Cloud Computing: How to Solve Challenges and Avoid Typical Mistakes Using Amazon Web Services

Cloud Computing: How to
Solve Challenges and Avoid
Typical Mistakes Using
Amazon Web Services
Handbook and Tips

Abstract:
Thousands of companies worldwide engage in cloud computing to get financial and technical benefits.
Many succeed, yet many more cannot help making mistakes that hinder their efficiency. This white paper
will explain how you can win with cloud computing and what challenges you need to overcome. It will also
show how to avoid the most common mistakes made by companies using Amazon Web Services, the most
popular cloud computing offerings.

By Matthew Brown and Sergey Sundukovskiy

Cloud Computing: How to Solve Challenges and Avoid
Typical Mistakes Using Amazon Web Services

Contents
Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................3
Cloud Computing is a New Name for an Old Good Thing .............................................................3
Four Common Challenges of Cloud Computing ............................................................................4
Different standards ............................................................................................................................ 4
Caring about security ......................................................................................................................... 5
Application performance..................................................................................................................... 5
Interaction between private and public clouds ..................................................................................... 6
Amazon Web Services: Opportunities in the Cloud ......................................................................6
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) .................................................................................................. 6
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) ................................................................................................. 7
Amazon SimpleDB ............................................................................................................................. 7
Amazon Web Services: Challenges and Mistakes to Avoid ..........................................................8
Scalability does not mean auto-scaling ................................................................................................ 8
Disregarding safety of data ................................................................................................................ 8
Non-standard URLs and indexing ........................................................................................................ 8
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................9
About the Authors ........................................................................................................................9

2


Executive Summary
According to a recent study by Microsoft, about 30% of
companies plan to integrate cloud computing into their
infrastructures within the next two years. The tendency is not Photo hosting service
hard to explain. Another survey by Avanade, a global IT SmugMug saved
consultancy, revealed that four out of five IT managers and $1,000,000 in 7
executives believe their existing internal IT systems are too
expensive. In the current economic situation, their costs are months with cloud
increasing even more. computing.

What makes so many companies consider migrating to the cloud
is that cloud computing, in addition to its flexibility and scalability,
enables companies to save dramatically. Photo hosting service SmugMug claims to have economized
$1,000,000 in just seven months after engaging in the cloud. Thousands of companies have followed
SmugMug's example and experienced the same or even higher success.

The increasing demand has led to a growing number of related Web service providers, as well. Without a
doubt, Amazon Web Services become the most popular one—because of the richest functionality and
highest safety offered.

When rushing into the cloud, many IT executives forget about the new challenges, which makes it harder
for them to get all the benefits of cloud computing. Our experience in the cloud has helped us figure out
the most common challenges companies face and the mistakes they frequently make. This handbook is
here to assist you in solving these issues.

Cloud Computing is a New Name for an Old Good
Thing
Cloud computing is the evolution of three popular IT business trends: infrastructure as a service (IaaS),
platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). The main features of cloud computing
include the following:

It is run on the Web (“in the cloud”).
It makes use of a shared infrastructure—sometimes very complex—known as “the cloud,”
since it is essentially invisible or untouchable to end-users.
It is commonly offered as an on-demand service, meaning that customers pay only for
their usage of the service, not the service itself, and delegate all maintenance issues to
the cloud provider.
It offers scalable dynamic resources depending on the current application’s requirements.
There is no need to allocate much memory for a simple application, and, on the other
hand, any additional resources can be drawn in any time for a complex dynamic
application.
Usage of cloud computing can be measured and billed exactly for the amount used. This is
probably the most adequate method considering the scalability of resources and variable
usage intensity. You do not need to overpay!

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Representing a new approach to information services delivery, cloud computing is beneficial in a variety of
ways, including the following:

Cloud computing offers flexibility, making it possible to access information from
anywhere. The information is not stored on a local server; it is stored on the Web (“in the
cloud”).
Cloud computing is easy to implement; getting up and running takes much less time than
ever before.
Cloud computing is cost-effective, as you pay for the service incrementally—the price
depends only on your usage!
With cloud computing, there is no need to worry about keeping your software up-to-date,
or constantly upgrading your hardware; everything is done by the cloud provider for free.
Cloud computing is safe. Service providers back up their data, so even if one or two
servers crash, this does not result in loss of data.
Disaster recovery costs with cloud computing are also
about half as costly by virtue of cost-effective
virtualization. 16% of American
companies plan to
These and other considerations explain the 30 percent increase migrate to the cloud
that, according to the RSA, cloud computing enterprise usage has within the next 12
seen recently. A survey of American companies by the RSA has
also revealed that 16% of businesses plan to migrate to the cloud months.
within the next 12 months.

