Why Microservices Are a Game-Changer for the Future of IT

New IT solutions must handle the ever-increasing volume of data and information while remaining flexible enough to adapt quickly and efficiently to changing business demands.

The need for agility has never been more urgent for today’s businesses. The pace of digital transformation is getting faster and faster with no apparent end in sight. To meet these challenges, enterprises must find solutions that can keep up with the speed of business change. This blog will explain what microservices are, how they can help your organization remain agile, and how they can help you achieve a more nimble IT system as you move forward into the future of your business.

What Is a Microservice?

A microservice is a software system built as a set of small independent modules with particular concerns and functions. Each microservice can be built and deployed independently and work together with other microservices to deliver a complete product or service. The main challenge when building software systems is to find the right balance between functionality, quality, and time-to-market. One option is to build an extensive application that can meet all the requirements from the get-go, but this approach is often challenging and costly in terms of resources. Another option is to break down the project into smaller, more manageable pieces and build a set of microservices that can be released and deployed independently.

Why Are Microservices a Game-Changer for IT?

With growing complexity and the need to scale in mind, organizations are now moving towards microservices architecture (MSA) to break down IT systems into smaller, more manageable parts. MSA is essentially a distributed system approach, where applications are broken down into smaller modules (microservices), and each service is hosted in its separate container or virtual machine. The essential factor to note here is that each microservice can be scaled independently, enabling you to handle the growing demand for particular parts of the system without scaling the entire system. By using microservices, businesses can deploy new software solutions much faster and achieve quicker time-to-market. At the same time, microservices are also helping IT systems become more reliable and scalable.

What Are The Benefits of Microservices?

As microservices help you build more flexible systems, they also help you achieve several important benefits for your business. These include:

• Greater agility – The ability to quickly change and adapt to your customers’ needs is vital for future business success. With microservices, you can respond much quicker to market changes, new requirements, and customer feedback, thanks to the more elegant nature of the system.
• Greater scalability – Microservices are particularly useful when you need to scale your system on the fly, especially in cases of high demand. You can scale up or down specific parts of the system as required, and therefore avoid downtime.
• Improved quality – By designing with quality in mind, you can build a reliable and robust system. End-to-end testing is particularly important when working with microservices, as it helps to ensure the system works as a whole.
• Improved security – When designed and implemented correctly, Microservices can help make your systems more secure. For example, microservices that handle sensitive information can be securely isolated from non-critical microservices.

When to Use Microservices?

Microservices are particularly useful for complex projects that require scalability, agility, and high levels of flexibility. They make sense, especially in situations where you are working with large and complex organizations where communication between different departments and teams is challenging. Microservices can also make sense in cases where you should be able to scale up or down quickly depending on the level of demand for a particular part of the system.

In general, to decide whether to use a microservices architecture, you should think about the following questions: What are the project requirements? What type of functionality does the system require? Is your team capable of designing a system that meets these requirements? In other words, microservices make sense when you have a large, complex project with significant functionality. At the same time, the project is also highly flexible and can easily be scaled depending on the requirements.

Key Takeaway

Microservices help you build more flexible systems that respond quickly to your customers and business needs. With microservices, you can scale up or down individual parts of the system as required, avoiding downtime. At the same time, microservices are easier to maintain and manage.

Small, autonomous services that are easy to change and upgrade are the new standard in a digital world. The ability to develop, test, and deploy small services faster can impact a company’s bottom line by reducing overall development time and quickening the delivery of new features to customers. The good news is that there are several techniques to speed up the development process of your business. Protected Harbor provides expert-level microservices to help you stay on top of things. We specialize in providing a software development approach that focuses on breaking down large systems into smaller pieces to improve efficiency, maintainability, and flexibility and help businesses achieve improved scalability, reliability, and agility. And that’s not it. We are currently providing free IT audit to the companies. Contact us today for one.

Red Flags: It’s time to switch your IT Managed Service Provider

Technical hiccups happen regardless of your business’s size, niche, or geography. And outsourcing your IT infrastructure services to an MSP provides you with a dedicated team that can handle all such issues. This team is always on alert to address any problems, getting you back up and running as soon as possible. You hire MSPs to fix your problems and reduce your downtime.

But fixing issues and keeping it running are slightly different things, though. If you find your MSP fixing the same issue numerous times, you’re probably with the wrong MSP. Actual MSPs must be less product-focused and more focused on solving client problems. In addition to billable hours, your MSP should track the uptime of your systems.

Sometimes with specialized services, like those an MSP provides, it can be hard to assess how well they perform their job. But the bottom line is that outsourcing your IT to a managed service provider (MSP) is supposed to make your life easier. If it doesn’t, something has gone wrong. There are subtle signs that your MSP is no longer the right fit for you. A few questions to introspect are:

How often has your MSP not even known there are issues until you tell them? Do you consider your MSP as an on-demand IT service provider?

The answer to this question is about strategic fitment. Do you consider your MSP a transactional partner or partner to work with you? It’s not enough that your MSP is fixing IT issues that arise. They should proactively assess hardware and software needs and security practices bi-annually or quarterly. And this can even be outside their written contract (scope of work). Proactive maintenance makes all the difference when it comes to IT management.

A good MSP should regularly monitor your IT infrastructure and identify issues before they become bigger problems, and they should have the expertise to provide proactive support and guidance. If you feel like you’re having to tell your MSP about issues and they’re not taking a proactive approach, you may want to consider finding a different provider that can better meet your needs.

