Digest: All about working with IaaS and examples of practical cases of IT-GRAD clients

    Today we decided to collect the latest materials from our IaaS blog, in which we talk not only about our activities as a cloud provider, but also do not forget about the practical side of the issue and share interesting examples from working with clients, write about security technologies and talk Cloud computing trends.

    / Pexels / Floriane Vita / CC0

    Cloud rental


    Rent a virtual server or rent a virtual data center?
    We tell you what the concept of a virtual server includes, what the client rents and what he can do with it, which is a classification of servers by hypervisor, operating system and service format. For which companies a virtual server is suitable and how to use it to minimize costs, increase efficiency, ensure security and reduce downtime. And also compare the server with a virtual data center for their advantages and specific tasks.

    Virtual rental capacities
    What do virtual capacities and Lego constructor have in common? In the article we will tell not only about the essence of the service, but also about the components of which it consists. We’ll talk in detail about how the work of the virtual processor is organized, what types of processors are allocated, whether it is possible to use several cores, in which cases it is impractical, and how to evaluate processor performance. In addition, we will discuss the RAM and find out what parameters should be paid attention to. And a little about hard drives: how to choose the right configuration and type of drive.

    Cloud server rental
    We talk about the classification of cloud servers, about why you shouldn’t focus only on cost when choosing, about the features of virtualization at the hardware level and at the OS level, about brands of hypervisors, what you need to know about independent or automatic installation of the OS. From the article you will learn what advantages and limitations VPS / VDS has and how they differ from IaaS, what tasks a cloud server can perform (from 1C to video surveillance), what software can be installed, and also about the existing payment system.

    Virtual data center
    Everything about the virtual data center, from the basics and definitions, to the features of billing, a description of the possibilities of horizontal and vertical scaling with examples of implementation and a description of all the functionality of such data centers. We will briefly talk about the differences between a virtual data center and a physical data center and a virtual server and find out in which situations it is almost impossible to do without virtual data centers, and in which it will be more logical to use the services of physical data centers or virtual servers.

    Cloud solutions for corporate clients
    Providers offer a completely different set of cloud solutions to their customers. But there are several main categories of users. In the article we tell you which solutions are suitable for private clients and small businesses, why they are less interested in security, fault tolerance and backup. We also provide examples of tasks of a large business for which IaaS is used, as well as specific examples of applications and services based on the SaaS model. For convenience, information about the differences in the solutions used by these two groups of customers is graphically presented in a table.

    Cloud migration
    What types of migration are and how to determine which type is right for you, why is an application dependency scheme needed, how will the migration plan help, why can’t you start migration without preliminary tests. We will tell you what steps you need to take to make everything go smoothly, as well as about possible and frequently used migration methods, their features and the algorithm of actions. In addition, in the article you will find the stories of our clients, on the example of which we examined the problems solved by migration.

    Webinar “7 criteria for choosing a cloud service provider. Experience of Kaspersky Lab
    Kaspersky Lab’s service manager Grigory Kornilov shares his company's experience and tells how the mentioned criteria were formed for choosing a provider:


    VMware Cloud Foundation: Simplified Data Center and Hybrid Cloud Deployment
    We’ll look at how to simplify the deployment of a hybrid cloud using the VMware Cloud Foundation platform, why it is ideal for building a software data center, what the solution is and what it includes, and why customers get more freedom. And also a little about the existing implementation scenarios of the VMware Cloud Foundation, which include building a virtual infrastructure, automating IT processes and deploying a VDI infrastructure, and what the client gets in each case.

    Infrastructure as a Service
    Although a lot of articles have already been written about IaaS, we decided to collect in one place materials not only about the service itself, its advantages, comparison with other models, but also talk about how to manage the solution through vCloud Director, about the history of IaaS, which takes its toll the beginning back in the 50s of the last century, and the development path to this day, as well as the prospects, possible expansion and future growth directions.

    More about providers


    Cloud provider
    We find out who the cloud provider is and how it differs from the hosting provider and data center. Which provider provides a wide range of virtual computing resources, and which is limited only to virtual servers? Where will the client be asked to create a virtual server in a few minutes, and where - to manage their virtual infrastructure? Who is more comfortable with billing? And are the services provided by the data center and the cloud provider similar? We answer the questions in the article.

    SAP hosting in Russia
    We talk about the features and advantages of transferring SAP to the cloud, the situation on the Russian market and the difficulties that arise when using foreign hosting due to differences in legislation, technical problems, language barriers, currency exchange rates and the impossibility of full control. As well as options for placing the service, which, although they reflect standard models, the article describes it precisely from the point of view of SAP.

