Application of the Cloud Model: Risks and

Benefits

Anudeep Metuku
Centennial High School
W.R. GRACE
Mentor- Dennis McKenzie
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Anudeep Metuku

Mrs. Bagley P. 6

Intern/Mentor - G/T

16 Jan 2018

Application of the Cloud Model: Risks and Benefits

New technologies breed their deployment in business settings to improve efficiency.

These deployments require enormous sums of money, careful administering, and specialization.

The cloud model is such a design, being ever more common, for efficient data management that

demonstrates these disadvantages. On the surface, the costs and risks of a migration are

discouraging, but most companies are, in fact, migrating, the reason for which lies in long term

savings in the long term and IT departments being able to easily manage a single system rather

than individual components of an essentially fragmented network. I observed this in my

internship for the IT department of WR GRACE in Columbia, Maryland by updating server

names as my project for the end of the company’s migration. Along with the benefits for the

cloud, there do come new security risks such as the accentuated probability of vulnerabilities in a

complex on-premise and cloud infrastructure. However, the cloud’s characteristic holistic nature

and choosing a proper suite and model like Microsoft, ultimately, can greatly reduce these risks.

The cloud model benefits enterprises by optimizing management, reducing infrastructure

overhead, through a complex architecture that should be properly administered during

and after a migration.

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The cloud can refer to any concept in a broad range of services, but there are three core

models: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a

Service (SaaS). IaaS refers to the physical infrastructure of a cloud service, and PaaS allows for

clients of a service to operate on a platform while the service provider manages the physical

infrastructure that includes server management, setting up of an operating system, and

maintaining server hardware. SaaS, the more abstract idea, is essentially enterprises purchasing

specific software for business operation (Barabas). For GRACE, which uses the business

oriented Microsoft suite of products, it is important to consider the foundation ideas of IaaS in

evaluating the benefits of its migration. Microsoft has indisputably the most effective suite of

cloud business applications such as OneNote, Sharepoint, Skype for Business, and other Office

365 (O365) components that a variety of functions require. For example, employees store and

share information through OneNote and use Skype for meetings (Bruzzese). A hybrid cloud

architecture can achieve these functions while retaining some of the information for on-premise

use for a business. GRACE, among almost all companies, demonstrates this characteristic as

some sensitive information is better suited to work with on site, but the breakthrough of

virtualization allows working with some information such as of the server management off-site

(EdTech Staff). Relying on public clouds, businesses can also temporarily use public cloud

resources when their own infrastructure does not suffice during peak demand hours

(“Data-Center”). Using the VCenter virtual server software, I updated all the GRACE Columbia

servers proper identifiable names on WhatsUp Gold, a network monitoring software. VCenter

renders easy access to the servers of all functions in the different branches in the data center,

consisting of servers for production and development, which have subclasses within them that
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distinguish the job of each server. Optimal work for projects requires the proper bandwidth lack

of latency at each level, but logging into separate virtual computers, I pass several firewalls and

reduce security risks (Ferrill). This virtualization of servers is ultimately the breakthrough that

allows efficient management of an entire network as seen in the 2010 Amazon virus, in which a

single vulnerable link risked the integrity of the entire domain (Mosca and Yanpin).

Grace has a data center at Columbia and others internationally including in Germany and

Philippines. The Columbia data center houses thousands of servers that store information for

various files and applications in a network. The cloud tools like Skype and OneNote, in addition

to emails, require large amounts of data to be stored and used. Though Microsoft is not the

leading owner of fiber networks, which Google and Amazon are, it has an effective amount of

fibers that allow for the necessary speeds of a business environment. The international servers

not only expand cloud service deployment for international companies like GRACE, but are

essential to backup as much information as possible that is stored in data centers, which also

applies to hybrid models, and Microsoft is among the best owners of data centers for optimal

redundancy. A hybrid cloud model can coexist with an optimally realized redundancy as the

confidential data unused by most applications would not be replicated, which allows data centers

to house more servers. Microsoft Azure is the cloud service that enables syncing information

across data centers. Generally, replication occurs across three data centers (“Data Replication

and Synchronization Guidance”). Applications are not entirely replicated but are usually stored

in subsets in various data centers in either an untimely manner using master-master replication,

in which replicated data does not change consistently with original changes, or a

master-subordinate replication, in which only the main data copy changes while the others do
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not. The latter method is preferable in organizations like GRACE because with less data

modifications and used space or energy there will be less problems. However, this fault tolerance

is essentially a background activity rather than a manually controlled one. Therefore, when using

data center software like VCenter, it is unnecessary to monitor the nature of the information like

emails or files that are stored across several data centers, and I did not need to customize each

server for its replicas.