Do your MSP over-promise and under-deliver?

It is important to carefully evaluate the capabilities and reputation of any MSP before entering into a partnership. This can include checking references, researching customer reviews, and reviewing their offerings and guarantees.

Some MSPs may over-promise and under-deliver, while others may provide high-quality services and support. It is important to thoroughly research and choose an MSP that aligns with your organization’s needs and priorities and to establish clear expectations and performance metrics to ensure that the MSP delivers on its promises.

MSP industry has cut-throat competition. And to survive, many MSPs rely on the effectiveness of their salespeople. However, the challenge with this method is that sales calls or pitches often commit big promises upfront to secure your business.

In reality, the service provider might not have the capacity or competency to deliver such services. Reviewing your IT service agreement lets you pick areas where your MSP hasn’t delivered up to its promises.

Does your MSP have the vision to plan and execute for the future? How good is your MSP in project management skills?

The sole purpose of your MSP is to provide reliable IT services. And that can’t be achieved with a myopic view of day-to-day operational issues. Your MSP must champion taking cues from regular issues, devise long-term plans that put you in the driving seat and execute with a transparent governance model.

If you are experiencing difficulties with your current IT-managed service provider, it may be time to consider switching to a new provider. One red flag to look out for is if your current provider struggles with cloud migration or the free flow of information.

Another red flag is if your provider cannot accurately write a scope of work document or create a service level agreement. If your provider is not delivering on project objectives or not meeting the agreed-upon project plan, this may also be a sign that it is time to switch.

Additionally, if your provider is not knowledgeable about cloud infrastructure or data center management, this could be a red flag.

Do they track response time? How well do they handle complaints? Does your MSP manage stakeholder communications effectively?

One of the best indicators to answer this question is MTTR (Mean Time To Repair/Resolve/Recovery/Response), MTTF (Mean Time To Failure), MTTA (Mean Time To Acknowledge), and MTBF (Mean Time Before Failure).^[1] These can be good baseline or benchmark that starts more challenging conversations regarding the process, RCA methodologies, response protocols, and more.

Another issue to watch out for is if your provider is unfamiliar with the project goals and deliverables or cannot create a project plan that aligns with these goals. If the provider’s team members are not working collaboratively or the provider’s business model does not align with your organization’s needs, these can also be red flags.

Ultimately, it may be time to switch if your provider is not delivering the expected service level. When making the switch, be sure to carefully review the terms and conditions of the new provider’s service agreement and work closely with them to ensure that the project is delivered successfully.

How well does your MSP align with your organization’s culture? Do they own your issues? Do they consider your users as their ‘own’ users? Do they track CSAT?

Can you ring your MSP at 2 AM and be assured that someone will be working on the ground to resolve a critical business issue. Does your MSP empathize with you in a significant outage and work tirelessly to bring back the system? Does your MSP think about the solution first or bring the contractual scope of work in every discussion? How well does your MSP resonate with your user community, values, and vision?

If answers to the above questions are No, is your service provider an MSP then? Yes, an MSP is responsible for a specific and agreed set of technologies for an agreed-upon subscription cost. But, if your MSP only does time and materials on a break-fix basis, they aren’t an MSP.

It would help if you didn’t forget that an MSP is a Managed Service Provider. The effectiveness of managed services lies in their simplicity. They augment your competency rather than you shifting your operational complexities. Actual MSPs think beyond their scope, which benefits your entire landscape.

Final Words

If you’re not receiving the level of service you expected or if you feel your provider is not actively working to solve your issues during a contract period. This can happen, and you have the right to switch when it does.

When it comes to choosing a manage service provider in rockland county NY to handle your company’s tech needs, trust is key. Partner with Protected Harbor, when our members think of us, they don’t just think of us as an MSP. We are more than that.

We will walk you through the process of selecting the best solution for your company’s specific needs. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll have access to our years of experience and you can manage all of your company’s IT tasks, request support, and configure your team’s profile settings.

If you need help managing your business, Protected Harbor is the go-to MSP in Hudson Valley New York. Together we will identify areas of improvement, outline a road map for change, and put a process in place to track your progress. Contact us for a free IT Audit.

How do leading MSPs differentiate themselves from the rest?

MSP’s operating model is a paradigm shift from reactive to proactive support.  This means one KPI for an MSP must be to ensure your IT doesn’t fail while ensuring optimal performance.

It all starts with a growth-oriented business model. The most successful MSPs focus on delivering genuine value to their customers, continually improving their offerings, and scaling their businesses. To grow their businesses, MSPs can focus on increasing the amount of business they do with existing customers, acquiring new customers, or increasing the average value of each customer. So, beyond keeping your IT lights on, MSPs that stand out provide good business value for their job. Here are a few differentiators of modern MSPs.

Advanced security offerings

Cyber-attacks are mainstream, particularly for small to medium-sized businesses. Threats are more frequent, targeted, and a lot more complex. According to a Accenture — Cost of Cybercrime Study report, around 43% of cyber-attacks are aimed at small businesses, and only 14% are prepared to defend themselves. A quality MSP company should ensure you are safe from online threats rather than waiting for the disaster. Instead of dealing with cyber attackers or ransom calls as they come, a good MSP can target vulnerabilities in advance and shut them down before it becomes a problem. Yes, some attacks can penetrate even the best of systems. However, robust threat prevention will de-risk the threat of an unexpected event. Your MSP must offer a comprehensive plan that can prevent even sophisticated threats.