    What to demand from an SAP hosting service provider?
    A detailed guide to the services of SAP providers: what you need to know about the service itself and why it is beneficial for customers. We talk about how to choose a provider, what questions you need to ask all possible applicants, what you need to know about the data center and why it is important, what the provider is responsible for, what is the SAP hosting service, what additional services can vendors provide, what specific solutions the client can be placed in the cloud of the provider and what requirements are imposed on the client itself. And also a few words about technical support, backup and disaster recovery.

    Real cases


    Cloud services: experience using IaaS by Russian companies
    We understand why the Russian companies need a cloud, what problems it can solve, what customers like in cloud services, why they came to this option, what infrastructure requirements the companies had at the beginning of the journey, whether the cloud helped them save money, whether it could simplify the work companies, how IaaS can minimize risks and what are the advantages that development companies provide.

    In addition, in the article, the leaders of various companies shared their experience in using the cloud and compared this experience using their own infrastructure, gave advice on choosing a provider and shared the problems that they had to face.

    How IT Grad has certified the PCI-DSS IaaS cloud. Part 2
    The article tells in detail about how the pentest was conducted, which is a check for compliance with the requirements of the standard. A little about the test itself and its goals, how the preparation took place, which solutions we used to protect against vulnerabilities, and which solutions to analyze all the details are the relying party. Based on the scan results, vulnerabilities of different levels were discovered, which we eliminated. And some tips on preparing for pre-audit: we tell you what the auditor checks and how to properly correct the identified inconsistencies and make small changes in the preparation process.

    The first Russian project with certified IaaS and managed services: RFI Bank uses PCI DSS Compliant Hosting in the IT-GRAD IaaS cloud
    About what tasks can be solved using the PCI DSS Compliant Hosting service and how this service helps customers save not only money, but also time and effort. The scope of certification in our case is not limited to physical location, but also includes the provision of virtual infrastructure (PCI DSS IaaS) and administration (PCI DSS Managed Services), which are fully consistent with the standard. We also indicate the pros and cons of using the cloud when using this service.

    KarOperator Group of Companies uses the IT-GRAD IaaS cloud to implement the NBDA project
    We acquaint readers with the client company, talk about the project to create a national database of cars and its tasks, about the reasons for choosing our company, about the requirements of the NBAD project for cloud infrastructure, data centers and equipment reliability. We also provide comments by the technical director of KarOperator Alexey Vasiliev, who spoke about the beginning of collaboration, the experience of contacting tech support and the idea of ​​online training.

    Security and disaster recovery


    VMware NSX: A New Approach to Health Security
    From the article you will learn about the main causes of problems with safety in medicine, about how multi-level protection of an enterprise is built and provided, on which the chosen model of safety in medical organizations depends. We will also tell you in detail about the VMware NSX solution: which problems the platform aims to eliminate, which is guaranteed in case of a threat, what components the platform consists of, which provide flexible security policies, how to speed up the process of responding to a problem and eliminating a threat.

    Cloud Security Testing, or Security Tips
    We are talking about security problems: when there are risks of data leakage, what other means besides encryption can help protect information, what problems can result from the lack of a high-availability architecture, why the cloud should be protected from both horizontal and vertical spread of viruses. In addition, we find out why customers prefer cloud solutions to on-demand services, how to live and work in the absence of cloud security standards. And a few practical recommendations to help increase cloud security.

    Comparison of four top disaster recovery solutions
    We selected 4 popular DR solutions that cope with the task regardless of the root causes of the problem and for a limited time. In this article, you will learn all about VMware Site Recovery Manager, Zerto Virtual Replication, Veeam Backup, and Altaro VM Backup.

    We consider in detail the features of each solution and their main advantages. We also provide feedback from real users and try to understand what these programs lack, how to make up for the shortcomings allocated by customers, and what could be improved.

    Results and forecasts


    IT forecast 2017: an overview of key technologies that expect significant growth
    In this article, we understand the forecasts for 2017: what problems are IT specialists planning to focus on, how trends can affect business development, what strategies for improving security will be implemented, how customer focus and data storage are related to analytics and what analytical tools will be used by companies, which expects P-, S- and IaaS, why more and more attention is paid to mobile development and virtualization, and what specific solutions IT companies are willing to spend their money on.

    IT GRAD sums up the results of 2016 in the direction of IaaS
    We tell about what happened to us last year: what services we were able to launch, how we help clients comply with the federal law “On the protection of personal data”, what new statuses we were able to get and how this affected the services provided, how the geography expanded, what new equipment we began to use and how, by the end of the year, we became the largest IaaS supplier in Russia.



    PS A couple of our other collections: * aaS-dictionary and DDoS-digest .

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