However, like any other technology, cloud computing comes with its own challenges; and in order to stay
effective, companies need to be prepared for them.

Four Common Challenges of Cloud Computing
Companies that go for cloud computing without proper preparation are likely to run into a number of
obstacles where they least expect them. The most typical challenges include the following:

Different standards

Major cloud computing providers, such as Amazon, IBM, Cisco, Salesforce.com, Microsoft, and Google,
have come up with their own standards of cloud computing, followed by a considerable number of smaller
providers.

While the range of standards to choose from may seem a good thing, you will no longer think so when you
need to move data from one cloud to another or set up two applications in different clouds to interact. The
cloud is easy and flexible as long as you are within one, but as soon as you start working with another
cloud, nothing is simple anymore.

Currently, a universally accessible cloud computing application is more of a dream than a reality. So, one
must work hard to make data transfer seamlessly between the clouds.

4


Caring about security

According to the IDC Enterprise Panel, about 75% of IT executives expressed concern about security
issues with cloud computing. Like getting involved in any other outsourcing relationship, cloud computing
means entrusting your data to a third party. Hence, all the security concerns about data are also handed
over to the service provider. Can companies be sure that the cloud will take good care of their data?

The system of user authentication and authorization used by a cloud computing service provider should
minimize the risk of data getting into the wrong hands.
Furthermore, since a cloud is multi-tenant, it is pivotal that a
service provider can guarantee faultless data segregation from
other customers. The typical way to segregate data is to encrypt Disaster recovery
it, but, according to Gartner, ―encryption accidents can make data costs with cloud
totally unusable, and even normal encryption can complicate computing are twice
availability.‖
lower.
Another question is whether it is secure to transfer data to and
from the cloud. All the transfers should exclude the slimmest
chance of interception. Then, what happens when a cloud computing service user removes some of their
data? Basic security requirements generally specify that the data deleted must be physically removed from
the cloud’s servers immediately.

One more potential source of risk is today’s erratic economics. If the service provider should become
bankrupt or get swallowed up by a bigger company, what is to become of the data on its servers?

A good cloud computing provider should be able to address these and other questions that may arise.
Moreover, they should be open about all matters that are closely related to their customers. A company
that has its data in the cloud has the full right to know where this data is stored (while in practice
companies often do not even know in which country the servers are located), or to carry out an
investigation of inappropriate or illegal activity in the cloud.

Application performance

There are two aspects that may limit an application’s performance in the cloud.

First, it is important to realize that applications in the cloud may run slower than on a local machine. The
very idea of virtualization implies certain performance penalties, so IT executives should not be surprised
when they notice a 20% or even greater decrease in application performance in the cloud compared to the
local environment. However, with some applications, the slowdown in performance will be practically
unnoticeable.

There are a lot of factors that determine how an application runs in the cloud, such as application type,
workload type, hardware, and others. It also matters that with cloud computing, you cannot rely on a
homogeneous environment. The cloud is, in fact, quite heterogeneous: different CPUs, different amounts
of memory, etc. Being aware of how an application runs in the cloud is crucial for being realistic about your
overall performance.

Another virtualization issue is that the maximum amount of memory available on any single virtual machine
is 15.5 GB, so far. While this would probably suffice for most needs and you still can unite the resources of
several virtual instances, those applications that use more memory on local machines may not run

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smoothly on a single virtual machine in the cloud. Although it is likely that virtualization vendors, such as
VMware and Citrix, may increase this memory limit in the future, just keep that in mind.

Interaction between private and public clouds

When opting for cloud computing, most companies do not externalize all of their data. Considerable
amounts of information remain in the so-called ―private‖ cloud, which means that it is still physically stored
within a company’s private network.

Since data between a private and a public cloud may migrate very often, this process should be as
seamless as possible. On top of that, it should meet your security standards. These important details
should be arranged before clinching a cloud computing deal.