Cloud services and automation

Modern MSPs are switching to cloud-native solutions and automation levers to improve the quality of their services. Cloud solutions provide scalability and on-demand disaster recovery to their clients. Automation brings efficiency with lower dependency on humans, thus reducing manual errors or discrepancies.

Innovation

Best IT service companies focus on innovation, which can benefit their customers. These companies know the importance of tracking the latest industry trends. With their help, you can utilize digital technologies to get ahead of competitors. Best MSPs are not stuck with their approach and technology and update their offerings based on trends, geography, and industry. For example, new forms of cybercrime develop every year. A company that focuses on innovation will know how to safeguard you from further attacks.

Value creation

Leading MSPs consult and advise on the best technologies or tools. They help build a customized program based on your business goals and strategic vision, manage the program’s implementation, and run daily operation and maintenance of those critical functions. MSPs must keep up to speed with the latest developments and develop new services to keep delivering value to their customers.

Customer Experience (CX)

CX has already been the buzzword for the last half a decade. The concept was initially driven by big consulting firms and is now necessary for IT customers. As modern users prefer being at the center of things, they expect self-service via knowledge forums, chatbots, and service catalogs, i.e., omnichannel communication. A helpdesk managed service provider supports these areas to improve your NPS and CSAT. Your in-house team can focus on the strategic aspects of improving tech adoption.

Adaptability and Resilience

The disruption caused by the pandemic demonstrated that adaptability and resilience — from both MSPs and their customers — are essential to survive. As companies adopt a hybrid working culture, MSPs must shift their operating model to suit the situation. E.g., MSPs need to equip their employees and clients with the right tools to support remote working remotely.

Conclusion

Top MSPs know how to stay ahead of the curve, keep their customers engaged, and offer value-added services that make their customers’ lives easier. As technology advances and changes the way businesses are done, MSPs must keep up with the latest trends. To stay ahead of the curve and deliver top-notched service to their clients, MSPs must stay informed about the latest technological advancements and customer demands.

Protected Harbor’s team of IT experts is dedicated to providing its clients with dependable IT solutions that meet their unique business needs. With its remote monitoring and management capabilities, our solution enables clients to access their IT team whenever needed — no matter where they are. As a hudson valley new york manage service provider we specialize in small- to mid-sized businesses and offer scalable and flexible services to fit client needs. We also offer 24/7 on-site or remote monitoring, data recovery, and an SLA. We offer a free consultation to help you determine the best solution for your business. Contact us today!

What To Look For In An MSP? Mention Some Qualities

The managed service provider business has risen rapidly in recent years, but what do you look for in an MSP partner?

The market has nearly doubled in value in the last five years, rising from $107 billion in 2014 to $193 billion today. By 2023, the market is estimated to reach $296 billion.

To address their IT demands, businesses increasingly turn to managed services partnerships.

This massive global expansion is an enormous surge in demand for outsourced IT services.

• 75% of SMBs outsource at least a portion of their IT to a managed service provider (MSP).

SMBs, in particular, are finding managed services to be an appealing option to the more traditional in-house IT departments to which they have become accustomed.

Simple economics is the reason behind this. Simply put, hiring an MSP partner is substantially less expensive than hiring a whole internal IT workforce.

Here are some qualities to look for in a managed service provider.

• Take a shared approach to managed services
• Provide a flexible service model
• Offer advanced services
• Offer round-the-clock support
• Support multiple time zones
• Solid strategic relationship with your cloud provider
• Leverage remote monitoring for proactive maintenance
• Robust backup and disaster recovery plan
• A dedicated, reliable, and single point of contact for your business
• Work with your legal team to address compliance issues

How do I choose a managed service provider?

What should you look for in a Managed IT Services provider? This is a severe technology investment. Many fly-by-night companies offer managed IT that don’t have the track record, experience, or capacity to adequately serve your organization’s needs. To ensure you make a wise choice, review each vendor you consider with the following criteria.

Flexible, Scalable Plans:

What type of plan does the service provider offer? If they are complicated and have a lot of fine print, chances are you’ll be getting charged for a lot of stuff you don’t need, or else you’ll find yourself in crisis only to learn that certain services aren’t included in your service plan.

Look for a simple, easy-to-understand billing agreement with transparency around what is and isn’t included. If you’re unclear about anything in the contract, seek expert advice before signing. Avoid companies that want to lock you into a multi-year agreement but are reluctant to convey their responsibilities. Are they playing a leading role in continuous improvement and staying up to date with changing technology and data compliance regulations, are they playing a leading role?

Robust Customer Support:

It would help if you usually had it right away when you needed customer support. You don’t have time to wait until business hours begin in a different part of the world or try and explain a complex problem to a chatbot that can only deliver answers from a preprogrammed FAQ. Ask what kind of support is promised, when and how it will be given, and what your options are in an emergency.

Service Level Agreements:

Uptime is critical to your company. You aren’t making money if your organization isn’t accessible to your customer base. A service level agreement (SLA) will promise a certain level of uptime, typically well over 99%, and a response time during outages within a specific time frame. Suppose the Managed Services provider fails to meet these obligations. In that case, they will typically be subject to a penalty (often a free service period to compensate for their breach of service.)

Technical assistance and installation on-site

Engineers are trained subject-matter specialists who respond as a backup when a company needs maintenance or repairs.

They are in charge of designing and installing IT projects on-site and performing periodic check-up trips to ensure everything is functioning smoothly.

