For many companies looking to improve agility, scalability and maintenance resiliency, cloud modernization has become a top focus area. In conjunction with modernizing their legacy technology portfolios and transitioning to cloud-native architectures, enterprises' success will also depend on both their decision to adopt a cloud computing model and how they design, set up and manage their IT infrastructure. At Ancrew Global Services, we support organisations in their attempt to achieve cloud modernization through using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to provide consistency, security and support for the rapid scaling of cloud-based environments within an organisation.
By applying the principles of software engineering to the management of cloud resources, Infrastructure as a Code has transformed how organisations manage their infrastructure. Modern cloud operating models must incorporate Infrastructure as a Code principles in order to achieve the digital transformation goals.
The traditional model for provisioning infrastructure still requires many manual configurations, the use of many utilities that are reliant on different environment conditions, and as such, have become inefficient and risk prone. Each of these operational inefficiencies and operational risk factors have a direct negative impact on modernizing operations, such as:
· Longer time to provision and release a product or service,
· Differences in environment between development and production environments,
· Configuration drift that can lead to outages and exposure of sensitive information,
· Limited visibility and traceability into the configuration changes made to your infrastructure.
These inefficiencies create obstacles to innovation and create increased operational expenses for organizations that are attempting to modernize on a larger scale.
Infrastructure as Code (Traditionally defines and manages cloud infrastructure by defining/providing a declarative or programmatic (Template) definition for a cloud resource (compute, network, storage, security, etc) through the use of reusable modular templates and the usage of version control system to maintain and audit the templates.
A key benefit of IaC as an integral component of a cloud modernization strategy is an organization's ability to:
· Deploy a standardised method of creating cloud infrastructures consistently across regions/locations/accounts
· Reduce risk of creating a manual error during cloud provisioning
· Create a systematic approach to compliance, Governance and security through automation and technology-enabled design.
· Support today's cloud-based enterprise architecture including microservices, containers and managed cloud services.
Ancrew Global Services builds Infrastructure as Code solutions to ensure the Automation and design of cloud Infrastructure directly connect and align to the goals and objectives of the organisation as well as the technical characteristics of a cloud infrastructure.
1. Speed of Application Delivery
By implementing Infrastructure as Code, companies can create a Cloud Environment in a matter of minutes, rather than weeks, allowing their development teams to quickly create new Applications and maintain a consistent level of Quality in the operation of those Applications.
2. Architecture is Easily Scalable and Repeatable
Through Infrastructure as Code, businesses have the ability to easily re-use their infrastructure Blueprint – significantly reducing the effort required to scale up a Cloud Environment.
3. Security and Compliance are Built into the Infrastructure Code
When Security Policies, Identity Controls, Network Segmentation, and Encryption Methods are constructed within the Infrastructure Code, each Cloud Environment will be created with automatic Compliance.
4. Improved Resiliency and Disaster Recovery
Since Infrastructure is Versioned and Can Be Recreated, businesses can quickly restore their Cloud Environments using the last Version of Code in the event of a Cloud Outage, improving their ability to Keep the Business Up and Running.
Infrastructure as Code is a fundamental support for DevOps and Cloud-Native Organizational Change by allowing Development & Operations Teams to Use Automation for Collaboration as Opposed to Manual Processes.
· Using CI/CD Pipelines to Automate Infrastructure Provisioning
· Eliminating the Opportunity for Configuration Drift with Immutable Infrastructure
· Providing a Self-Service Provisioning Process and Governance Controls
· Integrating Seamlessly with Container & Microservices Environments.
Through IaC, Ancrew Global Services assists Organizations in Transitioning to More Highly-Productive DevOps Operating Models.
During modernization, optimizing cloud costs represents a significant challenge. However, Infrastructure as Code enhances financial governance by providing greater predictability and transparency surrounding the provisioned infrastructure resources.
· Greater visibility into the provisioned resources
· Proactive identification of overallocated and/or wasteful environments
· Automated scaling up and down as well as taking down environments
· Enforcing policies for controlling the resources used
This combination provides for an improved performance-to-cost ratio when modernizing in the Cloud.
Ancrew Global Services is a cloud services and consulting company that offers a complete approach to Cloud Modernization Services through Infrastructure as a Code.
As part of our Cloud Modernization Services, we provide:
· Comprehensive Cloud Modernization Strategy/Architecture service.
· Implementation and standardization of Infrastructure as a Code.
· Automated cloud migration and cloud modernizations.
· Enablement of DevOps and CI/CD pipeline integration.
· Ongoing cloud operations and Management Services.
Our focus is on building secure, scalable, innovative and continuously evolving cloud environments for our clients.
A successful transition to the cloud does not happen overnight. Rather, there are several steps being taken throughout the cloud migration process, one of those steps is using Infrastructure as Code (IAC). IAC offers automation, governance, scalability and provides an opportunity to confidently rely on your technology.
At Ancrew Global Services we support businesses by using IAC to convert their current systems into codes within the cloud. By utilizing IAC, you will be able to create faster innovations, maintain a secure system of security, and build a resilient system for your organisation to operate on the cloud.