But there is more to it than just that. Imagine that a company decides to back up its local data in the cloud
or to save public cloud data locally. This definitely guarantees better safety of data, but the issue of
synchronization comes up. You do not want to update your data twice and would prefer automatic
synchronization with the cloud. A good cloud computing provider is the one that offers this kind of services
to you.

Amazon Web Services: Opportunities in the Cloud
With the wide range of cloud computing services available in the market today, IT executives sometimes
do not know where to look first. In this case, you’d better start
with the services that enjoy the greatest popularity and best
reputation today—Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon Web
Amazon Web Services allow companies to use an effective, time-
Services are based on
tested computing infrastructure that Amazon has been using for Amazon's own
its own global network of Web sites. The top three most popular time-proven
cloud computing services from Amazon include: infrastructure.
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

Amazon S3 is a cloud storage service that allows users to ―store any amount of data and retrieve it from
anywhere on the Web.‖ An unlimited number of objects ranging from 1 byte to 5 GB in size can be stored.
To sort objects, S3 allows grouping them into buckets, which are very similar to local folders.

Amazon S3 enables access restrictions for each of your objects, with a range of available ways to access
objects, from HTTP requests to using the BitTorrent protocol. Amazon also ensures a high availability of S3
users’ data, guaranteeing 99.9 percent uptime, measured monthly. The service is available for a very
affordable cost: $0.12–$0.15 per 1 GB, per month.

Releasing companies from the need to worry about storage space, uptime, or server maintenance costs
and providing great economy, Amazon S3 has gained great popularity with a broad spectrum of clients.
WordPress.com, Twitter, Slideshare.net, alongside with thousands of others, are among its users. Photo
hosting service SmugMug claims to have saved over $1,000,000 on storage costs after just seven months
of using Amazon S3.

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Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)

Amazon EC2 is a Web service that enables its clients to run and host their applications in the cloud rather
than on local machines. It means that customers use a Web interface to administer a virtual machine
provided by Amazon.

Companies of all sizes have appreciated the opportunity to use massive computer arrays by purchasing
access to them, without having to acquire any hardware. EC2 makes it possible to create high-demand
Web applications with thousands of users more affordably than ever before. The New York Times relies on
Amazon EC2, as well as the S3 storage service, to host its TimesMachine, which provides access to the
newspaper’s public archives. IBM uses Amazon EC2 to provide pay-as-you-go access to its database and
content management software, such as IBM DB2 and Lotus.

EC2 offers a wide range of virtual machines so that it is possible IBM uses Amazon
to choose a configuration best suited for any specific application.
This, as well as the fact that the number and types of virtual EC2 to provide pay-
machines can be changed at any moment, helps Amazon EC2 as-you-go access to
achieve maximum scalability. Each client can buy just the its database and
resources s/he needs, and when the client’s needs change, the
number of instances in virtual use can change, accordingly. To
content management
ensure resistance to failure, instances can be placed in different software.
geographic locations and time zones.

The EC2 environment is based on Xen, an open source virtual machine monitor. Amazon EC2 allows you to
use and create your own Amazon Machine Images, or AMIs, which serve as templates for your instances.
While most AMIs are based on Linux, other operational systems, such as OpenSolaris and Windows Server,
are also supported.

The costs of using EC2 consist of an hourly charge per virtual machine and a data transfer charge. The
―pay-as-you-go‖ system and great scalability opportunities have contributed to Amazon’s naming its cloud
―elastic.‖

Amazon SimpleDB

Amazon SimpleDB is a service for storing, processing, and querying structure datasets, designed to be
used in concert with Amazon EC2 and S3.

Not a relational database itself, SimpleDB provides all the functionality of a database, such as real-time
lookup and querying of structured data, without the operational complexity. With SimpleDB, there is no
need for schemas; the service automatically indexes your data and provides an easy-to-use API for storage
and access. The data model is as simple as the service’s name suggests: collections of ―items‖ (small hash
tables containing attributes-value pairs) are organized into ―domains.‖

SimpleDB is impressively fast, even when dealing with large amounts of data. As with S3 and EC2, it offers
on-demand scaling: SimpleDB customers are charged only for actual data storage and transfer.
Transferring data to other Amazon Web Services is free of charge.

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Amazon Web Services: Challenges and Mistakes to
Avoid
Due to their high reliability and cost-saving approach, Amazon Web Services are becoming increasingly
popular with companies on both sides of the Atlantic. However, while some things Amazon Web Services
make easier to achieve, some things are quite complicated for a newbie.