Remote monitoring and troubleshooting

Support groups capable of proactively monitoring the network functions of the company.

If a client has a problem requiring quick attention, a help desk should be available, or an engineer should be ready to solve the problem remotely without the client’s involvement.

This help should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Extensive support for cloud-based operations

Revenue from public cloud services was $182 billion in 2019; this year, it will reach $250 billion.

Cloud services quickly become the focal point for many small and midsize businesses as executives gain trust and recognize the benefits.

They are more secure than ever and offer various options for storing firm data and licensing software.

Your MSP partner should be able to demonstrate substantial cloud service provider partnerships.

Final Words

It may seem counterintuitive, but having your personnel manage every part of your IT infrastructure can hinder them from concentrating on duties that directly impact your bottom line. Hiring an MSP to supplement your IT team will allow your personnel to focus on enhancing your company’s efficiency, productivity, and creativity. Furthermore, the correct MSP will be there for you in the long run, allowing your company to grow to new heights.

Protected Harbor is not your typical MSP. We assist you in maximizing the benefits of current and emerging IT solutions so your business thrives. If you want to learn more about how outsourcing your IT can enhance your business’s productivity, contact us today for a FREE technology assessment, or read our FREE eBook.

Guide to Managed Service Providers

What is a Managed Service Provider?

A Managed Service Provider maintains and manages your IT systems, including virus protection and control, day-to-day hardware and software administration, disaster recovery, operational efficiency, and end-user support.

MSP can provide the necessary technology to take your company to the next level. They assist your organization in transitioning to the digital age with optimum stability and control, allowing you to scale your business without incurring increased IT costs.

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are responsible for providing their clients a wide range of IT services and support. The specific responsibilities of an MSP can vary depending on the needs of the client, but here are some of the primary responsibilities that an MSP may undertake:

• Handling the management of IT infrastructure
• Adding cybersecurity measures to IT
• Providing technical support to staff
• Managing user account access
• Offering risk and compliance management
• Handling contract management
• Providing payroll services

How do MSPs work?

Managed service providers (MSPs) function as crucial partners in achieving organizational goals, offering tailored managed IT services for small businesses. As a leading managed IT services company, an MSP assesses a company’s current technical landscape, identifies areas for improvement, and seizes opportunities for enhancement.

Under a Service Level Agreement, an MSP delivers comprehensive IT-managed services, including help desk support, monitoring, security training, ongoing maintenance, and reporting. This agreement sets clear parameters for performance targets, response times, security assurances, and cost-effectiveness, ensuring a balanced approach to meeting the organization’s needs within its budget. With managed IT solutions from a trusted managed IT service provider, businesses can streamline operations, enhance security, and optimize their IT infrastructure for sustainable growth.

What does a managed service provider do?

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) work by providing a range of IT services to businesses, typically on a subscription or contractual basis. MSPs take care of the day-to-day IT needs of their clients, allowing them to focus on their core business operations.

A managed service provider augments your IT department to maintain, service, and support everything internet-related for your business, from configuring new devices to maintaining connectivity and supporting your infrastructure. On a high level, MSPs:

• Offer 24/7 remote system monitoring
• Provide End User Computing Support (desktop PCs, laptops, mobile devices)
• Support your IT infrastructure, including servers (physical and virtual)
• Monitor, update and maintain IT systems security
• Fix network or internet problems
• Accountable for data security, backups, and data recovery
• Office 365 setup, hosting, and management
• Mitigate risks related to data security, and cyberattacks
• Report a monthly summary of your issues, preventive/restorative steps taken, and advice for future planning.
• Create a Disaster Recovery Plan as part of your Business Continuity Strategy.

An MSP guarantees that you and your employees can access the internet, communicate with each other, manage data transfers, and maintain one or more websites. An MSP keeps your IT up-to-date, essential to the processes of marketing your products or services, driving sales and support for your customers, and completing all of the back-end administrative tasks related to inventory, data analysis, and more. Partnering with the right MSP means more security, service, productivity, and love from your user community.

Why Should you hire an MSP?

Traditionally, MSPs gained acceptance as companies tried cutting IT support and maintenance costs. Managing IT for a decent size business will need varying skill sets, in-house technical staff costs, hiring costs, tools/training costs, and other benefits for any permanent employees like insurance. An MSP, on the other hand, is cost-effective and efficient.

Plus, their cost is predictable. High-quality Managed IT Service Providers charge a flat monthly rate for proactive monitoring and maintenance of your workstations, servers, and IT infrastructure. Moreover, a proper IT-managed service provider aims to minimize IT downtime by preventing issues before they happen.

An IT service provider can also help you determine where you’re wasting money in “Nice-To-Haves or outdated systems” For example, perhaps you’re using an outdated Wi-Fi router, and maybe increasing your network’s bandwidth won’t provide you the expected result. Remember, working with an IT service provider will equip you with the latest trends and tech expertise. You can make well-informed decisions and find ways to cut costs and boost your team’s productivity

Some common signs you should hire a managed service provider.

• IT cost is skyrocketing
• Extra support for remote employees
• Limited IT staff
• Need help migrating
• Facing excessive downtime
• Want to grow strategically
• Lack of system monitoring
• Lack of compliance

Finally, with managed services, you’ll never have to worry about falling behind regarding your regulatory or legislative compliance. MSPs keep you updated with compliance laws, regulations, and procedures and thus avoid potential fines.

How much do managed service providers charge?

