help of cloud operation, businesses can scale in and out and automatically provision servers.
- It enables a cloud to abstract an infrastructure out of an application.
Now we shall discuss the downside of CloudOps:
- With CloudOps, the risks of overspending and expenditure on overprovisioned servers increase.
- CloudOps offers limited governance abilities.
- Security risks increase with public cloud providers and services.
Best CloudOps Practices
CloudOps is a relatively new concept. Therefore, practices are still not solidified and laid out. These practices are rather proactive in nature as opposed to reactive because of their novel and unique nature. CloudOps primarily focus on the availability and reliability of cloud processes and workflows. In order to make the most out of CloudOps and mitigate cloud-related risks, businesses should work around these practices.
Follow a Structured Deployment Plan
Businesses should follow an organized deployment plan instead of randomly rolling out cloud apps and systems updates. The deployment plan should have a proper cloud architecture, network, business needs, and operations workflow.
Automate major Cloud Processes
Automate custom cloud processes and operations to work with minimal human intervention and error margin. Automation tends to relax workload and gives sufficient time for handling business-critical operations.
Build Redundancy
Redundancy increases the availability of the cloud apps in case there ever is a service disruption. Businesses should focus on building redundancy through CloudOps by duplication of critical features and parts into multi-layered infrastructure. It also reduces reliance on a single server and application.
There are many practical CloudOps practices and tips that can increase the availability of DevOps Consulting Services and reduce the risks. Some of these include setting resource limits based on the system needs and monitoring cloud costs for efficient cloud architecture. Build a strong CloudOps network to support your cloud solutions for devops and apps.