A feature of new softwares is frequent patching. Complex cloud models see ever more

problems. At GRACE this issue can be some employees not accessing certain types of their

emails in their online mailboxes among other exceptions that can compose approximately 5% of

the network, so a miniscule amount of error is expected in any cloud model. Contradictorily, an

increasing patching frequency is bound to result in more errors and vulnerability, so it is

important to administer and monitor server networks with teams on softwares like VCenter.

Being able to manage a network as a single object rather than separate components also reduces

costs for defenses. Viruses and attacks are another threat potentially affecting businesses.

Microsoft, however, being a large owner of fibers and data centers, massively reduces its risk of

viruses. Another powerful characteristic is that Microsoft can “leverage” its global presence as it

is the cloud model for nearly 80% of Fortune 500 companies, which shape the economy and

arguably control available products for everyday consumers, a group in which attackers fall

under (“By the Numbers”). Like patches, Single Sign-On credentials (SSO) is double-edged as it

benefits ease of use but does not enable superior security. SSO makes accessing accounts on

cloud applications on Microsoft and other suites efficient, and administrators can monitor

accounts for businesses with equal ease (“Threat Management”). However, when an attacker
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does attain access to that SSO, it will be easy to access all associated accounts. Still, an added

defense comes from the integrity of all applications in the holistically similar Microsoft cloud

suit having similar security as well.

The cloud computing model is unequivocally a paramount advance in data storage.

However, as with any technology, there come risks along for cloud computing with the

advantages that make an array of tasks easy to accomplish, especially for security components.

There are indisputably beneficial long term savings for companies that migrate. Cloud services

allow managing of a network to be a uniform and holistic task rather than needing to manage

individual components like the infrastructure, platforms, and softwares individually.

Additionally, the overall cloud architecture is subject to that organization’s own requirements

whereas in the on-premise model, the general components of the network could, at best, be

adjusted piece by piece. Regarding softwares, the cloud allows for massive and complex

integrations of several softwares in the form of tool suites like Microsoft’s and server

virtualization software like VCenter that works in sync with network monitoring softwares like

WhatsUp Gold which I was able to seamlessly utilize to update GRACE’s Columbia servers.

Post-migration, I will continue to examine and evaluate more components of the cloud

infrastructure to fully understand and inform how the cloud benefits companies like GRACE. I

observed that softwares can individually upgrade over time, which foster development and

additional integration of other softwares in the larger cloud network. Such developments

influence more business perspectives to consider both cloud computing and business behavior to

fully understand the cloud’s significance. GRACE is but single company utilizing the cloud,

although its cloud architecture demonstrates a widespread complexity that the integration of
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cloud services and their management render easy to use, making the vital information technology

division of an international company appropriately useful to manage data.

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Works Cited

Barabas, Javier. “An IBM perspective: IaaS vs. PaaS vs. SaaS.” ​IBM​. Accessed 10 Jan. 2018.

Bruzzese, Peter. “Skype for Business Is Starting to Get Good.” ​InfoWorld​, 20 Jan. 2017.

Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.

“By the Numbers.” ​Microsoft​. Accessed 11 Jan. 2018.

“Data-Center.” ​Loyal IT​, Big Marlin Group. Accessed 10 Jan. 2018.

“Data Replication and Synchronization Guidance.” ​Microsoft​. Accessed 9 Jan. 2018.

EdTech Staff. “What’s the Difference Between Public, Private and Hybrid Clouds?” ​EdTech​, 13

Nov. 2013. Accessed 9 Jan. 2018.

Ferrill, Paul. “Ipswitch WhatsUp Gold.” ​PC Mag​, 13 Apr. 2016. Accessed 10 Dec. 2017.

Mosca, Patrick, and Yanpin Zhang. “Cloud Security: Services, Risks, and a Case Study on

Amazon Cloud Services.” ​SciRes​, Dec. 2014. ​Scientific Research​. Accessed 10 Dec.

2017.

“Threat Management.” ​Microsoft​. Accessed 10 Jan. 2018.