Prices for managed IT services can vary from company to company, and many factors can influence how much you’ll be invoiced. For example, the more users you have, the more devices (like desktops, laptops, tablets, printers, etc.) and licenses you must manage. Your MSP can define the cost model per user by knowing what you want to be addressed. Here are the most common cost models.

1. Fixed Price or Flat Rate
2. Per-User
3. Per Device
4. Metal Grading or Tiered
5. Customized

Understanding that the best offering from an MSP will include a service that provides a high level of business availability paired with strategic thinking and advice is vital. And this will be at a cost that is considered less than the cost of downtime and consulting packages.

Even better, if your MSP charges you a fixed price, irrespective of downtime episodes or maintenance calls. Many MSPs charge or include X hours per month; if the client goes beyond, they pay extra. Actual MSPs always charge a flat rate.

Affordable Managed IT Services for Small Businesses

Small businesses in New York can benefit significantly from affordable managed IT services. By partnering with the best managed IT service providers, businesses can access top-notch IT support in New York without the high costs of in-house teams. Managed IT support services in New York offer 24/7 monitoring, proactive maintenance, and tailored solutions to fit specific business needs. A managed service provider NYC ensures your systems run smoothly, providing essential services like network security, data backup, and cloud management. Investing in affordable managed IT services for small businesses not only reduces operational costs but also enhances productivity and security, allowing businesses to focus on growth and success.

Final Thoughts

A Managed IT Service delivers outsourced support, maintenance, and monitoring of your critical infrastructure and end-users. They augment you with the right expertise, including proactive device management to minimize future issues and reactive support when needed most. MSP supports your staff wherever using your technology, whether a more significant server or minor user issue. Also, MSPs can facilitate shifts and thrive in the post-COVID world by embracing innovation, flexibility, and agility.

And, like all relationships, you need to review your engagement to critically guarantee value for your money. Modern businesses leverage technology to stay competitive. So, your MSP must remain at the top of its game to keep your technology reliable. And we often hear from businesses working with their current provider for years but are too nervous about finding an alternative partner.

Changing providers comes with a perception of a complicated process that involves days of IT downtime and business disruption. Surprisingly or not, switching your MSP can be a cakewalk when you find the right partner.

If you are unsure of your MSP, we will audit and discover your potential areas of improvement.

We start every engagement with a discovery process to identify your business goals, risk areas, and technological priorities. We then create a strategic plan mapped to your business goals and provide ongoing monitoring and measurement to track the success of our solution.

Protected Harbor’s team of engineers, consultants, and certified technicians work with you to implement the best-fit technology to meet your organizational goals. You benefit from working with one trusted partner who understands your unique organizational goals.

Protected Harbor manages your IT infrastructure from soup to nuts. We’ve covered everything from email to teleconferencing, website hosting, cloud storage, and computer repair. We stay on top of your technological demands daily, keeping the lights on and providing strategic guidance to higher-ups.

If you’re looking for hudson valley new york manage service provider, or in rockland county, then you are at the right place. Protected Harbor offers customized IT solutions to businesses looking to scale their technology, and we’re on a mission to give you the best customer service possible. To do that, we are constantly innovating to make sure you have the best experience with our products.

As one of our customers, you can expect excellent service, quick response times, and an eager team to help. We are not your average MSP. We are engineers, software developers, analysts, designers, and lifelong learners. We offer a tailored approach to managed services that meet each client’s unique needs. Contact us today for a free IT Audit.

What are the types of clouds? Which one’s best for your business?

When you think of cloud technology, the first thing that comes to mind is big companies like Google and Amazon using it to run their massive online operations. But the truth is, this type of software has many small-time entrepreneurs using it to run their businesses. And if you’re not sure which kind of cloud computing service is right for your business, here’s a brief explanation about the different types of clouds and why you should choose one over the other.

What is a Hybrid Cloud?

The hybrid cloud integrates private cloud services, public cloud services, and on-premises infrastructure. It provides management, orchestration, and application portability over all three cloud services. As a result, a unified, single, and flexible distributed computing environment is formed. An organization can deploy and scale its cloud-native or traditional workloads on the appropriate cloud model.

The hybrid cloud includes the public cloud services from multiple cloud service providers. It enables organizations to

• Choose the optimized cloud environment for each workload
• Combine the best cloud services and functionality from multiple cloud vendors.
• Move workloads between private and public cloud as circumstances change.

A hybrid cloud helps organizations achieve their business and technical objectives cost-efficiently and more effectively than the private or public cloud alone.

Hybrid Cloud Architecture

Hybrid cloud architecture focuses on transforming the mechanics of an organization’s on-premises data center into the private cloud infrastructure and then connecting it to the public cloud environments hosted by a public cloud provider. Uniform management of private and public cloud resources is preferable to managing cloud environments individually because it minimizes the risk of process redundancies.

The hybrid cloud architecture has the following characteristics.

1. Scalability and resilience

Use public cloud resources to scale up and down automatically, quickly, and inexpensively to increase traffic spikes without affecting private cloud workloads.

2. Security and regulatory compliance

Use private cloud resources for highly regulated workloads and sensitive data, and use economic public cloud resources for less-sensitive data and workloads.

3. Enhancing legacy application

Use public cloud resources to improve the user experience of existing applications and extend them to new devices.

4. The rapid adoption of advanced technology

You can switch to cutting-edge solutions and integrate them into existing apps without provisioning new on-premises infrastructure.