Here are some typical challenges that customers new to Amazon’s cloud computing service face and typical
mistakes they make.

Scalability does not mean auto-scaling

Mistake: Some IT executives forget that scalability and adjusting the resources that you use are never
done automatically. With cloud computing, there still has to be a person who monitors an application’s
performance and the resources used. For example, as soon as an application run in EC2 needs more
memory, this person should see how much more memory is needed and add a virtual instance of
appropriate size.

Without human management or a custom automation application, there is still a risk of not providing
enough resources for an application or overpaying for odd resources.

Disregarding safety of data

Mistake: Some people consider backing up as an unnecessary formality.

It is true, Amazon has a great reputation—no complaints of data loss, corruption, or unavailability have
ever been heard from its clients so far—but the point is, should anything happen to your data due to the
performance of your application, bugs, or unforeseen customer efforts, the data will be lost. Therefore,
creating backups and undertaking security measures are still as relevant as ever before.

Non-standard URLs and indexing

Challenge: Operating large volumes of dynamic data, Amazon Web Services may create non-standard
and dynamic URLs, which can be an obstacle for smooth search engine optimization.

Solution: Whenever it is possible, rewriting a URL is a very
helpful practice that is likely to solve the problem. URLs rewritten
to look standard are both user-friendly and work better with
search engines. Creating backups and
undertaking security
Another useful thing to do is create an RSS feed and a sitemap, measures are still
which will help index your pages faster. Amazon even provides relevant as ever
some ready-to-use code for an RSS feed, but creating a custom
feed is probably what the most expert developers will do.
before.

Additionally, consider joining the Amazon Associates program. It
is an easy way to boost your search engine ranking by getting connected to millions of Amazon’s own

8


pages. Joining is free, but the price you pay is the necessity to put advertisements of Amazon’s products
somewhere on your Web site. This is, in fact, the driving principle of Amazon Associates—you make links
to Amazon and get paid for every click, your growing search engine ranking being the positive side effect.
For many companies, engaging in the program may not be an appropriate option, but for some it can
prove to be a winning decision.

Conclusion
While cloud computing has the potential to provide a range of benefits to businesses of any size and any
industry, the cloud has its own hidden challenges. Those who want to make good use of it should be ready
to avoid them to benefit from this promising technology.

Once implemented, cloud computing efforts may turn into a huge winner, saving considerable amounts of
money, increasing the performance of your applications, and providing 24/7 availability and scalability.

About the Authors
Matthew Brown is a VP of Marketing at Akelios with over ten years of experience in IT and Marketing
fields. Matthew’s professional background includes working for major IT industry companies: he was a
Product Line Manager at Sun Microsystems and a Senior Marketing Manager at Oracle. Matthew specializes
in Cloud Computing and marketing, as well as project and resource management. He holds an MBA from
the George L. Graziadio School of Business and Management, Pepperdine University, and a B.A. in
Marketing from New York University.

Sergey Sundukovskiy has over 15 years of experience serving in capacities ranging from Senior
Architect to CIO, including experience in building IT organizations from the ground up in both start-ups
and Fortune 100 companies. He currently works as a CIO at Akelios. Sergey specializes in intra-company
and offshore system and product development, Cloud Computing, cross-functional training, and strategic
planning. Sergey holds a B.A. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego, and an
M.S. in Information Technology from the University of Liverpool, as well a Ph.D. in Information Technology
Management from the School of Business and Technology, Capella University.

Akelios is a team of Cloud Computing experts that provides a wide range of Cloud Computing services,
including Cloud training, Cloud development, Cloud migration, and Cloud support. Akelios assists
companies in various stages of the Cloud adoption cycle, providing Cloud Vendor, Platform, and Product
Selection, Cloud Application Migration, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Cloud Disaster Recovery, Security Planning,
Cloud Performance Tuning, and Cloud Architecture Design. Akelios helps its customers select the most
appropriate combination of a Cloud Vendor and a Cloud Platform combined with the Cloud-specific
products that best fit their Business and Technology circumstances. For more information, please visit
www.akelios.com.

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Cloud Computing: How to Solve Challenges and Avoid Typical Mistakes Using Amazon Web Services

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Cloud Computing: How to Solve Challenges and Avoid Typical Mistakes Using Amazon Web Services