Operations in the Cloud (CloudOps)

In CloudOps, workloads and IT, services are managed, optimized, and tuned in a cloud environment, whether it be multi-cloud, hybrid, in the data center, or at the edge. Similar to how DevOps codifies procedures for application development and delivery, CloudOps codifies best practices for cloud-based operations.

In order to manage resources and run services efficiently, Cloud Operations rely heavily on analytics to provide insight into elements of the cloud environment.

In some organizations, CloudOps has replaced the network operations center (NOC) as IT operations have shifted to cloud-based infrastructure. In the same way that the NOC monitored and managed the data center, CloudOps monitors, instruments, and manages VMs, containers, and workloads in the cloud. To achieve business and technology goals, developers, IT operations, and security work together using CloudOps principles.

Benefits of cloud operations:

• Accelerated automation. CloudOps tools simplify tasks such as provisioning servers and storage, application testing, monitoring and reporting, application builds, and security event remediation.

• Enhanced security. Major hyper-scale cloud providers use industry-leading physical security and monitor their infrastructure constantly to prevent cybercrime. Almost every organization experiences security improvements when migrating to the cloud, but cloud security is equally as much the responsibility of the organization and of the cloud provider.

• Improved RPO/RTO. Backup and data recovery was the initial use case for the public cloud and continues to be a strong driver for cloud migration. For an increasingly global user base and customer base, backup and replication strategies can help lower the recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO) to near-zero.
• Overall IT savings. Due to the pay-as-you-go nature of cloud services, large capital expenditures and service contracts are eliminated, as well as the need to upgrade data center hardware to meet changing needs. In addition, eliminating data center infrastructure reduces facility costs including power, cooling, and even real estate.

• On-demand scalability. A self-service portal can provide instant capacity increases in response to seasonal or growth demands. A simple push of a button can create new virtual machines, physical servers, storage, and even network bandwidth, enabling organizations to be more agile and proactive in meeting demands as they arise.

What is the difference between DevOps and CloudOps?

DevOps and CloudOps both require collaboration between different groups within an organization.

DevOps practices help improve collaboration throughout the software delivery lifecycle (SDLC), improving visibility and reducing incidents that can disrupt IT operations or impact development schedules.

DevOps improvements can bubble throughout the organization, helping to bring more reliable software applications to fruition faster, which leads to improved performance for the organization as a whole. Ultimately, DevOps helps improve the user experience for employees and customers alike.

As part of the CloudOps cycle, organizations can manage cloud-based applications and services using elements of cloud architecture, IT operations, application development, security, and regulatory compliance.

This enables organizations to: 

• Ensure the cloud platform – including hybrid and edge components – operates as a single platform
• Optimize application performance for a dispersed workforce regardless of access device
• Ensure reliability and that SLAs are met
• Maintain backups for disaster recovery and business continuity 
• Automate repetitive services and configuration management
• Ensure data and applications are secure end-to-end