5. VMware migration

Shift existing on-premises infrastructure and workloads to virtual public cloud infrastructure to reduce on-premises data center footprint and scale according to requirements without additional cost.

6. Resource optimization and cost savings

Execute workloads with predictable capacity on the private cloud and move variable workloads to the public cloud.

Hybrid cloud advantages

The main advantages of a hybrid cloud include the following.

• Cost management_ Organizations operate the data center infrastructure with a private cloud. It requires a significant expense and fixed cost. However, a public cloud provides services and resources accounted for as operational and variable expenses.
• Flexibility_ An organization can build a hybrid cloud environment that works for its requirements using traditional systems and the latest cloud technology. A hybrid setup allows organizations to migrate their workloads to and from the traditional infrastructure to the vendor’s public cloud.
• Agility and scalability_ Hybrid cloud provides more resources than a public cloud provider. This makes it easier to create, deploy, manage, and scale resources to meet demand spikes. Organizations can burst the application to a public cloud when demand exceeds the capacity of a local data center to access extra power and scale.
• Interoperability and resilience_ A business can run workloads in public and private environments to increase resiliency. Components of one workload can run in both environments and interoperate.

Reference Link

https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/hybrid-cloud

What is a Public Cloud?

A public cloud is a computing service provided by third-party service providers across the public Internet. It is available to anyone who wants to use these services or purchase them. These services may be free or sold on-demand, allowing users to pay per usage for the storage, bandwidth, or CPU cycles they consume. Public clouds can save organizations from the cost of buying, maintaining, and managing on-premises infrastructure.

The public cloud can be deployed faster than on-premises and is an infinitely scalable platform. Each employee of an organization can use the same application from any branch through their device of choice using the Internet. Moreover, they run in multi-tenant environments where customers share a pool of resources provisioned automatically and allocated to individual users via a self-service interface. Each user’s data is isolated from others.

Public cloud architecture

A public cloud is a completely virtualized environment that relies on a high-bandwidth network to transmit data. Its multi-tenant architecture lets users run the workload on shared infrastructure. Cloud resources can be duplicated over multiple availability zones for protection against outages and redundancy.

Cloud service models categorize public cloud architecture. Here are the three most common service models.

• Infrastructure-as-a-Service_ in which third-party providers host infrastructure resources, such as storage and servers, and virtualization layer. They offer virtualized computing resources, such as virtual machines, over the Internet.
• Software-as-a-Service_ in which third-party service providers host applications and software and make them available to customers across the Internet.
• Platform-as-a-Service_ in which third-party service providers deliver software and hardware tools for application development, such as operating systems.

Advantages of Public Cloud

The public cloud has the following advantages

1. Scalability

Cloud resources can be expanded rapidly to meet traffic spikes and user demand. Public cloud users can gain high availability and greater redundancy in separated cloud locations. Apart from the availability and redundancy, public cloud customers get faster connectivity between the end-users and cloud services using the network interfaces. However, latency and bandwidth issues are still common.

2. Access to advanced technologies

Organizations using cloud service providers can get instant access to the latest technologies, ranging from automatic updates to AI and machine learning.

3. Analytics

Organizations should collect useful data metrics they store and the resources they use. Public cloud services perform analytics on high-volume data and accommodate several data types to give business insights.

4. Flexibility

The scalable and flexible nature of the public cloud allows customers to store high-volume data. Many organizations depend on the cloud for disaster recovery to back up applications and data during an outage or in an emergency. However, it’s tempting to store all data, but users must set up a data retention policy to delete data from storage to reduce the storage cost and maintain privacy.

Limitations or challenges of Public cloud

• Runway costs_ Increasingly complex pricing models and cloud costs make it difficult for companies to track IT spending. It is cheaper than on-premises infrastructure, but sometimes organizations pay more for the cloud.
• Limited controls_ Public cloud customers face the tradeoff of restricted control over the IT stack. Moreover, data separation problems arise due to multi-tenancy and latency issues for remote end-users.
• Scarce cloud expertise_ The skill gap among IT experts in the cloud is another challenge. Without expertise, companies can’t handle the complexities of advanced IT demands.

What is a Private Cloud?

A private cloud is defined as computing services provided over a private internal network or the Internet, only to specific users rather than the general public. It is also known as a corporate or internal cloud. The private cloud provides many benefits to businesses, such as scalability, self-service, and elasticity to a public cloud. In addition, it gives extended, virtualized computing resources through physical components stored at a vendor’s data center or on-premises.

One of the main advantages of the private cloud is that it provides an enhanced degree of control to organizations. As it is accessible to a single organization, it enables them to configure the environment and manage it in a unique way tailored to the particular computing needs of a company.

A private cloud can deliver two models for cloud services. Infrastructure-as-a-Service enables a company to use resources, such as network, storage, and computing resources. And platform as a service that allows a company to deliver everything from cloud-based applications to sophisticated enterprise applications.

Private Cloud Architecture

A private cloud with a single-tenant design is based on the same technologies as other clouds. Technologies that allow customers to configure computing resources and virtual servers on demand. These technologies include

1. Management software

It provides administrators with centralized control over the applications running on it, making it possible to optimize availability, resource utilization, and security in the private cloud environment.

2. Automation

It automates the tasks, such as server integrations and provisioning, which must be performed repeatedly and manually. Automation minimizes the need for human intervention and gives self-service resources.

3. Virtualization

It provides an abstraction to IT resources from their underlying infrastructure and then pooled into the unbounded resource pools of storage, computing, networking, and memory capacity divided across multiple virtual machines. Virtualization allows maximum hardware utilization by removing the physical hardware constraints and sharing it across various applications and users.

Moreover, private cloud customers can leverage cloud-native application practices and architecture, such as containers, DevOps, and microservices, to bring greater flexibility and efficiency.

Benefits of private cloud

Advantages of private cloud include

• Freedom to customize software and hardware_ Private cloud users can customize software as needed with add-ons via custom development. They can also customize servers in any way they want.
• Full control over software and hardware choices_ Private cloud users are free to buy the software and hardware they prefer or services provided by the cloud service providers.
• Fully enforced compliance_ Private cloud users are not forced to rely on the regulatory compliance provided by the service providers.
• Greater visibility and insights into access control and security because all workloads execute behind the user’s firewalls.

Challenges or Limitations of private cloud

Here are some considerations that IT stakeholders must review before using the private cloud.

• Capacity utilization_ Organizations are fully responsible for enhancing capacity utilization under the private cloud. An under-utilized deployment can cost significantly to a business.
• Up-front costs_ The cost of required hardware to run a private cloud can be high, and it will need an expert to set up, maintain and handle the environment.
• Scalability_It may take extra cost and time to scale up the resources if a business needs additional computing power from a private cloud.

Is hybrid cloud the best option for you?

Because not everything belongs in the public cloud, many forward-thinking businesses opt for a hybrid cloud solution. Hybrid clouds combine the advantages of both public and private clouds while utilizing existing data center infrastructure.

Cloud computing is becoming more and more popular, but many businesses are still unsure which type of cloud is right for them. This article explored the pros and cons of hybrid, public, and private clouds and provided advice on which type of cloud is best for your organization. Protected Harbor offers a wide range of cloud computing services to help businesses reduce costs and increase efficiency by outsourcing data storage or remote office functions. It can host a wide range of applications, including e-mail, video conferencing, online training, backups, software development, and much more. Protected Harbor is the right choice for businesses of all sizes. We are providing a free IT Audit for a limited time. Get a free IT consultation for your business today.

Network Penetration Testing 101

In an ever-changing cybersecurity landscape, new threats develop regularly. Regular network penetration testing is the most effective technique to prevent thieves from accessing your mission-critical data and systems. Protected Harbor’s penetration testing services simulate a cyber attack on your current infrastructure, identifying vulnerabilities and revealing holes or entry points that hackers could exploit during a cyber attack.

Our network penetration testing services don’t only tell you where and how cybercriminals might get into your network; it also tells you how they might act or behave once they are in. Penetration testing is necessary to ensure that you are on the same page as malicious actors. Condition Zebra’s network penetration testing services put you inside the heads of cybercriminals, so you are one step ahead of them. Let’s first discuss network penetration testing.

What is network penetration testing?

Network penetration testing is a way to stimulate the processes cybercriminals use to attack your business network, network applications, and attached devices. This simulation is used to identify security issues before attackers can find and exploit them. Penetration tests go beyond stopping malicious actors from unlawful access to an organization’s data and network. It helps create real-world scenarios to show organizations how efficiently their current security defenses would face cyber-attacks. Read why cybersecurity awareness for employees is important.

Network penetration testing is generally used to:

• understand the network baseline
• prevent network and data breaches
• test your security controls and postures
• ensure system and network security

A network penetration test is generally performed when an organization has a mature security posture or effective security measures.

Three steps of a network penetration testing

Planning or Pre-attack phase

• Define the intruder model (internal or external), enabled rights, and privileges.
• Determine the scope of the targeted environment.
• Define the goals, scope of work, source data, and testing targets.
• Define interaction and communication procedures.
• Develop the testing methodology.

Testing or attack phase

• Fieldwork and service identification.
• Intrusion tools and custom scanning are developed if required.
• Vulnerabilities scanning and detection, and elimination of false positives.
• Utilization of compromised systems as a starting line for further intrusions.
• Exploit vulnerabilities and gain unauthorized access.

Reporting or post-attack phase

• Result analysis and reporting with the recommendations to reduce risks.
• Visual demonstration of damage an intruder can inflict on the system.

Types of network penetration testing

Network penetration testing can be performed from two perspectives, inside and outside your company’s network perimeter/

Internal network penetration testing

An internal network penetration testing is performed to help simulate what a hacker could get with the initial access to a network. It can mirror inside threats, such as workers intentionally or unintentionally performing malicious actions. Internal pen testing is an authorized hacking attempt used to identify and exploit vulnerabilities within an organization’s perimeter defenses. Onsite access is given to testers via an ethernet cable. They then gain access to critical information.

Benefits of internal penetration testing

• Minimize risks to business continuity and the cost of being non-compliant.
• Harden the network against information leakage using current or terminated employees or online data.
• Ensure compliance with PCI DSS and other security standards.
• Provide management with exploit proof outlining the assets that an attack can compromise.
• Detects installations that are non-compliant with an organization’s internal policies. It may act as a pivot for external attackers.
• Do not add unnecessary security layers before getting an independent attestation on the effectiveness of current systems.
• Audit security monitoring processes and test your incident response tactics.
• Detects vulnerabilities that may be exploited to access privileged information.

External network penetration testing

An external penetration testing is performed to test the effectiveness of the perimeter security controls to detect and prevent attacks and identify the weaknesses in the Internet-facing assets, such as mail, web, and FTP servers. It’s an authorized hacking attempt that aims at hardening the external-facing network against hackers attempting to compromise the vulnerable hosts from outside the company’s perimeter.

Benefits of external penetration testing

• Reduce the risk to business continuity and non-compliant costs.
• Avoid the cost of adding extra security layers before getting an independent attestation of current systems.
• Provide management with exploitation proof that outlines the assets compromised by an attack.
• Detects vulnerabilities that can be exploited to access privileged information.
• Detects installations that are non-compliant with your internal policy.
• Audit external security monitoring procedures and test incident response tactics.
• Get independent security verification of your company’s internet-facing presence.
• Harden network and systems against host compromise.

Penetration testing methods

1. Black box testing_ We work in life-like scenarios having limited knowledge of your network and no information on the network structure, security policies, and network protection.
2. Gray box testing_ We analyze your system with some knowledge of your networks, such as architecture diagrams, user login details, or the network overview.
3. White box testing_ We detect the potential points of weakness by leveraging admin rights and access to database encryption principles, server configuration files, architecture documentation, or architecture documentation.

Final words

Cybercriminals can target your internal and external network through various sites, ranging from systems and hosts to multiple networking devices. Protected Harbor’s audits identify your current network architecture’s noticeable strengths and weaknesses. Our penetration testing report explains how your security mechanisms respond to various cyberattacks.

We develop a comprehensive and tailored remediation strategy to mitigate cyber threats using these findings. Our skilled staff is ready to execute a network penetration test for your firm, whether you wish to optimize your security processes following a data breach or structural changes or fulfill tight information security compliance standards. Contact us today for a free IT Audit.

The Rapid Adoption of Native Enterprise Application Development

In today’s modern era, enterprises need to optimize the application cycle. It helps them keep up with consumer expectations, speed the pace of innovation, and keep business operations agile. Cloud-native application development enables organizations to take advantage of the cloud by delivering faster time to market, improved flexibility, increased scalability, and better consumer experience while reducing cost.

With hybrid app development, developers can promptly augment applications without disrupting functionality or delaying delivery by leveraging independent components, known as microservices, that break down large monolithic apps into smaller ones. However, getting started with cloud-native applications requires a few strategies. We’ll discuss those strategies in this article, but let’s first learn about enterprise app development.

Enterprise app development

Enterprise app development is defined as a complex procedure of creating business applications. These procedures are customized for crucial business requirements. Enterprise applications can be deployed on the cloud on different platforms across the intranet and corporate networks. These applications make employees more productive by streamlining or automating low-level manual tasks. It will allow your staff to focus on higher value and more fulfilling work.

Cloud-native enterprise application development

Cloud-native applications are deployed and hosted in the cloud and are designed to take advantage of the inherent characteristics of the cloud computing software delivery model. A native application is a software developed to be used on a particular platform or device. Native enterprise applications use a microservice architecture. This architecture efficiently allocates resources to all services used by the application, making it adaptable and flexible to a cloud architecture.

Strategies for application development

While creating a cloud-native application, developers should follow these strategies.

1. Follow the microservices architecture method

Break down your application into microservices allowing automated, incremental, and continuous improvement without causing any downtime.

2. Rely on containers for maximum scalability and flexibility

Containers package software with all the dependencies and code in one place, allowing software to run anywhere. It enables maximum portability and flexibility in a hybrid-multi cloud environment. Containers enable fast scaling with the Kubernetes container defined by the user.

3. Adopt an agile methodology

The agile approach speeds up the creation and optimization process. Developers can instantly iterate updates depending on the user feedback, enabling the working application version to match users’ expectations.

Best practices to implement cloud-native application development

Enterprises can reap the full advantage of cloud-native application development by executing the following best practices.

1. Achieve workflow and infrastructure automation
2. Segregate monolithic apps into loosely coupled microservices
3. Store infrastructure as a code in an efficient version control system
4. Implement efficient CI/CD pipelines
5. Implement DevOps approaches and processes.

Challenges with the rapid adoption of cloud-native application development

Where cloud technology has a lot of benefits, it also comes with some challenges. Here are some of the challenges enterprises can face while rapidly adopting cloud-native application development.

• Due to the intense competition and market pressure, enterprises may face significant challenges in adopting new initiatives while achieving incredible business velocity.
• Most open-source technologies are not built to ensure interoperability right from the beginning, and efforts to bring together various disparate solutions from the cloud-native environment can be complex and full of challenges.
• Most open-source technologies don’t have well-defined architecture standards or best practices. Therefore, implementing these solutions and technologies for enterprise application development can be a considerable business risk. Cloud cost optimization is also a challenge for small to medium-scale companies.
• These technologies may have a minimal pool of resources, while organizations require the right technical services and support to operate effectively. However, with limited options, the complexities of long-term success can become a huge barrier.

Final words

Cloud-native enterprise application development is essential for digital transformation and innovation. Companies adopting cloud-native application development observe a remarkable increase in scalability, productivity, and efficiency while improving user experience.

Native enterprise application development is quickly becoming the go-to solution for businesses. By developing applications in-house, companies can ensure that they meet all of their specific needs. However, businesses need a reliable and scalable cloud infrastructure to develop applications in-house. The top cloud service providers can only offer enterprises a fraction of what they need. Compromise on nothing, partner with Protected Harbor today, ensuring 99.99% uptime, remote monitoring, 24×7 tech support, data backup, recovery, etc.